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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ab45873 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #64114 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64114) diff --git a/old/64114-0.txt b/old/64114-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 8200de0..0000000 --- a/old/64114-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,6412 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Convict Ship, Volume 2 (of 3), by -William Clark Russell - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Convict Ship, Volume 2 (of 3) - -Author: William Clark Russell - -Release Date: December 23, 2020 [eBook #64114] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: David E. Brown and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONVICT SHIP, VOLUME 2 (OF -3) *** - - - - -THE CONVICT SHIP - -VOL. II. - - - - -NEW LIBRARY NOVELS. - - - UNDER SEALED ORDERS. By GRANT ALLEN. 3 vols. - - A LONDON LEGEND. By JUSTIN H. MCCARTHY. 3 vols. - - THE TREMLETT DIAMONDS. By ALAN ST. AUBYN. 2 vols. - - THE DRIFT OF FATE. By DORA RUSSELL. 3 vols. - - BEYOND THE DREAMS OF AVARICE. By WALTER BESANT. 1 vol. - - THE MINOR CHORD. By J. MITCHELL CHAPPLE. 1 vol. - - HIS VANISHED STAR. By C. EGBERT CRADDOCK. 1 vol. - - ROMANCES OF THE OLD SERAGLIO. By H. N. CRELLIN. 1 vol. - - VILLAGE TALES AND JUNGLE TRAGEDIES. By B. M. CROKER. 1 vol. - - MADAME SANS-GÊNE. By E. LEPELLETIER. 1 vol. - - MOUNT DESPAIR. By D. CHRISTIE MURRAY. 1 vol. - - THE PHANTOM DEATH. By W. CLARK RUSSELL. 1 vol. - - THE PRINCE OF BALKISTAN. By ALLEN UPWARD. 1 vol. - - -LONDON: CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY. - - - - - THE CONVICT SHIP - - - BY - - W. CLARK RUSSELL - - AUTHOR OF - ‘THE WRECK OF THE GROSVENOR’ ‘MY SHIPMATE LOUISE’ - ‘THE PHANTOM DEATH’ ETC. - - [Illustration] - - IN THREE VOLUMES--VOL. II. - - London - CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY - 1895 - - - - - PRINTED BY - SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE - LONDON - - - - -CONTENTS - -OF - -THE SECOND VOLUME - - - CHAP. PAGE - - XVIII. SHE IS TAKEN BEFORE THE COMMANDER 1 - - XIX. SHE IS QUESTIONED BY THE DOCTOR 30 - - XX. SHE CONVERSES WITH HER COUSIN 56 - - XXI. SHE ENTERS UPON HER DUTIES 73 - - XXII. SHE SEES HER SWEETHEART 92 - - XXIII. SHE VISITS THE BARRACKS 108 - - XXIV. SHE ALARMS HER COUSIN 128 - - XXV. SHE DELIVERS HER LETTER, AND SEES A CONVICT PUNISHED 144 - - XXVI. SHE ATTENDS CHURCH SERVICE AND WITNESSES A TRAGEDY 159 - - XXVII. SHE LISTENS TO A CONVERSATION 181 - - XXVIII. SHE OVERHEARS TWO SAILORS TALKING 196 - - XXIX. SHE IS ALARMED BY WHAT IS SAID BY THE OFFICERS 207 - - XXX. SHE CONVERSES WITH HER SWEETHEART 221 - - XXXI. SHE DESCRIBES A STORM 242 - - XXXII. SHE DESCRIBES THE SEIZURE OF THE SHIP BY THE CONVICTS 256 - - XXXIII. SHE DESCRIBES THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE CONVICTS 287 - - - - -THE CONVICT SHIP - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -SHE IS TAKEN BEFORE THE COMMANDER - - -I was awakened from a deep slumber by the glare of a lantern upon my -eyes, by the weight of a heavy hand upon my shoulder, and by a deep -voice roaring out: ‘Here y’are, then! Another convict, is it? Who’s -to say what’s right aboard a craft where everything’s wrong? Out you -come, my lively!’ And, still half asleep and blinded by the light and -deafened by the fellow’s roaring voice, I was dragged as though I had -been a child out of the sail and held erect. - -A second man holding a lantern raised it to my face and peered at me. I -had seen both fellows in this place before; they were the boatswain and -the sailmaker. - -‘What are you a-doing down here?’ said the sailmaker. - -The boatswain now let me go, and I stood upright before the two men, -still dazed and horribly frightened, though my wits were slowly -returning. - -‘I’m doing no harm,’ said I, blinking at the light, which, as it was -held close, put an insufferable pain into my eyes. ‘I hid myself. I -want to get to Australia.’ - -‘Australia, is it?’ thundered the boatswain. ‘Why, you young rooter, -d’ye know we ain’t bound to Australia? Where did ye come aboard?’ - -‘Woolwich.’ - -‘D’ye know this is a convict ship?’ - -‘Yes, I know it.’ - -‘Has he been a-broachin’ of anything?’ said the sailmaker, holding high -the lantern and slowly sweeping its light round the interior. - -‘What are ye?’ said the boatswain, whose voice was louder than that of -any man I had ever heard or could dream of. - -‘A runaway boy,’ said I. ‘Take me on deck. I’m sick for the want of -light.’ - -‘Sails, d’ye hear him?’ said the boatswain. ‘By the great anchor, as my -old mother used to say, but here’s one I allow as has squeezed through -the hawse-pipe on his road to the quarter-deck, for, hang me, if he -hain’t a-hordering of us already.’ - -‘What’s your trade, Jimmy?’ said the sailmaker, addressing me. ‘Nuxman -or jigger, or are you a lobsneaker, hey? Self-lagged, by the Lord!’ - -‘Come along aft and see the capt’n,’ said the boatswain. - -He then spoke to the sailmaker about the sails which they had -apparently descended to view, and, catching me by the arm, walked me -under the hatch, where he came to a stand. - -‘Been here since Woolwich, ye say?’ - -‘Yes,’ I answered. - -‘All in the dark?’ - -‘Yes.’ - -‘What have you eaten and drunken?’ - -‘I brought some food with me.’ - -‘Are you one of a gang?’ And here he rolled a pair of large glassy -eyes over the casks and coils of rope. He was a very powerful seaman, -deeply bitten by small-pox and without a right ear. - -‘I am alone,’ said I. - -‘Up ye go!’ he cried, and he partly hoisted and partly tossed me -through the hatch on to the upper deck. - -It was broad day, though the interior of the forecastle into which I -had emerged was gloomy. Beyond the forecastle-entrance the white and -windy sunshine was coming and going to the frequent sweep of clouds -athwart the sky. The brightness of that light thrilled my eyes with -pain, and I turned my back upon it, putting my hand to my head for a -few moments. - -‘’Tisn’t everybody, mates, that goes to sea afore the mast as signs -on,’ said the boatswain, generally addressing a few sailors who had -risen from their sea-chests or lounged out of the shadow forward to -look at me. - -‘If this here was a female convict ship, Mr. Balls,’ said one of the -men, ‘you’d find that that there covey was after one of the gals.’ - -‘Let him wash hisself,’ said another seaman, speaking with his hands -plunged deep in his pockets, ‘and there’ll be nothen likelier aboard -us. Dummed if he don’t remind me of my Mary Hann.’ - -‘Let’m sit,’ said another of the sailors. ‘I’ve got a drop of grog in -my chest. I started on my first voyage in the fore-peak and knows what -head seas mean down there to a country stomach.’ - -‘Sit and breathe,’ said the boatswain, backing me to a chest. ‘Fetch -your sup along, Joe. He don’t look much of a rascal, do he?’ And I -observed that he eyed me very closely and with looks of surprise -and doubt which somewhat softened the fierceness of his one-eared, -glassy-eyed face. - -I was glad to sit. My strength had been fearfully overtaxed by -confinement and by my mental sufferings and want of air. I was afraid I -should faint and my sex be discovered. A pannikin with a dram of black -rum in it was given to me. I smelt the fiery stuff and asked for water. - -‘Neat, my warrior, neat, and down with it!’ cried the fellow who had -given me the rum. ‘Water’s for washin’ in. Don’t talk of rum and -water. Soap and water, my heart; that’s it.’ - -‘Give the lad water,’ said the boatswain. ‘Blowed if I’m going to take -him aft drunk.’ One of the fellows brought a pannikin of water and -turned a small quantity into the rum. I looked up into his face and -thanked him with a smile and drank. - -‘Ever at sea afore, Jacky?’ said a sailor. - -‘D’ye hear the grit of old hoss in his squeak that you asks that?’ said -the deep-lunged boatswain. - -‘And to think,’ said a surly-looking sailor, ‘that the town-crier’s -still a-ringing for him and his grandmother still a-calling at every -public-house to see if he ain’t there!’ - -‘What d’ye say to a rinse, bo’, afore ye lays aft?’ said the fellow who -had offered me the rum. ‘A clean face may stand the little chap in with -the old man,’ said he, addressing the boatswain. - -‘Have a clean-up, young ’un, afore I takes ye aft?’ said Mr. Balls. - -‘Yes,’ I answered. - -The boatswain stepped out, and in a few moments returned with a tin -dish of cold water and an old towel. ‘Turn to now and polish away,’ -said he. ‘Bear a hand. A clean face is like a clean shirt; it gives a -man a chance.’ - -I dipped a corner of the towel into the water and rubbed my face, and -when I had looked at the towel I judged I had wanted washing very badly -indeed. By this time some fourteen or fifteen seamen had come about -me; they lounged and stared, and commented freely in growling, very -audible voices upon my appearance and new suit of pilot cloth. It was -the forecastle dinner-hour, whence I concluded the time was something -after twelve. Nearly all the ship’s company were below, some seated on -their chests, eating, a few in their hammocks, smoking, and looking -at me over their swinging beds; some, who had drawn close, brought -their dinners in their hands, a cube of beef or a hunch of pork on a -biscuit, that served as a trencher; these fellows flourished sheath- -or clasp-knives, and they chewed slowly, as men whose teeth had long -grown artful and wary in the business of biting on shipboard. - -The interior was indeed a grim, gloomy, massive picture; the men were -rudely and variously and some of them half savagely attired; the place -was roofed with hammocks; tiers of bunks arched into the head where -they vanished in the gloom. A lamp swung under a great beam, and its -light was needed, despite the brightness of the day outside, and of -the shaft of daylight that floated through the open scuttle forward -and hung in the obscurity like a square of luminous mist, as a sunbeam -streams through a chink of closed shutter. A number of stanchions -supported the upper deck, and suits of oilskins hung upon nails swayed -against these wooden supports like hanged men as the ship bowed and -lifted her head. The atmosphere was scarcely supportable with its -mingled smells of strong tobacco and the fumes of the kids or tubs in -which the greasy boiled meat had been brought in. - -‘Aft with us now, youngster,’ said the boatswain, ‘and give an account -of yourself. And may the Lord ha’ mercy on your soul! This here’s a -convict ship; there’s nothen going under six dozen. Everything over -that’s a yard-arm job.’ - -He grasped me by the arm and walked me out of the forecastle, but not, -I thought, with the temper he had dragged me out of my hiding-place -with. By this time my sight had strengthened, and, though the broad -daylight outside brought the tears to my eyes, the pain passed in a -moment or two. - -I glanced at the deck of the ship, but should not have known the -vessel as the _Childe Harold_. Strong barricades, studded with iron -spikes, had been erected a little way abaft the foremast and upon the -quarter-deck, leaving a narrow open space betwixt this after-fencing -and the front of the cuddy. Each barricade had a gate. At the -after-gate stood a red-coated sentry, with a loaded musket and fixed -bayonet. At the great central or main-hatch stood another sentry. In -the recess formed by the overhanging lap of the poop-deck was a stand -of arms. The barricades made a huge pen of the waist, main-deck, and -part of the quarter-deck. On the left or port side ran a strong -barrier, like a great fence, leaving a narrow gangway betwixt it and -the bulwark. This I afterwards understood was to enable the sailors and -others to go backward and forward without constantly obliging them to -pass the sentries and enter the space barricaded off for the convicts. - -I glanced behind me as I walked with the boatswain, and saw a sentry -stationed at the forecastle, and two more, each with muskets and fixed -bayonets, paced the break of the poop athwartships to and fro in a -regular, pendulum, sentinel swing, which brought them crossing each -other always in exactly the same place. I had young, very keen eyes. -All these points I had collected before we had gone half the length -of the main-deck gangway. Not a convict was to be seen. I had caught -a sight of two men walking together on the poop right aft, near the -wheel, and I also saw Will on the poop standing to leeward beside -another young apprentice; and on the other side of the deck, at the -head of the poop-ladder, was the officer of the watch. - -As I advanced with the boatswain I saw Will look, make a step toward -the brass rail which protected the fore-end of the raised deck and -stare a moment; he then wheeled round, walked to the side and gazed at -the white wash of passing water. The ship was under a great spread of -canvas, heeling over and sailing fast, and the yeasty swirl alongside -was swift and dazzling. I could not see the horizon over the weather -bulwarks; but to leeward it was all open sea, green, ridging and -flecked, with a cold blue sky over the trucks and many large white -clouds sailing down into the west. Two or three women, with shawls over -their heads, sat on the edge of a little square hatch under the break -of the poop; some children were running about near them. These women -stared very hard at me as I passed. - -‘Hullo, bo’sun!’ called out the man who was standing at the head of the -poop-ladder. ‘What have you got there?’ - -‘A stowaway, sir.’ - -‘When did you find him?’ - -‘Just now, sir.’ - -‘Where?’ - -‘Under the forecastle.’ - -‘Step him up here.’ - -The boatswain made me ascend the poop-ladder, himself following. This -was a deck well remembered by me; I had spent a long hour upon it with -Tom and Will when we visited the ship in the docks. All was unchanged -here; the boats swung in their davits; the sweep of deck went white as -a freshly peeled almond to the grating abaft the wheel; the skylights -sparkled and the bright brass binnacle-hoods mirrored the sun in -crimson stars. On high the full-breasted canvas rose in space after -space of milky softness with a stately swaying of the button of the -truck, as the ship leaned to the sea and lifted to windward again. - -The person who had ordered the boatswain to bring me on to the poop -was, as I afterward got to know, the second mate, Mr. Thomas Masters, -a full-faced man, short and strong, his nostrils tinged with purple, -no visible throat, and a strange, leering smile upon his mouth when -he looked or spoke. Will left the poop by the other ladder; his -fellow-apprentice leaned against the lee rail staring at me. The -second mate turned his face in the direction of the two men whom I had -observed walking aft abreast of the wheel. - -One of these two cried out: ‘Who’s that, Mr. Masters?’ - -‘A stowaway, sir,’ answered the second mate. - -Both persons approached. As they advanced along the deck, a third man -came up out of the cuddy or saloon through the companion, and joined -them. The three stepped up to me. One was Joseph Sutherland, the -captain of the vessel, a lean man with a slight stoop, about forty -years of age. His face was thin; the skin had a look of leather from -long exposure to weather; his eyes were a weak blue with a tear in each -corner, which kept him mopping with a pocket-handkerchief. Yet I liked -the expression of his face; there was the heart of a man in it. - -The second person was Surgeon Russell-Ellice, R.N., the doctor who had -supreme charge of the convicts. This man was without any hair on his -face; and the hair on his head was cropped as close as mine was or a -convict’s. He had large, soft brown eyes and a brown skin, blue on the -cheeks and lip, where he shaved. His mouth was firm, with an expression -that seemed to lie between scornfulness and self-complacency. He had a -manner of thrusting out his chest and backing his head when he spoke, -and of so holding himself when he stood or walked as to stretch the -inches of his stature to their limits. - -The third person was Captain James Barrett, of the --th Regiment of -Foot. He was the captain in charge of the guard. He was of the average -type of British officers; smart, well-dressed, good-looking, with a -glass which he put into his eye to examine me. - -I ran my gaze over the faces of these three, not then knowing who they -were, though I guessed by their air that they were chiefs in the ship. -I did not feel afraid; my end had been triumphantly accomplished. I -needed but look over the rail on either hand to know that we were out -upon the wide ocean, that, though England indeed could not be very -far astern, yet the land was as far away for my purpose as if it had -been a thousand leagues distant. And then there was the consideration -of my sex to give me nerve; these people were gentlemen. I had but to -declare myself to make sure of tender usage. But though I did not mean -to do this, and prayed heartily that no occasion might arise to force -me into it, yet the sense of it was a refuge that wonderfully supported -my spirits, the more particularly now that I had observed there were -women on board and quarters where, should the worst come to the worst, -I could live with my own sex. - -The captain and the doctor (as I shall henceforth call Surgeon -Russell-Ellice for the sake of brevity) eyed me all over for some -moments without questioning me--the captain with looks of surprise and -wonder that came very nearly to commiseration, the other with frowns -and suspicion like fire in his gaze. - -‘What are you doing on board my ship?’ said Captain Sutherland. - -‘I wish to get to Australia, sir,’ said I. - -‘What! Without paying? Do you know that this is a convict ship?’ - -‘Yes, sir.’ - -‘I could have him brought to the gangway for this,’ said the doctor. -‘Has he been searched, bo’sun?’ - -‘No, sir.’ - -The doctor stamped his foot. ‘Search him!’ he cried. - -Captain Sutherland looked on as though he recognised a superior in the -doctor. At this moment Will came up to the lee ladder and leaned beside -the other apprentice, listening and watching. The boatswain threw open -my pea-jacket and drove his huge hands into my pockets. I was thankful -not to feel the blood in my cheeks; had this piece of rude handling -reddened my face the doctor would have found me out. His soft but -scrutinising eyes were upon me. - -‘He’s a plump young man,’ exclaimed Captain Barrett, in an aside to the -commander of the ship. ‘What’s in your hold to make him fat?’ - -The boatswain drew out my handkerchief, the two new clay pipes I had -put in my pocket that I might seem a man when the crowning occasion -arose, and the tinder-box and matches. Happily I had left the little -parcel of candles in the sails. The boatswain dived his immense tarry -fingers into the pockets of my waistcoat and found nothing. - -Whilst I was being searched I observed that one of the sentries who -marched athwart the poop was the man who had looked over the rail when -I was in the boat alongside off Woolwich. I met his glance and saw he -did not remember me. I never once turned my eyes in the direction of -Will. - -‘Is that all?’ said Dr. Russell-Ellice. - -‘That’s all, sir,’ replied the boatswain, replacing my cap on my head, -after feeling the lining. - -‘Where do you say this lad was found?’ - -‘Just for’ards of the bulkhead under the fo’c’sle.’ - -‘It’s a store-room,’ said Captain Sutherland. - -‘Has it been searched?’ exclaimed the doctor. - -‘I dunno what ye mean by searched,’ answered the boatswain sullenly, -resenting as a merchant seaman the imperious manner of the Royal Naval -surgeon. - -‘Captain,’ cried the doctor. ‘You know what I mean; explain to this -man.’ - -‘Have you overhauled the store-room, Balls, for others of this fellow’s -pattern?’ said the captain. - -‘No, sir.’ - -‘Then go with the sergeant of the guard,’ said the doctor; ‘examine -every nook and corner, and make your report.’ - -‘Ay, ay, sir,’ answered the boatswain very sulkily again, and swinging -round on his heels he quitted the poop with a sullen walk eloquent -of malediction. The doctor drew back as if he would admit it was now -the commander’s right to ask questions. Captain Barrett gazed at me -strenuously through his eye-glass. His intent regard made me feel very -uneasy. - -‘What’s your name?’ said Captain Sutherland. - -‘Simon Marlowe, sir.’ - -‘What are you?’ I hung my head. ‘No need,’ he exclaimed, ‘to ask if -you were ever at sea; your hands are like a woman’s.’ - -‘He’s a deuced good-looking chap, doctor,’ said Captain Barrett in -another aside. ‘Plump as a partridge, by the great horn spoon! What -runs a chap to fat down in your hold, captain?’ - -‘What have you come to sea for?’ said the captain, speaking with a -severity whose forced note my ear could not miss. Indeed, he seemed to -find a sort of pleasure in looking at me. - -‘I want to get to some friends in Tasmania, sir,’ I answered. - -‘What names?’ - -I was ready for him; for weeks I had been rehearsing too diligently the -part I was now playing not to be ready. ‘Satchell, sir.’ - -‘Where do they live?’ - -‘At Hobart Town.’ - -‘What’s their address, boy?’ - -‘I don’t know, sir. I’ll find out when I arrive.’ - -The doctor grinned gravely. - -‘“Arrive!”’ cried the captain. ‘How do you know I’ll allow you to -arrive, as you call it? “Arrive,” you monkey! You’ve committed a -felony; you’ve broken into private premises; for all I can tell, you -may have broached the cargo of the ship. There are men in that prison -down there,’ said he, pointing to the main-hatch, ‘who are being -transported for life for smaller crimes.’ - -‘I’m sorry, sir. I would do nothing wrong. I will gladly pay for my -passage with my labour if you will give me work--such work as I can do.’ - -The doctor put his hand on the commander’s arm and whispered in his -ear. Captain Barrett exclaimed: ‘If you’re satisfied with the lad’s -account of himself, Captain Sutherland, he shall wait upon me, if you -like.’ - -‘What work have you for two servants?’ exclaimed the doctor. - -‘I like his pluck, d’ye know,’ answered Captain Barrett, ‘and just now -he happens to be rather friendless, Ellice.’ - -The doctor looked annoyed and walked to the rail. - -‘Where do you come from?’ asked the commander. - -‘London, sir.’ - -‘Who are your people?’ Again I hung my head. - -‘He is in the right to look ashamed,’ said the doctor. ‘Take it that he -has brought great grief and distress upon a respectable family by his -mysterious disappearance. I don’t believe for a moment,’ continued he, -eyeing me sternly, ‘that he has friends at Hobart Town. It’s just an -ordinary runaway case. He may have robbed some kind employer--perhaps -defrauded his own father. His clothes are new and good. Where did you -get the money to buy these clothes with?’ he asked. I kept my head -hung. ‘Lads of your sort,’ he continued, ‘get hold of cheap romancing -works--vile, lying fictions--books which represent Jack Sheppard as -a greater man than Wellington. Little by little they advance till -they end there,’ said he, pointing, as Captain Sutherland had, to the -main-hatch. ‘Down there, weighted with irons, branded as criminals, -leaving their native country for ever, expelled by the just laws of an -outraged community, are many men who have begun as you have begun--nay, -who may have started on their downward career with a great deal more of -modesty than you have exhibited.’ - -Captain Barrett let his eye-glass fall, whistled softly and lounged aft -to the wheel. - -All this while the decks had remained comparatively deserted. Just at -this moment a boatswain’s mate tuned up his whistle, and a number of -seamen came out of the forecastle and went to work in various parts of -the ship forward. The doctor continued to lecture me; but I was looking -at the strange, grim scene of decks and did not heed him. You would -have thought, at sight of the barricades, that the ship was full of -wild beasts; that man-eating and ravening creatures took the air in the -space inclosed by the savage, iron-studded, bristling fence work. - -Suddenly, the sentry at the main-hatch stiffened his figure, as though -to a sudden call to attention. He guarded a door at the extremity of a -short wooden passage, broad enough to allow one person to pass through -at a time. A man clothed as a convict stepped through this door. On -perceiving him the doctor broke off, and went to the brass poop rail -and overhung it, gazing eagerly. A second and a third convict appeared, -then a fourth; this man held a fiddle in one hand and a bow in the -other. - -And now I heard a sound of heavy clanking footfalls, as though a -long end of chain cable was being dragged along the deck, and one -after another, to the number of perhaps seventy or eighty, issued the -convicts, every man, saving the first four, wearing iron rings and -chains upon his ankles, the chains triced up to the waist. They were -clothed in the same garb I had observed on board the _Warrior_; a dingy -sort of gray striped with red and a kind of Scotch cap. The convicts -who had led the way cried out sharply: they delivered their orders -fast and fierce, like a drill-sergeant savage with yokel recruits. The -fellows ranked themselves into a line with something of the discipline -of soldiers; then the fellow who held the fiddle put it into his neck -and began to screw out a march. - -‘Attention! Left turn!’ shouted one of the unshackled convicts. ‘Quick -march!’ - -The fiddle played, and away stepped the line of men, all keeping time -to the music, faltering but a little to the movement of the ship, and -their irons clanked and their chains rattled as they tramped. - -I lost all sense of my situation when I saw those convicts. I made -a step to the side of the doctor, and my eyes seemed on fire as -I gazed. Tom was not one of them. I guessed that this was a gang -brought up to exercise and take the air according to the notions of -Doctor Russell-Ellice. It sickened my heart, but it made my spirit -mad to witness those wretches marching round and round within the -wild-beast-like enclosure, to listen to the mocking squeak of the -fiddle threading the dull metallic tramp of the ironed felons, to -feel that Tom was one of them and amongst them below, ironed as they -were, apparelled and disciplined as they were, guarded by soldiers -with loaded muskets--himself as innocent as I, as the dark-eyed doctor -beside me, as the commander of the ship, who appeared to have forgotten -me in watching this strange march of felons clanking round and round to -the tune of the fiddle. - -‘That’s my idea,’ said the doctor to the captain. ‘That’s the way to -keep them in health. You may judge by their manner of marching that -they enjoy the music.’ - -The captain looked at his second mate and smiled sarcastically. -Another person had by this time arrived on the poop; he, like Captain -Barrett, was attired in undress uniform. I afterward learned that he -was Lieutenant Chimmo, one of the two officers in charge of the guard. -They approached and looked hard at me--so hard that I imagined Captain -Barrett had divined my sex. Their observation won the attention of -Captain Sutherland, by whom I had been unheeded whilst he watched the -convicts. He said: ‘Get you down there to leeward and wait till you’re -wanted.’ He spoke sternly, but almost in the same breath of his speech -his face relaxed, and he exclaimed: ‘Are you famished!’ - -‘No, sir.’ - -The doctor shrugged his shoulders, as though vexed that the captain -should pity me. - -‘Get you down to leeward,’ repeated the commander; and I went and stood -at the rail. - -Will was aloft in the mizzen-top and the other apprentice in the -ratlines of the mizzen shrouds at work there. I looked up at Will, who -kissed his hand. The act was boyish and indiscreet, and I averted my -face, for I did not then know he was not to be seen from the other side -of the poop. - -The clear wind was sweet and refreshing after my many hours of -confinement. I glanced over the side and watched the feather-white -swirl of cloudy foam; the yeast burst in a rainbow splendour from the -bow and raced astern in ridges of snow, and I saw the spreading wake -of the flying ship dancing miles distant in the airy green that ran in -a twinkling horizon round the sky. Far ahead slanted a sail, and far -abeam to leeward was a dash of dusky-red canvas, whence I concluded -that the coast was not very remote. - -The tramping convicts marched round and round in single file to the -tune of the fiddle. Some of them were little more than boys, eighteen -or twenty years of age, and one or two of them were gray-haired men. -Their dress was so levelling, and it seemed besides to stamp so strong -an impression of rascality upon their faces, that one could not look at -the ironed gang without supposing them all rogues and criminals of the -worst sort. And yet I’d fancy, as they came facing aft toward the poop, -I could see some countenances which would have passed in the streets -and in company for comely, honest faces. But the general type was very -villainous; the brow low, overhanging, and scowling: the eye small, -deep-set, and restless; the mouth coarse and heavy, and the jaw strong, -thick, defined like a beast’s. - -My eye rested upon one man. I was certain I had seen him before. He -was immensely broad-shouldered, pitted with small-pox. His arms were -too long for his body, and the thickness of them and the fists were a -giant’s. His eyebrows were black; his eyes a deep and fiery black; his -nose coarse, spread, flat and heavy at the nostrils. He had the look of -a Jew, and after I had watched him a little while, I said to myself: -‘Yes, now I remember. He is Barney Abram, the prize-fighter, who was -under sentence of transportation for life in Newgate when I visited Tom -in that jail with Uncle Johnstone.’ - -I craved to see my sweetheart. I waited for the hideous fiddle to -cease squeaking, and for the gang to go below and a second gang to -take its place, hoping that Tom might be one in this second gang. I -say I waited. Rather, I stood hoping. Why they kept me waiting down -to leeward on that poop I could not imagine. I guessed it would shock -me horribly to see Tom with irons on, marching in convict’s attire, a -mere machine at the will of warders, themselves convicts; yet did I -passionately wish to see him that I might make sure he was on board, -for though I never dreamt that Will had mistook, still I yearned to -satisfy myself with my own eyesight. But the gang continued to march -round and round to the strains of the fiddle. Oh, the mockery of the -blithe Irish tune the fellow played, timed by the metallic tramp of -felons on the echoing deck! - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -SHE IS QUESTIONED BY THE DOCTOR - - -I was kept waiting, I knew not why, and used my leisure to gaze about -me. I was without fear. I had scraped, with a stout heart, through the -worst part, and cared little for what might follow. I had made up my -mind to avow my sex if they should send me into the forecastle to live. -I was very sure I should be unable to keep my secret amongst that body -of rough, blaspheming, joking sailors. Nor should I be equal to the -work of a seaman--I mean as an ordinary seaman or boy. It turned me -dizzy to look aloft and think of climbing those towering heights. - -Whilst I thus thought, I used my eyes and examined the ship. Opposite -the main-hatch, within the convicts’ inclosure, stood a tall box, -something like a sentry-box; over it a bucket was hung by an iron -bar, and there was a short length of rope attached to the bucket. I -supposed the box was a sort of shower-bath for the prisoners. The main -hatch was the only visible means of entering and leaving the prison -quarters. It was extraordinarily protected, first, with heavy gratings -with a manhole for the passage of one body, then by a strong railing of -oak stanchions of a triangular shape, thickly studded with iron nails -(the tops or heads of these stanchions I could just see as they sank -like the vertical wires of a cage from the sides of the hatch down -to the lower-deck), then by a strong bulkheaded passage or corridor -with a door at the end, as I mentioned when I spoke of the sentry -stationed there. I saw two galleys. The forward one I guessed was for -the ship’s use, the after for the convicts; for in this galley I had -observed a man in felon’s dress. A huge long-boat lay stowed in chocks -athwartships just forward of the ship’s galley. - -Such details to me entered like the very spirit of prison life into -the gleaming fabric of the ship, soiling, debasing, so flavouring -her that there was no magic in the pure freshness of the ocean wind -to purge her into sweetness. Marvellous that human sin should subtly -enter and find expression in timber and hemp and canvas, in bricks and -mortar, in old hulks, in prison piles--it matters not what--subduing -all suggestions to its own inspirations. I had noticed how the sordid -influence and degrading quality of human wickedness had worked in -dismantled hulks, making more hideous that which was already hideous -with felon-carpentry; and now here was all beauty in this buoyant and -bounding picture of a ship in full sail, leaning from the shining -breeze, pouring into her wake the snow of the crested and dissolving -surge, dimmed and defiled and saddened by her errand and cargo, by the -aspect of her decks, and by the noise of men marching in irons. - -All this while the doctor stood at the break of the poop with his -hands upon the rail, watching the convicts exercising, and sometimes -nodding in time when the fiddler changed his tune; the captain likewise -watched the convicts from the head of the weather poop ladder; the two -officers patrolled the weather deck, and both of them constantly looked -at me when their walk brought them with their faces forward; the second -mate was near the wheel, and the two sentries, with shouldered muskets -with shining bayonets, crossed and recrossed each other at a little -distance from where I stood. - -By-and-by the boatswain and a soldier with stripes upon his arms came -along the narrow gangway from the forecastle. They arrived on the -quarter-deck, and the soldier, looking up, saluted. - -‘Step up, sergeant, and you, Mr. Bo’sun, if you please,’ said the -doctor. ‘Well,’ said he, when they had mounted the ladder, ‘what have -you found where the lad’s been hiding?’ - -I was prepared to hear that they had discovered my stock of provisions -and the bottles of water, and possibly the parcel of wax candles. But I -was not uneasy; I was ready with a story. The sergeant, speaking with -an Irish accent, answered: ‘We have found nothing, sirr.’ - -‘Did you thoroughly overhaul the place, Mr. Balls?’ said the captain. - -‘Ay, sir. We’ve likewise been down into the fore-peak. All’s right -for’ards.’ - -I was astonished, for I had never doubted that they would light upon -my tins of meat and the bottles. Whether they had honestly overlooked -the nook in which the things were stowed or whether, having met with -them, they had resolved to keep the stuff to secretly eat and enjoy, is -a question I cannot answer. Suppose this, they’d say nothing about the -bottles of water, lest one discovery should force them into owning the -other. - -‘Captain,’ exclaimed the doctor, ‘I shall want that lad locked up until -I have satisfied myself as to his motive in hiding!’ - -‘I’m quite willing to lock him up,’ answered the captain, ‘but I’m an -old hand, and I may tell you that there’s never much need to scratch -deep to find out your stowaway’s reason.’ - -‘I’m not satisfied,’ said the doctor, turning his head and staring at -me very sternly; ‘you’ll lock him up, if you please.’ - -‘Clap him in your jail; there’s a proper prison below,’ said the -captain. - -‘Certainly not!’ cried the doctor, with a toss of his head, seemingly -insensible of the sarcasm of the captain’s suggestion. ‘He’s no -convict, sir, he’s the ship’s prisoner.’ - -The sergeant eyed me very steadfastly. He suddenly saluted the doctor, -and exclaimed: ‘May I list him, sir?’ - -‘Try him,’ said the captain, dryly. ‘It’s a sure sign a young chap -wants to ’list when he hides in the fore-peak of an outward-bounder.’ - -‘Leave that matter, sergeant. Captain, you will be so good as to lock -up that boy,’ said the doctor. - -On this the captain told the boatswain to send the steward to him. -A man with prominent, purple-tipped cheek-bones and blue eyes, very -narrow shoulders and legs arching out to a degree I had never before -beheld, wearing a blue jacket decorated with rows of buttons, came out -of the cuddy. The captain called him on to the poop. - -‘That lad’s a stowaway,’ said the captain, pointing to me. The man -looked. ‘By order of the surgeon-superintendent he’s to be locked up. -Where? In the forecastle? In the soldiers’ quarters? You have spare -cabins in the steerage?’ - -The man answered: ‘Three.’ - -‘Very well,’ the captain said. ‘Take him below and lock him up.’ - -‘You’re his jailor,’ said the doctor, ‘and I hold you responsible for -his safe keeping.’ The steward looked uneasy and astonished, and cast a -glance at the marching file of convicts. - -‘Here,’ said the captain. The steward approached him close. Something -was said. The steward then came to me and exclaimed: ‘Come along, young -man!’ I followed him down the steps on to the quarter-deck. At this -instant the fiddle ceased, the echoing tramp of the felons was hushed, -the convict warders as before cried out sharply and fiercely. - -‘This way,’ said the steward; and I walked after him through the cuddy -door. Here was a bright, cheerful interior. The _Childe Harold_ was -a passenger ship, and her accommodation aft was rich and fine. She -was a convict ship now, but they had made no change. The bulkheads, -ceiling, and trunk of the mizzen-mast were beautiful with gilt carving -and paintings; narrow lengths of brilliant mirrors flashed back the -light that streamed through the skylights; the chairs and lounges were -choicely upholstered. Whilst I gazed, my imagination figured the grimy, -barricaded, sentinelled, ’tweendecks prison in which Tom was to live. I -caught sight of myself in a looking-glass. I had omitted to pull off my -cap when I entered the cuddy--an oversight that might have convicted me -to a keen eye. I scarcely knew myself in the glass. Spite of the rub I -had given my face in the forecastle, I was still dark with the dirt of -the store-room. It was as good as a mask. No one would have suspected -the delicate skin of a woman under the grime on my cheek. - -‘This way!’ said the steward. - -He led me down some steps that fell from a small square of hatch close -against the inside of the cuddy front. It was gloomy down here. A -corridor ran fore and aft, and on either hand were two or three cabins. -The steward put his hand upon the door of the first of these cabins. - -‘Step in,’ said he. ‘Is this your first appearance in quod, youngster?’ - -I did not understand him. He leaned against a bunk, thrust his hand -into his trousers’ pockets, and looked me over. ‘What’s brought you -into this day’s mess?’ said he. ‘Wasn’t you ’appy at home?’ - -I resolved to answer the man civilly, trusting he would befriend me. - -‘I have friends in Tasmania, and wish to join them. I’m willing to work -for nothing if you’ll give me work I can do. I’m not strong, sir.’ - -He asked me where I had come aboard, if I had known before hiding that -this was a convict ship, where I had hidden, and how I had managed for -food. ‘You’re a young gent,’ said he; ‘that’s clear. Them ’ands have -never done dirtier work than quill-driving in some office, I’ll swear. -Hope for your soul’s sake you haven’t run away for wrong-doing, and -that there’s no kind ’arts at home a-haching for you.’ - -I declared in the most solemn and impassioned tones that I had not run -away for wrong-doing, and that I had hidden in this ship for no other -motive than to reach Tasmania. He inquired my name, and said: ‘Well, -I don’t mind saying I like your looks. I believe you’re honest and -there’s no ’arm in you. What does that there doctor mean by turning me -into a jailor? I’m head-steward. That’s what I shipped for. He gets his -living by looking after criminals at sea; and them as ain’t criminals, -according to him, must be tarned into tarnkeys, is it? He be blowed! -Ye’ve had a tidy spell down for’ards. Since Woolwich, hey? Well, the -capt’n told me to give ye a mouthful of grub, and that looks well. I’ll -turn the key upon ye, because it’s the capt’n’s orders. But as for that -there doctor--he be blowed!’ - -He went out, leaving me easy, I may say almost happy, so different had -been the usage I had received from what I had expected; though, to be -sure, the doctor had yet to settle accounts with me. But what could he -do? If he kept me locked up, I was still in the ship that was carrying -Tom across the seas. If he threatened me with the gangway, there was my -sex. I might know--nay, I would swear, myself a sailor’s daughter--that -there was never a seaman on board that ship who would allow a hand to -be lifted against a girl. - -I took a view of the little cabin I was in. It was a steerage-berth, -designed for the use of second-class passengers. Two mahogany bunks -were affixed to the ship’s wall under the circular porthole. In -a corner near the door was a convenient arrangement of drawers -and wash-stand and a flap, which, on lifting, I found to be a -looking-glass. I went to the bunks to look through the porthole at -the sea, and beheld in the upper bunk, on the bare boards, a large -parcel. I could scarcely credit my sight. It was, in truth, the parcel -of wearing apparel I had made up when I put on my boy’s clothes and -addressed to the care of the captain of this ship and left in my -Woolwich lodging, on the bare chances of my landlady sending it to the -vessel! I say it was truly extraordinary that those clothes should be -lying in the very cabin in which I was now lodged. - -Whilst I stood looking at the parcel and musing upon the associations -it recalled, and speculating upon the ideas the landlady had formed of -me, the key was turned and the steward entered. - -‘Here’s some lush and a mouthful of grub for you,’ said he. ‘It isn’t -every stowaway who’s waited on by a head-steward, I can tell you. But -it’s the cap’n’s orders, and luck comes with looks in this blushen -universe.’ - -He placed a mug of red wine and a plate plentifully heaped up with -cold boiled beef and ship-baked bread upon the wash-stand and again -left me, turning the key. I ate heartily, and the wine did me good. -I should have been mightily thankful for soap and water, but had not -dared ask the steward for such luxuries. I walked about the cabin and -looked through the portholes, and killed the time by thinking. I was -used to being alone, and after the darkness forward, with the furious -motion of the ship’s bows and the noises in the hold and the thunder -of seas smitten by the thrust of the cutwater, this lighted cabin was -heaven with its tranquillity and gentle motion of deck. I thought of -Tom, and struggled to realise his prison quarters. Gloomy I knew they -must be, heavily grated and shrouded by its sentinelled doorway as the -main-hatch was; gloomy and evil-smelling, repulsive and inhuman, with -spiked barricades and a prison and hospital. But I could not witness -the picture in imagination. How and where did the prisoners sleep? How -and where did they eat? And what was their fare? - -And what would my uncle and aunt think if they knew where I was? I -imagined them opening that door there and looking in and seeing me -dressed as a boy and leaning on the edge of the bunk. So far my love -had marched to a conquering tune. And it was not only that I had -overcome several wonderful difficulties for a young woman to encounter -single-handed; it was not only that I was in the same ship with my -sweetheart, bound to a land where we should be together, where in -God’s good time and with patience we might come to dwell together as -husband and wife, happy in our love, happy under new skies, happy in -our eternal severance from the odious and inhuman associations of our -native country; I, too, should have suffered with Tom, and taken my -share of his misery, if not of his humiliation and degradation. This -was a sweet and noble supporting thought. It was the one triumph of my -love which gladdened me most to think of. - -After I had been locked up two or three hours, and whilst the sun was -still strong over the west, filling all that part with a moist scarlet -light, the key was violently turned and Doctor Ellice walked in. My -blood was fired by his insolent entrance, as though he were a warder -with a right to break in upon a prisoner at any instant; but I swiftly -cooled when I recollected that he did not know I was a woman. In truth, -for the moment I had forgotten my masquerade. And, indeed, there is -nothing so hard to sham as the airs and behaviour of the other sex. -A woman may look a young man to perfection, as, indeed, I did; but -her female tricks and instincts will be breaking through if vigilance -sleep an instant. You will find this so by observing even the most -accomplished actress in male parts. - -‘I have come to talk to you,’ said the doctor, very sternly. ‘I don’t -understand your presence in this ship. Your explanations to the captain -and to myself are not sufficient, and are unsatisfactory so far as they -go.’ And then he began to question me. Who was I? What was my age? -Would I swear that I was going to Tasmania to seek some relations? -Would I swear that my name was Simon Marlowe? By this time my blood was -on fire again, and, weakened as I was by what I had passed through, I -might guess the old flashing lights were in my eyes as I looked at him. - -‘I’ll tell you this much about myself,’ said I, stepping up to him and -swelling my breast and tossing my head after my fashion when I was in -a rage: ‘my father was a sailor, and I know enough of the sea to inform -you that the master is the only head and authority which the people on -board need recognise. You are not the master of this vessel. What right -have you to come here and talk to me as you do, and to insult me as you -lately did in the hearing of others, with your doubts as to my honesty -and my motives for leaving home and the rest of it?’ - -He gazed at me in silence with the utmost astonishment. Indeed, he -looked crestfallen. His lips lay apart in a sort of yawn of wonder, but -he quickly recollected himself, as you will suppose of a man who, as I -afterward learned, had made several voyages in charge of convicts, and -was used to felons. His face darkened with temper, but his self-mastery -was fine, and there was no passion in his tones. - -‘You do not understand. You are insolent and ignorant, though you are -educated and refined, and altogether superior to the situation in which -you have placed yourself. On this I base my suspicion and I must have -the truth. I am supreme in this ship. The captain obeys my orders. -This is a Government ship, and you are subject to my discipline.’ - -He then began to question me afresh very deliberately. But I observed -that he no longer insisted upon my swearing that my name was Simon -Marlowe and so on; and indeed it was wonderful that so sensible a man -should ask questions which only a fool would put; for, let me have -answered him as I might, would he have believed me? I struggled with -my temper and replied to him; now and again I would not answer, and he -passed on. Once he threatened to bring me to the gangway, by which he -meant that he would order me to be flogged; I folded my arms when he -said that and looked him in the eyes. - -He continued to question me very sternly nevertheless; demanded full -particulars of my coming on board; asking whether I had travelled -directly from my home wherever it might be, or loitered at Woolwich -before hiding in the vessel. I told him I had stayed a short time at -Woolwich. - -‘Are you acquainted with any one of the convicts on board this ship?’ -he exclaimed, bursting out with this question abruptly, as though to -catch me unawares. - -My eyes sought the deck. I went to the bunk and looked through the -porthole, turning my back to him. - -‘Answer me,’ he cried. - -I slowly confronted him and said: ‘Yes, I know one of the convicts.’ - -‘Which is the man?’ - -‘Barney Abram.’ - -He stared in good earnest, made a step the better to see me, my back -being to the porthole, and said: ‘You know Barney Abram? Probably one -of the worst characters in this ship. You are a friend of his?’ - -‘I did not use the word friend, sir. I know Barney Abram by sight. I -recognised him as he paced the deck this afternoon.’ - -‘Where have you met him on shore?’ - -‘He was pointed out to me.’ - -‘Where--where?’ - -I paused to let him know I was not to be frightened by his imperious -manner, and answered: ‘In Newgate Prison.’ - -‘Were you a prisoner?’ he asked quickly. - -‘I was a visitor.’ - -‘Whom visiting?’ - -‘The jail.’ - -‘Who pointed the man out to you?’ - -‘My companion.’ - -‘Who was your companion?’ - -‘I’ll not answer that question,’ I replied, ‘because if I tell you who -that companion was, I shall be acquainting you with more than I intend -you shall know. But neither will I tell you any lies.’ - -He looked hard at my hands. I held them up close to his face and -exclaimed: ‘Judge for yourself, sir. I have been no prisoner!’ and -laughed. - -‘You are the most impudent young dog I ever met,’ said he, with a sort -of admiration in the anger of his looks. ‘Where were you educated?’ - -‘I never went to school; I was educated at home,’ I answered, feigning -an air of shyness and swinging my leg. - -‘Is your mother living?’ - -‘No, sir.’ - -‘Father?’ - -‘I have a stepfather,’ I answered. - -‘And his is the home you have run away from, I suppose.’ He mused for a -few moments and then said: ‘Put on your cap, and follow me.’ - -He led me through the saloon on to the main-deck, and so through the -gate in the after barricade where the sentry stood. I followed him -without alarm, though I wondered with all my might why he should bring -me into this convicts’ inclosure. Did he mean to send me below to live -among the felons, or to be locked up in their bulkheaded prison? Not -very likely. But what did he mean to do? - -There was not a convict to be seen within the barricades. The sunset -was rich and thunderous, and the air full of red light; the wind had -freshened and blew very cold. The watch on deck were shortening sail, -and the three royals and the mizzen top-gallantsail and some fore -and aft canvas were slatting and jumping overhead, with a few seamen -hoarsely bawling at the clew-lines, and some hands sprawling aloft. -The first mate was now in charge, and he stood on the poop looking -up, watching the fellows climbing. This man I had seen aboard the ship -in the East India Docks. Tom knew him and had shaken hands with him. -The captain was walking with the two military officers, the sentries -crossed and recrossed the poop-break, and round about the little -booby-hatch, close against the cuddy front, were two or three soldiers -and a few women and children. - -‘Pass the word for Barney Abram,’ said the doctor to the sentry at the -door of the main hatch. - -The soldier did so, and after a minute or two the prize-fighter, with -irons on his legs and a chain triced up to his waist, came through the -door, attended by a convict warder, or ‘captain.’ He was a fierce and -brutal-looking creature when you saw him close. His face was pitted -with small-pox, and embellished besides with the scars of many bloody -conflicts in the ring. He wore an extraordinary expression; it was not -a grin; it was not a smirk; it was a fixed, crafty leer of knowingness. - -‘Abram, look at this young man and tell me who he is,’ said the doctor. - -The prize-fighter, resting his elbows in the palms of his immense -hands, leaned his ugly face forward and stared at me; he contracted his -brows whilst he looked as though he hunted through his memory. At last -he exclaimed: ‘I devver saw the young gentlebud before.’ - -‘He says he knows you,’ says the doctor. - -‘By sight,’ I exclaimed. - -‘That’s dot ibprobable,’ said the prize-fighter, with a glance at the -sentry and a complacent look-round, and holding up his head. - -‘Look at this young man,’ said the doctor. ‘Where have you met him?’ - -‘Debber saw bib in all by life. S’elp be as true as by ’air’s growig,’ -returned the prize-fighter. - -‘He says he saw you at Newgate.’ - -‘I was there,’ answered the prize-fighter, pursing up his leathery -under-lip. - -‘Observe him well and try to recollect if he was a prisoner?’ - -‘Dot in by tibe,’ said the prize-fighter. - -This insinuation, after what I had said, enraged me. ‘You know I never -was a prisoner, sir,’ I cried. ‘You are acting inhumanly in trying to -confirm your hopes, but not your suspicions, that I was one. I was -on a visit to the jail for my entertainment. My companion and I were -conducted to the prisoners’ visiting-room. There I saw Mr. Barney Abram -in conversation with a stout, dark lady, gaily attired, and I looked -at him with attention because he was pointed out to me as the greatest -prize-fighter of the age, and that is why I mentioned his name when you -asked me whether I knew any of the convicts on board.’ - -A savage glow of pleasure brightened the prize-fighter’s eye as he -listened; my audacious address, my reference to the brute’s fame, acted -upon his spirits like a can of drink. The sentry eyed me askant; the -warder with a satisfaction which his flat, ruffianly face could not -conceal. - -‘You saw be talking to by wife,’ said Barney Abram!--‘a stout, -splendid woban, ’adsobly dressed as you put it, sir. The circumstance -is all correct.’ - -‘You can go below,’ said the doctor. - -I received a fierce, exulting, congratulatory glance from the bruiser -as he turned about in his shackles to re-enter the door. He might have -meant to applaud me for my fearless speech, or, which is more likely, -he might have meant to wish me luck in the scheme which had brought me -into conflict with the surgeon, and which he would naturally hope and -believe was criminal. - -The doctor now told me to pass on to the quarter-deck, and I thought -he meant to take me below and lock me up again. Instead of which he -left me standing outside the barricade and went on to the poop, where -he joined Captain Sutherland and his military companions, all of whom -had been gazing at us from over the brass rail whilst we talked with -Mr. Barney Abram. I could not understand the meaning of this doctor’s -purposeless questions and behaviour, but I dare say I was right when I -supposed he intended to let everybody see and understand he was first -in the ship. - -Always, in the days of the convict ship, the unhappy criminals were -dispatched across the sea in charge of a naval medical officer -appointed by the admiralty, and called the surgeon-superintendent. The -ship was virtually placed in his hands to do what he pleased with, -and, though I don’t suppose he was empowered to interfere in the -navigation of the vessel, he was undoubtedly privileged to order the -master to call into such ports on the way as he (the surgeon) might -choose to name; thereby retarding the voyage of the ship, and perhaps -imperilling her, as was the case with a certain convict ship which was -nearly lost through the surgeon ordering that she should make Simon’s -Bay under conditions of season and weather which the captain declared -dangerous. Hence there was usually a strong feeling between the -surgeon-superintendent and the captain and mates. I suspected something -of the sort here, and believed Doctor Russell-Ellice had given himself -a great deal of unnecessary trouble to prove me a rogue, merely that -the captain and the mates should see what a very clever fellow he was, -and how very much in earnest also in his resolution to strut to the -very topmost inches of his little dignity and his brief authority. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -SHE CONVERSES WITH HER COUSIN - - -Presently I stepped leisurely into the recess under the poop where -the soldiers and the women were. One was the pretty young woman who -had given me a smile when I came on board the ship at Woolwich. She -viewed me with her soft, dark eyes with a wistful admiration, but I -could not observe that she remembered me. The three or four soldiers -without belts, their jackets unbuttoned, lounged against the bulkhead, -smoking their pipes. I was now used to being stared at, and gave them -no heed. Whilst I thus stood waiting for what was next to happen, Will -came along from his berth forward. When he saw me, he seemed to pause, -as though not knowing what to do. With the most pronounced air I could -contrive I averted my face and looked into the saloon through the -window, and when I glanced again my cousin was out of sight. I was very -much in earnest that he should not get in trouble through me; nay, I -desired that for a long time yet he and I should keep as wide apart as -the two ends of the ship. He was boyish and imprudent, and might at any -moment say or do something that would lead to the disclosure of my sex, -and, for all I knew, to the revelation of my motive in hiding in this -ship. - -The soldiers talked of the convicts, and I pricked up my ears, thirsty -for all information of the gloomy, hidden quarters where Tom lived. One -asked if the people were kept in irons throughout the voyage. Another -answered, No; he believed the irons were taken off after the ship was -out of the Bay of Biscay. - -‘I couldn’t ’elp laughing,’ said one of the soldiers. ‘I was on sentry -below and heard a chap say to some others: “I don’t mind praying, but -cussed if I’m going to pray for the Governor of Tasmania! I’ll pray for -rain if it’s wanted, but not for a bloomed Governor.” “Who asks ye?” -says one of the convicts. “It’s to be a part of the prayers,” said the -other. “Me pray for the Governor of Tasmania!”--and here he swore and -used such language that I had to caution him.’ - -‘I wouldn’t pray for ne’er a Governor if I was a convick,’ said the -pretty young woman, with a toss of her head and a side-glance at me. -‘It’s a shame to make a joke of sacred things. Should a convick be made -to pray for his jailer? Would the Lord listen to the prayer of a sailor -who asks a blessing on the bo’sun who’s just been flogging him?’ - -‘There’s some queer chaps downstairs,’ said one of the soldiers. -‘There’s a fellow they call the smasher--a little, gray-haired man with -the kindest of faces, and speaks as soft as pouring out milk; he’s -lagged for one of the most awful crimes. There’s a play-actor--dunno -what right he’s got down there. They sails under false colours. Dessay -if he’d got his right name ye’d find him some one as had been tiptop at -Drury Lane and the best of theayters. There’s a quiet, pleasing-looking -chap, lagged for scuttling.’ A woman asked what that was. ‘Sinking a -ship by making a hole in her.’ - -‘The villain!’ cried the woman. ‘I hope they’ll not give him a chance -with his tricks here.’ - -‘I’m sorry for that chap, somehow,’ said the soldier. ‘If I was a -painter I’d like to draw his picture. I’ll point him out some time or -other, and then you take notice, Jim, of his melancholy face. One picks -up a lot on sentry.’ - -‘A bad lot,’ said another soldier, spitting. - -I listened eagerly and longed passionately to ask questions, but durst -not. Yet I might be sure that the soldier spoke of Tom, and I loved the -fellow for speaking of him kindly; and it was another proof that my -sweetheart was in the ship. - -A child came and stood in front of me and looked up into my face. It -was a pretty little girl. I stooped and patted her cheek and kissed -her, took her by the hands and jumped her into a little dance, which -kept her laughing. I knew which was the child’s father by the pleased -look one of the soldiers regarded me with. It was the man who had -spoken kindly of Tom. When I found this out I kissed the child again -and talked to her of the ship and the sea. I observed that my manners -and speech controlled the listeners. They all knew I was a runaway -stowaway, and though they could know no more they might suspect a great -deal more. And yet they viewed me respectfully and talked with a sort -of civil reference to me as though I was a gentleman, listening. - -The lights were burning very red but gradually dimming in the west, -and the sides of the seas slipped away from under the ship in hard, -dark-green slopes, laced with spray, and the froth of their heads was -faintly coloured by the sunset. The heel of the ship was sharp, and -she broke through the billows in thunder. There was a mighty noise of -whistling and raving aloft, and the strange shrill shrieking of the -foaming and dissolving salt alongside made me wonder what that sound in -the wind was. - -An apprentice came off the poop and struck a bell suspended this -side of the quarter-deck barricade. A minute or two later a convict -passed through the door of the main-hatch and placed himself beside -the sentry; a second and then a third emerged until a considerable -number of men had assembled; they formed in a close-packed column which -stretched about half-way to the convicts’ galley; the soldier with -whose child I played, seeing me looking at the convicts, exclaimed: -‘They’re getting their supper. Them’s the messmen. As the fellows -receive their cocoa or whate’er it be, from the galley, they carries it -below, one by one.’ - -I imagined that Tom might be amongst that set of convicts, and made a -movement with the idea of walking some distance forward, where I should -be able to see; but I stopped myself on reflecting that the doctor was -probably at the poop rail overhead looking on. - -‘’Taint bad discipline, taking it all round,’ said the soldier, -speaking to all who chose to listen, though I seemed to find his -remarks intended for my amusement or enlightenment. ‘It’s mostly -settled aboard the hulks before the parties come aboard. So I’m told. -The convicts they think proper to trust are made petty officers of. -There’s first and second captains, captains of divisions, captains of -wards. Then some of them are made cooks of, t’others barbers, and every -mess has its head. With this sort of arrangement they keeps each other -in order.’ - -‘Do any privileges go along with these appointments?’ asked one of the -soldiers. - -‘The privilege of being appointed.’ - -I listened, but asked no questions. I dared not exhibit interest. I -could not forget that these soldiers formed a portion of the convicts’ -guard. - -‘I notice,’ said one of the soldiers, ‘that they puts them there -malefactors to all sorts of ship’s work. They were helping the sailors -wash the deck down this morning. They work hard, as though eddicated -under the muzzle of the carbine. A sight of difference there was ’twixt -the sailors’ scrubbing and their’n.’ - -I was watching the convicts whilst I listened to the soldier’s talk, -when some one inside of the cuddy called out: ‘Marlowe!’ I forgot my -feigned name, and did not respond. The voice again called, on which, -with a start. I looked through the cuddy door and saw the steward. - -‘I reckoned as much,’ said he, with a laugh. ‘’Taint every purser’s -name as fits like old boots. Step this way.’ - -I entered. Just then the doctor came down the companion-steps at the -end of the cuddy and entered an after-cabin on the port side. He paused -a moment, as though to observe me, but did not speak. A young man, whom -I supposed to be an under-steward, was lighting the cabin lamps, but -there still lived a wild flush of western light, and you saw plainly by -it. - -The steward began by informing me that I had no business in the ship; -that by stowing myself away on board a convict ship I risked the chance -of being made a felon of, of receiving six dozens at the gangway, of -being hanged at the yard-arm. In thus reassuring me he gave himself the -airs of the captain of the ship. He then added: ‘However, I like your -looks, as I told you before, and I’ve put in a good word for you with -Captain Sutherland, who, I may tell you, don’t think any the worse of a -youngster like you for squaring up, as he’s heard you’ve done, to the -doctor. The doctor himself owned to the captain,’ said he, lowering his -voice and looking aft toward the surgeon’s cabin, ‘that he got rather -more from you than he knew what to do with.’ He then abruptly inquired -if I possessed any clothes besides those I wore. I answered I had not. - -‘Got any money?’ - -‘How much ought I to want?’ - -‘How much ha’ ye got?’ said he. - -‘All I shall need on my arrival,’ said I. - -He looked puzzled, eyed me all over, then approaching me by a step he -exclaimed with an earnest, confidential face: ‘Jokin’ apart, young man, -who are you and what’s your object in cutting this here caper?’ Finding -I did not reply, he continued: ‘You’re to have all the money you want -when you arrive? And you haven’t money enough to pay your passage to -get what’s awaiting for you?’ He paused. ‘Well, now, see here. You’ve -got no business aboard, and you stood to be whipped, and you stood to -be hanged for hiding in a Government transport. You’ve got to be fed, -and gent or no gent, you must work.’ - -‘I’m willing and anxious to work.’ - -‘The captain’s handed you over to me. There’s plenty of hands for’ard, -most of them about as sarviceable at a pinch as you’d be likely to -prove. We’re short of a man aft, and you’ll do for the post. Can you -wait at table?’ - -‘I’ll try.’ - -‘Well, you may rise to it. We’ll see. You’ll be wanted to carry the -dirty dishes for’ard for the cook’s mate to wash, to help bring the -dishes along from the galley, and to hang about here whilst the -officers are eating, ready to run to the galley on arrands.’ - -‘I’ll do all that willingly,’ said I. - -He then told me that the second steward slung his hammock next door -to the pantry in the steerage, but as there were two or three empty -cabins down there I was welcome to use a bunk in the one in which I -had been locked up. ‘As for a bed,’ said he--‘you’d better ask the -sailmaker to give you a piece of old canvas, and the butcher to give -you a bundle of straw; you’ll get all the mattress you’ll want out of -that. If I can meet with a stray blanket you shall have it. That pilot -jacket, though a good coat, ain’t quite up to the knocker for table -work. Pity you haven’t got a little loose cash upon you. I’ve got a -spare jacket which,’ said he, taking a view of my shoulders, ‘would fit -you for breadth to a hair. But not to button across; why, I never see -such a chest on a young fellow. And now you can turn to,’ said he; ‘the -table’s to be got ready for dinner and you can help.’ - -I requested him to lend me some soap and a towel. He grinned and asked -me if there was any perfumery he could oblige me with. ‘But you’re -right,’ said he. ‘You’re in want of a wash-down.’ He left me, and -presently returned with a piece of marine soap and a coarse towel. He -then told me where I should find a bucket, and recommended me to draw -some water at the head pump on the forecastle, and to be careful not to -spill any on the deck as I brought it along if I did not want to be -sworn at by the officer of the watch. - -I took a bucket from a rack near the mainmast and went along the -gangway, as I term the alley betwixt the barricade and the bulwarks. -My heart was almost light. The work I was to be put to was just such -as I should have chosen out of the whole group of duties of the big -ship. It was work that would keep me away from the forecastle hands; it -would not put more upon me than my strength was equal to. Best of all, -I was to occupy a cabin alone, which was an extraordinary piece of good -fortune. - -It was the first dog-watch. All the convicts were in their prison -quarters; a number of sailors were smoking, idling, and talking in the -neighbourhood of the galleys; the wind swept keen and hard athwart the -forecastle; and the sentry was the only figure that paced that deck. -Some rough chaff saluted me as I passed the sailors. One asked if I was -going a-milking; another advised me to chuck the bucket overboard and -watch it tow. Just as I was stepping up the forecastle ladder, Will, -with a pipe in his mouth, put his head out of his berth. He instantly -saw me, and called out, with the manner of a young fellow exercising -some little authority: - -‘Where are you taking that bucket to?’ - -‘On to the forecastle for water, sir,’ I answered. - -‘Do you know anything about rigging a head pump?’ he exclaimed. ‘Not -you!’ he cried, laughing with a fine assumption of half-jocose, -half-pitying good nature. ‘Here, I’ll show you what to do.’ - -He followed me up the ladder. Upon the forecastle the wind was blowing -with a great roaring noise. The sentry leaned against it, and his -heavily coated figure swayed like a scarecrow in a breezy field as -he swung on his gripping feet to the plunge and toss of the bow. -The surge, rent by the sheering cutwater, rose in a boiling mass of -whiteness to within reach of the rail when the ship pitched. The driven -fabric swept the sea from her weather bow in smoke, and at every -stately curtsey a vast sheet of foam washed many fathoms ahead. The sea -ridged dark and hard. The ship heeled sharply over under great breasts -of canvas, and from the forecastle you saw the froth race past her on -either hand, and lift astern like a snow-covered path. - -‘This was my chance and the first chance, Marian,’ said Will. ‘How are -you getting on?’ - -‘Well.’ - -‘We’ll seem to loiter a bit over this pump. What are they going to do -with you?’ - -I told him. - -‘What! Cuddy bottle-washer? And the steward’s the cad of the ship. -There are many cads amongst us, but he’s head of the clan here.’ - -‘I’m perfectly satisfied, Will. I wish I could see Tom. I want to see -him with my own eyes.’ - -‘Hold the bucket so,’ said he, ‘and I’ll pump. Oh, never mind the -sentry. No notice is taken of soldiers at this end of the ship. I could -hug you for your pluck, I could. After all these days of black hole -under here to talk to the captain and doctor as I heard you! Where do -you sleep?’ - -All this while he was pretending to work the brake of the pump as -though something was wrong with it. I answered. - -‘Come, that’s good,’ said he; ‘a cabin to yourself! They couldn’t have -given you more had they charged you sixty guineas.’ - -‘I have no mattress and nothing to sleep on but the bunk-boards,’ said -I. - -‘And no bedclothes, of course?’ said he. - -‘The steward has promised me the loan of a blanket if he can find one.’ - -‘Leave me to see what I can do,’ he exclaimed. - -‘Run no risks, Will, for both our sakes.’ - -‘Do you want your money, Marian?’ - -‘No, I was searched. If I produce money now, they’ll guess I have a -friend on board. Will, there’s one thing you must contrive: Let me have -pencil and paper. Not now. Wait for a better chance. There will be -plenty. I must write to him.’ - -‘How are you going to give him a letter?’ - -‘I’ll find a way, Will.’ - -‘Marian, there’s no man under these stars, which are beginning to -shine, who’s worth what you’re doing for Tom. How cold the wind blows! -And aren’t they driving the old bucket just! I know what it will -be--eight bells, and Balls’s infernal pipe, and an hour’s roosting up -amongst those boughs there to reef and stow. You don’t want all that -water to wash in.’ - -He emptied two-thirds of the bucket, put the strap into my hand, and we -went down the forecastle ladder. The steward, who was helping the other -man to lay the cloth, asked what had kept me so long. - -‘The pump’s stiff,’ said I, ‘and it blows hard on the fo’c’sle.’ - -‘Hard in your eye!’ he exclaimed. ‘Look lively now! There must be no -skulking. If you don’t bear a hand here, I’ll send you forward to the -bo’sun and the land of ropes’ ends and kicks.’ - -The under-steward laughed heartily. I went briskly to my cabin, and -washed my face and hands as well as I could in the dark. I found -nothing in the steward’s language to anger me--nothing in my situation -to cause me an instant’s regret. The truth is, I was extraordinarily -encouraged and supported by the sense of my sex--by the thought that I -need but avow myself to become an object of romantic interest, and so -be, at all events, humanely treated. Indeed, I caught myself laughing -when I put my hand into the upper bunk to feel for the parcel of my -wearing apparel. What, I thought to myself, would the steward think if -I were to dress myself in those clothes and enter the cuddy? - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -SHE ENTERS UPON HER DUTIES - - -I did but little on this the first day of my entering upon my strange -new duties. The steward distrusted my sea-legs, and he and his mate -fetched the dishes from the galley. I hung about the fore-end of the -cuddy, put the dirty plates into the basket, collected the knives and -forks, went on errands to the pantry and the like. The picture of the -cuddy was bright and hearty. Two large illuminated globes, in silver -holders, swung under the ceiling; the light of them flashed in the -mirrors and rippled with the movements of the ship in the polished -woodwork. The captain sat at the head of the table, the doctor on his -right. Captain Barrett and Lieutenant Chimmo sat together on the other -side. Once or twice Captain Barrett screwed his glass into his eye and -looked at me, but his gaze expressed no more than surprise to find me -at work as a cuddy-servant. The others took not the least notice of me. - -Captain Barrett had a loud laugh and a hearty manner of speaking; -Lieutenant Chimmo was thin of voice, stilted and affected, so stiff and -snobbish as to satisfy me he was not a born gentleman. I wondered to -find neither of the mates at the table, but I soon discovered that it -was the custom on board the _Childe Harold_ for the mate of the watch -to come below and eat after the captain was done, the other two mates -joining him when possible, so as to make a separate table. - -The talk at the beginning was not very interesting. The convict guard, -it seems, had come to the ship from Chatham, and neither Captain -Barrett nor the lieutenant could say too much in abuse of that place. -There was no society; dirt and drink formed the life of the town. -Deptford, nay even Sheerness, was sweet and desirable compared to -Chatham. The doctor ate and drank water with a little wine in it -and seemed to listen. The captain frequently lifted his eyes to the -skylight as though thinking more of the weather than of the officers’ -chatter. Presently Captain Barrett, leaning across the table, said to -the doctor: - -‘Chimmo and I have been wondering whether you’d have any objection, -after the fellow’s irons are knocked off, I mean, to Barney Abram -coming aft to give us a few lessons in sparring? I dare say, captain, -your sailmaker could contrive to furnish out an arrangement of canvas -and oakum to answer for boxing-gloves.’ - -‘It would be impossible to imagine any objection stronger than mine to -your suggestion,’ said the doctor. - -‘There’d be always a sentry at hand, you know,’ said Lieutenant Chimmo. - -‘Let us change the subject,’ said the doctor severely. - -Captain Barrett looked at the doctor with a slight sneer and said: -‘We’ll not talk of bringing Barney Abram aft: we’ll talk of Barney -Abram as he is. Pity so much talent should go wrong. Transport your -felonious clergy, attorneys, farmers, medical men,’ he added, with -a significant look at the doctor, ‘there’d always then be too many -to spare. But to send such a prize-fighter as Barney Abram out of -the kingdom! To ship him into a country where there’ll be nobody to -appreciate him! By Heaven, it’s as bad as robbing the crown of England -of a jewel!’ - -The captain, observing that the doctor did not like this talk, changed -the subject by speaking of the fine progress the ship was making. At -this moment I was sent to the pantry by the steward. When I returned, I -heard Lieutenant Chimmo say: ‘What would those chaps under hatches give -for a taste of that curried fowl! Your cook’s a neat hand, captain.’ - -‘The provisions served out to the convicts are infernally bad,’ said -Captain Barrett. - -‘“They are not good, but they may be eaten,” as Charles XII. said to -the soldier who showed him some mouldy pieces of bread,’ exclaimed the -doctor. - -‘At such a table as this,’ said Lieutenant Chimmo, ‘a man can take -a philosophic view of the tastes and appetites of people who are -ill-fed.’ - -‘Convicts are as well fed as sailors,’ said Captain Sutherland. - -‘I’d rather be a convict than a sailor,’ said Captain Barrett. - -‘One’s t’other more often than not,’ observed Lieutenant Chimmo. -‘’Stonishing what a lot of rascals sail afore the mast!’ - -‘Take care that whisper don’t get forward of the main-hatch sentry,’ -said the captain, with a glance at the steward. ‘Jack’s got a sensitive -side to his nature.’ - -‘Doctor, what’s to be the routine when decent weather sets in?’ -inquired Captain Barrett. - -‘Schools, Bible classes, and frequent prayer-meetings, sir,’ answered -the doctor. - -‘Don’t educate them,’ said Lieutenant Chimmo. ‘They’re very bad now; -education’ll make them worse.’ - -‘I’m with Chimmo,’ said Captain Barrett. ‘Doctor, I’ll wager you -what you will that the worst of your people are those who are most -intelligent and best educated.’ - -The doctor made no answer. - -‘I must state this as a fact,’ said Captain Sutherland, with a side -look at the doctor, as though distrusting his topic: ‘Mr. Bates, my -chief officer, recognised one of the convicts. His name--’ The doctor -made a motion with his hand. ‘Well, enough if I say,’ exclaimed the -captain, stammering, ‘that this same man is a person of excellent -antecedents, was for years at sea, and held several posts of trust, -and finally wound up a flourishing career by investing his savings in -a smart little barque for no other purpose than to scuttle her that he -might pocket about triple the amount of his venture in insurance money.’ - -I heard this, and my heart turned hot. I longed to walk up to Captain -Sutherland, look him in the eyes, and call him a beast and a liar. No -one observed me, which was lucky. I was conscious that my face worked -with agitation and that my cheeks were red with the blood which the -captain’s lie had driven into my head. At this point the steward bade -me carry a basket of dirty dishes to the galley, and I stepped out -with my burden upon the quarter-deck. - -The evening was black and the wind wet, and it swept athwart the -bulwark-rail with a shriek and a bite of frost. Over the lee-rail the -seas ran from the ship in pale, cloudy heaps. Occasionally the brine -lashed the forecastle like a showering of small shot, and again and -again you’d feel the blow of a sea on the bow striking the ship before -she could rise, and the white water of it was flashed back into the -dark wind, though the hissing body came like a thunder-squall, an -instant later, soaking the decks till the scuppers sobbed again. - -I staggered along with the basket of crockery, and passing the sentry, -slipped and slid forward through the convicts’ inclosure till I came to -the ship’s galley. A number of seamen were gathered under the lee of -this place. The red fire of the stove illuminated the fat figure of the -cook as he stood pointing a piece of paper to the flame of the lamp to -light his pipe. Another fellow was busy at a kind of dresser. Against -the closed weather-door leaned the boatswain with folded arms and an -inverted pipe betwixt his lips. It was a hot, snug, mellow interior to -look in upon after the cheerless scene of the decks and the leaning and -waving heights of dim canvas above. - -‘So they’ve found work for you, hey?’ said the boatswain, giving me a -large nod. ‘Yet you’d better ha’ stopped at home.’ - -‘Who’s this?’ said the cook. - -‘The youngster as I found rolled up in a spare t’gallan’s’l,’ answered -the boatswain. ‘They’re a-going to keep him in the land o’ knives and -forks.’ - -‘And you’d rather be a waiter than a steward, Joey?’ said the cook with -a greasy chuckle. ‘I don’t blame you. It’s all night in with us idlers, -and a warm blanket’s better than a lee earing, ain’t it, Mr. Balls? But -what’s brought the covey to ship in this here convick barge?’ - -‘What ha’ you got there?’ said the fellow at the dresser. - -‘Dirty plates,’ said I. - -This man, who was the cook’s mate, who had but one eye, and whose -cast of face was certainly more villainous than any of the felons I -had watched taking their exercise that day, put his head out of the -galley-door, and exclaimed: ‘Fire that there steward! Here’s a gallus -look out o’ dishes! If that there perishin’ Stiles could foul six -plates ’stead o’ wan he’d do’t to spite me.’ He continued to grumble -hideously, and I backed away from his ugly tongue and uglier face and -walked toward the cuddy, but slowly, and holding on as I went, for the -decks were steep and greasy and the ship was taking the seas in quick, -angry jumps. - -As I passed through the quarter-deck barricade my elbow was touched, -and Will accosted me. - -‘I’m going to bounce a mattress out of the steward for you, Marian,’ -said he, ‘but as no more lies than can be helped must be told, follow -me.’ - -I accompanied him up the lee poop-ladder. He led me a little way along -the deck and then crossed it to where a man was standing under the -shelter of one of the quarter-boats. - -‘Here’s this stowaway lad asked me to help him to a mattress, sir,’ -he exclaimed. ‘They’ve given him a bunk in the steerage, but there’s -nothing in it to lie upon.’ - -‘He deserves the cat for hiding aboard us,’ answered the man, who was -indeed Mr. Bates, the first mate. ‘What have they put him to, d’ye -know, Johnstone?’ - -‘He’s cuddy bottle-washer, sir.’ - -‘What’s brought you to sea, you young fool?’ - -‘I want to get to Tasmania, sir.’ - -‘Why didn’t you concern yourself in some riot, or turn Irish -politician; they’d have clothed and bedded and fed and sent you across -handsomely, and perhaps have fitted you with a good berth ashore at the -end; instead, you start as a sneak, and, no doubt, you’ll come home as -a sneak. Mattress--mattress--I’ve got nothing to do with that. Shift -for yourself and be off.’ - -I went on to the quarter-deck, wondering what on earth Will meant by -taking me to the mate, as though to provoke him to abuse me. Before I -entered the cuddy my cousin was at my elbow. You will remember that it -was very dark and nobody but the sentry was on the quarter-deck. - -‘It’s all right,’ said he eagerly. ‘I’ll manage it now. Wait a bit. You -must have a bed to lie on, you know. Don’t take to heart what the mate -says. It’s his duty to growl at you, but as a man he’s sound to the -heels.’ - -They were still at table in the cuddy. It was hard to realise that the -vessel was a prison-ship when you looked at this bright, rich interior, -with its soft yellow lamps flashing under the skylights and the -looking-glasses reduplicating the sparkling and hospitable furniture of -the table. It was like passing from another state of life to enter this -brightness and warmth from the wet and nipping blackness outside, with -the grim, dark figure of the sentry, the barricades, the blackness and -silence of the sentinelled main-hatch. - -The steward sent me to the pantry to wash glasses, and I went with his -assistant, a fellow named Franz or Frank, a young German. I had not -before known him for a German; I believe I had not heard him speak. He -was a freckled, ginger-coloured man, as expressionless of face as an -oyster. But he was good-tempered and willing, and when we were in the -pantry washing glasses he said that he hoped we should be friends. I -answered it would not be my fault if we were not good friends. On this -he shook hands with me and asked if I was ever in Germany. He wished -to know why I had stowed myself away in this convict ship and if I had -friends in Tasmania. - -‘I need not have hidden,’ said I. ‘My friends are well-to-do.’ - -‘Dot I can believe,’ said he, polishing a tumbler and closing one eye -while he held it to the lamp. ‘You vhas a young gentleman. Dot I hear -in your voice. Maybe you vhas more of a gentleman dan some dot ve vaits -on. How do you like Mr. Stiles?’ naming the steward. - -‘He is a funny man.’ - -‘How vhas he funny?’ said he. - -‘He made you laugh heartily when he talked to me.’ - -‘Dot vhas to please him. For my part----’ He shrugged his shoulders. He -then inquired if I had agreed for any wages, and expressed sorrow that -we were not to share a berth. ‘I likes to make you my chum--dot is der -verdt--whilst ve vhas togedder.’ - -Presently the steward called to us, and when I entered the cuddy I -found Mr. Bates at table and the captain and officers gone. Mr. Bates -was very quick with his dinner. He had charge of the deck. I believe he -was not above ten minutes in despatching his meal. He took no notice of -me. When he was gone, I helped the two stewards to strip the table, and -whilst this was doing Will Johnstone put his head in at the cuddy door -and called to the steward. - -‘There’s some spare convicts’ mattresses stowed away aft,’ said he, in -the peremptory voice of the sea. ‘You’re to let Marlowe have one; and -throw in a couple of the convicts’ blankets for his use. D’ye hear me, -steward?’ - -‘Yes, I hear you, young gentleman,’ answered the steward. ‘But who sent -me that bit of noose?’ - -Will, however, had backed a step and disappeared in the blackness. - -‘The order comes from Mr. Bates, I expect,’ said I. ‘I stepped on to -the poop some time since, to see if he’d let me have a mattress.’ - -‘Well, pink me if you was behind the door when cheek was sarved out,’ -said the steward. ‘Did he offer to throw you overboard?’ - -‘He asked me many questions. Mr. Bates seems one of the kindest-hearted -of men.’ - -The steward stared at me for a moment, muttered to himself, and then, -with something of an agitated hand, proceeded in his work of stripping -the table. However, Will’s ruse, or ‘bounce,’ as he had called it, -proved successful. Mr. Stiles, of course, supposed that the apprentice -had come with direct instructions; and when he had cleared the table he -took me into the steerage and, opening a cabin door, held up a lantern -and bade me choose a mattress. A number of convicts’ mattresses lay -stowed here, every one with a little pillow attached to it, and every -one was numbered, as though as a provision for a larger assemblage of -miscreants than had been shipped. Here, also, were two or three bales -of spare blankets, to a couple of which I helped myself; and now, -thanks to Will, I had a bed to lie on and clothes to cover me. - -In my own berth, as I may call it, I said to the steward, pointing to -the bundle in the upper bunk: ‘That can be left there. It will not be -in the way.’ - -‘What is it?’ said he. ‘Oh, it was brought aboard just afore we -started, and the captain gave it to me, thinking it might belong to -some of the soldiers or their wives as’d presently be claiming it. -It’s a herror,’ said he, looking at the parcel, ‘though the name of -this vessel’s wrote big enough for a monkey to read without glasses. -Let it lie. It’s out of the ways here.’ Then, looking around him, -he lost his temper. ‘Here’s a pretty go!’ he cried. ‘To think of a -Woolwich stowaway berthed in such a beautiful bedroom as this here! -It’s a-flying in the face of right, and it’s a-courting and caressing -of wickedness to make any one as has done wrong so comfortable. If this -gets wind, suffocate me if stowaways won’t breed thick as fleas in -vessels’ holds! But you’ll have to work.’ - -‘I’ll work, and work well,’ said I, smiling; ‘and as you treat me so -shall your reward be.’ - -He held the lantern to my face and said: ‘Where?’ - -‘Hobart Town.’ - -‘There’s no use a-dangling that sort of fly,’ said he; ‘I’m no one-eyed -fish. When I rise, it’s to summat juicy, with ne’er a hook in its -inside. Never you mind about Hobart Town, but turn to and get your -supper.’ - -I went to the pantry, where I found Frank. We supped off a dish that -had come from the cabin table. Frank informed me that had the captain -sent me to live before the mast, I should never have beheld or tasted -such a dish even in my dreams. ‘They starfs you,’ said he; ‘pork dot -vhas deadt of der measles, und beef dot vhas a horse until dey salt her -down into casks.’ Again he endeavoured to ascertain who I was and what -I meant to do on my arrival in Hobart Town. He said, if my connections -were flourishing people, he’d be very grateful if I’d put in a good -word for him. He was not born to this sort of life; he had seen better -days, wrote a good hand, and could correspond in three tongues. He had -signed articles for the round voyage, but was ready to run from the -ship if a chance offered. - -I looked mysterious and smiled knowingly, and said I guessed that when -my friends heard my story they would be glad to do a kindness to any -one who had proved a friend to me during the passage. He put oil into -my cabin-lamp and showed me how to trim it, and assured me that any -little conveniences which he possessed were at my service. I learned -that my work ended at nine. At half-past eight, the materials for grog -were placed upon the cabin table, and at two bells I was at liberty to -go to bed. - -‘But you’ll understand,’ said the steward, who gave me this -information, ‘that if all ’ands is called you must turn out. It’ll be -for me to sing down the hatch “All ’ands,” and you don’t stop to dress, -but rush up, for you’re never to know what hawful things ain’t on the -heve of ’appening when that loud cry of “All ’ands” rings through such -a big ship as this, and if you don’t turn out, then of course you’ll be -one of them parties as feel sorry for themselves next day.’ - -When two bells were struck I went into the recess under the poop to -take a look at the labouring ship and the dark night before going to -bed. The canvas had been reefed at eight o’clock; at that hour, and for -some time after, I had heard the wild hoarse notes of sailors singing -out at the ropes, and the cannonading of heavy sails whose released -halyards had abandoned the slack canvas to the thrashing gale. The ship -was rushing along her course, climbing the high seas and whitening out -the water till the seething waves gleamed like moonlight round about -her. Captain Barrett and the doctor were playing at chess in the cuddy; -the subaltern looked on with a paper cigar drooping at his mouth. All -seemed dark and at rest down the hatch where the soldiers’ quarters -were. I thought to myself if this ship were to strike another and -founder, what chance for their lives would the two hundred and thirty -men below have, lying, for all I knew, in their irons, so battened down -that nothing short of an explosion could lift the hatch for them. - -A figure approached and peered in my face; the cabin lamp-light was -upon him; it was Will. - -‘Is that you?’ said he doubtfully. - -On my replying, he put his hand into his pocket and gave me a little -parcel. ‘Here’s a pencil and paper for you, Marian,’ said he. ‘Be -mighty careful in writing, and don’t mention my name. You can’t be too -cautious. The sentries’ eyes are as keen as their bayonets. Have you a -mattress?’ - -‘Yes.’ - -‘Why don’t you go to bed?’ - -‘I am off in a minute.’ - -‘This is no place for you. I wish you were at home in Stepney.’ He went -on to the poop, and I descended to my berth. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -SHE SEES HER SWEETHEART - - -The convict mattress was hard, and the pillow was hard, and the -blankets as coarse as manufacture could contrive; yet I would not -have exchanged them for my own soft bed and linen at home. I was now -sleeping as Tom did: I was on board a convict ship as he was; and some -of the company I should be forced to keep were scarcely less rough -than the felons below. I should be doing work by day almost as hard, -perhaps, as Tom would be put to; I was, therefore, not only hand in -hand with my love in the sympathy of suffering, I was bearing almost -as heavy a burden as weighed upon him; and even his degradation was as -much mine as though I, too, were a convict, for he was my sweetheart, -and one day, God willing, would be my husband, and whatever touched -him touched me as though we had been one. - -These were my thoughts as I pulled the convict blankets over me and -put my head upon the little, hard, convict pillow, and lay for a while -listening to the torrent of foam that thundered past the porthole. I -then fell asleep, and my sleep was deep and dreamless as death, so -exhausted was I; and when I awoke, the cabin was glimmering out to the -light of the newly-broken morning, and I beheld the young man Frank -standing beside me. - -He told me it was time to turn out; the steward was calling for me; -there was the cabin deck to scrub and the cuddy to be got ready for -breakfast. - -‘I’ll follow you in an instant,’ said I. - -‘Do you know,’ said he, going to the door, ‘dot you vhas very -goodt-looking? It vhas lucky you hov goodt teeth, you show them even in -your sleep. I sometimes belief I must hov seen your sister. But hov you -a sister?’ - -‘No,’ said I, rubbing my eyes and troubled by these questions, and -wishing he would go. - -‘Vell, I vhas a waiter for two or three months at the Brunswick Hotel -in der East India Docks, and I remember a handsome young lady dot came -in once or twice in dot time. She vhas so much like you she might -easily hov been your sister.’ - -He went out when he had said this. I had no time to reflect, but -certainly I had found no air of suspicion in his manner. It took me but -a minute to plunge my face in cold water and go out, having lain down -for warmth, fully dressed, save my cap and shoes. On showing myself, -the steward told me to get a bucket and go on the poop and fetch water -from the pump, which the apprentices and some ordinary seamen were -washing down the deck by. - -I mounted the companion-ladder and found the morning brightening into -sunshine. The sea in the east was radiant with sliding hills of silver; -the sky was a delicate azure, high, with small feather-shaped clouds -linked like lacework. Passing us at the distance of a mile was a -large ship with flags flying. She was bowing the sea somewhat heavily, -and made a noble picture as she crushed the brine into snow under her -massive forefoot, yielding to the surge till the line of her green -copper showed with a long, wet flash, whilst the soft whiteness of her -canvas ran trembling in shadows to her trucks with her tossing, where -it blended with the feather-shaped clouds, so that you could scarce -tell one from another. - -Our own ship was clothed with sail to the royal yards, with dark lines -of damp where the reefs had been lately shaken out. I was too far aft -to see the main-deck. Smoke from the chimneys of the two galleys blew -black and brisk over the bow, showing that the wind nearly followed -us. The sailors were washing down, the head pump was going, and -buckets were being handed along from the forecastle, where stood the -sentry in a grey coat with his bayonet gleaming like silver. The first -person I saw on the poop was my cousin Will. He and several others -were scrubbing the deck hard with brushes, whilst a broad-shouldered -apprentice flung pailfuls of water along the planks. Will turned his -head and saw me, but took no further notice. Mr. Bates, the chief mate, -stood near the wheel, and I observed that he watched me whilst I filled -my bucket at the little pump that was kept a-gushing by an active young -seaman. It was a strange real picture of shipboard life on the high -seas. The cold of the night was still in the wind, and not yet had -the sun extinguished the melancholy of the gray dawn in the distant -recesses of the west. - -I saw no convict, but when I returned to the cuddy with my bucket full -of water, on looking through the windows which commanded a view of the -main-deck, I observed a number of the felons all hard at work brushing, -swabbing and cleaning. For an hour I worked with Frank, scrubbing the -cuddy deck, drying it, replacing the lengths of carpet and so on. The -steward then told me to get a hook-pot from the pantry and go to the -galley for some hot coffee for Frank and myself. I found a hook-pot and -stepped on to the quarter-deck, meaning to walk forward by the narrow -gangway; but a number of seamen on some job there blocked it, so I went -past the sentry at the barricade gate. - -I was trembling, and felt myself pale. There were many convicts -about, and any one at a moment might turn and prove to be Tom. Some -were coiling ropes away, some slapped the deck with swabs, some were -cleaning the paintwork; they were all ironed. The decks, dark with -brine, were greasy, the motions of the ship quick and uncomfortable, -and the irons, robbing the limbs of all elasticity, caused many of the -unhappy wretches to slide and stagger as they moved about, for which -they would be sharply and sometimes brutally yelled at by the convicts -who overseered them. The prize-fighter was savagely swabbing near the -main-hatch. He struck the deck as though he would split it. I was -obliged to pass him close. He saw me and nodded, and said in a low, -thick, sarcastic voice, ‘Dice work to put a gentlebud to.’ - -‘Attend to what you’re about there!’ roared a man on the other side of -the deck. - -I pushed on. A convict stood at the ship’s side, coiling a rope over -a pin. His face was averted, but as I neared him he moved his head to -look in the direction of the poop. It was Tom. Our eyes met. He did not -know me and turned his gaze away, then looked again, then stared as if -paralysed. His hands were arrested as though he had been struck dead; -his face whitened to the complexion of death. I brushed past him close, -saying in a low voice, but distinctly, ‘Tom, dearest, it is Marian. We -are together and shall yet be happy,’ and so saying I went on without -again looking and entered the ship’s galley. - -But the sudden encounter, seeing him in irons, so affected me that -I could scarcely draw my breath. I noticed with a pang of exquisite -distress that he looked ill; his complexion an unhealthy white, his -cheeks sunk, his eyes hollow and leaden. When I was in the galley I -stood struggling to get my breath before attempting to speak; then I -heard a commotion outside. The stout cook pushed past me, and, putting -his head through the galley-door, cried, after staring a few moments: -‘Blowed if it don’t look as if the poor chap was dying!’ - -I sprang through the door and saw Tom supported by two or three -convicts. He lay in their arms in the posture of a man lifted on to his -feet but unable to stand. In a minute or two he struggled and stood -erect, and I heard him say: ‘There, lads, I thank you. Just a passing -faintness. Take no more heed of me;’ and, picking up the rope, he -continued in his task of coiling it over the pin. I watched him coil a -second rope away and then re-entered the galley. - -‘I wonder them coves ain’t a-fainting every hour,’ said the cook, as -he filled my hook-pot with hot coffee. ‘No grog and no baccy! Think of -that; and a vindier diet than fo’c’sle allowance. Burgoo may be good -eating for them as thinks the bagpipes good music; but you may take it -from me, my lad, that it ain’t the sort of stuff for a growed-up man -to go to bed on. There’s too much sop a-going in prison fare. A gent -who’s brought himself up for years on champagne, salmon, and the best -of eating, signs the wrong name to a bit of paper and’s put aboard a -ship like this, where he gets nothen to eat but cocoa and ship’s beef -and burgoo. Can the likes of such men help fainting? Ask yourself. I -dessey the covey as swounded just now was a nob in his way before he -was took. There’s no telling who’s who down below. Out of the road now, -my lively! Here’s the sailors a-coming for their tea.’ - -I got into the narrow gangway and so made my way aft that I might not -again pass Tom. My dread was for myself rather than for him. If I drew -close and once more looked him in the face, my passion of love must -vent itself in some desperate betraying manner. Girl as I was, I found -a curse in my heart for the barbarity that weighted my sweetheart’s -ankles with iron, and a curse for the law that had suffered two -villains to swear his liberty, fortune, happiness away and make a -broken-hearted convict of him. - -I drank a little coffee in the pantry with my fellow-servant, but -ate nothing. The German supposed I was fretting over having run away -and good-naturedly tried to cheer me. However, as the time passed, -my spirits improved, for now I knew beyond all doubt that Tom was on -board; and he also knew beyond all doubt that I was with him, and it -comforted me to reflect that without any further explanation he would -understand why I had made no attempt to bid him farewell at Woolwich. - -And still I was anxious. He would soon discover, by observing me as I -passed to and fro, that I had been put to menial work unfit for the -lady of his love, for the girl of his heart, for a woman who had been -greatly indulged, who knew nothing of hardships, whose means were -ample for one of her degree. I feared his spirit would chafe and fret -over the thought of my being a common helper in the cabin--cuddy-deck -scrubber, a ship’s scullery boy--and that to deliver me from these -degrading offices he might betray me, tell the story of our love, -and exactly reveal my condition, not doubting, I dare say, that -Captain Sutherland would then charge me for my passage and treat me -as a passenger. And, indeed, I should have been very willing to be -a passenger, to pay any exorbitant sum for that privilege, had the -thing been contrivable now that I was on board. But could it have -been managed? No. Because whether I revealed myself as a woman with a -secret which nothing could make her avow, or whether I owned my sex and -frankly declared that I had followed Tom because of my love for him, in -either case the stern and suspicious doctor would either oblige me to -land at any port we had occasion to water at, or compel the captain to -pass me into the first ship that would receive me. - -I found an opportunity after the cuddy breakfast things had been -cleared away to write a letter to Tom. I wrote in my cabin and used -the pencil and paper my cousin had given to me. Whilst I wrote I had -not felt so tranquil in spirits, so easy, nay, so happy in my heart, -for months. Tom was near me. Nothing but death or ocean calamity could -separate us till we arrived at Tasmania, and then I should be in the -same land with him, with opportunities that I could not now imagine; -this writing was like talking to him, and the sweeter because it was -secret; no governor would first read my letter. - -I wrote very small, in pencil, that I might put much into narrow -compass. I told him of the arrangements I had made before leaving home, -why I had dressed as a boy, why I had hidden myself in this convict -ship instead of following by a passenger vessel. I gave him my reasons -for desiring to continue as a boy, and wound up by begging him to keep -up his heart, to be sure we should be happy yet in the new land, and I -implored him to feel easy as to my situation, my duties being light, my -berth comfortable, and my associates civil and obliging. - -I folded this letter into the smallest square I could pack it into, and -put it into my waistcoat pocket ready to convey to Tom at some such -another opportunity as had befallen that morning. But as it turned -out, the weather changed that day, and for four successive days it -blew hard, with incessant rain, which often flashed in whole sheets -of water betwixt the reeling masts, and not a convict appeared on deck -except the messmen at meal-times to pass the food below. - -During one of these wet and howling days, when the ship, under small -canvas, was swinging over the hills of pallid water, I stood in the -recess under the break of the poop. My work was done; I had stepped -out to look at the ship before going to bed. The vessel rushed through -the night in darkness, and the night itself lay black as ink around -the sea with a little faintness over our mastheads as though there was -a moon there. I was about to go to bed, when Will came off the poop -and, distinguishing me in the light that lay on the cuddy windows, he -screwed himself into a dark corner, and called. I went down the slope -of deck. - -‘I have been talking about you to the chief mate,’ said he. ‘I have -told him that by an accident I have found out who you are. I said your -mother’s name was Marlowe, and that your father, in his life, was a -client of my father’s. Mr. Bates supposes that your mother married -a cousin of her own name. I told him I knew that you were thoroughly -respectable, and that you had left your home because your stepfather -led you a dog’s life.’ - -‘What was the good of your telling him all this?’ said I, feeling very -angry, though I controlled myself. ‘But I know how it’ll end. You’ll -talk and talk till you betray me, and then that odious doctor will -take the first opportunity to turn me out of the ship. All that I have -suffered and passed through will go for nothing, and I shall lose sight -of Tom, and perhaps be separated from him for ever,’ and now I felt as -if I must cry. - -‘Don’t talk like a fool,’ said Will; ‘I’m not going to betray you. I -want to go on helping you as I helped you from the start, but as I -ought never to have helped you. How are you going to get any clothes? -Think! Don’t talk of the slop-chest. You’re not on the articles. -There’ll not be a farthing coming to you. You’ve been searched, and, as -you said yourself, it’s out of the question you should produce money -now. Will the captain trust a stowaway? Of course not. So there’s no -slop-chest so far as you’re concerned. Yet how long d’ye think those -clothes of yours are going to hang upon your body, scrubbing and -messing about in them as you are all day long? And when wear has turned -them into Irish pennants, what are you going to do for a shift of duds? -Why, you must come to me, of course. But how can I help you if I don’t -know you in some such a way as to justify me in taking an interest in -you? Now do you see what I would be at?’ cried he, giving me a soft, -playful chuck under the chin. - -‘Yes, I understand now. I ask your pardon. You are clever and look -ahead.’ - -‘Well, that’s all right,’ said he; ‘and now I shall be able to give you -a shift of linen and to mostly rig you out. Most of what’s in my chest -was given to me by you. Nobody can say a word when it’s understood -that your father was a client of the old man’s. It’ll raise you in -the general esteem, also. So, say what you will, I’ve done you a good -turn this blessed night. And now get to bed away out of this filthy -yowling. Look how sweetly it rains! And I’ve still three hours to -stand!’ - -With that he made a spring on to the poop-ladder and disappeared. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -SHE VISITS THE BARRACKS - - -I have said that this passage of wet, violent weather lasted about four -days. On the morning of the fourth day of it the steward sent me to the -galley on some errand I forget the nature of. The cook was wild with -temper. Everything seemed to have gone wrong with him. The baker had -offered to fight him for his day’s allowance of rum. He had scalded -himself, besides, during an unusually heavy lurch. When I looked in on -him he swore and told me to wait. It was all the same to me. It had -ceased to rain, and I stood under the lee of the galley for shelter -from the wind. - -It was a grey, dark, dismal, roaring day. The seas rolled in hills of -green, and the foam of them, as their heads broke, was blown high up in -white smoke. The ship looked strained aloft. Her lee rigging and gear -were arched out by the gale; the bands of topsails were dusky with wet, -and the wind screamed like children flying in terror. The barricades -gave the ship a most miserable appearance. The decks sobbed with the -ceaseless soaking, and the white water flashed inboards through the -scupper-holes wherever the vessel buried her lee side. At the far -end of the poop was the helmsman, sharply rising and falling against -the whirling soot of the sky. The officer of the watch, clothed in -oilskins, stood grasping a stay near a quarter-boat. A single sentry -stood at the head of the poop-ladder. The poor fellow was sodden, and -seemed withered by the ceaseless pouring of the blast. One cannot but -feel sorry for soldiers at sea. The forecastle sentry looked equally -wretched. Those on the main-deck were in some degree sheltered by the -weather bulwarks. A strange smell of cattle, hay, poultry, and pigs, -came from the long-boat, within and under which the live-stock were -stowed. A dismal, wet, roaring, frost-cold picture. The melancholy -horror of it is upon my spirits as I talk to you, and yet this was but -the first week of what might prove a passage of months. - -I heard the boatswain’s voice of thunder giving orders to some seamen -on the other side of the galley. Presently he came round to my side -of the deck, and on seeing me called out, ‘I’ve got some o’ your -property. The chief mate says I’m to hand it over to you. Here’s the -handkerchief,’ said he. ‘There was two pipes. Well, I can’t return ’em -because they’re broke. Here’s yer tinder-box and arrangement, and a -pretty contrivance it is. When I get ashore I shall ask my young woman -to make me a present of such another.’ - -‘You are very welcome to it, Mr. Balls.’ - -‘Say you so? Smite me if I haven’t been swearing you was a gentleman -born and bred ever since I first lugged you out of the t’garns’l. Well, -I’m truly obliged. As pretty a little----’ and he walked off, talking -aloud as he looked at the tinder-box. - -I heard the cook speaking with great excitement to his mate, and -guessed that I should do well to keep quiet until he told me that -he was ready. A few minutes later a soldier’s wife rose through the -hatch near the cuddy-front--they called it the booby-hatch--and came -forward. She had a shawl over her head, and was bringing a pudding to -the cook to be baked. A sudden heave of the ship drove her against the -lee bulwarks. I went to her help, took the dish from her, and put it -into her hands again when we had reached the galley. She was the pretty -young wife who had before taken notice of me with smiles. The cook -spoke insolently to her--asked her if she thought he’d shipped to do -nothing but look after such small mucking jobs of barracks pastry as -that there. He wasn’t ‘no blushen’ soldiers’ cook.’ If it depended upon -him there’d be no army. ‘What! Keep a scaldin’ lot o’ gutterpeckers in -money, good wittles, and fine clothes at the expense of the nation, -whose sailors has to do all the real fighting when it comes to it?’ He -said much in this way, shouting loudly, and sticking and thrusting and -gesticulating with a long, dangerous-looking fork used for bringing -up the meat out of the coppers. The woman threatened to fetch the -sergeant. The cook, with a horrid laugh, begged her to lose no time. -His coppers were ready, he said, and he’d warrant the sergeant boiled -to a turn before four bells. After more of this Mr. Cook took the -dish from the woman, eyed and smelled it, with a sarcastic leer, and -requested the woman to clear out. - -She stood at my side, breathing short, and very angry and flushed, and -said if she told her husband of the cook’s behaviour he would kill him. -I advised her to take no notice of the fellow. All sea cooks in a gale -of wind were bad-tempered to a proverb. They had much to put up with. -Only think of being forced to cook in a kitchen that was continually -rolling about, saucepans sliding, sea-water bursting in, hungry -sailors, with knives in their hands, full of threats and oaths if time -was not punctually kept. I put the case humorously, and she began to -laugh and to peep at me with her bright eyes. - -She asked me what I waited for, and, one thing leading to another, she -seemed in no hurry to quit me. And, indeed, we stood very snug, warm, -and sheltered under the lee of the galley. We got upon the subject of -the quarters below. - -‘What sort of barracks have you?’ said I. - -‘Come down and see them when you can,’ said she. - -‘Whom must I apply to for permission?’ said I. - -‘You’ll want no permission, I believe,’ she answered. ‘You belong to -the ship. But I’ll speak to my husband, and the sergeant’ll make no -difficulty.’ - -‘I should like to see the convicts’ quarters,’ said I. - -‘You’ll be able to get a peep at them through the door in the steerage -bulkhead. I may be able to manage that for you, too,’ said she. ‘Dick -has sentry there for some time to-day. If you’ll stop here, I’ll find -out at once, and come back and tell you the hour.’ - -I thanked her, earnestly hoping that the hour would fit in with my -duties. Before she returned the cook was ready for me. I went toward -the cuddy, and as I passed the booby-hatch the soldier’s wife came up. - -‘You’re welcome to step below whenever you please,’ said she. ‘The -sergeant’s got an eye upon you and wants to ’list you,’ she added, -laughing. ‘And a sweet young soldier you’d make--a heart-breaker, -indeed,’ said she, looking at me with a shake of the head. ‘Dick’s on -sentry at twelve. If that’ll suit, come then. He’ll take no notice -whilst you look.’ - -Twelve was the very hour I would have named. It was my dinner-hour, and -I had a clear half-hour at the very least before helping to prepare -the cuddy luncheon. When eight bells struck I came to the hatch, but -warily. The doctor was talking to the captain at the after-end of the -cuddy, and I did not mean that either of them should see where I was -going. It still blew hard, and was very thick, and the officers were -unable to get an observation of the sun. I stooped, that the two men -in the cuddy might lose sight of me. By the looks of the sentry at the -quarter-deck barricade I guessed he knew that I was going to pay his -quarters a visit, and that it was all right. But I cared not who saw me -descend unless it were the officers of the ship and guard. - -I put my foot over and easily went down an almost perpendicular -ladder. I found myself in a somewhat strange interior. On the right, -or starboard, hand was a long cabin, which Will afterwards told me had -been designed for a midshipman’s berth. This cabin was occupied by -the unmarried soldiers. On the left-hand side were a number of rough -whitewood cabins, rudely erected--such cabins as are put together for -the use of poor emigrants. The married couples and children slept in -them. Light descended through the booby-hatch, but the day was very -scowling, as you know, and it needed some use to see well. A couple of -tables were cleated athwartships, and two or three of the women were -preparing them for dinner. A few soldiers were sitting about reading -or talking. In one of the berths a baby was crying loudly, and several -children sat in a group in a corner playing. - -The good-looking young wife came from some part of these quarters, -or barracks, as I descended. She showed me a married couple’s -sleeping-berth, and bade me, as I was a young man, put my head boldly -into the single men’s cabin and not mind them. I seemed to look, -but in truth I had no eyes but for the strong, gloomy, prison-like -bulkhead which served as the afterwall of the convicts’ prison. This -bulkhead stretched from side to side. It was studded with iron knobs, -mushroom-shaped. A number of holes were bored in it--perhaps twenty. -I knew the object of those holes. They were intended to receive the -muzzles of muskets, so that a volley of twenty muskets could be fired -at once into the throng of convicts confined below in case of an -uprising or other tragic trouble. I also observed what resembled a disk -in the centre of this barricade, somewhat low down. I asked the woman -what it meant. She inquired of a soldier, who answered that it had been -a hole to receive the muzzle of a cannon, but that the orifice had been -stopped. - -‘It’s handy to command with grape and canister in case of a -difficulty,’ said the soldier, speaking with an Irish accent. ‘A great -gun, loaded to the muzzle, is the right way to keep an oye upon such -lads as thim yonder. ’Tis wan of them oyes that never winks nor slapes.’ - -On the right of the barricade was the door, where stood the sentry--the -‘Dick’ of my pretty companion. I had supposed that the main-hatch was -the only means of entering the ’tweendecks; but this afterdoor, it -seems, was always used by the doctor for going his rounds. - -‘Tell him to look and be quick, Jane,’ said the sentry. - -‘Clap your eye to a hole,’ said the young woman. ‘Dick dursn’t open the -door for you.’ - -I did so, and saw almost as much as if the sentry had opened the door. -The light was faint and dim; such daylight as there was hung round -about the main-hatch where the stanchions came down from the sides of -the hatch in the form of a gigantic square bird-cage. There were no -scuttles or portholes, no skylights for the admission of light or air -overhead. The place seemed full of men, shadowy heaps of them, with -a number of dim shapes in motion, giving a look of wild, unnatural -vitality to such of the ghostly mob as sat and were at rest. - -The soldier’s wife put her eye to a loophole beside mine. I asked -her what those restless figures were about, and she answered they -were messmen and mess helpers preparing for the convicts’ dinner by -half-past twelve. A double tier of sleeping shelves divided into -compartments, each wide enough to accommodate several men sleeping side -by side, ran the whole length on either hand of these ’tweendecks. I -heard a subdued growl of voices and the frequent clank of irons, but -high above all sounded the ceaseless straining and crazy complaining of -the numerous bulkheads which went to the equipment of the ship in this -part. - -Far forward on the left was a sort of cabin; I knew it was the prison -by Will’s description. The hospital lay in this end, and I could not -see it. The air was fairly sweet and fresh where I stood, owing to -the booby-hatch lying wide open, protected as it was by the cuddy -recess; but I seemed to fancy a dreadful oppression and closeness of -atmosphere in those ’tweendecks where the many shadowy shapes were -herded. Which of all those spectral figures was Tom? Oh, my heart! -To think of him in his innocence, ironed, entombed in that close and -dimly-lighted prison, forced to lie of a night, side by side with -felons, obliged to listen to their hideous talk, to their boasts of -past crimes, to their threats of darker villainies yet, when the moment -should come to free their hand. - -‘Now, Jane, your friend must be off,’ said the sentry, ‘or the -doctor’ll be coming along.’ - -I nodded civilly to him, thanked his pretty wife, and went on deck. I -was half mad with grief and passion. The reality had far exceeded my -imagination of the wretchedness and horror of the prisoners’ quarters. -I believe I should have been less shocked had I passed into the -’tweendecks by way of the main-hatch; but it was like taking a view of -some nightmare imagination of human misery to peer through the loophole -into that tossing, straining, and groaning interior, dimly touched -with daylight in the centre, faintly irradiated by lantern-light in -other parts, the whole strange shadow of it thickened and jumbled by -the scarcely determinable shapes of men sitting, standing, moving, the -clank of irons coming from them, and the low growl of speech. - -I went about my work as usual, helped at the luncheon-table, exchanged -sentences with Frank, cleaned and polished as was now my business; -but all the while I was secretly raging with sorrow and temper. I was -asking myself: Is it not in my power to release Tom from this horrible -hell? Have I not the wit to devise a scheme for giving him his liberty? -They may flog me, they may hang me if they will; let me but enable -Tom to get away from that loathsome jail below, and they may do what -they will. Twenty fancies occurred to me. I thought of my cousin Will -assisting me to secrete my sweetheart in some part of the ship, as -I had lain hidden, where I should be able to feed him and where he -would lie until the ship’s arrival! Then I thought of his escaping -in a quarter-boat which I would secretly provision for him! But why -pursue the catalogue of these ridiculous dreams? They were a girl’s -passionate, ignorant fancies, born of despair and wrath. In some of my -fancies I was as wicked as the worst of the wretches below. I would -have sacrificed every life on board, including my own, to procure Tom’s -liberty, to free him from the horrors the unjust hand of the law had -heaped upon him. I would have set fire to the ship, I would have gnawed -a hole in her bottom as patiently as a rat’s tooth penetrates a plank, -if by burning, if by sinking, the vessel I could have liberated my -sweetheart. - -But I cooled down by degrees. Indeed, this morning the steward kept me -running about, and I could only think in snatches; so that meditation -was thin and brief, and its influence light and passing. - -During the afternoon, some considerable time before sunset, the wind -shifted, the sky cleared, and we had fine weather. Sail was made on the -ship. The sea ran in a strong, dark-blue swell, which shouldered the -sunshine from brow to brow, and filled the ocean in the south-west with -a roving splendour. Two or three white sails of ships showed upon the -horizon. I supposed that by this time we had been blown some distance -out of the Bay of Biscay. Certainly our course had been straight and -our speed thunderous during the past dark days of storm. - -Shortly after the weather cleared the convicts were ordered on deck. -I stood in the cuddy door to see them assemble. They came up one by -one, and were massed in lines close to the barricade, with their faces -turned toward the poop. I supposed they had been disciplined aboard the -hulk. The convict ‘captains’ and felon overseers found no difficulty -in marshalling them. The men fell in as though they had been soldiers, -wheeling about and taking up their positions whilst the decks rang with -short, sharp cries of command and the tramp of ironed feet. I took a -step on to the quarter-deck and looked up at the break of the poop, and -there saw the doctor, with Captain Sutherland by his side. The officers -of the guard were at the rail, and behind stood a number of the guard -under arms. - -As the barricade obstructed my sight, and as I was determined to see -what was going on, I picked up a tray and went down the port gangway -alley, as though I had business at the galley. The yards were braced -somewhat forward, and I stood close to the great maintack, which -sheltered me from the sight of the poop. Here I could observe without -being seen. Unhappily, my position brought the backs of the convicts -upon me. Tom was not to be distinguished among that throng of closely -packed felons. A few were in the hospital; two or three in the prison. -There might be two hundred and twenty men gathered together behind the -barricade--all facing aft--their faces upturned to the doctor. - -His purpose in assembling them was to deliver a lecture. He spoke -loudly and with earnestness, but seemed to have no sense whatever of -irony. It was strange that a person of his experience should not guess -that the greater part of his discourse would be listened to with the -tongue in the cheek. He talked to the convicts as though they had been -a congregation of respectable worshippers, people who led an honest -life in their trades and houses six days, and on the seventh attended -church, instead of a body of men of whom two-thirds were hardened -scoundrels--seasoned, stewed, salted down in crime; miscreants who -would return to their old villainies, and to viler villainies yet, the -instant they were at large, if the country they found themselves in -provided them with the chances they wanted. - -I remember he told them they were one large family, and that the -opportunities during the voyage of exercising the best and kindliest -feelings would be ample. Every one was to prefer his brother to -himself. They were not only to be careful of each other’s comforts, -but to be kindly watchful over each other’s speech and behaviour. -‘I forbid,’ said he, ‘the use of all irritating or provoking speech -or gestures in your intercourse with each other, the employment of -all vulgar epithets and unmanly nicknames, the use of which always -indicates a low and undisciplined mind.’ I listened for a general laugh -when he pointed out the necessity for convicts cultivating a humble, -meek, and gentle spirit--submissive, contented, and thankful; of their -ever remembering the injury they had inflicted on their country, and -particularly the expense to which they had put the Government! - -The prisoners swayed with the movements of the deck. They all seemed -to listen with attention to the doctor’s discourse, but then any man -will appear to listen with attention to the speech of another who has -it in his power to flog him for not doing so. It was a strange scene, -familiar enough in those days, never more by any possibility to be -beheld again. On high spread the canvas in cloud upon cloud, swelling -to the western brightness; soft masses of vapour rolled stately under -a sky of deep, liquid blue; the swaying mass of convicts in the sickly -hue of their prison dress, their irons like a chain cable stretching -the length of the planks, half filled the barricade inclosure; at the -brass rail above stood the doctor, flourishing his hand whilst he -addressed them, and the listeners beside him were thrown out strong -upon the eye by the red line of soldiers standing close behind. A pause -seemed to fall upon the ship; the sailors dropped their work to stare -and hearken; the second mate and the apprentices strained their gaze -from the lee side of the poop at the rows of faces; far aft was the -helmsman, stretching his neck and turning his head on one side and then -on the other, as though to hear what the doctor said. - -‘The youngest amongst you now,’ continued the doctor, ‘in some measure -understand that it is in the strictest sense a moral discipline which -I desire to see in operation on board this transport. In further proof -of which I shall give orders that those irons--the badges of your -disgrace--with which you are at present fettered, be removed from the -whole of you; and I do most ardently hope that when I have once caused -them to be struck off, you will not by your conduct demand of their -being again replaced; for what can be more disgraceful to you and -painful to me than the clanking of those irons as you walk along the -decks?’ - -The address lasted about three-quarters of an hour. Captain Barrett -replaced and let fall his eye-glass with impatience. A number of the -convicts were now sent below, to return presently, as I supposed, -when the others should have taken their allowance of exercise. I -dared not linger, and walked slowly aft, sending searching looks at -the prisoners, though I did not see Tom. How was I to deliver my -letter? But it chanced that I had sight of many strange faces. A gang -of prisoners passed close as I went toward the cuddy; a few were -grey-haired men, bowed and wrinkled; some were young, and I marked that -all these had defiant looks. One countenance, quickly as it passed, -impressed me strongly; the man had fine, large, black, flashing eyes, -and was a handsome, dark person, half a head taller than those who -trudged near him; he held himself erect, and I seemed to notice a -sort of theatrical air in his strides spite of the irons. I had heard -someone say there was an actor among the felons, and I guessed that man -was he. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -SHE ALARMS HER COUSIN - - -At the dinner-table that day most of the talk I caught concerned the -convicts and the Australian settlements. Captain Barrett told the -doctor that he considered his address to the prisoners deuced fine. The -doctor bowed. - -‘What makes criminals, sir?’ asked Captain Sutherland. - -‘The dislike of honest labour,’ answered the doctor. - -‘It’s the mothers who make the criminals,’ said the lieutenant. - -The doctor viewed him sternly. I do not think he loved these -discussions. - -‘Don’t the magnetic character of an iron ship depend upon the direction -of her head while building?’ said the lieutenant. - -‘I have seen but one iron ship, sir,’ said Captain Sutherland. - -‘Well,’ continued the lieutenant, ‘it’s so with the baby before birth: -the mother may choose her own compass bearings for the child--virtue or -vice, as may be. ’Tis the mother has the building of the bairn, look -you, Ellice. If she don’t go right whilst the bairn’s putting together, -be sorry for the little ’un. He’s booked in irons and a gray suit for a -shiny land.’ - -‘Fudge,’ said the doctor. - -The captain, however, seemed impressed by the lieutenant’s opinion, and -continued to look at him. - -‘Did you ever have charge of an uglier lot, Ellice?’ asked Captain -Barrett. - -‘I don’t recognise human ugliness,’ answered the doctor. ‘Is the egg -bad? That’s it; never mind the look and colour of the shell.’ - -‘What becomes of a convict when he dies?’ said the lieutenant. - -‘What becomes of the ripple when it breaks upon the shore?’ answered -Captain Sutherland. - -‘Do convicts really stand any chance out in the colonies, do you -think?’ said the lieutenant. - -‘An excellent chance,’ said the doctor. - -‘Too good a chance!’ exclaimed Captain Sutherland. - -I pricked my ears. I was then at the end of the cuddy waiting till the -gentlemen should have done with certain dishes which it would be my -business to carry forward. - -‘How is a rogue to establish himself?’ asked Lieutenant Chimmo. - -‘There’s plenty to be done,’ answered the doctor. ‘Labour is always in -demand. When a man is on ticket-of-leave he may live where he pleases.’ - -‘They are much better used than our labourers at home,’ said Captain -Sutherland. - -‘What about the chain-gangs?’ exclaimed Captain Barrett. - -‘The chain-gang is punishment,’ said the doctor. ‘It is hard work, but -not harder than the toil of many an honest man at home for a famishing -wage. Not harder than the labours of a French fishwife, for example.’ - -‘I would rather work in a chain-gang than dig in a coal mine,’ said -Captain Sutherland. - -‘A convict’s hired out as a servant by the Government to the applicant, -isn’t he?’ said Captain Barrett. - -‘Yes. You must be a landholder if you apply. I’m speaking of New South -Wales,’ answered the doctor. ‘You must hold three hundred and twenty -acres for every one convict you get. Seventy-five convicts are the -limit. No man may have more.’ - -‘Should you feel happy, Barrett,’ said Lieutenant Chimmo, ‘to be -waited on and generally done for by seventy-five of the gentry in our -’tweendecks? How would you like to be shaved by a cracksman, tucked -up every night by an incendiary, cooked for by a chemist lagged for -a trifling blunder in the shape of strychnia, waited on behind your -chair, you know, by a gent who has been spun for digging up bodies?’ - -‘Are the convicts decently well fed out in the settlements?’ inquired -Captain Barrett. - -‘Yes. The hirer’s obliged to give his man plenty to eat. He’s made -to sign a bond,’ responded the doctor. ‘The convicts feed on beef, -mutton, and pork, and they get wheat and maize meal; their clothes are -two jackets and two pairs of trousers a year, shoes and shirts, and a -mattress and blankets besides.’ - -Just then the steward motioned to me, and I was sent out of the cuddy. - -This talk made me very thoughtful. I went about my work as full of -reflection as though I had been planning a poem. What was the cost of -land by the acre in Tasmania? If I purchased three hundred and twenty -acres in that country, would they give me Tom for a servant? Or, -suppose Tom should be hired before I qualified for a landholder, for I -was without a friend in Tasmania and months must pass before I could -receive money from England, should I be able to bribe his employer into -parting with him? My spirits mounted with my fancies. The doctor knew -what he was talking about, and in imagination I beheld myself the owner -of a little estate in Tasmania with Tom by my side, and our home as -happy as love could make it. - -In the first dog-watch that evening I had an hour to myself. The wind -was mild and sweet, and the sea ran in soft folds. Frank had told me -that the ship was many miles to the south of the Bay of Biscay, and -that if our course was to be shaped east we should bring Gibraltar over -the bow. - -This young German joined me whilst I stood near the cuddy door, and -asked me to smoke a pipe. I said that my pipes had been broken for me -by the boatswain. He offered to lend me a pipe. I told him that the -ship’s tobacco was too strong for my taste, that I was never much of a -smoker, and then changed the subject, but watched him whilst he talked; -conscience made me afraid; then again, I was much thrown with this -young man who, though an insipid German, was not wholly a fool: it was -impossible to say what little hints or tricks of my sex he might have -observed. - -I was made uneasier still later on, when Lieutenant Chimmo stepped -through the cuddy door with a cigar in his mouth; he was passing, then -paused and stood puffing and looking at me without taking the least -notice of the German steward. I was nearly as tall as this subaltern. - -‘Are you an only child?’ said he. - -I stared at him, and in that instant meant not to answer; changed my -mind, and answered: ‘Yes, sir.’ - -‘A pity!’ said he. ‘If you had a sister and she resembled you, she -would be----’ He glanced at Frank, who was grinning, checked his speech -with a face of contempt, and addressing me again, exclaimed: ‘I hear -they are gradually making discoveries about you!’ - -This startled me, and I may have looked at him earnestly. - -‘Oh,’ said he, smiling, ‘nothing’s been found out that’s going to bring -you into trouble; on the contrary, you prove much more respectable -than you seemed to wish us to believe, when you were dug up out of -that hole forward. Your father was a sea-captain--the sea is a very -honest calling. But why should you run away from your home to become a -cuddy under-steward? There’s no ambition in that, my lad, is there?’ He -cast another look of contempt at Frank. ‘Unless, indeed, you were for -carrying out the old-established notions of the story-writers who are -always sending their runaway heroes to sea as cabin-boys.’ - -At this moment, Captain Barrett, who was on the poop, overhearing the -subaltern’s voice, called to him, and Lieutenant Chimmo went up the -ladder. - -‘I should like to be talked about as you are,’ said Frank. ‘Dot means -dey know you vhas a shentleman. You vill find dot dey do not talk about -me. I fonder dot they doan give you some verk your little handts vhas -more fit for dan vashing plates.’ - -‘I wish they would not talk about me,’ said I. ‘I am comfortable and -content. I wish to travel to Tasmania in my own way. I earn my food. I -shan’t receive a shilling for my services. Why will they talk?’ - -‘Dere vhas something about you, Marlowe,’ said Frank, ‘dot oxcites and -puzzles them. She oxcites and puzzles me too. What vhas it? Potsblitz! -I likes to talk about you myself if I meets mit any one dot vill talk -about you likewise.’ - -He was proceeding in this strain when my cousin Will came along the -gangway alley. All the convicts were below at supper. Nobody was on -the main-deck but the sentry at the hatch. A number of seamen were -assembled on the forecastle, and amongst them were a few of the guard. -At the break of that raised fore-deck stalked the sentinel, and his -bayonet gleamed in the sun as though wet with blood. - -‘Marlowe,’ said my cousin, halting at a distance, ‘come forward and -I’ll give you the things I promised you.’ - -And having said this he walked away as though he had condescended -enough. And he was wise to treat me so, for on stepping out of the -recess and turning my head I saw the captain and the doctor and the two -officers of the guard standing at the rail in conversation. - -I followed my cousin to his cabin. He had entered before me, and when I -arrived I found him alone. - -‘I shan’t call you Marian any more,’ said he. ‘Suppose I should be -overheard? And I’ll not call you Simon either. Why didn’t you ship as -Jack or Bill? Take now what you want, and when you have shifted give me -your soiled clothes and I’ll get them washed.’ - -He raised the lid of his chest, and I took a flannel shirt and such -other apparel as I needed. - -‘You’ll find that pilot coat melting wear a few degrees further south,’ -said he. ‘Here’s a serge jacket. Will it fit you?’ - -I put it on, then rolled the clothes into a bundle and stayed to talk. - -‘Will, does anyone on board suspect I’m a woman?’ - -‘I don’t know of any one,’ he answered; ‘what’s put that into your -head?’ - -‘Nothing. I don’t want to be found out. Depend upon it, if the doctor -and the others discovered that I was a girl, they’d suspect me of some -desperate purpose and send me out of the ship at the first chance.’ - -‘That’s likely,’ said Will, cutting up a piece of tobacco to fill his -pipe with; ‘but who’d imagine you’re a girl? You walk like a man and -begin to roll about like a sailor. You lug your basket of foul dishes -forward in true bottle-washer fashion.’ - -‘Not so loud,’ said I, looking toward the door. - -‘I’ve heard nothing about you for’ard,’ he continued. ‘They -occasionally talk of you aft. I catch scraps of speech as the skipper -and the others stump the poop. I heard that fellow, Captain Barrett, -say that he notices you take a great interest in all talk at table that -concerns the convicts. I’d wear a deaf face in the cuddy, if I were -you.’ - -‘I’ll do so. That Captain Barrett’s right. The hint won’t be lost, -I assure you,’ said I, looking at myself in a square of glass and -observing by the strong red light that my complexion had been something -darkened already by my frequent exposure on deck, though it was still -too soft and delicate a skin to please me. ‘But,’ said I, speaking low, -‘I shan’t greatly heed any suspicions that don’t touch my sex.’ - -‘Have you seen anything more of Butler?’ he asked, also speaking low. - -I shook my head with a sigh, and, pulling the letter from my pocket, -told him how long it had been written, and that I had found no chance -of delivering it. - -‘Now mind how you attempt to deliver it!’ he exclaimed. ‘If the sentry -sees you giving it to him, say good-night to your projects, for they’ll -find out you’re a woman, and lock you up for examination and punishment -on your arrival. They’re hideously in earnest in these ships. And take -care that you don’t get Tom flogged.’ - -This talk frightened and angered me too. I took several turns up and -down the little berth, whilst he smoked and watched me, and then said: -‘I must risk it. Tom shall get this letter, and then I’ll be satisfied.’ - -‘If the third mate could be trusted,’ said he, ‘it might be contrived -without risk. He serves out stores to the convicts, and Butler’s one -of the gang who fetches the stuff. I heard the third mate tell Mr. -Bates that. Bates takes a good deal of interest in Butler. It was -only yesterday he was talking to the captain, and I heard him say he -considered Butler an injured man.’ - -‘“Injured!”’ I cried, scornful of that meek word. - -‘But the third mate mustn’t be trusted, so there’s an end.’ - -I looked at Will steadily, and said in a soft voice: ‘Isn’t Tom to be -freed?’ - -‘“Freed?”’ he echoed. - -‘Got out of the ship?’ - -‘How?’ - -‘You’re the sailor. Will. How would you go to work to enable an -innocent man to escape from a convict ship?’ - -‘How would I go to work?’ He paused with his mouth open and the hand -which held his pipe arrested midway. ‘How would I go to work? I’d -tell him to jump overboard, or I’d slip a knife into his hand that he -might cut his throat. What other way? Escape! Escape from a convict -ship on the high seas! With loaded muskets ready to make eyelets in a -man’s head at any moment in the night or day, with look-outs for’ard -and look-outs aft, and a sentry below with a bayonet fixed for the -first. Now, see here,’ said he, growing pale and putting his pipe -down, ‘if you talk like that, if you allow any fancy of helping Tom to -escape to enter your head, then, to save you from God alone knows what -consequences, I’ll go right aft to the skipper and make a clean breast -of it.’ - -‘I don’t say that it is to be done,’ said I, vexed that I should have -so agitated him, ‘but is there any harm in talking, Will?’ - -‘Yes, in talking of such things as that. You are madly in love with -Butler, and your notions and your dreams of helping him are mad. -Haven’t you made sacrifice enough for the man? Do you want to become a -felon too? That won’t help him.’ - -‘What could I do that you should talk to me like this?’ said I, -reddening and staring at him in my old fiery way. - -‘You could do nothing,’ he answered, ‘and that’s just it. But you can -talk and you might attempt, and I’ll blow the gaff, so help me God, if -you don’t give me your word.’ - -He was as red as I, and his face worked with consternation and anger. - -‘I give you my word,’ I exclaimed, and took him in my arms and kissed -him on either cheek. - -The boy was deeply moved and almost crying. Just then an apprentice -came into the berth, on which, in a changed voice, I thanked Will for -his kindness, picked up my bundle, and walked aft. - -My talk had so deeply scared my cousin that he took an opportunity -before that evening was gone of again speaking to me. He implored me -not to believe for an instant that Tom could escape out of this ship -at sea. ‘You can’t help him,’ said he. ‘But what might happen to you? -The punishment for helping a convict to escape is fearfully heavy. -They’d try you at some Tasmanian court of justice and make a felon of -you. You’d be a female convict, associating with the vilest of the vile -of your own sex. Why, sooner than such a thing should happen, I’d go -straight to the skipper and tell him who you are!’ - -I answered with a hot face and angry eyes that if I could help Tom -to escape, they might do what they liked afterwards--mangle me, -crucify me, bury me alive. ‘But what is the good of talking?’ I said. -‘I know there is nothing to be done. Don’t tell me I love Tom as if -I were a mad woman. It maddens me to hear that said. I love him as -sanely as your father loves your mother. I love him loyally and with -all my heart. We were to have been married, and, before God, we are -married, and who shall hinder me from fulfilling my unspoken marriage -vow to abandon everybody and cleave only to my love?’ Here a great -sob interrupted me, but I fought with my tears and after a little -struggling pause I continued: ‘I will do nothing rash, Will. Be easy, -dear heart. I would help Tom to escape this night if I could, but I -cannot; I can do nothing: so rest your peace of mind on that.’ - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -SHE DELIVERS HER LETTER, AND SEES A CONVICT PUNISHED - - -Next morning on coming into the cuddy from my berth and looking through -the door, I saw a number of convicts washing the decks down. Some were -on the forecastle, some in the barricaded inclosure, and three or four -were scrubbing the quarter-deck close beside the cuddy front. Every -morning small gangs of the felons helped the sailors to wash down, -whilst numbers below scrubbed their own quarters out. The boatswain and -his mates and the captains of the gangs superintended, hurled the water -along the decks out of the buckets handed to them, and kept the men to -their work. It was a very fine morning; the wind was on the quarter, -and the second mate overhead was calling to some hands aloft who were -rigging out booms for the setting of those wide overhanging wings of -canvas called ‘studding-sails.’ - -I immediately observed that the convicts were without irons. What with -the soldiers, the prisoners, the sailors scrubbing or preparing to run -the studding-sails aloft; what with the flashing of the sun on the wet -decks, the pendulum swing of the straight-lined shadows of the rigging, -the blowing of smoke from the two galley chimneys, combined with the -sense of life in the noises of people scrubbing the poop overhead, of -the bleating of sheep forward, the crowing of cocks, the grunting of a -sow, the clanking of the head and poop pumps, the ceaseless gushing of -water--the scene was one of such life and motion as forbade me for a -little while from distinguishing. - -I looked eagerly for Tom. The steward called to me sharply and angrily, -after which I was for half an hour occupied with Frank in cleaning down -the cuddy, without a single opportunity to turn my eyes toward the main -deck. When this odious task was ended, Mr. Stiles gave me a piece of -raw bacon to carry to the cook for the cuddy breakfast. - -I took care to hold the letter in the palm of my hand, in the hope -that I should meet Tom as I went or returned. A batch of about fifty -convicts, stripped to the waist, were washing themselves on the port -side of the main-deck, close against the barricade of the gangway -alley. The doctor stood, viewing them, at a little distance. Two or -three ‘captains’ walked to and fro, to observe that the men washed -themselves properly. Seeing no other convicts on deck, I went along -the gangway alley, and with my head straight, but with my eyes in the -corner that the doctor might not detect my scrutiny, I narrowly viewed -the convicts as I stepped forward, but Tom was not of that gang. - -On coming, however, abreast of the prisoners’ galley, I saw my -sweetheart inside. I did not notice what he was about. No doubt he had -been told off to help the cooks that morning, or maybe he was there -on some errand relating to his mess. Be this as it may, I saw him in -an instant, and formed my resolution in a single beat of my heart. I -coughed. The note of my cough made him turn his head. Even whilst our -eyes met I entered the galley in which he stood. - -‘Here, cook,’ said I, ‘the steward says----’ I started as though I had -discovered my error. ‘I beg pardon for mistaking the galley,’ said I, -and in turning, as though to leave, I purposely struck my foot against -the coaming of the door, fell a step backward, and let fall the dish -and the bacon. The dish was of tin: had it been crockery I should have -let it fall all the same, though the noise of the breakage might have -brought the doctor to the door. Tom stooped to pick up the bacon; our -fingers touched, and I slipped the letter into his hand. - -This was admirably done; the swiftness of the manœuvre renders it one -of the most memorable of my exploits in this way. I had feared that -Tom would not understand in time to render the trick successful, but -the moment he felt the letter his hand closed upon it. I did not look -at him or attempt to breathe a syllable, though our faces were close -when we stooped. I could not tell who besides Tom was in that galley: -there were several persons, convicts no doubt, men whose behaviour in -the hulks had warranted the doctor in giving them posts of some little -consequence and trust. All had happened so quickly, that I could not -say whether the others besides Tom were clothed as felons or not. - -This convicts’ galley, I should explain, was a temporary deck -structure, built strongly abaft the ship’s galley, furnished with an -abundant cooking apparatus, as you may suppose would be needed for the -feeding of two hundred and thirty souls. None of the crew were suffered -to enter it; it was sentinelled by convict warders or captains only. It -was inspected every day by the doctor, and closed and locked when the -convicts’ supper had been handed along. - -I came out of the ship’s galley with a rejoicing heart, and peeped at -the door of the other as I passed, but Tom was not in sight. However, -he now had my letter; no risk had been run, not the most suspicious -mind, not the most vigilant eye in the ship, could have imagined or -detected what had passed between my sweetheart and me. My spirits were -in a dance; for my letter would tell him as much--as much to the point, -I mean--as my lips could have uttered in a half-hour’s meeting. I -figured his impatience to read it, the glow of hope and pleasure that -would warm his poor, dear heart as he read, the courage and support he -would get out of it. - -‘You vhas light-hearted this morning,’ said Frank to me, as we helped -the steward to prepare the breakfast-table. ‘Dere vhas no twopenny -postman at sea, or I should say dot you hov’ received some goodt news.’ - -‘It is the weather,’ I answered; ‘and then a young apprentice has -kindly given me a clean flannel shirt to wear.’ - -‘Who’s the apprentice?’ exclaimed Mr. Stiles, who overheard me. - -‘Mr. Johnstone,’ I answered. - -‘Picked him up aboard, or did yer know him before you stowed yourself -away?’ - -‘My father was a client of his father’s,’ I replied. - -‘Wither me if it ain’t a-coming stronger and stronger with you every -day!’ exclaimed Mr. Stiles. ‘What are you going to turn out afore -you’re done?’ he added, stopping in his work to look at me. - -‘I tell you vhat it vhas, sir,’ said Frank. ‘Dis vhas no ordinary -shentleman. Dis vhas a young nobleman in disguise.’ - -‘Hold your yaw-yawing!’ cried the steward. ‘Who’s a-talking to you? -You’re always a-putting in, you are, and a-stopping the work.’ - -The cuddy breakfast-bell was rung, and at half-past eight the captain -and officers seated themselves. I received a sort of nod from -Lieutenant Chimmo, and Captain Barrett looked at me pleasantly. Both -men suggested that they regarded me as coming near to their social -level. This was odd, for, as a rule, people rather shrink from and give -the cold shoulder to gentle-folks who have been sunk by fortune into -getting their bread in mean positions such as mine was on board that -ship. Captain Sutherland never heeded me, but sometimes I thought the -doctor’s stern eyes rested upon me with an expression of inquiry. The -cuddy was full of sunlight; the glory of the morning sparkled in glass -and crystal and plate, and the radiance was made lovely by the soft -atmospheric azure tint which floated into it off the blue sea. - -‘When do you start your school, doctor?’ said Captain Barrett. - -‘On Monday,’ was the answer. - -‘Captain,’ said Lieutenant Chimmo, addressing the commander of the -ship, ‘did you see Barney Abram washing himself this morning? What a -chest! What arms! Cut his head and legs off, fossilise what’s left, -chuck the torso into the Tiber, and when dredged up it would be sworn -to as the most magnificent fragment of ancient art in the wide world.’ - -‘A pity, Ellice,’ said Captain Barrett, ‘that you object to Barney -stepping aft occasionally to give Chimmo and me a few tips in the -grandest of all sciences.’ - -‘The most degrading, sir,’ said the doctor. ‘I am surprised that you -should think proper to repeat the request.’ - -‘The voyage is a doocid long one,’ murmured Captain Barrett. - -‘Isn’t there to be some punishment this morning?’ asked Captain -Sutherland. - -‘A little light punishment,’ answered the doctor--‘two hours of the -box.’ - -‘You don’t believe in the cat, sir?’ said Captain Barrett. - -‘I do not,’ answered the doctor. - -‘I believed in the cat until pickling went out of fashion,’ said the -subaltern. ‘A man who had been salted down whilst bleeding seldom -courted a second dose; but now I understand your man-of-war’s man -thinks so lightly of flogging that he would rather take three dozen -than forfeit a day’s allowance of grog.’ - -‘I’m no lover of the cat myself,’ said Captain Sutherland, ‘but it’s -good discipline. It’s a degrading punishment, very proper for degraded -men. I have some men forward who deserve whipping, and whipping, -perhaps, isn’t enough for them; nor would pickling suffice. They want -quartering. The Government forces us commanders of hired transports -to fill our forecastle with a given number of hands. No questions are -asked. So long as your complement numerically corresponds with the -Government requirement, all’s supposed to be right. Now, what sort of a -crew did the crimp scramble together for me that my muster might answer -to the Admiralty wants? I’ve about six seamen qualified to steer. I -doubt if there are ten men forward who know how to send down a yard. -But one has to take what one can get. The crimp comes along and throws -a gutter-brood aboard; some are not fit even as shilling-a-monthers, -and have bribed the crimp to the pawning of their only shirt to ship -them, that they may get abroad, where they’ll run.’ - -‘I don’t like the looks of a good many of your men,’ said the doctor. - -‘But you could muster strongly enough for an emergency, captain?’ said -the subaltern. - -‘What do you mean by an emergency?’ said Captain Sutherland. - -‘A heavy squall of wind, sir, and the ship aback with royals set.’ - -‘Where the deuce did you pick up your nautical knowledge, Chimmo?’ said -Captain Barrett. - -‘Is that an emergency, captain?’ asked the subaltern. - -‘Oh, I’ve no doubt we could manage, I’ve no doubt we could manage,’ -answered the captain, with something of gloomy impatience. - -Here I was dispatched to the pantry, and when I returned after a -considerable interval the gentlemen had gone on deck. - -As Tom was always in my mind when any sort of reference was made to the -convicts, I was very eager and anxious to know what the punishment of -the box was--to speak of it as the doctor had--and who was the culprit. -A number of prisoners were assembled between the barricades, whether -employed or not I do not recollect. The steward had gone forward, -in all probability to smoke a pipe with the cook, under pretence of -talking about the cabin dinner. I stood in the cuddy doorway viewing -the prisoners, yearning for a sight of Tom, that by a swift look or -smile he might let me know he had read my letter. An apprentice -struck four bells--ten o’clock. The doctor came up from the prisoners’ -quarters followed by Captain Barrett and the sergeant of the guard, and -the three of them stood under the break of the poop, near enough for me -to overhear them, though they could not see me. - -Scarcely had the bell struck when a convict in irons passed out of -the main-hatch. Two convict warders were with him and each, grasping -an arm, marched him to that sort of sentry box which I have before -described--a contrivance of about the width of a coffin and a trifle -longer or higher, with a bucket hanging from a bar over it. The convict -struggled angrily, and I guessed by the faces of those who were near -enough for me to read that he cursed and swore very vilely, but only -now and then did I catch an oath. A man stepped forward and threw open -the front of the coffin-like structure, then helped the others to twist -the prisoner with his face looking inboards, and when they had put him -into this posture they thrust him backwards into the box and shut him -up. - -He was a young fellow of about twenty-two, with the wickedest face of -any man’s in the ship. A grinning, wrinkled seaman stood beside the box -holding the rope that was attached to the bucket. Another seaman was -near, and beside him were four or five buckets of water. - -‘He’s a profane rascal, and I have no hopes of him,’ I heard the doctor -say. - -‘Why not flog him?’ said Captain Barrett. - -‘It may come to it, but I trust not.’ - -Meanwhile the prisoner in the box was bawling at the top of his voice -and doubtless using horrid language. I observed that the wrinkled, -grinning seaman watched the doctor, who, after a few minutes’ pause, -lifted his hand as a signal, whereupon the sailor pulled the rope -and tilted the bucket, and the water fell in a heavy splash upon the -blaspheming youth boxed up inside. - -Captain Barrett gave a great laugh. Indeed, a noise of laughter ran -through the ship. A number of sailors, who had gathered together in -sundry parts to witness the spectacle, seemed to find much to be -pleased with in it. The prisoners within the inclosure grinned, -without sound of merriment, and I thought that the rascally faces -amongst them looked the rascallier for their smiles. The second sailor -beside the box filled the hanging bucket afresh, and the wrinkled -mariner continued to watch the doctor. - -‘That’ll have extinguished the brimstone in him!’ exclaimed Captain -Barrett, giving another great laugh. ‘Is the idea yours?’ - -‘No,’ answered the doctor. ‘I took the idea from a female convict ship -which I went on board of at Sydney.’ - -By this time the half-drowned youth within had recovered his breath and -was roaring out curses again. The doctor waited three minutes; then -signed. The wrinkled sailor tilted the bucket, and the coffined wretch -was soused for the second time. Once more Captain Barrett laughed -loudly, and a rumble of laughter came from the seamen, who hung about -in groups forward. I had imagined that two buckets would have done the -fellow’s business for him, yet in five minutes he began to curse and -swear once more, whereupon a third bucket was upset over his head. -This proved effectual. No more noise proceeded from the inside of the -box. The doctor, having waited some time, spoke to Captain Barrett, who -crossed to the sentry at the quarter-deck barricade-gate and delivered -certain instructions. Shortly afterward, Mr. Stiles came into the cuddy -and ordered me to the pantry. I afterwards heard that the fellow in -the box was silent whilst he stood in it, and that when he was let -out and taken below he looked the most miserable, soaked, scowling, -shame-faced, shivering wretch that was ever clothed in felon’s garb. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVI - -SHE ATTENDS CHURCH SERVICE AND WITNESSES A TRAGEDY - - -At lunch that day the doctor congratulated himself warmly upon the -success of the ducking punishment. ‘I never doubted,’ said he, ‘that -it would fail in the case of female convicts. Two buckets they told -me sufficed for the most clamorous of the foul-mouths. But I had my -misgivings as to its efficacy with male prisoners. I am satisfied. The -fellow below seems to have been soaked into repentance. I spoke to him -in the prison a little while since, and he humbly begged my pardon and -promised never to use another oath again.’ - -‘It’s a goosefleshing discipline,’ said Captain Barrett! ‘but they’ll -make a joke of it in the tropics.’ - -‘Is this box arrangement your only punishment, Ellice?’ said the -subaltern. - -‘We have thin water-gruel,’ answered the doctor. ‘I know a man who -became sincerely religious after two days of thin water-gruel. Then -there are the irons which I have struck off, with or without the -addition of handcuffs. Then there is the prison. Separation works -wholesomely. Loneliness is good physic for the felon mind. Finally, -there’s a black-list, in which I enter the offender’s name for -submission to his Excellency the Governor at the end of the voyage.’ - -The subject was then changed. To this brief talk I listened greedily, -forgetting Will’s hint that I should carry a deaf face. I met the -doctor’s eyes, but my duties dismissed me to the galley, and I was out -of the cuddy while the meal lasted. - -That afternoon, whilst I was rubbing the shining length of cuddy-table, -the doctor came from his cabin. He looked at me a moment or two and -then approached. There was a sort of kindness in his manner; he even -put on a grave, condescending smile when he addressed me. It was -seldom that Doctor Russell-Ellice smiled. - -‘I am glad to believe,’ said he, ‘that I was mistaken in you. One of -the apprentices, who, I understand, is very respectably connected, has, -I hear, some knowledge of you. But, young man, you should have chosen -any vessel sooner than a convict ship to hide yourself in.’ - -I cast my eyes down. - -‘I observe that you take a great interest in all conversation that -relates to convicts. I am willing to believe you honest. You will -therefore give me, truthfully, your reason for the interest you take in -the prisoners?’ - -‘It is curiosity more than interest, sir. I have often read and heard -about convict ships. I cannot help feeling curious and listening and -looking about me.’ - -He stared at me searchingly and seemed satisfied. But I noticed -with some alarm that he observed my face with unusual attention, -taking the lineaments, so to speak, one by one. He then glanced down -me--afterwards let his eyes rest upon my hands, and all this in -silence which might have filled an interval of nearly a minute. - -‘What’s your age?’ he asked. - -This was forcing my hand; but then I was a woman, and no woman is -expected to tell the truth when she is asked her age. - -‘I am seventeen, sir.’ - -‘You do not seem to have been ill-used,’ said he, again gravely -smiling. ‘A plumper, healthier young fellow I never met. What made you -run away?’ - -‘I wished to go to Hobart Town.’ - -‘Would not your friends have equipped and sent you out respectably had -you made known your wishes?’ - -‘My stepfather is no friend of mine, sir,’ I answered. - -He asked me what I meant to do when I arrived in Tasmania, and after -putting many questions, most of which I answered, he bade me tell him -what my religion was, in what churches I worshipped, and then began -to lecture me; indeed, to sermonise me as though I had been a convict -under him. I listened with a hung head and composed face, but I -could not draw my breath freely till he was gone, for all the time he -addressed me his dark, scrutinising eyes seemed to search into my very -conscience. And then again I feared his perception as a medical man. - -Next day was Sunday. The captain sent word forward, and the -instructions reached us aft, that the whole of the ship’s company were -to attend Divine service on the poop at ten o’clock. It was again a -bright and beautiful day. When I went on deck in the early morning, -I was in time to behold a most glorious pink and silver sunrise; our -coppered forefoot had cloven the first of the warm parallels, and -already the flying-fish were darting from the froth of the curl of the -low wave; the ship was heaped with gleaming spaces of canvas to her -trucks, and was leaning over to the pressure of the cordial breath of -the north-east trade-wind. She was sailing fast; the sea was smooth, -and the spitting of the narrow band of passing brine was like the sound -of satin torn by the hand; and satin-like was the long gleam of the -water, with a few small seabirds swiftly winging along it in chase. - -The routine, I observed, was the same as on other days. The convict -deck-washers, superintended by the captains of deck, helped the watch -to wash down as usual; the cooks were admitted past the sentry, and -speedily a cloud of black smoke was blowing from the prisoners’ galley -chimney. When the decks had been swabbed, the convicts in divisions -were turned up to wash themselves, and at eight o’clock they went to -breakfast. - -It was whilst the messmen were standing in a compact row beyond the -main-hatch door waiting for their cans of cocoa, that I saw Tom. He was -one of the messmen. I found an excuse to pass him thrice, that I might -greet him with my eyes and observe him. I saw passion and grief and -love in his face when our gaze met, though neither of us durst venture -on more than a passing look. It half broke my heart that I should be so -close to him and yet unable to speak. Whilst he waited with the rest -I could, indeed, have made shift to pass him a fourth time, but the -strain was so terrible that I feared myself. I felt a swelling within -me as of hysteria, an ungovernable madness to rush to him, to fling my -arms about his neck, to hold him to me. So I passed into the cuddy, -and a little later the body of prisoners went below and, saving the -sentries, the inclosure was empty. - -After the cuddy breakfast was over, whilst taking some dirty dishes -forward, I met Will near the galley. He said, softly: ‘I was on the -poop watching you when you walked up and down past Butler to look at -him. Old woman, these are risks and you mustn’t run ’m. There are eyes -aboard here sharper than that chap’s bayonet.’ - -‘I’ll run no risks, and all’s well so far, Will.’ - -‘What about that letter you were telling me of? I dread to hear of your -attempting to give it to your sweetheart.’ - -I looked at him with a smile. He asked me if I slept comfortably, if -his clothes fitted me, if I had seen the prisoner boxed up and washed -down yesterday, and so on. ‘You’ll be up on the poop for prayers at -four bells,’ said he. ‘Lord!’ he added, bursting into a nervous laugh. -‘To think of only two in this ship knowing what you are! To think of -you, a young man as habit is bringing me to fancy you, being the real -and original Marian of the milk and buttercup holiday times! What would -mother say to see you as you stand here now, as complete a shell-back -to the eye as that second mate there, with a big basket of dirty dishes -alongside of you lugged all the way from the cuddy by your own little -hands? And all for love--all for love! By glory! But the woman that -could make me dress up as a girl and follow her to sea in a convict -ship would have to sink down straight from heaven. This earth couldn’t -manufacture her.’ He rounded on his heel and went off. - -Some time before ten o’clock the ship’s bell was rung; presently Mr. -Balls’s silver pipe sang in shrill whistlings through the ship. Mr. -Stiles had ordered me below to ‘clean myself,’ as he called it, and on -my return I followed him and Frank on to the poop. The scene was one -of extraordinary life and full of brilliant colour. I never can forget -that picture of this first Sunday morning I passed on board a convict -ship. - -When I gained the poop, the ship was crowded with people in motion. The -whole of the crew, in such clean Sunday clothes as they could muster, -were coming aft. The convicts, in a seemingly endless procession, were -passing through the door of the hatch and massing themselves behind -the quarter-deck barricade with their faces aft. The guard, saving -the sentries on duty, were drawn up in a line on the poop, giving an -amazing brightness to the scene with their red coats, shakos, and -sparkling arms. Their officers were in full dress, and the doctor in -the uniform of a surgeon of the Royal Navy. The commander of the ship -stood near the doctor. Behind the soldiers were women and children. -Aft, at the extremity of the poop, his figure rising and falling -against the dim azure over the stern, stood the solitary figure of the -helmsman grasping the wheel, whose brass-work flamed in the sun, and -abreast of him paced the second officer, who had charge of the ship. -The sailors came tumbling up the lee poop-ladder, and soon all the -forward portion of this raised deck was crowded with people. - -Such a sight as it was! But I beheld a horror in the beauty of it. Oh, -the very spirit of horror itself entered the beauty of that spectacle -of shining ship and radiant uniforms and glowing sea out of the mass -of human misery and sin down on that main-deck there. I had a clear -view of the convicts. I ran my eye over the line of faces whilst I -sought for Tom, and my very heart shrank within me at sight of the -countenances my gaze briefly settled on. Prejudice, grief and rage may -have made me find the villainous looks of numbers more villainous than -they were. I viewed them as my sweetheart’s associates, as ruffians and -crime-laden scoundrels, into whose vile company my honest, pure-minded -sailor, my innocent, injured Tom, had been thrust to toil in irons -with them, to lie at night with them, listening to their talk. - -The solitary occupant of the forecastle was the sentry. He walked the -deck from one rail to the other, sometimes halting to survey the scene. -The doctor stood amidships of the break of the poop and began to read -in a loud, firm, but slightly nasal voice from the Book of Common -Prayer. Every head was bared. The convicts gazed intently up at the -reader. There was a pathos in the wondering, staring looks of many of -them--a something of childishness that sat strangely on their faces, as -if their gross, unlettered ignorance was to be astonished and pleased -by the cleverness of a man who read without difficulty, as though he -perfectly understood the meaning of what he delivered. Barney Abram was -in the front rank of the mass of men. His gaze was fixed on the doctor; -his posture was one of humility. I observed that he occasionally nodded -as though in appreciation when the doctor paused upon a passage and -looked at the convicts. Tom was behind. I saw him with difficulty. The -least movement of my head blotted him out by bringing the heads of men -in front between us. - -The picture was memorably impressive. I have it now bright in my mind’s -eye, all the hues as gay as the shining colours in the silver plate of -a daguerreotype. Nothing disturbed the stillness upon the ship but the -voice of the doctor. Yes, you heard a soft, creaming noise of running -waters, and at intervals a gentle flap from aloft, and sometimes there -would break in a homely sound from the live-stock forward. Never had -the sea looked so wide nor our ship so lovely. The feathering billows -ran chasing in flashes and gleams into the south-west, where the ocean -trembled in a dark blue, with a horizon firm as though ruled upon the -delicate azure of the heavens. Southeast, under the sun, it was all -blinding splendour--sheer dazzle that streamed to the tall, leaning -weather side of the ship and broke from the bow in sudden light like -molten silver. - -When the doctor had recited as much of the Liturgy as he thought proper -to deliver, he paused to breathe a while and drink from a glass of -water which stood at his feet. He then began a sermon. He was in the -midst of his discourse, to which the prisoners appeared to listen -with close attention, Barney Abram occasionally nodding in approval -or admiration as before, when a convict, who stood close against the -barricade on the port-hand side--I mean that fore-and-aft barricade -which formed the gangway alley, as I call it--tossed up his arms and in -a loud, deep-chested, tragedy voice cried out: - - ‘I could tell a story - Would rouse thy lion-heart out of its den, - And make it rage with terrifying fury.’ - -The doctor stopped. - -‘Silence there!’ roared a voice. - -‘Who was that?’ exclaimed the doctor. - -‘Thomas Garth, sir,’ responded a convict, standing near the prisoner -who had broken out. - -The doctor stared for a while in the direction of the man as though -waiting to see if this extraordinary offence of interruption would be -repeated. The convict was clear within my view; he was the tall, dark, -handsome man whom I supposed, and, indeed, rightly supposed, to be -the tragedian that one of the soldiers had told me was amongst the -prisoners. After an interval of two or three minutes, all remaining -quiet, the doctor resumed; but scarcely had he pronounced a dozen words -when I saw the actor throw up his right arm, and, whilst he brandished -his left fist, making the strangest, maddest faces in doing so--and at -this moment I see the lunatic fire in his eyes as he rolled them along -the line of us who stood at the break of the poop--he burst out: - - ‘Oh, dismal! ’Tis not to be borne! Ye moralists! - Ye talkers! What are all your precepts now? - Patience! Distraction! Blast the tyrant, blast him! - Avenging lightnings, snatch him hence, ye fiends! - Nature can bear no more.’ - -‘Seize that man!’ roared the doctor, who seemed instantly to understand -what had come to the unhappy wretch. - -But a man who goes on a sudden raving-mad is not very easily seized. -This convict was immensely strong; his chest, bulk, and stature -were assurance of that. All in a moment half a dozen prisoners were -rolling upon the deck, beaten down by the madman’s fists and elbows -as though they had been children. With agility that might be possible -only to such madness as was in him, the man sprang, grasped the top of -the barricade, and with a kick of his feet vaulted into the gangway -between. He ran a few yards forward, sprang upon a scuttle-butt and -gained the bulwarks, on which he stood erect, holding by nothing, -swaying his fine figure with the movements of the ship, laughing the -shocking laughter of madness and shaking his clenched fists at the poop. - -‘Seize him!’ shrieked the doctor, nearly throwing me as he rushed to -the poop-ladder. - -‘Come down!’ roared the sentry on the forecastle, and the bayonet -flashed as he swept his piece from his shoulder to level it. - -‘Quick, or he’ll be overboard!’ bawled Captain Sutherland. - -The swaying figure on the bulwark-rail roared with maniac laughter. - -‘Come down, or I’ll fire!’ shouted the forecastle sentry. - -‘He’s mad! He’s mad!’ went up in the very thunder of noise from the -mass of the convicts. - -It was then that I heard Captain Barrett cry to the sentry not to fire; -but the man did not hear; he stood at a considerable distance from -the poop, and the roar of the convicts was in the air as the captain -shouted. The soldier fired. I screamed with the voice of a woman when I -beheld the spit of the flame and the blue wreath of the smoke. - -‘Oh, Jesu!’ cried the convict. He turned slowly, as though to look at -the man who had shot him, and fell backward into the sea. - -The women behind the line of guards shrieked, and some of them fainted. -My knees failed me, and I sank down in the horror of that moment, -clutching at a stanchion of the brass rail. Captain Barrett delivered -an order swiftly and fiercely, and the armed guard came with a hurried -tramp to the brass rail, the outermost one on the left thrusting me -with his foot to get me out of the road. Sick and terrified as I was, -my wits were sufficiently collected to mark an ugly movement among the -prisoners, an indescribable stir of figures, quick turnings of the -face and eyes, as though the many-headed beast sniffed blood and saw -its chance. It might have been that they were enraged by the slaying of -the maniac, yet nothing more sinister, nothing more deeply tragic in -its suggestions than that stir of agitation, those sudden, wild, eager -looks and movements of the head could be imagined. - -The man had fallen overboard on the weather side of the ship. The -sailors assembled on the poop rushed to the rail when the man reeled -and dropped; they shouted as they stood looking; the captain sped to -the grating abaft the wheel and gazed astern there, calling to know -if anyone saw anything of the man. Twenty throats were bawling: some -saw him; some said he had gone down like lead; some that he had been -shot through the heart, and that there would be nothing to pick up. -Meanwhile the ship was sweeping swiftly and smoothly onward; the white -brine spun in sheets past the quarters, and the ridged seas of the -trade-wind beat their plumes of snow into showerings of spray against -the coppered bends of the heeling vessel. The spread of canvas was -great--the studding-sails were out besides. The seamen would have -needed a clear deck to bring the ship to the wind, and the convicts -still stood massed, covered and overawed by the soldiers at the line of -the break of the poop--every man so grasping his musket as to be ready -to take aim at the word of command. - -The time was wild with confusion and terror; the sailors continued -to shout as they looked astern. Some of the children were yelling -loudly with fright on the poop; sharp, harsh cries resounded from the -main-deck, where I saw the doctor thrusting in amongst the convicts, -whilst a few of the men whom he had appointed ‘captains’ appeared to be -shoving and pushing and marshalling the prisoners so as to form them -into some sort of marching order for the descent of the main hatch. - -Captain Sutherland came hastily forward to the rail and looked down -upon the convicts. He then shouted to his chief mate, who was standing -near a quarter-boat to windward. - -‘Send all hands forward, Mr. Bates! Send all hands forward, sir! -There’s nothing to be done!’ and he motioned significantly toward the -main-deck. - -And, indeed, until the convicts were all in their quarters below, -nothing was to have been done, for the seamen must have gone amongst -them to haul and drag upon certain of the gear. At the foot of the -mainmast, for example, were belayed many ropes, all belonging to the -vast spread of sail stretching on high overhead, and this mast stood -within the barricades. What might have happened had the sailors rushed -in amongst the convicts to bring the ship to the wind? - -Captain Sutherland stood pale and still at the head of the poop-ladder; -the ship’s company were streaming forward through the gangway galley, -and when I quitted the poop in the tail of the procession of women and -children, the captain, the officers, and the line of soldiers, who -stood in a posture to instantly cover the convicts, alone remained on -that deck. - -I stood in the recess along with Frank and some of the soldiers’ -wives, waiting to see what was going to happen within the barricades. -One of the convicts had been killed or stunned by the maniac, and lay -as motionless as a log. The sentinel who had shot the man trudged the -forecastle with frequent looks in the direction of the main-deck, as -though prepared at any instant for a call to level his piece afresh. -The women near me jabbered incessantly, and every tongue wagged in -defence of Murphy, as they called the soldier. - -‘God pity me!’ exclaimed Frank, looking at the woman. ‘But it vhas -murder to shoot a madman.’ - -‘Mind your own business!’ cried one of the women, angrily. ‘It’s the -duty of a soldier to obey orders, and the orders of a sentry are to -shoot down any convict who gets over the barricade and attempts to -leave the ship. So there!’ she cried spitefully. I believe she was -Murphy’s wife. ‘How was the sentry to know he was mad? If a soldier -don’t obey orders he stands to be shot himself. So there.’ - -‘It vhas murder,’ said Frank, and, smiting his thigh, he cried, ‘she -makes my blood boil.’ - -‘If you calls it murder again,’ said another of the women, ‘I’ll speak -to the sergeant, and he shall talk to you. You’re a low German fellow, -and us soldiers’ wives are not to be insulted by the likes of you.’ - -‘So there!’ cried the woman who had just spoken, spitting the words at -the young fellow. - -Meanwhile sharp orders were being delivered within the barricade. I -took my chance of being reprimanded from the poop and went a little -way along the alley, and saw all the convicts still massed, but in -motion; they were descending the hatch, but one at a time, for there -was room for no more. The body of the fellow who had been stunned was -held by four of the prisoners. The doctor stood alone and apart within -the inclosure, looking at the men as they swarmed slowly toward the -main-hatch, filtering to their quarters. He was white, but stern and -collected. Sometimes he spoke, pointing or moving his hand as though -to insist on more order. He seemed a fearless figure, and though I -disliked him, I could not but admire him. There were scores, perhaps, -amongst those felons who would have made no more of felling him and -kicking out his brains than of dashing an egg to the deck. - -I did not see Tom, so I went back to the recess, and just then an -apprentice struck six bells. Ten minutes later, every convict was below -and the main-deck clear; but I observed that when the guard came off -the poop one of the soldiers passed through the quarter-deck gate to -double the sentry at the main-hatch, and I heard another tell one of -the women, as he went below to the barracks, that he was to do duty as -second sentry at the prison door of the steerage bulkhead. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVII - -SHE LISTENS TO A CONVERSATION - - -All the time I was in the cuddy that day, whilst the captain and -officers lunched, I kept my ears open, supposing that the talk would -wholly concern the dreadful, tragic incident of the morning. But no -man said a word on the subject. Perhaps they had talked it out before -they came to the table, or perhaps they would not speak of it before -me and the other stewards. I was greatly disappointed. I wanted to -hear that the sentry had exceeded his instructions and was to be -severely punished. It was horrible that a man should be empowered to -shoot down a fellow-creature as the sentry shot down the poor mad -actor. I had hoped that Captain Sutherland, whose heart was a British -sailor’s, would ask the doctor and the officers why a sentry should -be instructed to fire at a man for no worse crime than scaling a -barricade and climbing on to the bulwarks of the ship. To kill a man -for so behaving might be all very well in harbour, where a convict -could contrive to swim ashore. But what dream of liberty could visit -an unhappy wretch in mid-ocean, unless it were the freedom that death -provides? And why should a convict be shot for attempting suicide? Out -of mercy, that his blood might be upon the head of another instead of -on his own? - -The cool chatter of the officers upon light, frivolous topics filled -me with wrath. I wanted to hear them talk of the shooting of the -madman. But nothing was said. No reference was made to that strange, -threatening stir which had been visible amongst the convicts, like the -passing of a sudden darkness over a waving field of grain. The doctor -was very stern. He ate little and talked seldom. Only once did I catch -the least allusion to that morning’s bloody business. I was coming up -from the pantry with some glasses, when I heard Captain Sutherland -say, ‘By-the-by, how is the man that was knocked down?’ - -‘All right again,’ answered the doctor. - -‘He lay like a corpse,’ said the captain. - -‘He was stunned,’ said the doctor. And then Captain Barrett spoke, and -the subject was changed. - -I went forward that night after dark, when my work was done, knowing -it was Will’s watch below, and wishful for a chat with him. He lay, -smoking, upon a chest in his cabin, and an apprentice swung overhead in -a hammock, with one leg dangling down. I could not converse before that -fellow up there, though nothing would have been thought had I entered -and sat down beside Will, for it was gone about that he knew me through -his father having had mine for a client. - -He saw me by the light of the slush lamp that sootily burned against -the bulkhead near the door, nodded, and, filling his pipe afresh, -lighted it and lounged out. We leaned against the ship’s galley to -leeward, where all was quiet. - -‘What have you to tell me about this morning’s fearful job?’ said I. - -‘A sweet experience for you, my honey,’ said he. ‘See what’s to be -learned by stowing oneself away in a convict ship.’ - -‘What will they do to the soldier who killed the man?’ - -‘Do to him? Give him a stripe to wear on his arm when they get ashore.’ - -‘It was a brutal murder!’ I exclaimed. - -‘You say that because your sympathies are below. Duty’s no murder. The -man obeyed orders, and very right orders they are. Let me tell you, -my daisy, there’s a very considerable slice of hell stowed away under -hatches in this ship; and if it wasn’t for the guffies, there’d be such -a blaze as ’ud make you, for one, wish Stepney were closer aboard than -it is.’ - -‘Do you mean to tell me,’ said I, ‘that twenty soldiers in command -of half a man and a puppy can keep two hundred and thirty desperate, -fearless, crime-hardened ruffians under?’ - -‘Two hundred and thirty! That figure counts Butler as one of the -beauties, eh?’ said he, laughing. ‘But I answer yes; twenty soldiers -can do it, backed, of course, by our machinery of barricades, manholes, -and the rest of it, not to mention a moral influence that counts more -usefully than a great gun loaded chock-a-block with scissors and -thumbscrews.’ - -‘If those convicts had found a leader to-day,’ said I, ‘they would have -seized the ship.’ - -He turned his head about in the gloom to see if anybody was near. - -‘Seize the ship!’ he exclaimed with a little snort of contempt. ‘With a -file of soldiers splendidly placed ready to fire amongst the devils as -fast as they could load! With three sentries in addition to help! With -officers and a crew ready to support the soldiers! But, hang me,’ said -he, with a change of voice and peering close into my face to catch a -sight of me, ‘if I don’t think you’re sorry the ship wasn’t seized!’ - -‘I wish you didn’t excuse the diabolical murder. I’d shoot that sentry -with my own hand for killing a poor, unhappy madman goaded into -insanity, for all you know, by an unjust sentence. It might have been -Tom. Suppose Tom’s heart broke and his mind went? A soldier would shoot -him!’ - -‘D’ye know you hiss when you talk? I used to like your spirit, but love -is making a tigress of you. You make a fellow afraid?’ - -But I had not come to talk with him to do that. I wanted news, and he -had none; and I had no idea of scaring or disgusting the dear lad by -causing him to fancy that my sympathies were with the felons under -hatches when I had a heart but for one man only in the whole world. -Will was just the sort of lad to betray me that I might not come -to harm or harm others; so, after laughing at his likening me to a -tigress, I talked of Stepney and his father’s house near the Tower, -and in a few minutes the pair of us were happy in old, kind, gentle -memories. - -He grew a little inquisitive presently, however, and asked me some -questions. - -‘Have you thought of what you mean to do when you arrive at Hobart -Town?’ - -‘I shall be guided entirely by what is done with Tom,’ I answered. - -‘Shall you settle in Tasmania?’ - -‘Somewhere in that part of the world,’ I said. ‘Once a convict, always -a convict. I know Tom and his proud heart; if his innocence could be -established on his arrival and liberty given to him, he’d not return -home. He hates England--I’ll swear it. And I hate home for his sake.’ - -‘You’ll sell your house in Stepney, I suppose!’ - -‘Yes, I may do that. There’s much I may do. I shall be guided by what -befalls Tom. I have money enough to establish ourselves in comfort. We -shall want for nothing in our new home.’ - -‘Maybe I shall turn squatter, myself,’ said Will. ‘There’s a big thing -to be done in wool. But give me New South Wales. I wish they had sent -Butler there. What’s become of the _Arab Chief_, I wonder? And does he -lose all the money he invested in her?’ - -‘No,’ said I. - -Here some seamen came and lolled alongside of us; we could talk no -more, so I went aft. - -All next day the doctor was full of business. I heard him tell the -captain at the breakfast-table what the routine was to be: at half-past -eight prayers and a portion of the Scriptures were to be read to the -prisoners in divisions, some below, some on deck, as the weather -might permit; then schools were to be formed, but this could not be -done until the doctor had ascertained the ability of the prisoners to -read--he needed time to put a book into each man’s hand to test him. -Every school would consist of nine or ten pupils; schoolmasters would -be selected from the best educated of the convicts. School would be -held morning and afternoon; after supper, at four o’clock, the doctor -would regularly deliver a lecture on any subject likely to improve and -enlighten his hearers. - -You’ll suppose he was a busy man. Indeed! he had a hundred things to -see to. Besides the schools, the lectures and the like, exercise had to -be arranged for, the washing of linen, airing of bedding and so forth. -Then there was the hospital to visit, troublesome convicts to examine -and punish, a journal to write up, and I know not what besides. This, -the first Monday of fine weather and freedom of irons, was spent by -him in planning the convict routine for the voyage. I collected from -his talk at the table that the prisoners were very quiet, and looking -forward with interest to the educational work he was cutting out for -them. He told Captain Sutherland he had addressed them below very -seriously on the Sunday morning’s tragic business; in fact at lunch he -spoke out without reserve. - -‘I was impressed,’ said he, ‘by the thoughtful looks of many of the -unhappy people when I bade them accept the death of the poor, miserable -man Garth as an awful warning--not in respect of discipline, not in -respect of the penalty that attaches to insubordination, but in regard -to their souls’ health.’ And then he occupied ten minutes in repeating -what he had said to the convicts. Lieutenant Chimmo hemmed and tried -to break through the dull prosing; but the doctor loved his own -eloquence too well to let his companions off a single sentence that he -could recollect. ‘I believe,’ said he, ‘that there is some good in that -man Barney Abram, after all. I observed that he was very attentive at -Divine service yesterday.’ - -‘But he is not of your persuasion, surely?’ said Captain Sutherland. - -‘He’s of the persuasion of them all,’ answered the doctor. - -‘The persuasion that has the devil for high priest, eh, Ellice?’ said -Captain Barrett. - -‘That’s so,’ said the doctor. ‘Barney Abram is a man I should be proud -and thankful to bring over. He was a very bad lot at home. This ship -might not hold all the wretches he has tempted and ruined. Yet I seemed -to find an expression of contrition in the fellow’s face, a softening -look as though he might not prove so inaccessible as I had feared. He -asked leave to speak to me before I came up from below this morning, -and I was gratified to understand that his object was to thank me for -the remarks I had offered to the prisoners on the subject of the sudden -appalling death of Garth.’ - -Captain Barrett burst into one of his great laughs, for which he -apologised by saying that he was thinking of a story he had heard of -Barney; it was not fit to repeat, however. - -‘Then, sir,’ said the doctor, sternly, ‘we’ll not trouble you for it.’ - -‘Whisper,’ said the subaltern, side-long, to his brother-officer. - -‘Have you given the prize-fighter any sort of appointment, doctor?’ -said Captain Sutherland. - -‘Not yet. I have my eye on him. His immense strength will make him -useful. He may end as my first captain. Had he stood near the madman, -the poor fellow would now be alive. Abram is, perhaps, the only man in -the ship who could have grasped and held him.’ - -He then talked of his schools. His head was full of the thing. I -learned, through listening, that the Admiralty instructions provided -for the establishment of schools and religious teaching. - -After the doctor had made all his arrangements on this Monday, nothing -happened of any consequence that I can recall for some time. We carried -a strong north-east trade-wind, and we drove along by day and by night, -with foam sometimes lifting to the cathead. There was scarcely need -to handle a rope, so fresh and steady was the trade-wind, with its -wool-white clouds scattering like sheep down the sky and the horizon -bright and hard and blue in the windy distance. At times I caught sight -of Tom. The intervals were wide, and I never found an opportunity -to breathe so much as a syllable of love to him. And this was very -well. It was enough that he knew I was on board, and that we were -able sometimes to see each other. I never attempted to write a second -letter. The risk of delivering it was too great, and I was resolved to -run no risks, lest some act that would add nothing to Tom’s happiness -nor mine should betray me and extinguish my hopes, nay, slay my chance -of reaching Tasmania with him in the same ship. - -Sometimes I feared my sex was dimly suspected, but mainly my mind -was at rest on that score. The persons I was afraid of were the two -military men and the German steward. The idea of my being a woman, I -am sure, never entered the doctor’s mind. Had he entertained the least -suspicion, he was just the man to settle it out of hand by sending me -down among the soldiers’ wives to be examined. And yet, when I peeped -at myself in one of the long cuddy mirrors, I’d wonder at the success -of my masquerade. I repeat here that I was a very fine figure of a -woman. In none of the points which are admirable in the equipment of -the best shaped of my sex was I lacking. Yet it is certain that my -impersonation was perfect, and that, if I except the three men I have -named, there was not a man in the ship who by looks or speech caused me -the least anxiety. - -However, to provide against the reasons of my being on board becoming -known, should detection of my sex happen unexpectedly, I sought out -Will one evening, and had a long, earnest chat with him. I put it to -him thus: - -‘You are supposed to know me; that is to say, you are supposed to know -that I am the son of a man who was a client of your father. Suddenly -I am discovered to be a girl. The captain sends for you, and you are -challenged in the presence of the doctor. What will you say?’ - -‘That’s where it is,’ said he. ‘Make one false step, and ten to one if -you’re not presently up to your neck.’ - -He scratched his head and mused, staring at me. I would not help him. I -wished to test the quality of his wits in case he should be challenged -as I have said. After a bit, he exclaimed: - -‘I should disown all knowledge of you.’ - -‘That’s good,’ said I. - -‘I’d say you told me your name was Simon Marlowe and that your father -was a client of my father’s. I should tell no lie by owning I believed -the story, because, you see, uncle was a client of the dad’s. Well,’ -he went on, ‘I should tell them that now you proved to be a girl, you -weren’t the young fellow I took you for, and I should call you a liar -and disown all knowledge of you.’ - -‘And in saying so you’d be strictly speaking the truth, so far as Simon -Marlowe is concerned,’ said I, rejoiced to find him so ready. ‘You’ll -disown me. You’ll call me a liar. You’ll know nothing whatever about -me. That’ll be the programme, Will, should you be called upon.’ - -We stood discussing the matter some time, and then separated, but I was -mightily glad to have had this talk with him. - - - - -CHAPTER XXVIII - -SHE OVERHEARS TWO SAILORS TALKING - - -For many days we met with very beautiful weather, and every day the sun -grew hotter and hotter. The moon enlarged and became a full moon, and -the prospect of the dark blue night, with the moon shining higher in -the heavens than ever I had seen her shine, and the stars in multitudes -of brilliants trembling in a very sheet of silver down to the vague, -obscure line of the horizon, was glorious and wonderful. Often on those -fine nights, instead of going to bed, I’d creep to the forecastle, -where nobody walked but the sentry and a seaman on the look-out. -There I would overhang the head rail and gaze down at the star-white -foam as it spread out with a soft, boiling noise from the steady, -shearing thrust of the cutwater. The sea was full of fire and many -strange shapes of dim, greenish flame swept past in the black water -as I looked. The moonlight lay upon the sails and they rose stirless -as carvings in marble. The stars glittered like jewels in the dark -arches under the sails and twinkled gem-like along the black lines of -the yards, and danced like the mystic fire of the corposant beyond the -trucks to the swaying of the fragile points of masthead. - -Oh, it was at such times as these that I longed for Tom! What -happiness, I would think, to have his hand in mine; to be standing -here at his side, gazing up with him at the moon-whitened canvas, -or watching the sea-fire leaping in sparks amidst the rushing froth -on either hand! He had talked once of my going a voyage with him. -He had talked, too, of his carrying me to sea when we were married. -I could understand what I had lost when I stood lonely on that dark -forecastle watching the yearning breasts of canvas leaning from the -wind and thinking of the home that was low down behind the sea. My -heart beat with passion when, on these lovely moonlight nights, sweet -with the strong blowing of the trade-wind, I’d think of my dear one -locked up in the ’tweendecks below--imprisoned with the rest of them -since half-past six, to emerge from the pestilential atmosphere at -daybreak--for what? - -Whilst I thus thought, I’d clench my hands in the agony of my mind till -the nails were driven into the palms of them. - -But everything went along very quietly. Tables were knocked together, -and schools held on deck in the inclosure; that is, a proportion of the -schools. There was not room for all, and the convict classes alternated -between the ’tweendecks and the main-deck. The doctor speedily found -out that Tom was one of the best educated of the prisoners, and set him -to help in teaching the many wretches who knew not their alphabet. But -it rarely happened, as I have said, that I saw my sweetheart. Either I -was at work in the cuddy when he was on deck, or he was below, or the -schools broken up when I might have found leisure to watch him. - -I often speculated upon the histories of the many convicts--chose a -face and mused upon it. My conviction--nay, my knowledge--that Tom was -as innocent as I of the crime for which he was being transported made -me think that there might be others as guiltless as he; and this sort -of fancy or sympathy often raised a passion of pity in me as I’d stand -staring at a convict, striving to fetch his life-story out of his face, -though, for all I knew, the man I watched might have been one of the -very worst scoundrels in the ship. - -What affected me most was the guessing that lots of them must have -left wives and mothers, children and dear ones behind. I had heard the -doctor say that not above one out of every one hundred convicts ever -returned home, so that, unless the parents or the wives of the poor, -miserable felons followed them, they would be as completely sundered -from home ties as though they had been sentenced to the gallows instead -of to the hulks and transport. My eyes would moisten sometimes in thus -thinking whilst I watched a prisoner in some hour of leisure, fancying -a past for him. Once I saw this: Two children belonging to the soldiers -had strayed into the gangway alley and were playing there. I observed -a convict, a middle-aged man, watching them. A sudden spasm contorted -his face. He jerked down his hand in a snapping way, in some instant -anguish of memory, as though he cast something from him, and turned his -head and moved a few paces, then raised his cuff to his eye, with a -look-round afterward to see if he was noticed. - -One evening I went forward, meaning to get upon the forecastle to -breathe the air. It was hot in the recess. Some women were seated round -the booby-hatch, and the noise of the children vexed the mood I was -then in. It was toward the close of the second dog-watch and dark. I -saw some figures on the forecastle, and learnt by the voices that Mr. -Stiles, Mr. Balls, and the sailmaker were of them. Therefore, that I -might be private, meaning to breathe in solitude upon the forecastle -later on, I went round to the lee side of the galley, the door of which -was closed, and stood there, looking at the dark sea above the line of -the bulwark-rail, for the ship was heeling over somewhat sharply this -night. - -Though the noise of the pouring and foaming brine rose shrill and -strong, other sounds were very plainly to be heard. For instance, I -often caught what they said upon the forecastle, though the speakers -were at a distance. The main-deck was empty. A few figures moved -about the poop. Presently two sailors stationed themselves against -the foremost end of the galley, round the corner, so to say, facing -the lofty pillar of the foremast. I smelt the fumes of their coarse -tobacco. They could not see me nor I them; but what they said was as -distinct as though they stood alongside of me, spite of their speaking -in subdued voices. I knew not who they were, but guessed them to be two -forecastle hands. - -‘I had a yarn along with Bob this morning,’ said one of them. ‘Them -gallus sentries are made up of eyes. Fust time I’ve been able to speak -to him.’ - -‘What’s he lagged for?’ said the other man. - -‘Buzzlement. I knew it ’ud happen. He grew too confident and was ate -up with pride. He might be helping himself now, theayters and dancin’ -kens as often as you like, lush to swim in and quids for his piece. But -the gallus fool must grow greedy; he takes too big a handful, and now -he’s outward-bound. But twelve bob a week and find himself! A covey -with Bob’s tastes, too, mind ye, and one of your gallus high-flyers -to rig out. But he says he ain’t sorry it’s over. He never felt -comfortable. His piece was always a-scolding and threatening to split -if the swag warn’t forthcoming; and, blow me, she stumped him, after -all, for split she did, but not afore she’d got another cully, in tow, -unbeknown to Bob, you take your oath.’ - -‘I heard Micky Volkins,’ said the other, ‘a-telling Bill Flanders -that he squeezed in a yarn with his old chum when they was washing -down. They scrubbed side by side. Micky says the old chum’s glad to -be going abroad. The shore-work took it out of him, but the hulk -gave satisfaction. The feeding was beef, soup, mutton, spuds, bread, -porridge, and treacle. I recollect the boiling. If a man’s sick, they -put him on sheep’s head, eggs, soft puddens, tea and butter, along -with brandy and wine, which they sarve out by the hounce. Is that -sailors’ fare? Strike my eyes if it ain’t good enough to go into irons -for!’ - -‘There’s only one sailor-man among ’em, Bob was a-saying,’ said the -first sailor. - -‘Who’s he?’ - -‘Didn’t hear his name. Lagged for scuttling a vessel. Gallus good -job if the old man tried it on with this ship. Everything’s blooming -wrong. All the work comes upon a few. What’s good goes below; what’s -stinking’s sent for’ard. Well, I never shipped expecting to see Bob, -and I’m game to swap places, if they’ll consent. Look what’s done for -’em! Prayer-meetin’s, eddication up to the knocker, a doctor to physic -’em! If a man growls, he’s spoke to as a man. One of the convicts -complained to the doctor of the cooking. The gent sniffed and tasted, -said the man was right and winged the gallus cook. Let e’er a one of us -lay aft, and what’s a-goin to happen?’ - -The conversation was at this point interrupted by the second sailor -beginning to sneeze. He sneezed at least twenty times with a great -roaring noise. Mr. Balls came to the edge of the forecastle and cried -down: ‘Withered if there ain’t a grampus jumped aboard!’ The fit of -sneezing passed, and the fellow lighted his pipe afresh, and the men -resumed their conversation. - -‘It’s gallus queer,’ said the first speaker, ‘that there should be only -one sailor among ’em.’ - -‘One navigator, perhaps,’ said the other. - -‘Well, that may be. I wish they was all ships’ captains for my -part--skippers and mates. I’m gallus glad whenever I hear a skipper’s -lagged. But they’re too leary, bully. Ha, ha! They knows how to keep to -wind’ard, scrape and go as it often is.’ - -‘What’s the coveys made up of?’ said the second speaker. - -‘I asked Bob that. “All sorts,” said he. “One’s a parson.”’ Here both -sailors laughed loudly. ‘A harbour missionary, lagged for fishing -through the slit in the mission box.’ Both men laughed loudly again. -‘You’ll know him, maty, by singling out the cove as carries his hands -as though he wore long thread gloves. Bob told me to twig him by that.’ - -‘Only one sea-captain?’ said the second speaker. ‘It must be the next -ship, then, that’s a-bringing of them out?’ - -Eight bells at this moment were struck; the boatswain sent some -thrilling message through the ship with his pipe; and, unwilling that -the two speakers should know that I had been a listener, I went softly -round the galley and made my way aft. - -The reference to Tom in this conversation had struck me as strange. The -men undoubtedly meant Tom when they spoke of one of the convicts as -the only sea-captain amongst the prisoners. How should that be known? -The doctor was doubtless acquainted with the felons’ antecedents, but -he never talked and rarely answered questions. The convicts, then, had -made the discovery amongst themselves; this I thought extraordinary. -Tom might have admitted his calling to the fellows who shared his -sleeping berth, to the prisoners who formed the mess he was in; but -how should it be known to two hundred and twenty-nine convicts that -the two hundred and thirtieth was the only sea-captain amongst them? -Perhaps I mistook; a few had learned Tom’s calling, and one of those -few had talked with the sailor whose conversation with his mate I had -listened to. - -I did not give the matter much thought; I should have given it much -less thought had not Tom been the man the sailors referred to. That -some of the sailors should have found friends amongst the prisoners -was quite in keeping with the looks of a few of the crew. I had often -thought that were the forecastle hands to shift clothes with the -malefactors, they would make wickeder-looking convicts than the bulk of -the prisoners. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIX - -SHE IS ALARMED BY WHAT IS SAID BY THE OFFICERS - - -The convict ship _Childe Harold_ drove steadily down the North Atlantic -with the trade-wind, and then, losing those prosperous gales something -north of the Equator, crept stealthily through a wide, white, gleaming -zone of calms, blurred with fainting catspaws as a mirror is dimmed by -the breath. No incident of any sort broke the profound monotony of the -routine of shipboard life. Captain Barrett and the subaltern killed the -time by firing at a mark with pistols, by cards, chess, deck quoits, -fishing for sharks, and the like. Their duties were trifling. The -sergeant of the guard seemed to do all the work. The discipline of the -sea had the regularity of the tick of a clock. Sights were punctually -taken, the log hove, the watch relieved--so it went on. The crew came -and went to the sound of Balls’s pipe or to the warning voice of the -officer of the watch. - -I was now looking very close into the sea life, and was of opinion -that it was a sickening, tedious calling. The atmosphere of romance -which had coloured my early thoughts of it, got from my father’s and -his friends’ merry or wild or exciting yarns, had perished out of my -mind long before we were up with the Equator, as the term is. The -captain was burdened with enormous responsibilities. The safety of a -large, valuable ship freighted with human lives was dependent upon -him, and his pay was perhaps less than the wages of a head-waiter of -a City tavern. The mates were at the mercy of the captain, who could -break them if he chose, send them forward to do common sailor’s work -and ruin them. They lived without friendship. One was superior to the -other. The captain addressed them only on matters of ship work, and -talked familiarly with nobody but the doctor and military officers. -There were three mates. Two of them led lives as lonely as the ship’s -figure-head; the third, who was a person of no consequence, would carry -his pipe into the boatswain’s or apprentices’ berth, and so kill time -for himself. - -I had not guessed that this was the life of the deep when I used to -listen to the ocean talk of my father’s friends at Stepney or view the -ships in the Thames, and create a fairy sea with rich skies and spicy -breezes for them to sail over. It was my acquaintance, however, with -the forecastle side of the life that completely ruined my idealism. I -could not wonder that sailors should be the mutinous and growling dogs -they are represented when I peeped into the forecastle and smelt the -smells and blinked at the gloom and beheld the damp and the dirt, the -half-clad figures of men who had shipped without a shift of clothes and -whose wage would not bring them within hail of the slop-chest; when -I saw the lumps of green pork or blue and iron beef carried from the -galley into the forecastle along with the slush-thick peasoup or the -dingy, bolster-hard duff at which any famished mongrel of the London -streets might hiccough. - -‘Is it the same everywhere at sea?’ I once asked Will. - -‘No,’ he answered, ‘the crew are well fed and well treated aboard -us--comparatively speaking,’ he added, with a grin. - -‘And do you like the life?’ said I. - -‘The country must have sailors, young woman?’ - -‘I would rather be a convict,’ said I. - -‘Yet it was not always thus, you know, my pretty Mary Jane,’ he -exclaimed, singing. ‘When Butler was a sailor you nailed your heart to -the foremast; now he’s a convict you want to clank it through life, eh?’ - -‘It was not always thus, Mary Jane, because I had never been to sea. -I read in books and listened to talk and painted on clouds. Now I am -at sea. I have watched the life and swear that I would rather take a -convict’s discipline along with a convict’s chances than be a foremast -hand.’ - -My work was light, and this was a wonderful mercy, seeing that I had -been made a cuddy-servant without anybody knowing I was a girl. I -washed glasses, fetched and carried dishes, cleaned knives and plate -and so on. This was no more than housemaid’s work, down even to the -scrubbing of the deck, which was the same as washing the floor of a -room. Added to this, I slept alone in a comfortable cabin and had all -such conveniences as a young woman who masquerades as a boy could need. - -I was nearly of Will’s height, and his clothes fitted me, and when the -weather grew very hot I wore his flannel shirts, serge jacket buttoned -up to conceal my figure, and white drill trousers. I also got him to -buy me a new grass hat from one of the sailors, and thus attired, I -looked the smartest, sauciest young fellow that ever stepped the decks -of a ship. The captain and the mates knew how I came by the clothes I -wore, and asked no questions. - -The Woolwich apparel remained in the upper bunk. Long before this I had -opened it and inspected the contents, and found every article as I had -packed it. It was a very large bundle; it contained my hat and bodice -and skirt and the under-linen and shoes I had removed when I dressed -myself as a boy. - -Meanwhile the doctor was highly satisfied with the progress the convict -school-classes were making. He would come to the table and rub his -hands and declare, with one of his grave smiles, that since such and -such a date So-and-so--and here, perhaps, he would give the initials -of a convict or quote several examples by their initials only--had got -the Lord’s Prayer by heart and was beginning to pronounce words of two -and even three syllables. I am sure he was a benevolent, good, pious -man, but repulsive to my sympathies by sternness and officialism and, -perhaps, by the thought that Tom was under him, in his power, of no -more account than the rest of the prisoners, many of whom were being -transported for vile and some for diabolical crimes. - -I’d keep my ears open to hear if he spoke of Tom; but he never uttered -my sweetheart’s name nor indicated him by any fashion of his own. -Strange to relate, one of his favourites was now the prize-fighter -Barney Abram. It puzzled me to imagine by what acts this man Abram -had succeeded in gaining the doctor’s good opinion and confidence. -Certainly during service no man was so attentive as the prize-fighter. -I see him now with his head slightly on one side, his eyes fixed upon -the doctor with an expression of half-complacent admiration, as though -what he heard was not only doing him good but amazing him with the -beauty and eloquence with which it was delivered. Then I gathered that -Barney was very zealous in the school-work. I remember the doctor -telling Captain Barrett that the tears stood in the prize-fighter’s -eyes whilst he expressed his gratitude for the opportunities provided -by the discipline of the convict ship for improving his understanding -and qualifying him to think and reason as a rational, responsible -being. Captain Barrett looked silently at the doctor through his -eye-glass; but immediately the doctor had quitted the table the captain -turned to Lieutenant Chimmo and spoke in a low voice, and then they -both laughed wildly. Indeed, the subaltern beat upon the table as -though he would suffocate. - -I remember again, one afternoon, that I was sent with a tray of -seltzer and glasses to the poop. The commander of the ship was seated -in company with the doctor and the two military men. An awning was -stretched overhead, and its shadow was pleasant with the breath of a -small breeze off the beam, and it danced with a strange pulsing of -lights from the diamond twinkling of the brilliant blue sea. - -We had by this time crossed the Equator; I believe our latitude was -about three degrees south. Sentries paced the fore part of the poop as -usual; the sentry forward sheltered himself in the gloom of the corner -of sail; a few convicts were lounging in a lifeless manner betwixt the -barricades. Tom was one of the convicts. He sat at the foot of the -mainmast in the shadow of it with his elbows on his knees, his brows -betwixt his clenched fists, his head hanging down, his eyes rooted to -the deck, his whole posture extraordinary with its suggestion of that -sort of grief which turns a man into stone. - -Captain Sutherland and the others sat near the foremost skylight that -stood but a short distance from the break of the poop. The captain told -me to put the tray down on the skylight and fetch a bottle of brandy. -I returned with the brandy and a corkscrew, when, just as I was about -to draw the cork, the doctor lifted his hand, and with an odd pleased -look, bade me stand still and make no noise. Then it was that I heard a -sound of singing; the melody was a hymn, but I cannot give it a name; I -have since believed it was the air of a well-known hymn sung to words -which were written by some convict converted into an honest man by the -doctor during a previous voyage. - -I judged by the volume of sound that about ten men sang; they sat under -the hatch where the gratings made a frame like a bird-cage, otherwise -we should not have heard them. They sang well, in good time, and one -deep voice was noticeable for its manner of working into the singing in -a harmonising way as though the fellow knew music. - -Captain Barrett asked a question. - -‘Hush, I beg of you,’ said the doctor, with a face of grave -satisfaction. - -No one could have listened to the voice of the finest Italian -opera-singer of the day with more relish and ardent attention than the -doctor to the chanting of the convicts. - -The singing ceased. I stood at a little distance, with the brandy and -the corkscrew, waiting to be told to draw the cork. - -‘Whose was that deep voice?’ said Captain Barrett. - -‘Barney Abram’s,’ answered the doctor. - -‘Was it a Christian hymn they sang?’ asked Captain Barrett. - -‘Certainly,’ responded the doctor. ‘Do you suppose that I would allow -any other sort of hymn to be sung in this ship?’ - -‘What’s Barney’s creed?’ said the subaltern. - -‘He’s coming right,’ answered the doctor, severely. And then turning to -Captain Sutherland, he exclaimed: ‘I know you take an interest in these -matters. You will be gratified to learn that Abram expressed a wish -yesterday to be received into our Church.’ - -‘Indeed!’ said Captain Sutherland. - -‘That could only be done by a bishop or a clergyman, I suppose?’ said -the subaltern. - -The doctor, without answering, left the poop, walked to the main-hatch -and addressed some words to the men at the bottom of it. - -‘What’s your opinion of Barney’s conversion?’ said Captain Sutherland -to Captain Barrett. - -‘My opinion is,’ answered the other, ‘that I shall give instructions -for the sentries to keep an extra sharp eye upon him.’ - -‘Now the hymn’s over, suppose we get that cork drawn?’ said the -subaltern. - -I started on the captain of the ship turning to look at me. My eyes had -been fastened upon Tom, who, on the doctor approaching the hatchway, -had risen and gone to the rail, and stood there looking out to sea. The -convicts came up in divisions to breathe the air. It was so burning -hot that the doctor had stopped the walking exercise. Tom’s division -happened to be up, and my eyes were rooted to his pale face as he stood -looking over the rail into the dim blue distance, when I was startled -by Captain Sutherland turning upon me. - -‘Draw that cork,’ said he; ‘I had forgotten you.’ And he said to -Lieutenant Chimmo, but he did not mean that I should hear him: ‘Do you -observe that this lad is always at one’s elbow when the convicts are -under discussion?’ - -This speech brought some colour into my face; I was sensible that I -blushed and was deeply vexed that I did so. All three watched me draw -the cork out of the brandy bottle. I poured brandy into the tumblers -and filled them up with foaming seltzer and handed the draughts to the -gentlemen. Captain Barrett looked me hard in the face when I handed him -his tumbler. My fears made me find detection in his stare; I thought to -myself in his heart this man has found out that I am a woman. - -I went toward the companion hatch to re-enter the cuddy; Lieutenant -Chimmo said loudly, as though indifferent whether I heard or not: ‘What -a devilish good-looking chap he is! He blushes like a girl.’ - -‘There’s a mystery about the youngster,’ said Captain Barrett. ‘He -puzzles me.’ - -I did not catch what the captain let fall, but feeling alarmed and -eager to know if more was said, I ran hastily down the companion steps -and posted myself under the open foremost skylight. - -‘What makes you think so?’ I heard Lieutenant Chimmo say. - -‘He seems too stoutly built for a lad,’ answered Captain Barrett. - -‘I’ve met young fellows more girlish-looking than that lad,’ exclaimed -Captain Sutherland. ‘The apprentice, Johnstone, I understand, knows all -about him. Johnstone is of respectable stock. His father is a solicitor -near the Tower; I’ve never done business with him, but he has helped -many a poor gentleman of the jacket out of difficulties.’ - -The subaltern spoke of several effeminate officers whom he had met -with in various places. He mentioned one Captain Dawson, who, he said, -was called Pretty Polly. He wore his hair parted down the middle; it -was a rich auburn and waved, and the fellows of his regiment tried to -persuade him to let it grow to see to what length it would descend. He -had no hair except eyebrows and eyelashes upon his face; his complexion -was amazingly delicate, much more so than young Marlowe’s. He blushed -readily; his voice was a contralto, and when he sang you thought you -were listening to a woman. - -This reminded Captain Barrett of a girlish-looking cornet named -Sheridan. Then Captain Sutherland furnished an instance of a singularly -effeminate second mate; after which, amid frequent sippings of brandy -and seltzer and puffing of paper cigars, the conversation went again to -Barney Abram, thence to other matters; whereupon, satisfied that they -had done with the topic of girlish-looking boys, I went to the pantry, -breathing a little more freely, though still somewhat uneasy, for I was -afraid of the meaning I had found in the stare that Captain Barrett had -regarded me with. - - - - -CHAPTER XXX - -SHE CONVERSES WITH HER SWEETHEART - - -The utmost I dared hope was that my sex would remain concealed until -we had rounded the Cape of Good Hope. When once our ship had entered -the great Southern Ocean, there would be no more land to touch at -until Hobart Town was reached. Often at home, whilst thinking of Tom -and resolving to follow him, had I studied the map of the world--or -rather those portions of the globe which a ship traversed in her -passage from the Thames to Tasmania; and I knew that there was no land -betwixt Agulhas and the great New-Holland continent, saving two little -islands, one called St. Paul’s and the other Amsterdam Island, the -latter of which it was then customary (I had read or been told) for -ships to sight to verify their reckonings. But it was a desert island, -not such an island as the doctor would set me ashore on; so that after -we should round the Cape I had no fear of being landed; nor was it -very conceivable that the doctor, however suspicious he might prove, -would think it needful to tranship me should an opportunity occur, -seeing that our destination would not then be very remote, with the -proper machinery for inquiry at hand there should the doctor or Captain -Sutherland think proper to charge me. - -I was relieved, however, by finding that, during the remainder of that -day, Captain Barrett took no further notice of me. The heat was very -great. The doctor said it was like a furnace in the ’tweendecks, and -that some of the convicts who were sick in the hospital were suffering -fearfully. The heels of three or four wind-sails penetrated the -hatches, but the air blew small and fiery hot, and the gushing of it -down those canvas pipes made no sensible difference in the fever of the -atmosphere of the ’tweendecks, filled with the breath and the heat of -the bodies of the two hundred and thirty convicts. - -At dinner in the cuddy, on the afternoon of the third day, dating from -the incident of the singing of the hymn in the hatch, the captain spoke -of a partial eclipse of the moon that was to happen that evening at -about nine o’clock. I stood behind the captain’s chair when this was -said, for I must tell you that I now regularly waited at table, though -Frank was above me, and I had to do work which Mr. Stiles would not -have put the young German to. - -The doctor lifted his head from the soup-plate which he overhung and -exclaimed: ‘A partial eclipse of the moon? That will be an interesting -sight!’ - -Captain Barrett and the subaltern asked several questions about this -eclipse. The conversation flowed on. I fetched a second or third -course from the galley, and whilst the captain carved, the doctor, -looking at him, said: ‘I have a great mind to allow the convicts, in -divisions, to witness this eclipse. The spectacle might produce a very -salutary effect upon the minds of many. The loneliness of the ocean, -the sight of the familiar face of the moon being slowly darkened--it -will provide me with a fine subject for our address to-morrow, and the -prisoners will be more likely to benefit from my discourse by having -beheld the eclipse. You are sure, sir, that the hour is nine?’ - -‘About nine. I will presently let you know for certain,’ answered the -captain. - -‘We should require the guard drawn up on the poop,’ said the doctor. - -‘Give your orders, Ellice,’ said Captain Barrett. - -‘The soldiers and the women will enjoy the sight,’ said the doctor; ‘it -is insufferably hot in the prison. These occasional indulgences often -do much good.’ - -‘How long does the eclipse last?’ asked the subaltern. - -‘I believe the disk is less than a quarter obscured,’ replied the -captain. - -‘That should give time for each division to take a peep,’ exclaimed -Captain Barrett. - -Here I was sent into the pantry, and lost what followed. I gathered, -however, on my return, from what the doctor and the others let fall, -that the matter was settled, and that the convicts in divisions, the -guard being under arms on the poop, were to be brought up on deck to -view the partial eclipse of the moon. - -Dinner was over in the cuddy by seven. The captain and military -officers went on to the poop to smoke, and I carried coffee to them -whilst Frank waited upon Mr. Bates and his brother mate. The doctor, -who did not smoke, and who drank his wine well watered, descended the -booby-hatch to acquaint the prisoners with his intentions, and to make -the necessary arrangements. It was a true tropic night, splendid and -silent. Often do I recall that night, and always with a bitter sense of -the blindness of the human mind, of our incapacity to see one minute -ahead of us. The moon at this hour was rising, and the lunar dawn lay -in a streak of dim red along the eastern seaboard. I do not remember -the hour; it was not yet eight bells; in the west was a fast-waning -flush, for we floated in a part of the ocean where the night crosses -the sea in a stride. Not a breath of air! The waters stretched flat as -a surface of polished ebony, and only at intervals there ran a sighing -sort of movement over the sea, which sent a delicate stir through the -canvas, and set the dew raining from aloft in little pattering showers. -In the south there was much lightning; the leap of the violet sparks -flashed up the battlements and ragged brows of a mass of electric -cloud. The water reflected the play, and sometimes a little note of -distant thunder came humming across the glass-smooth surface. Elsewhere -under the brightest of the stars hung tremulous wakes of silver fire. - -Even now, early as it was, the mighty shadow of the ocean night was -majestic and awful with the wild, flashful colouring of lightning in -the south, and the dustlike multitude of stars over the three glooming -spires of our ship, and the rising moon rusty-red and imperfect and -distorted, as though lifting heavily through some noxious belt of -African river vapour. - -What I saw, however, was quickly embraced by my sight. Having put the -gentlemen’s coffee upon the skylight, I durst not linger. - -The steward found me plenty to do till a quarter before nine. I then -went to my cabin to refresh myself with a wash. When I came into the -cuddy again, I found the lamps turned down and heard a sound of many -feet in motion. I stepped into the recess and found nobody there. I -walked a little way forward along the gangway alley, and looking up at -the poop, saw the guard drawn in a line near the rail. The awning was -furled, and the moonlight sparkled on their firearms, and the bayonets -glanced as the lightning leapt in the south. - -A division of convicts was in the inclosure, standing in dusky groups, -and at every man’s feet stretched his shadow, with scarcely a move of -the clean black line of it, so reposefully did the ship sleep. I saw a -crowd of seamen on the forecastle and heard women’s voices, and guessed -that the wives had gone forward to view the eclipse. - -The moon was now bright. You could distinguish faces by her beam. I -went slowly along the gangway alley, looking hard at the prisoners, -and when about midway I saw a man standing alone, with his arms folded -and his eyes fixed on the moon. It was Tom. I stopped. I must tell you -that this fore-and-aft barricade, which was designed as a convenience -more than as a prison barrier, was not above five feet high, and formed -of strong wooden rails, sufficiently wide apart to disclose the figure. -I coughed, and then Tom saw me. - -I advanced very slowly in the direction of the forecastle and then came -to a stand and seemed to look at the moon; and when I warily turned -my eyes upon the inclosure I observed that Tom had advanced as I had -and was abreast of me, though he had drawn nearer to the fore-and-aft -barricade. My heart beat quickly, for if I could speak to him now it -would be the first time since that day when I had whispered as I passed -and when he had discovered that I was on board. - -I walked a little way farther. This carried me out of sight of the -poop, unless any one should come to the head of the port poop-ladder -and stare along the alley. The yards were braced forward, and the -corner of the foresail lay between me and the moon, and plunged in -shadow that part of the deck where I again halted. I saw that Tom had -walked with me on the other side of the barricade, and when I stopped -he stopped, too, so close that had he sighed I should have heard him. -The shadow that was upon me was upon him and stretched athwart the -deck, darkening the two galleys and the great mass of long-boat; but -under the yawn of the foresail the forecastle whitened out in the -light, with the silvered figures of many persons upon it, and beyond -hung the jibs, falling like streaks of snow to the bowsprit and -jibbooms. Outside the shadow in the inclosure the moonshine lay like -frost upon the planks, and the shapes of the convicts, in their pale -apparel, showed like figures in yellow wood. They moved or stood in -groups; here and there was a lonely shape. The nearest group to where -I had come to a stand was at a distance of about twenty paces, close -against the fore-and-aft barricade. The yet distant lightning flashed -upon the canvas, and high as the royals which crowned the towering -fabric of cloths the sails flashed and faded in the electric play as -though to the revolution of some gigantic violet-tinted lantern. - -I kept my back upon Tom and seemed to be looking up at the sky; he -stood with his right side toward me gazing aft as though he heeded me -not. We spoke swiftly under our breath. - -‘How is it with you, Tom?’ - -‘This coolness and freshness and moonlight--it is heaven after the hell -below. My brave heart, my beloved girl, how is it with you?’ - -‘Well; I am happy. I am with you. Our time is coming. In our new home -all this will be no more than a horrid dream.’ - -‘A dream!’ said he, with fierceness in his whisper. ‘It is no dream to -be ruined and have one’s heart broken. They have made a devil of me. I -am no longer fit for you. You don’t know my heart.’ - -‘Whatever you are, I am. If they have made you a devil I will be a -devil too. I am yours and one with you, and live for nothing but for -you. Ask me to set this ship on fire to-night and I’ll do it.’ - -‘Ay, yours is the true woman’s spirit. I have no right to such a love. -It is too noble for a wretch. Don’t let them ruin two lives. Curse -them! See what they have made of me! I would to God you were not here.’ - -‘Oh, Tom!’ - -‘Ay, but to see you dragging the dirty burthen of the cuddy along -the deck--to think of my proud and beautiful girl masquerading as a -boy--ordered about by wretches who would be glad to clean her doorsteps -and windows at home--and for a convict! But you know I am innocent.’ - -‘Whisper softly,’ said I, marking a note of bitter temper, a tone as -of ferocity in his speech. It hissed in his feverishly rapid whispers -and seemed as a revelation to me of a change of nature. ‘Do not -gesticulate; the sentry at the head of the poop-ladder seems to be -watching us. I have settled it thus: On our arrival I will take steps -to qualify as a landholder, and you shall come to me. Leave me to act -and keep up your heart, and do not say you wish I was not here.’ - -‘This ship will never arrive!’ said he. - -‘Why do you say that?’ I whispered, turning to look at him and then -giving him my back again. - -‘That’s what I mean by wishing to God you were not here,’ he answered, -whispering passionately, as though he could not contain himself. ‘This -ship will never arrive! I could save her and I could save life by a -word. If I thought you were in danger--but not with me! Not with me! -Abram and others have taken their oaths upon it, and they cannot do -without me. They don’t know that you are a girl. They must not know it! -You are my dear friend and that is enough; and they believe you to be -friendly toward them and would help them if you could. They’ll not harm -you. I’d strangle myself sooner than utter a word that should save -this ship! I’m here for a crime I never committed. They have made a -devil of me! I’ll take no active part. I’ll have no blood upon my head, -but I’ll help them in the way they want when they call upon me.’ - -‘What can I do?’ - -‘Nothing but wait.’ - -‘I’d give my life to free you!’ - -‘Oh, your devotion breaks my heart! I was worthy of it once.’ - -‘When is this thing to happen?’ - -‘The ship will be in the hands of the convicts to-morrow.’ - -I fetched a deep breath and turned cold. - -‘And Will--and Will, Tom?’ I said in a whisper that shuddered with the -icy fit. - -‘I have stipulated for Will. They’ll not hurt him.’ - -‘How will they be able to do it?’ - -‘Some of the crew are with them. For three weeks this has been secretly -working out. I’m the only navigator among the convicts, and they -depend on me.’ He added, after a pause, during which my breath came -and went hysterically: ‘If you fear for yourself or for Will; if you -think this thing should not be done--for it will be attempted, and if -it is attempted it will be done--go to the captain of the ship, tell -him that the convicts, backed by a portion of his crew, have planned -to seize the vessel, and that to save her the sentries must be doubled -throughout, no convicts allowed on deck, no messmen to pass the -main-hatch sentry, the prison victuals to be passed through the door -of the steerage bulkhead by the soldiers, mates, and trustworthy petty -officers of the ship.’ - -‘Why should I tell him this?’ - -He was silent. - -‘Sooner than speak, I would fling myself into the sea.’ - -‘It will be a bloody business.’ - -‘But if it gives you your liberty!’ - -‘They have driven me to it!’ he cried, raising his voice; and he -stamped on the deck in the passion of the minute. - -‘Gangway there!’ shouted the forecastle sentry. ‘What are you doing at -that barricade? Come out of it!’ - -I instantly walked forward, and whilst I walked I heard the voice of -the doctor on the poop. - -‘Let the people fall in. Let the captains rank them on the starboard -side, where they’ll get a good view.’ - -I went up the forecastle ladder, at the head of which stood the sentry. -He was the husband of the pretty young woman--the Dick who had been on -duty when I visited the barracks. - -‘Is it you?’ said he. ‘You mustn’t get yarning with the convicts. It’s -against the orders.’ - -‘Yarning!’ said I. ‘If a prisoner wishes me good-night and asks me -questions about the moon, I may stop to be civil, I hope?’ - -‘It’s against the orders,’ said he, and with a swing of his figure he -resumed his walk. - -The greater part of the crowd on the forecastle stood in the bows or -head of the ship. The whole of the crew was assembled; the soldiers’ -wives, some of them holding children by the hands, swelled the crowd. -I stepped to a part of the forecastle rail where the deck was vacant -and looked out to sea. The hush on the ocean this side the storm was -unutterably deep, and the distant tempest did not vex it, though the -great masses of vapour had risen considerably and the lightning was -running all over the breast of it in rills of fire, and the thunder -boomed along the level plain of sea as though some leviathan mermen or -Titans of the brine were playing at bowls upon the horizon. - -I looked up at the moon and beheld the shadow of the earth touching -the crystal edge of the satellite like a ring of smoke. The reflection -flowed gloriously under the luminary in a spreading wake of greenish -silver, whose hither extremity trembled to the vessel’s side. The -convict ship, sleeping upon the dark and breathless surface of water, -her white sails gently fanning at long intervals to a delicate motion -of the hull; the dark figures of the convicts grouped in a mass on one -side of the main-deck, their faces pale in the night-beam as they -gazed at the moon; the crowd of seamen and women talking in subdued -voices in the bows of the ship, where beyond them soared the jibs -floating like gossamer in the moonlight; the dark ocean stretching, -stirless and silent, into the north, star-studded, whilst southward -it was lighted up by the distant, sunbright and violet flames of the -electric clouds; the face of the patient, silver moon, with a shadow -of the earth painted in a corner of her--this was a scene so rich in -poetry, so vital, besides, with a strange, bitter human significance, -that at any other time I would have abandoned my whole spirit to it and -lost myself in contemplation. - -But I could think of nothing but my conversation with Tom, the change -my quick ear had detected in his nature, his assurance to me that I -did not know his heart--above all, his statement that before to-morrow -night the ship would be in possession of the convicts. I believed him, -but I could not realise his meaning. Yet I remember very well that -conversation I had overheard between two sailors who talked of the -convicts, knowing that Tom--I guessed they meant Tom--was the only -navigator among the prisoners. - -I tried to settle my spirits, but my heart flung a fever into my blood -and I longed to laugh out, to cry out, to run about. As the shadow -deepened upon the moon, the crowd upon the forecastle fell silent. -I looked over the side into the dark water and beheld a fish-shaped -phantom of phosphorus sliding slowly along close under the surface; -there was a little bubbling of fire about the centre of this strange -shape where the fin of it projected. I knew what it was, yet glanced -once or twice only without curiosity and went on thinking. - -Would they spare my cousin Will? Would they spare me? How could Tom be -sure? The liberation of the convicts would be like the disgorging of -hell. How could Tom foretell what would follow the demons’ seizure of -the ship? But I cared not. Let Tom but gain his liberty and it mattered -nothing to me what followed, though my own life should be forfeited. -By the magic of sympathy the change that I had noticed in him was -working in me. I felt as though a devil had entered into me, even as -Tom had whispered that they had driven him to it: that injustice and -labour and punishment, maddening to an innocent heart, had made a devil -of him. - -I was in the way of the walk of the forecastle sentry; that is to say, -at the extremity of it, and twice he halted at my side to look at the -moon, but never spoke. I heard the doctor talking to the prisoners. He -addressed them from over the rail of the poop, and no doubt made the -most of this solemn occasion of eclipse and the terror of the gathering -storm and the mighty scene of loneliness in whose heart the ship -slumbered. - -I was forced to the quarter-deck presently by a ridiculous argument -between the boatswain and the cook. The cook declared that it had long -ago been proved that the earth was flat; therefore, as that corner of -shadow upon the moon was round, it could not be cast by the earth. Mr. -Balls, with a loud, hoarse laugh, exclaimed that those who believed -the earth to be flat were misled by the shape of their own heads. - -‘Not that I’m a-going to argue,’ said he, ‘that that there shadder’s -the earth’s. For the matter of that, who’s going to say it’s a shadder -at all? The moon has a hatmosphere, I suppose, and why shouldn’t its -hatmosphere be shaped as our’n is with mucky thicknesses like to what’s -blazing away yonder? Who’s a-going to prove to me that that there -shadder, instead of an eclipse, as they calls it, ain’t a storrum?’ - -I walked aft and sat upon the coamings of the booby-hatch where I was -alone. A fresh division of convicts had been brought up, and the doctor -stood over my head haranguing them. He spoke of the enormity of the -crimes they had committed, and begged them to consider the moon as a -likeness of their soul and the shadow overcreeping it as the darkness -of sin and death. ‘But presently,’ said he, ‘that shadow will pass, and -the brightness of the moon will look forth in splendour, and the sea -beneath it will smile and rejoice in her light. Be it even so with -you, my brother sinners; pray that the shadow that is upon you may pass -away, that the light which is within you may purely shine again.’ - - - - -CHAPTER XXXI - -SHE DESCRIBES A STORM - - -But now the storm was approaching, the moon’s light was growing weak -and the stars over our mastheads dim and spare. The lightning was -incessant; its flashes glanced into the remotest recesses of the north -and brought out the horizon there in gleams of sulphur. The hum of the -thunder was deep and ceaseless, with many savage cracks and rattling -peals. I cannot tell what progress the eclipse had made by this hour; -the moon hung distorted in the sky like a dim silver shield with its -sides hacked, and the night looked wild with her and the gathering -tempest. - -I heard the commander of the ship address the doctor, who called -to the captains of the division to march the prisoners below; and -he added that the last of the divisions could not be brought up, -as sail was to be reduced and room was wanted. Moreover, in a very -short time the moon would have vanished. Now followed a lively time. -The prisoners’ inclosure being clear, Mr. Bates, at the head of the -poop-ladder, began to shout out orders; all hands were on deck and all -hands were wanted. ‘Clew up the royals and furl them! Down flying and -outer jibs and topgallant staysails! Clew up topgallant sails and furl -them! Main-clewgarnets and let the sail hang!’ So ran the orders; the -lightning played upon the figures of the seamen as they trotted aloft; -the moon turned a watery, silvery, oozing, draining through the film of -the advanced shadow of the storm, then vanished behind a jagged peak -of cloud, and the night-dye sank upon the ocean in deepest shadow, the -deeper for the play of the lightning; after each flash the blackness -thrilled with the blindness of the vision. - -The women came off the forecastle, and I entered the cuddy. The steward -told me to turn up the lights, and Captain Barrett and Lieutenant -Chimmo, descending the companion-steps at that moment, called for -brandy and seltzer, which I procured for them. The steward bade me be -at hand; if there was a gale of wind in the storm, I, with the rest -of the ‘idlers,’ would be wanted. I hung about in the recess, and all -the time I wondered whether the convicts would rise in the morning, -whether their friends amongst the crew were to be depended upon; -whether this storm of thunder and lightning would work a change in the -prisoners’ intentions by terrifying them; and I also strove to imagine -the programme that had been concerted, what part the confederate -seamen were to play; whether the guard would find time to arm and turn -out, and if so, whether the uprising would not be suppressed by their -coolness and discipline and by the support of the loyal part of the -crew. - -The storm was now overhead; the ship was clothed in lightning and the -thunder was deafening and frightful. The whole fabric trembled to -every explosion as though the broadside of a three-decker had been -fired into her. There was no wind. The men had come from aloft, and -the ship stood motionless and upright under her three topsails, the -courses hanging festooned in their gear. I crouched in a corner of -the recess, amazed and bewildered. I had always from a child been -frightened of lightning, and here now was lightning that was like one -vast sheet of flame; the heavens were sheeted with its blinding blaze; -it was so continuous that you saw the ship as by sunshine; the whole -vessel crackled with sparks and explosions, fireballs ran down the -chain-topsail sheets, played about the pumps, sparkled and snapped on -the boom-irons at the yardarms, and the sea that had been silent roared -back in echo to the thunder and spread out in a wide field of blue -light that came and went, sometimes showing in a leap of light that was -as the flash that it mirrored, then blackening for a breath or two, -during which you saw nothing but the fireballs running over the ship. - -It rained and hailed suddenly with incredible fury. The decks smoked; -by the lightning flashes you saw the spray of the cataractal fall -rising like steam to above the height of a man. Just then the ship -was struck; I heard a crash and splintering on high, and a great bulb -of blue fire fell down the rigging over the side into the sea, where -it burst like an exploded cannon. The mate overhead shouted, and the -boatswain who was forward bawled in answer. - -Captain Barrett and the subaltern stood at the cabin table; they had -emptied their tumblers and put down their cigars, and looked pale and -glanced often up at the skylight, into which the lightning streamed -in an almost continuous living dazzle. I hung in the cuddy door for -shelter from the smoking wet; a head showed in the booby-hatch and -cried out: ‘The doctor wants some brandy; bring down half a tumblerful -at once.’ I ran to the table, took a glass from a swing tray, and half -filled it with brandy. The steward at that moment coming up through -the steerage-hatch called to me: ‘Hi, you there! What are you about? -Liquoring up unbeknown instead of being at your prayers?’ - -Lieutenant Chimmo grinned dismally. - -‘The doctor’s in the barracks and wants brandy,’ said I. - -‘Curse it, what’s wrong?’ exclaimed Captain Barrett, and instantly ran -to the booby-hatch, followed by the subaltern. - -‘Get on, then, get on!’ shouted Mr. Stiles, who had been drinking. - -I ran with the brandy to the hatch, and seeing nobody to hand it -to, descended. The scene of this interior of bulkheaded steerage -was extraordinary; a lantern burnt dimly, its light was paled by -the electric fires, which sparkled all over the prison bulkhead as -though the wood was alive with the phosphoric lights of decay and -rot. The bulkhead was studded with mushroom-headed nails, and every -nail was tipped with fire. The sight was fearful; I thought the ship -was burning. The women and the children were gathered in a heap in -one corner, holding to one another, as though the vessel was about -to founder; no child cried; the roar of the thunder seemed to have -frightened the infants into silence. - -A man lay on his back against the prison door, which was a little way -open; the doctor bent over him and Captain Barrett and the subaltern -stood close looking down. Such of the guard as were below were grouped -with the women and children; they seemed dazed. The prostrate man was a -soldier; doubtless the sentry stationed at the prison door. His musket, -with its fixed bayonet, lay at a little distance from him, and I saw -threads of fire writhing upon the bayonet. - -‘Here’s the brandy!’ cried Captain Barrett. - -The doctor looked up, and extended his hand for the glass. This brought -me close to the door, and for a minute or two I had a clear view of the -’tweendecks prison. The cage-like barricade at the main-hatch was full -of great nails, and every nail glowed as though red-hot. I don’t know -where the lightning found entrance. It flashed through the blackness -of this floating dungeon as if half a dozen hatches lay open to the -sky. Wherever there was iron for the electric fires to catch hold of a -small blue brilliant blaze was burning, inexpressibly wild and awful -to behold. I clearly saw the whole sweep of the deck--the tiers of -sleeping shelves stretching on either hand, the tables, the bulkhead -of the prison and whatever else there was of grim and odious furniture -in that interior. Numbers of the convicts lay motionless upon their -faces on the deck; many crouched in squatting postures, with their -hands to their heads; a few stood erect, defiant, as though waiting and -heedless of what was next to happen. One of these, I might be sure, was -Tom. - -No imagination could feign the terror which the figures of the -prostrate and crouching convicts expressed. You needed to witness the -scene, as I did, by the terrific lights that illuminated the prison -and by the ceaseless glittering of the lightning streaming through the -interior in shocks and explosions of dazzling light. And the roar of -the thunder heard in this resonant cavity was more dreadful to listen -to than the stupendous voice of it on deck, whilst a deep and ceaseless -note was added to the detonations by the Niagara-like fall of hail and -rain upon the echoing planks. - -‘Is he dead, doctor?’ asked Captain Barrett. - -‘No,’ said the doctor. ‘Have this door shut, sir, and let another -sentry be posted. You can leave the brandy and go,’ said he to me; on -which I returned to the cuddy and stood as before near the doorway. - -I believe this terrible storm had reached the height of its rage when -the ship was struck. Its fury was now waning, though the soot in -the north continued to vomit sheets of flame and the thunder-shocks -striking the level of the breathless sea were as the noise of the -rending of mountains. I have heard of but one such another storm -in which a convict ship bore part. The vessel was the _Earl Grey_, -with two hundred and sixty-four prisoners on board. The year was, I -believe, 1842, and the ship was bound, as the _Childe Harold_ was, to -Van Diemen’s Land. Dr. Browning, who was the surgeon-superintendent, -mentions the storm in his account of the voyage, but he saw nothing of -it, owing to his suffering from an affection of the heart which obliged -him to keep his cabin. This I regret, as I should have been glad to -know how the prisoners under his charge behaved on that occasion. - -It was now about a quarter to eleven; the rain had ceased, but the -decks were full of water, which cascaded continuously into the calm sea -through the scupper-holes. The captain and his mates kept the poop. I -heard the squelch of their tread as they tramped to and fro in their -sodden boots. Suddenly an order was shouted, and in a few minutes two -or three men came aft, one of them holding a lantern. They gathered -about the pump and the second mate left the poop and joined them. I -could not see what they did, but after a short interval the second mate -went on the poop again, and the men, one of them swinging the lantern, -walked forward. - -A little clock hung under the break of the poop in the cuddy recess -hard by the soldiers’ arms; a bull’s-eye lamp cast a light upon its -face; this lamp was used for heaving the log, for writing up the -log-slate and the like, and the clock for keeping the ship’s bells. A -figure came off the poop to see the time; he was draped in streaming -oilskins, which flashed out to the lightning, but his face was so -muffled by his sou’-wester, that I looked two or three times before -I knew him to be Will. I was still alone in the cuddy; Frank and the -steward were probably in the steerage; I took a step or two that -carried me to the door and pronounced Will’s name. - -He drew close and said: ‘What do you think of this?’ - -‘It is awful,’ said I. - -‘It might have been worse than awful!’ he exclaimed. ‘The ship has been -struck! Luckily, the thunderbolt went overboard. Had it gone through -the bottom we should have followed it; nothing could have saved us. But -it’s all right with the old hooker; the well’s just been sounded again -and she’s as dry as a rotten nut.’ - -I looked at him eagerly; my heart all at once grew so full, that I felt -I must speak or shriek out; I set my teeth on my lip and bit till I -tasted blood, and clenched my hands till my arms stiffened as though I -had been poisoned, whilst I turned my head that he might not see me. -He said: ‘I must be off. Why don’t you go to bed? There’s nothing to -keep you up. A fine night’ll be coming along by eight bells and they’ll -be making sail.’ With that he went up the ladder. - -I had barely arrested speech in myself: but for that supreme effort I -should have warned him, and he would at once have carried the news to -the captain. - -I stood in the door, gazing at the ship that flashed out and vanished, -no longer scared by the flames and the thunder. I could think of -nothing but what to-morrow was to bring forth. Men in scores lay below -in the prison quarter, stricken into motionless logs by fright. Were -they and the like of them capable of a victorious uprising? And suppose -the ship seized, what was to follow? I dared not think how the convicts -might serve those who were not of them. I asked myself: If they put -Tom in charge of the ship, what will he do with her, and how will he -act so as to escape from the ruffians and secure his own liberty? Then -I thought to myself: he is an innocent man now, though suffering as -a criminal; but if the ship is seized by the convicts, he’ll be taken -as having helped them, as being one of the two hundred and thirty, -as being the one who navigated the ship afterwards, and who was as -answerable as any of the rest for all that happened. He will then be -a criminal in terrible earnest. Indeed, the business might bring him -to the gallows. But then, thought I, he is a convict now in any case. -He cannot be worse off. He never can--he never would--return home. -Whatever happens cannot blacken his future. The darkness over which -that lightning is flashing is not deeper. If the convicts rise, he may -escape and get his liberty, free himself from his felon clothes, and -hide with a changed name in a foreign country. Oh, cried my heart, God -grant that I may be spared to escape with him wherever he goes! - -Thus ran my thoughts. After all these years, I put them dully and -coldly; but they boiled in me then. They were as the electric fluid -itself whilst I stood in the doorway of that cuddy, mechanically -watching the great fabric of the ship glancing out green and violet -and yellow to the lights of the storm over the bow. - -Shortly after eleven the sky cleared in the south; the clouds rolled -away in black masses into the north, and the moon shone out, and the -sea was again beautiful with her light. A soft wind blew and the decks -grew busy with the life of seamen’s figures running here and there, -and pulling and dragging and making sail to the noise of hoarse cries -and choruses. The steward lurched up to me, and his breath filled the -atmosphere around with a smell of spirits. He said, with a hiccough: -‘You can turn in.’ So I went below and lay down, fully clothed, in my -bunk, but not to sleep. - - - - -CHAPTER XXXII - -SHE DESCRIBES THE SEIZURE OF THE SHIP BY THE CONVICTS - - -My head was full of Tom, of that change into fierceness which I had -noticed in his whispers, and I dwelt upon his sad, wild saying that -I did not know his heart, by which he meant that his heart had been -transformed by the wrong that had been done him and by his punishment -and sufferings. Never had I felt madder than when I thought of him. I -put my hands together, and prayed that if the convicts rose they would -successfully seize the ship. - -My blood was so hot and the heat of the atmosphere so great that I -could not rest. I opened the porthole and put my face into it for the -coolness of the air, and for a long while listened to the pleasant, -rippling sounds of the water gently broken, and to the gushing of -water from the decks and the noise of men’s voices high aloft, and -sounding as though the tones came across the sea. The moon was on the -other side, but the stars were again plentiful, many meteors sailed in -delicate trails of light, and the sea-line ran black against the sheet -lightning that played behind it. The dew-laden night-breath fanned my -face and cooled me, and by this time having thought myself into some -composure of mind I laid my head down and slept. - -I was awakened by Frank; day had broken, and on looking through the -porthole I saw that it was a fine clear morning, and that the ocean -trembled with the brushing of a small wind. I might be sure that -nothing had as yet happened; but I was so agitated, felt so cold and -pale, that I expressly lingered, hoping to rally, till I suddenly heard -the vulgar voice of Mr. Stiles bawling my name, on which I went out -quickly. - -‘Look here, young man,’ cried Mr. Stiles, ‘if you’re a-going to skulk -after this here fashion I shall have to send ye forward with a message -to Mr. Balls. D’ye think I’m a-going to do your work?’ And for some -time he continued to abuse me, calling me a little idle beast of a -stowaway, a worthless, loafing young sojer, and the like. I glanced at -him and perceived that his eyes were inflamed and his complexion of a -strange unwholesome dye; he had evidently drunk heavily overnight in -his terror, and the fumes of the drink were still in his head. - -I gave him no heed, but went to my work as usual, and presently -wanting water walked to the forecastle for a bucketful instead of to -the after-pump, as I wished to see what was going on forward. I took -a bucket from the rack near the mainmast and went along the alley; a -gang of convicts were scrubbing the main-deck and waist, and another -gang were washing themselves in a row near the fore-and-aft barricade. -The doctor, who always rose very early, almost as soon as the convicts -turned out, stood at the quarter-deck gate looking at the prisoners -cleaning the planks. - -The last man in the line of those who were washing themselves was -Barney Abram; on catching my eye as he lifted his ugly face out of the -bucket he smiled, winked and made a singular gesture, the significance -of which I could not gather. His back was upon the captains or warders, -and the look he gave me was unobserved. I faintly smiled as if I -understood him, though I did not, and went on to the forecastle. - -The head pump was worked by one or two ordinary seamen; the others were -passing buckets along to the boatswain and his mates on the main-deck. -I delayed to press forward and fill my bucket, as I wished to look -around me, and made as though I waited for a chance, in case I should -be watched. The sun was up; the eastern sky was full of pink splendour. -I saw no clouds, and the light wind was almost directly aft. The ship -floated along very slowly. I had an eye by this time for sea-signs and -guessed we should have a calm presently by the glassy appearance of the -horizon. I heard men calling out on high, and, directing my eyes aloft, -perceived that the main-topgallantmast had been wrecked to the height -of the masthead--that is to say, the royal yard still lay across, but -the mast had been splintered just above it and showed a foot or two of -ragged fangs. - -One of the seamen near me said that a hot morning’s job lay before -them. Would they make an all-hand business of sending a new -topgallantmast aloft? - -The other answered: ‘A brimstone hot job it’s going to be, you take -your haffidavy, matey! All hands or no hands, a bleedin’ hot job’s -afore some of us, roastin’ as the lightning that’s blasted that spar!’ -He laughed low and spat and wiped his lips on his wrist. - -I knew the speaker by his voice as one of the two seamen whose talk I -had overheard. The other stared up at the splintered topgallantmast. It -was clear that he was not in the secret. - -The sailor’s extraordinary speech left me in no doubt that the attempt -to seize the ship would be made, and soon. Not a hint of anything -wrong, of anything brewing, was to be discovered. Never had the ship -worn a quieter, peacefuller face as she floated along this morning -over the smooth, light blue of the tropic sea, bathed in the early -silver sunshine, her canvas gleaming like silk, softly lifting and -hollowing, and all right with her save that splintered masthead. They -were washing down the poop; I saw Will and others hard at work with -their scrubbing-brushes; a sentry stood at the head of each ladder, and -the captain was now on deck looking up at the injured mast and talking -about it with the ship’s carpenter. A single sentry, as heretofore, -stood at the quarter-deck gate, another at the main-hatch door, a third -on the forecastle; thus the decks were guarded by five armed soldiers, -as usual. Those who were off duty lounged with the women and a few -children near the booby-hatch, waiting to get their breakfast. The -convict cooks were at work in their galley, as I might guess from the -smoke which blew from its chimney. - -The fate of the ship was in my hands--her fate and the lives and -fortunes of a crowd of people! A fierce, wild pride, a wicked -exultation swelled my heart. There was yet time! The captain was on -the poop; I had but to measure the length of the deck to acquaint him -with what I knew, and the ship would be saved. And sooner than speak, I -would have killed myself. The blood would be on the heads of those who -had unjustly sentenced and made a convict and a broken-hearted, ruined -man of my sweetheart. Whatever devil had been driven into him was in -me too; what he did I would do; what he wished would be my law; let -the change that had been worked in him be as frightful as you please, -I would lay down my life that he might get his liberty and escape -the horrors of the base and degrading term of servitude which he was -to complete in a distant land. Yes, I could have saved the ship by -whispering a single sentence in the captain’s ear, and had a knife been -put into my hand, and had I been compelled either to speak or to stab -my heart, I vow to God I would have sheathed the knife in my breast -without an instant’s hesitation. - -I was not more than five minutes upon the forecastle. Then drawing a -bucket of water, I went aft. Captain Barrett and Lieutenant Chimmo, -as was their habit in these sultry latitudes, quitted their cabins in -their dressing-gowns for a bath in the ship’s head. This refreshing -bath they obtained by standing under the pump, whilst their orderlies, -as I suppose you would call the soldiers who waited upon them, plied -the handle. They returned in twenty minutes, and disappeared in their -cabins to dress. - -I helped Frank to drape the breakfast-table, but every instant my -eye was going toward the open door and windows which overlooked the -quarter-deck. My hands trembled; I frequently let things fall; and -three or four times Mr. Stiles swore at me for a clumsy young fool and -threatened me with Mr. Balls. Frank asked me what was the matter, and I -told him I supposed my nerves had been shaken by the storm. - -I think it was about a quarter to eight when Captain Barrett and -the subaltern emerged from their berths. As they walked to the -companion-steps to go on deck, the captain and the doctor descended, -and the four came to a stand at the foot of the ladder and talked. I -strained my ear. Their chatter was of the lightest--the weather, the -wrecked topgallantmast, the soldier who had tumbled down in a fit and -who was now well. - -Suddenly Mr. Masters, who was on the poop--whether in charge of the -watch or not, I can’t say--put his head into the skylight and cried out -in a voice loud with terror: - -‘Captain Sutherland, the convicts are breaking out! Some of our men -have knocked the forecastle sentry down! Quick on deck! The main-hatch -sentry’s over-powered and the prisoners are pouring up!’ - -Just as he spoke a musket was fired--then a second. Some of the -women shrieked. A third musket was fired. This was followed by an -indescribable roaring noise of groans and yells, accompanied by the -sound of the tread of many feet. The captain and the doctor rushed on -deck, the two military officers to their cabins, out of which they -broke again in a twinkling, each man pulling a pistol out of its case -as he ran toward the companion-way and flinging the case down as he -bounded up the steps. - -‘Here they are!’ shouted the steward, and, followed by Frank, he fled -to the steps which led to the poop. - -A mass of the convicts were coming toward the recess where the -soldiers’ arms were. Gaining the steerage hatchway in a leap or two, -I rushed into my cabin, and as I closed my door and bolted it I heard -the prisoners shouting as they swarmed into the cuddy. Their footsteps -thundered over my head. I saw myself in the wash-stand looking-glass, -and was as white as milk. I was only sensible now of the horror that -had seized me at the sight of the faces of the convicts. I stood with -my hand upon my heart, holding by the side of the upper bunk, breathing -fast and listening. But voices could not pierce the thickness of the -deck-plank. Nothing took my ear but the confused tread and shuffling -movements of feet overhead like to what I had heard when I lay in -hiding, only softer because of the carpets. - -A horrid fancy seized me. Shots had been fired. Suppose Tom had been -wounded or killed! The handle of the door was violently tried and the -door shaken and beaten upon. I cried out: ‘Who’s that?’ - -‘Will Johnstone! Let me in!’ - -I rushed to the door and opened it, and Will entered. In the time that -the door lay open I heard a great shouting and hoarse roaring, distant, -as though a fierce struggle were happening on the main-deck, likewise -a single musket-shot. This I heard whilst I let Will in. He was deadly -white; his eyes were large and strange with a wild stare of horror. - -For some moments he could utter no words. - -‘Are you hurt?’ I exclaimed. - -‘No, but I have seen--but I have seen--oh, the bloody villains! One -stabbed Chimmo in the throat, and they threw him overboard alive. He -levelled his pistol and shot a man. He was mad to do it. He stood no -chance. They wrenched the musket out of a sentry’s hand and bayoneted -him and tossed him into the sea, alive like the subaltern.’ - -Horror overcame the poor fellow. The memory of the shocking sights -seemed to paralyse him; his jaw moved, but he ceased to speak. I -was horror-stricken too, but not as he, for he had beheld what he -described. But impatience was rending my heart; I could not give him -time. - -‘Have you seen Tom?’ - -He answered with a nod. - -‘Is he safe?’ - -The poor lad dryly swallowed and wiped his blanched lips and said -huskily: ‘Yes; he told me to run to this cabin and keep with you. He’ll -be here soon. He stays to save Mr. Bates’s life.’ - -‘The convicts will not hurt us,’ said I. ‘Tom stipulated for our -safety.’ - -‘I guessed that,’ he exclaimed. ‘When they rushed upon the poop they -struck out and stabbed to right and left of them, but none offered -to hurt me. Butler stood on the ladder where the sentry had been -bayoneted.’ - -‘He didn’t do it?’ I shrieked. - -‘No; it was a young convict with a purple face, who kept yelling like -a madman. Butler stood on the ladder and shouted to me, and I ran -to him. He put his arm round my neck and said: “Will, it’s a bloody -business. I could have stopped it by peaching, but they would have -killed me; and what was to become of Marian?” A line of convicts was -drawn across the quarter-deck, and they saw Butler with his arm round -my neck. He told me that he had seen you run into the steerage and that -I should find you in your cabin.’ - -He was now beginning to breathe with more freedom, and something of the -dreadful, staring look was passing out of his eyes. He listened and -then said: ‘They’ll not hurt us. Butler seems to have authority. Did he -plan this frightful business?’ - -‘No, but he would not hinder it. Why should he? He’s an innocent man, -and must have his liberty. Let those who swore his freedom away, who -sentenced him, who have ruined our lives and made him what he is, be -responsible for this.’ - -‘It couldn’t have happened,’ he exclaimed, ‘but for our men. Many -of them are as vile as the worst of the convicts. I was on the -poop and saw it all, and it was as quickly done as letting go a -topsail-halliards. The prisoners’ messmen massed themselves as usual -past the main-hatch at breakfast-time; I noticed some of our sailors -loafing near the convicts’ galley within leap of the main-hatch sentry. -I also saw a cluster of seamen standing close in the way of the -forecastle sentry’s walk. I heard a loud shout; I’ll swear it was the -prize-fighter’s voice. In an instant the forecastle sentry was knocked -down by the seamen; the main-hatch sentry was seized from behind -and disarmed by the sailors who rushed from the convicts’ galley. -The messmen threw down their breakfast utensils as a sort of second -signal; I watched and saw it all, Marian; quicker than I can talk the -convicts on deck made for the quarter-deck barricade-gate, and fast -as water pours through a scupper-hole the prisoners came streaming up -out of their quarters. The quarter-deck sentry levelled his piece and -fired, and a convict dropped. The convicts forced the gate; the sentry -bayoneted the first of them and was then knocked down; his musket was -wrested from him, and a brutal ruffian beat his head in with the stock -as the poor fellow lay on his back. The poop sentries fired at the -convicts as they burst through the barrier, but in a few moments the -prisoners got possession of the arms in the recess and swarmed up by -either ladder. Oh, it was a splendid, maddening, frightful sight to see -those two soldiers, one at each ladder, holding the steps against the -yelling mob until one was beaten down and killed as I have told you!’ - -‘Hark to the noise overhead!’ I cried. ‘The cuddy is full of men!’ - -Through the open porthole came faintly, like voices at a distance -across the water, sounds of the shouting on deck. The wind had dropped. -A sheet calm had fallen. Through the cabin window I saw the sea -stretching to its dim, hot confines in a vast spread of soft silver -blue, with scarce a breathing of swell to stir the ship. - -‘What have they done with the captain?’ I asked. - -‘As I ran to join Butler, a crowd of convicts gathered round the -captain and doctor, as though to force them off the poop. I don’t think -they hurt them.’ - -I asked some other questions. He had rallied, and now talked with -something of composure. - -‘Hush!’ cried he suddenly. ‘There are people outside.’ - -The door of the cabin next mine was beaten. Mine was then hammered on. - -‘Are you there, Johnstone?’ - -It was Tom, and in a heart-beat I threw open the door. Beside him stood -Mr. Bates, the chief officer of the ship. On my showing myself, Tom -extended his arms and gathered me to his breast and held me tight. I -broke into a little passion of sobs, but shed no tears. - -‘You are free,’ I cried, drawing from him and grasping his hands and -looking into his dear eyes. - -‘Not yet! Not yet!’ he answered hoarsely, as though his voice had been -strained by shouting. ‘But, dear heart, we are together and may talk -together now. Mr. Bates, step in.’ - -They were alone. He shut the door when the mate entered. - -‘This is Marian Johnstone, the lady I was to have married, the lady who -accompanied me on board this ship in the East India Docks. She followed -me into this accursed vessel and, herself a woman of wealth and a lady -by birth, has waited at your table, stooped to the vile drudgery of -the cuddy, worked like a convict, associated with men no better than -convicts, that she might be in sympathy with me in my degradation. -May she find a reward!’ he cried, raising his hands and speaking in a -broken voice. ‘Do you stare, Mr. Bates? Why, yes, to be sure; she was a -boy and a cabin bottle-washer to your habit of thought down to a minute -ago. But the secret of her sex is yours. This is her cousin, Will. -Sir, on your honour, this lady is still a boy amongst us, and you know -nothing. Consider our company. Give me your hand upon it.’ - -Mr. Bates extended his hand, and Tom grasped it. The mate was a man of -a somewhat slow turn of mind. He looked at me hard whilst he retained -his grasp of my sweetheart’s hand, and said: ‘I have been thinking as -much for some time. There never was a boy with your skin and eyes. -Butler’s a lucky man!’ - -‘A wronged man!’ I cried. - -‘I said so when I read the papers, and I’ve been saying it ever since -aboard this ship, as you know, Johnstone.’ - -‘She shipped as Simon Marlowe,’ said Tom, ‘and so she remains--that’s -understood. Mr. Bates, you stop here with her and Johnstone. I’ll -bring Abram and others presently. The wolves are tearing the cuddy to -pieces in their rage to eat and drink. No man’ll harm you as my friend. -You three are my friends--friends!’ he cried, and again he took me in -his arms and held me to him, then passionately broke away and said, -speaking fast and harshly and with a fierceness I had noticed in his -whispers: ‘They’ll not hurt you! The devils are helpless without me. -There’s not a navigator amongst them. It was concerted I was to take -charge, and I do so on my own terms.’ - -‘What have they done with the captain?’ cried Mr. Bates. - -‘He’s in the prisoners’ quarters along with the doctor and Captain -Barrett and the survivors of the guard. I fear the bad part of your -sailors more than the convicts. There must be no bloodshed. But -let them yell and roar. Give the mad spirits of the brutes time to -languish. They have their liberty, but it is not the liberty of the -shore, and they’ll not know what to do with it presently when they -sober down and look around. Marian, my brave heart!’ For the third -time he pressed me to him and stepped out, bidding us leave the door -unbolted and to stay till he returned. - -His face was white, hard and wild; his manner that of one who is full -of rage and whose struggle to command it fills his eyes with the -light of madness. Mr. Bates gazed at me when the door closed upon my -sweetheart, and, plunging his hands in his pockets, said: ‘I owe him -my life. He locked me in my cabin, and a number of the convicts were -forcing the door when he thrust through and brought me out. He shouted: -“Men, I have three friends; two are youngsters below, this is the -third. You know our compact. You know who this man is. You have seen -him often enough. He is an old shipmate of mine and a friend, and if -a hair of his is harmed, you sail the ship yourselves.” The cuddy was -full of convicts; but there fell a silence whilst he roared this out. -He has a noble voice. He put his arm through mine and walked me to -the hatch. The devils fell away from me and started shouting on other -matters, as though I was out of it and concerned them no longer. He -saved my life. They’ve killed poor Masters. They would have killed me.’ - -‘Is the second mate dead?’ gasped Will. - -‘Butler told me so. Masters showed fight when they killed the sentry -and rushed on to the poop, and he was cut down. So Butler told me as we -came here. The convicts got hold of the soldiers’ arms, and it was all -done out of hand. And what’s to become of the ship?’ - -‘What will they do with the captain and the doctor?’ said Will. - -‘How many have been killed?’ I asked. - -‘Three convicts were dropped by the sentries,’ answered Will. ‘Suppose -them dead. Then two soldiers. Then the lieutenant and Mr. Masters. The -tally’ll run to near half a score, sir,’ said he, looking at the mate. - -‘And you’re a cousin of this lady?’ said Mr. Bates. - -‘I’m no lady on board this ship. Pray take heed, sir!’ I cried. - -‘She has nothing to do with this business!’ cried my cousin. ‘She was -afraid of losing sight of Captain Butler if she followed him in another -ship.’ - -The poor man durst not ask questions, for fear of offending me. - -‘What noise is that?’ cried Will. - -I heard a kind of pounding, like the stroke of a pump or the hitting -of timber. Mr. Bates put his head out of the door to listen. A dull, -confused tumult of voices came down the hatch--wild cries as of mad or -drunken delight; but I seemed to catch a level note in the hubbub, and -supposed that the first delirium and wild-beast-like transports were -passing. - -Mr. Bates was about to shut the door, when he was arrested by a noise -of rushing feet. He looked out, and said: ‘Here’s a mob of convicts -streaming into the steerage!’ - -I pushed past him and took the door-handle from his grasp, opened the -door wide, and stood in the way. The convicts were abreast of me in -a moment, twenty or thirty of them. They shouted as they ran, using -language which has gone from my memory. I guessed they had come to -sack the cabins down here, from the nature of their shouts one to -another; but they roared so hoarsely, their oaths were so plentiful and -unintelligible, their speech so hard to understand, some of them being -of the provinces, that I could only conjecture their designs. My voice, -though contralto, was piercing and clear. I cried out: ‘Do you know who -we are?’ - -‘Ain’t they Butler’s lot?’ shouted one of them. - -‘Yes, the three of us,’ I cried. ‘He’ll be here in a moment, along -with Barney Abram. We’re keeping out of the muddle above till you’ve -found out who’s your friends.’ - -‘It’s the spunky young devil as jawed the doctor,’ said a voice. - -‘This is my cabin,’ said I. ‘There’s nothing to take in it. But what’s -your friend’s, he keeps, don’t he? Look here! I’ve been with you, if -not of you, and tasted every joy of yours but your irons, curse them!’ -and with a swaggering, bouncing, rollicking manner I sprang to my bunk -and pulled out the convict mattress and pillow and flung them on the -deck. ‘No. 240,’ I cried, pointing, and forcing a shout of laughter. - -Some of the convicts echoed that insane burst of merriment. Their -laughter was hideous with its note of raw hoarseness. - -‘What’s that bundle there?’ cried one of them, a heavy-jawed, -low-browed ruffian. - -‘Skins and yacks and dummies is it, my bulger? Where’s your pal?’ cried -another man. - -‘Show out! Show out!’ roared a third voice. - -‘It’s woman’s clothes. Look and then let them be,’ I cried, still -preserving my bouncing, dare-devil air. - -They were elbowing in; the atmosphere was sickening with the fellows’ -warm, hard breathing. Many of them, I judged, had got at the cuddy -stock of liquor. Will and the mate stood side by side in a corner. -Never shall I forget the show of faces that confronted me; men with -broken noses; one with a hare-lip; one with a diabolical squint. Some -were gray, two or three a flaming red. But the features and colour -counted for nothing; their looks were devilish and horrible, and the -prevailing expression an infuriate triumph of the basest spirits, -inflamed by drink and animated yet by the brutal and maddening lust of -plunder. - -At this instant I heard Tom’s voice at the back of the crowd. He cried -out: ‘Is this fair? Is this how their promises are to be kept? What -have they done? Abram, help me to clear this cabin.’ - -The rearmost of the convicts were violently twisted out of the doorway; -as Tom forced his way in, the fellows reeled to the thrust of his -elbows. Abram was shouting: ‘Out, you cub! A bargid’s a bargid. You’ve -no right here!’ And whilst he shouted he lay about him, and some of the -men absolutely flew before the prodigious thrust of his arm, tumbling -others down as they bounded, until perhaps a dozen of the felons lay -sprawling in the passage outside the cabin door, cursing, roaring, -laughing and filling the place with the infernal din of a madhouse. - -‘Is it all right with you, Marlowe?’ cried Tom passionately. - -‘All right,’ I answered, ‘and right also with our two friends.’ - -‘Dow look here!’ exclaimed Barney Abram, whom I did not instantly -recognise, for he had removed his convict clothes and wore a long -pea-coat, cap and trousers belonging to Captain Sutherland. ‘Look -here!’ he exclaimed, addressing the convicts, who stood in a crowd at -the cabin door. ‘Our agreebet with Butler was that his two yug freds -was to be let alode. It was probised. Why dote you keep your word? -D’ye dow where y’ are? You’re at sea, and there’s dot a bad you cad -trust the ship to but Butler,’ and here he put his immense hand upon -Tom’s shoulder. ‘There’s a third party he’s asked our kideness for. -He shall have it. We owe hib do grudge. The chief bate of this ship’s -always beed a quiet bad. Did ady bad ever hear hib slig a hard word at -a prisoder? He’s Butler’s fred, ad that’s edough. Butler’s our fred, -ad’ll carry you in safety to where you bay scatter. Ate that what you -want?’ - -‘We never came ’ere to ’urt ’em,’ said one of the convicts. - -‘D’ye know them now?’ shouted Tom. ‘Look, and tell all hands of you, -fore and aft, that these three are my friends and are not to be -molested. If they are not well used by you all, if the smallest injury -befalls them through any one of you, I instantly chuck the job of -navigating the ship. You may threaten me; you may torture me; you may -hang me. I’ll fling the navigating instruments overboard, and leave -the ship to drown you on a lee shore or to run foul of an English -man-of-war.’ - -I cannot express the savageness with which he spoke; the hatred and -contempt with which he surveyed the crowd of ugly rascals. - -‘That’s plaid English! Are you satisfied?’ cried Barney Abram, clapping -his hands on his thighs and stooping and howling his words at them. - -‘Come along, bullies! No use wasting time here!’ cried a voice. - -In a moment the convicts broke away. They burst into the cabin next -door and filled the pantry, and I heard them laughing and yelling as -they flung the food they found at one another and dashed the crockery -against the bulkhead. Tom shut the door. - -‘Ad ’ow are you, yug gentlebud?’ said Abram, offering me his hand. ‘So -the doctor wadted to bake be your pal, eh? He preaches a good serbud,’ -he added, shutting one eye and looking at Mr. Bates. ‘What d’ye thik of -this, sir, for a piece of orgadisatiod? Is it prettily badaged?’ - -‘It is grandly managed,’ said I, answering for the mate, who seemed -incapable of speech, and who stood staring at the repulsive, massive, -small-poxed face and wonderful figure of the prize-fighter with looks -of dread and aversion. ‘You, Mr. Abram, will have been the genius of -this splendid stroke.’ - -‘I thik I bay claib to ’ave ’ad a small ’ad in it,’ he answered, with -an indescribable smirk of self-complacency, as he gazed at Tom. - -‘Hark at those brutes outside!’ cried my sweetheart. ‘There’ll be no -navigation, there’ll be nothing to be done with the ship if those -hell-hounds are not to be brought under some sort of government.’ - -‘You bust let theb howl it out of thebselves. They’ve got at the drik -and that’s dot going to quiet ’eb,’ said Abram. ‘Perhaps sub of theb -will be jubping overboard presedly, or going for each other with the -soldiers’ sballarbs; we’re rather duberous.’ - -He spoke with a great affectation of gentility and superiority. At any -other time I should have burst into a fit of laughter at the fellow’s -grotesque, genteel air, coupled with the indescribable leering smirk of -self-complacency that was fixed upon his pitted face. - -‘Captain Butler, what use can you make of me?’ said Mr. Bates, finding -his voice on a sudden. ‘I owe you my life, and I want to prove myself -grateful, and I want to show myself grateful for Mr. Abram’s friendship -and protection.’ - -‘Let Mr. Bates go and take charge of the deck,’ said Tom, looking at -Abram. - -Abram, with a cunning grin, shook his head. ‘Trust the ship to wud of -her bates! Reckon that he’s going to steer you to the port agreed upod -for our dispersal? He’ll wait upod you!’ said Abram. - -‘The ship must be watched,’ said Tom. ‘Suppose a squall should burst -down upon us! Suppose something with paddle-wheels and a white pennant -flying should heave into sight!’ he added with an oath which I had -never before heard in his mouth, and looking Abram fiercely in the face -as he spoke. ‘How am I to teach these wretches common-sense? The ship -must be watched!’ he shouted. ‘Am I to be your only man? Is it to be a -twenty-four-hours’ look-out with me day after day until I bring you in -sight of the land we agree to make? Bates, you are still first mate of -this ship under me. You won’t go wrong. You’ll have no chance. I’d blow -out the brains of any man who’d imperil the liberty I’ve regained this -morning!’ - -His eyes flashed, his face filled with blood, he took a step and put -his arms round my neck and stood so, scarcely sensible, it seemed to -me, of what he did. - -‘I’ll back you, Tom!’ said I. ‘The liberty you’ve this day got you’ll -keep.’ - -Abram burst out laughing. I felt, and was amazed to feel Tom’s -influence over this ruffian. - -‘Your little fred’s got the spu’k, Butler,’ said he. ‘A bugful of it -wouldn’t hurt that lad there,’ he continued, nodding at Will. - -‘He is my cousin,’ said I. ‘Don’t question his courage. He’s fresh from -seeing men butchered and thrown alive overboard. You are the greatest -fighter in all England, with the finest endurance and pluck of any -man that ever entered a ring; therefore, Mr. Abram, you have a soft -heart. Courage and kindness go hand in hand. Bear with that lad. He is -horror-stricken.’ - -‘Do deed for such sedsatiods, by warbler,’ said the prize-fighter, -grinning with gratification and stepping up to Will. ‘Give us your arb. -I’ll take yours, Bates. Dow let’s step od deck. I wadt air ad a drink.’ - - - - -CHAPTER XXXIII - -SHE DESCRIBES THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE CONVICTS - - -On their going out, Tom shut the door and locked it, then, catching me -in his arms, called me by twenty caressing words and kissed and blessed -me for my love and devotion. I cried and lost my self-control, and some -time elapsed before we were composed enough to talk. He then spoke of -the _Arab Chief_, and told me again how the conspiracy against him had -been contrived. His face blackened and he turned motionless with wrath -when he mentioned Rotch and the other. I see him now after he had said: -‘Marian, I swear by and before the great and just and merciful God -of Heaven that I am as guiltless of the crime for which I am here as -you, and that Rotch and Nodder----’ Then he stopped. He stood without -a stir, his face blackened, and his eyes became enlarged and fixed. -Nothing moved but his lips, which convulsively opened and shut. His -expression was one of horror and dreadful rage. - -I was terrified, and threw my arms round his neck and kissed him. He -fetched two or three deep sighs, and picked his convict cap out of -the upper bunk and fanned himself with it. He then quickly rallied, -but turned as deadly pale as his looks had before been black and -terrible, and held me by the hand a minute, watching me with a smile -of heart-moving sadness. ‘But God will not suffer it! But God will not -suffer it!’ he muttered brokenly; and a minute later, in a collected -voice, he talked to me of his sufferings in the London jails, of what -he had endured on board the hulk and in the dockyard. - -I strove to bring him away from these maddening memories by speaking of -myself, but I presently saw it did him good to let loose his thoughts. - -Meanwhile, a second mob of convicts, attracted by the noise below, had -come down into the steerage and were swelling the chorus of yells and -oaths which the felons were roaring out. I heard a frequent splintering -of wood, as though drawers and doors and lockers were being forced and -smashed. The ruffians’ object, unless it were diabolic wantonness, I -could not imagine; the cabins there were few. One was full of some kind -of stores; then there was the pantry; the other berths were empty; -maybe the villains beat and splintered the woodwork and did what injury -they could with the tools they handled out of rage and spite at being -baulked in their hunt for booty. - -‘Do they mean to wreck the ship?’ said I. ‘Are they men or beasts? -Listen to them!’ - -‘They’re beasts! Don’t I know! But why do they shout and roar? After -the long discipline of silence, I could roar myself. It has made a -devil of me.’ - -‘What you are, I am,’ said I. - -He shook his head passionately, and said: ‘My business will be to get -out of this ship with you quickly. They trust me, and their trust will -be my opportunity. How long should I keep you in this ship of demons? -There’s Bates and there’s young Johnstone. I have a scheme. The three -of us are sailors.’ - -‘Are the convicts without any chiefs, without any head they are willing -to own? If there’s no discipline, what must happen? They’ll get at the -liquor; they’ll eat and waste the provisions; they’ll knock the ship to -pieces and sink her. Is that the wretches’ idea of liberty?’ - -‘There are heads; Abram’s one. There are others I needn’t name. I’m -supposed to be one, as taking charge of the ship. They’ll fall into -some sort of order by-and-by. Many of them are not wholly beasts, and -they’ll understand for their lives’ sake what’s wanted and what must -be done. Marian, I had no hand in this business. They asked me if I’d -navigate the ship if the prisoners seized her. I said yes, and that -that would be my share in the outbreak. I’d do no more; I’d have no -man’s blood upon my head. If they seized the ship, good and well; I’d -navigate her to any agreed part of the world. Understand me, Marian, -I am accountable for no life that has been lost to-day. What is that -bundle?’ - -I explained. - -‘The clothes may prove useful,’ said he. He pointed to the convict’s -mattress on deck and said, ‘Has that been your bed?’ - -‘Yes, dear.’ - -He tossed his hands and looked at me with a face of sorrow and love, -then put the parcel into my bunk and the mattress on top of it. - -‘They’ll give me the captain’s cabin,’ said he, ‘and you must be near -me. I couldn’t rest to think of you sleeping down here. The men’ll be -filling these cabins; they’ll sleep in bowlines over the side sooner -than occupy the prisoners’ quarters, though many of them’ll have to -live down there all the same. Come with me on deck. I must see what’s -doing.’ - -‘Be careful how you address me, Tom. I must be thought a boy whilst I -am in this ship.’ - -We went out, and he locked the door after him and gave me the key. He -shouted to the convicts, some of whom seemed to be dancing, others -playing at leap-frog, whilst others again ran in and out of the pantry -and cabins hallooing like madmen: ‘Let no man enter that berth! My -friend occupies it, and that’s enough!’ He then passed his arm through -mine, and we walked to the steps of the hatch that led into the cuddy. - -I never could have imagined such a scene as this interior presented. -Most of the tall, thin sheets of looking-glass had been shivered. -The doors of the cabins lay open, and the decks were covered with -the tossed and tumbled contents of rifled drawers, lockers, and -boxes. The convicts had found good booty in these cabins. Here had -slept the captain, the two mates, the military officers, and the -surgeon-superintendent, and one or two spare berths aft had been filled -with certain valuable consignments to Sydney, to which port the ship -was to have proceeded after discharging her cargo of criminals at -Hobart Town. - -The place was crowded with the felons. They stood two and three deep at -the table, which, as you will remember, I and my associate had prepared -for breakfast. One of the aftermost berths had been used as a cabin -larder; here the prisoners had found plenty to eat and drink. The table -was strewn with tins of meat, pots of preserves, bottles of beer, -biscuits, bones of ham, and so forth. The fellows bawled to one another -to pass this and that; to hand the ale along; to sling that bottle -of sherry across. They knocked the heads off the bottles and, after -emptying them, threw them on the deck. - -The drink had mounted into the heads of many, and the din of their -shouts, songs, and laughter, their filthy language and hideous -raillery, would have drowned the noise of a thunderstorm. Here and -there lay portions of convicts’ clothes torn into shreds. Many of -the felons were dressed in plundered apparel. A man at the foot of -the table wore the doctor’s naval coat; others the clothes which had -belonged to Lieutenant Chimmo and Captain Barrett. A few had attired -themselves in the uniforms of these officers, one in a tunic, another -in the trousers, a third in a military cloak. One fellow who ran past -us had the subaltern’s sword strapped to his hip. - -‘Which was the captain’s cabin?’ said Tom. - -We looked into it; it had been sacked like the rest; the lockers opened -and the contents looted; the lid of a large sea-chest was smashed -as though by a chopper; but they had left the nautical instruments -alone, perhaps guessing their importance. The chronometers were safe; -there were sextants in their cases on a shelf; the nautical books of -reference were untouched; but the charts had been emptied out of their -bags, as though the convicts supposed more was to be found inside them -than rolls of paper. - -We stepped on to the main-deck. The barricades had been beaten down, -and the decks were covered with chips and fragments of timber. I -now understood what had occasioned the pounding noise I had heard. -A dreadful stain of blood marked the spot where the quarter-deck -sentry had been felled. A couple of convicts stood with muskets and -fixed bayonets at the main-hatch. Some food and bottles of beer were -beside them, and they drank and ate, and chatted in harsh syllables. -The doors and barricade arrangements here had been demolished. -Gratings covered the hatch. The cage-like bars which descended to the -lower-deck, with the doorway to admit of the passage of but one man -at a time, still remained. I supposed that the door in the steerage -bulkhead was secured and guarded. - -Thirty or forty convicts lingered about this part of the ship. They -seemed the quietest portion of the vile rabble. They hung in groups or -marched up and down in little gangs. Some were dressed in the clothes -of the soldiers. Others, again, wore the jackets and coats of the -seamen and soldiers. It was clear that the forecastle and barracks had -been stormed and plundered, though possibly the chests of the loyal -portion of the crew only had been rifled. - -I looked about me for the sailors, and counted five or six talking to a -little crowd of convicts near the ship’s galley. I saw nothing of Mr. -Balls nor the other petty officers of the vessel. Tom said he supposed -they had been driven below with the orderly part of the crew and were -in the prisoners’ quarters together with the captain, the doctor, -Captain Barrett, the survivors of the guard, the women, and others. - -There might have been fifty or sixty convicts upon the poop. I spied -Will standing beside a convict right aft. I took the man to be a -convict until I had stared awhile, and then I saw it was Mr. Bates, -the chief mate, who had evidently been forced to change clothes with a -felon. Will, however, was dressed as usual. The wheel was deserted. The -calm was profound; the sea flat and sheeting into the dim, hot distance -like a surface of quicksilver. The sun was now high and pouring in -splendour into the vast mirror of the deep, and his light was stinging -with heat, early as the hour yet was. - -A convict, flushed with drink, reeled up to me and shouted: ‘Here’s one -that ain’t of us! Change clothes, my beauty! Off with them duds!’ and -he pulled at his own coat in a drunken, wrestling way to remove it. - -Tom took him by the throat, and, running him backward until he was -abreast of the convicts’ galley, flung him into the door with a bitter -curse, and the fellow fell with a crash. My sweetheart shouted to the -mob of convicts who stood near the ship’s galley with the sailors: - -‘Keep that drunken ruffian off me or I shall kill him! D’ye know my -compact? If this lad is touched or hurt’--and he stepped back to put -his hand on my shoulder, whilst he roared out these words in a voice -of fury--‘you shall sail the ship amongst you! You shall run her -ashore and drown every mother’s son aboard! You shall run her into a -man-of-war, and find as many gibbets as you have necks!’ - -As he spoke, the drunken convict staggered out of the galley with blood -on his face from his nose: he cursed wildly and incoherently, and was -approaching Tom in a fighting posture. - -‘It’s all right, Butler,’ bawled a felon, ‘get away aft to your -quarters and look to the ship!’ - -‘It’s time!’ cried a seaman, and as this was said three of the convicts -sprang upon the drunken convict and thrust him back into the galley. - -‘Lie there!’ roared one of them. ‘Seizing the ship ain’t getting our -liberty, curse you!’ - -Tom took my arm and we went toward the poop. I was terribly frightened. -I shuddered and trembled, and said: ‘Where shall I find some convicts’ -clothes? Think if I should be forced to change when you were not by to -stop it!’ - -He halted at the foot of the poop-ladder and said: ‘Put this on and -give me yours,’ and pulled off his convict coat. It was large and -loose, and a more effectual disguise than Will’s serge jacket or my -monkey-coat. It was Will’s serge that I handed Tom. He found it small -and tossed it to a young convict who stood grinning at us whilst we -changed coats. - -‘I’ll find clothes when I want them,’ said he, and I followed him up -the ladder. - -There were several stains of blood about the poop-deck. The sight made -me ill. Tom saw the sickness in my face and exclaimed: ‘The heat is -too much for you. Go aft to your cousin; I’ll join you in a minute.’ He -then, standing at the brass rail, shouted: ‘Aft, a couple of hands, and -spread the awning; and lay aft a hand to the wheel! Do you hear?’ - -Strained as his voice had been by previous exertion, it still rang -clear and high, and went through the ship with the carrying note of -a bell. I paused when he shouted, and took notice that the convicts -on the poop, who were as fairly orderly as the fellows in the waist, -looked pleased on hearing him utter this command. - -He followed me, and we joined Mr. Bates and Will. Despite my sickness, -I found a difficulty in holding my face when I viewed Mr. Bates dressed -as a convict. He immediately said, addressing me: ‘I see they have -figged you out, also, but not to the heels, as I am. A fellow laid hold -of me, though Abram had my arm with Johnstone on t’other side to let -the gentry see that we were friends. Abram said: “Change with him. -You’ll be safer in that dress and they’ll like you the better in it.”’ - -‘He’s right,’ said Tom. - -Two sailors came aft to loose the little awning; a third man approached -the wheel. He looked hard at Mr. Bates and burst into a laugh. The mate -wisely turned his back upon him to conceal his temper, and held his -peace. - -It was no moment then to resent an insult, though this scoundrel seaman -had been in Mr. Bates’s watch since the beginning of the voyage, and, -with the rest of the sailors, had always been well used by him. Tom -stepped up to the fellow and exclaimed in a tone of severity that made -the man shrink: ‘I suppose that you know I am the commander of this -ship now?’ - -‘Yes, sir.’ - -‘And I suppose you know that you are an infernal mutineer?’ - -The man stared at him in a hang-dog way; he was the fellow who had -spoken on the forecastle that morning about the roasting job which lay -before them. - -‘My command,’ continued Tom, hissing his speech into the sailor’s face, -‘gives me unlimited power, and if I insist upon your being hanged, -up you go! Mr. Bates is second in command, and he is your chief mate -still. Laugh again if you dare!’ - -He lingered to stare at the man, who shuffled, spat, looked uneasily -around him, but made no reply. - -‘Bear a hand with that awning, then,’ shouted my sweetheart to the two -seamen. ‘Larking, Jephson, Simmonds,’ he cried, addressing some of a -knot of convicts who stood looking at the sailors, ‘help those two -loafers, will ye? Show ’em what to do, and how it may be done quickly. -We’ve been having our training, boys,’ he added, with a great violent -laugh, ‘whilst those chaps have been a-bed sucking their pipes.’ - -Three of the convicts sprang to his orders, as sailors would to the -command of an officer. I caught Mr. Bates staring at Tom with amazement -and admiration. Just then Barney Abram, dressed in Captain Sutherland’s -clothes, the brass button on either side the naval peak of his cap -glittering in the sun, came out of a group of eight or ten of the -felons, who had been earnestly and soberly talking abreast of the -foremost quarter-boat, and walked up to us. - -‘Dow, Butler,’ he said, ‘we wa’t your advice. The idea was to se’d the -fellows below adrift. But can we spare the boats?’ - -The others of the select crew he had been talking to followed him and -came about us. The crowd was quickly swelled; before Tom could fairly -answer, the whole of the convicts on the poop were swarming aft to the -wheel, near which we stood, to hear what was said. - -Tom, standing erect, folded his arms upon his convict shirt and, gazing -fixedly at the prize-fighter, said: ‘I’ll not counsel you. I accept no -responsibility where life is concerned. That was understood.’ - -‘You cad give us ad idea?’ - -Tom shook his head. ‘You have put this ship into my hands and I’ll -carry her where you will,’ said he. ‘I’ve got no ideas outside that.’ - -I heard some murmurs as of grumbling, and some of the ugly faces looked -savage. - -‘You may growl as you please,’ said Tom, running his eyes angrily along -the crowd of felons. ‘I’ve agreed to undertake as much as you have a -right to expect. In agreeing to take charge, I convert myself into head -criminal aboard you here; and of you all, I’m the surest to be hanged -if we’re taken. Act as you please. Do what you like. My part’s big -enough, isn’t it?’ - -‘Yar might just answer a question!’ exclaimed a convict. - -‘You want to turn the people below adrift,’ said Tom to Abram. ‘Do so.’ - -Mr. Bates looked at the sultry, breathless expanse of ocean; I caught -his eye and witnessed horror and consternation in it. - -‘How bany boats are we to give ’eb?’ said Abram. - -‘Reckon the number of people, then find out the carrying capacity of -the long-boat and quarter-boats. See that they are plentifully watered -and provisioned. Give ’em a sextant and charts, sails, oars, and -rudders; let them be wanting in nothing. It may tell for us, Abram. -That’s all I mean to say--the rest you can do for yourselves.’ - -Whilst Tom spoke, the prize-fighter’s dead-black, fiery eyes were -fixed upon Mr. Bates; his pock-marked face wore its habitual sardonic, -leering, self-complacent expression. - -‘Is it understood,’ said he, ‘that Bates is to help you to sail this -ship?’ - -‘Certainly. I must have help. I’ve told you I can’t stand a -twenty-four-hours’ watch. I ask for no better sailor to help me than -Bates.’ - -‘He was one of the ship’s officers, and we’ll hold you responsible for -his behaviour if you employ him,’ said one of the convicts, a tall, -thin, gray-haired man, delicate, with something of refinement in his -face, speaking with an educated accent. - -‘Parsons, I can’t navigate this ship alone. I suppose you know that,’ -said Tom, with heat. - -‘We shall want to feel when we’ve turned in that we’re being honestly -steered,’ answered the convict. - -(Tom afterward told me that this man had been a surgeon in a fair -way of practice in a London suburb, and had been sentenced to -transportation for life for arson.) - -‘What do you know about the sea?’ cried my sweetheart, with the utmost -scorn. ‘Abram, I can endure sensible opposition, but this sort of -jaw is swinish. My neck’ll fit a halter as well as his,’ he added, -pointing to Parsons; ‘but my life is more precious, certainly, for -you’d not miss him if he dropped overboard; but let me go, and if this -gentleman,’ and here he clapped Bates upon the shoulder, ‘refused to -stand by you, and carry you to an agreed part of the world, I’d give -you a week to be dismasted, to be pumping for your lives, to be in the -utmost extremity. Have you sought your liberty to end as puffed and -green carcasses a hundred fathoms deep over the side if the sharks let -you plumb that depth?’ - -‘There’s too buch talk,’ said Barney Abram. ‘Is every bad to be baster? -Butler’s the agreed captid. He chooses Bates to help hib. Bates he -shall have, ad to prove that we trust hib he shall give directions for -getting the boat over and sedding the prisoders adrift. Cub along, sir, -and give us the pleasure of hearing you sig out.’ - -He passed his giant arm through the poor mate’s and walked off with -him in the direction of the main-deck. The convicts followed to a man, -talking eagerly and tumultuously as they pressed forward in the wake of -the two. I said softly, that the fellow at the wheel might not hear me: -‘They seem afraid of you, Tom.’ - -‘I am one of them,’ he answered, bitterly. ‘They are not afraid of me. -But the thoughtful amongst them know they are helpless without me, and -the other wretches are influenced by the few who can think.’ - - -END OF THE SECOND VOLUME - - - PRINTED BY - SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE - LONDON - -[Illustration] - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - -Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - -Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - -Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONVICT SHIP, VOLUME 2 (OF -3) *** - -***** This file should be named 64114-0.txt or 64114-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - https://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/1/1/64114/ - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Convict Ship, Volume 2 (of 3)</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: William Clark Russell</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Release Date: December 23, 2020 [eBook #64114]</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: David E. Brown and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</div> -<div style='margin-top:2em;margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONVICT SHIP, VOLUME 2 (OF 3) ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="50%" alt="" /></div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h1>THE CONVICT SHIP</h1> - -<p class="ph2">VOL. II.</p> - - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"></div> -<div class="bbox"> -<p class="center"><span class="large">NEW LIBRARY NOVELS.</span></p> - -<div class="hangingindent"> - -<p>UNDER SEALED ORDERS. By <span class="smcap">Grant Allen</span>. 3 vols.</p> - -<p>A LONDON LEGEND. By <span class="smcap">Justin H. McCarthy</span>. -3 vols.</p> - -<p>THE TREMLETT DIAMONDS. By <span class="smcap">Alan St. Aubyn</span>. -2 vols.</p> - -<p>THE DRIFT OF FATE. By <span class="smcap">Dora Russell</span>. 3 vols.</p> - -<p>BEYOND THE DREAMS OF AVARICE. By <span class="smcap">Walter -Besant</span>. 1 vol.</p> - -<p>THE MINOR CHORD. By <span class="smcap">J. Mitchell Chapple</span>. 1 vol.</p> - -<p>HIS VANISHED STAR. By <span class="smcap">C. Egbert Craddock</span>. 1 vol.</p> - -<p>ROMANCES OF THE OLD SERAGLIO. By <span class="smcap">H. N. -Crellin</span>. 1 vol.</p> - -<p>VILLAGE TALES AND JUNGLE TRAGEDIES. By -<span class="smcap">B. M. Croker</span>. 1 vol.</p> - -<p>MADAME SANS-GÊNE. By <span class="smcap">E. Lepelletier</span>. 1 vol.</p> - -<p>MOUNT DESPAIR. By <span class="smcap">D. Christie Murray</span>. 1 vol.</p> - -<p>THE PHANTOM DEATH. By <span class="smcap">W. Clark Russell</span>. -1 vol.</p> - -<p>THE PRINCE OF BALKISTAN. By <span class="smcap">Allen Upward</span>. -1 vol.</p></div> - - -<p class="center"><span class="smcap">London</span>: CHATTO & WINDUS, <span class="smcap">Piccadilly</span>.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/ititle.jpg" alt="" /></div> -</div> -<hr class="tb" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<div class="titlepage"> - -<p><span class="xxlarge">THE CONVICT SHIP</span></p> - -<p>BY<br /> - -<span class="xlarge">W. CLARK RUSSELL</span><br /> - -<small>AUTHOR OF<br /> -‘THE WRECK OF THE GROSVENOR’ ‘MY SHIPMATE LOUISE’<br /> -‘THE PHANTOM DEATH’ ETC.</small></p> - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/ititlelogo.jpg" alt="" /></div> - -<p><span class="large">IN THREE VOLUMES—VOL. II.</span></p> - -<p><span class="large"><span class="antiqua">London</span></span><br /> -<span class="large">CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY</span><br /> -<span class="large">1895</span></p> -</div></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="center"> -PRINTED BY<br /> -SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE<br /> -LONDON</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS<br /> - - -<small>OF</small><br /> - -THE SECOND VOLUME</h2> -</div> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table"> - - -<tr><td class="tdr"><small>CHAP.</small></td><td> </td><td class="tdr"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XVIII.</td><td> SHE IS TAKEN BEFORE THE COMMANDER</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1"> 1</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XIX.</td><td> SHE IS QUESTIONED BY THE DOCTOR</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_30"> 30</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XX.</td><td> SHE CONVERSES WITH HER COUSIN</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_56"> 56</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXI.</td><td> SHE ENTERS UPON HER DUTIES</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_73"> 73</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXII.</td><td> SHE SEES HER SWEETHEART</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_92"> 92</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXIII.</td><td> SHE VISITS THE BARRACKS</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_108"> 108</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXIV.</td><td> SHE ALARMS HER COUSIN</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_128"> 128</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXV.</td><td> SHE DELIVERS HER LETTER, AND SEES A CONVICT PUNISHED</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_144"> 144</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXVI.</td><td> SHE ATTENDS CHURCH SERVICE AND WITNESSES A TRAGEDY</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_159"> 159</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXVII.</td><td> SHE LISTENS TO A CONVERSATION</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_181"> 181</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXVIII.</td><td> SHE OVERHEARS TWO SAILORS TALKING</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_196"> 196</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXIX.</td><td> SHE IS ALARMED BY WHAT IS SAID BY THE OFFICERS</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_207"> 207</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXX.</td><td> SHE CONVERSES WITH HER SWEETHEART</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_221"> 221</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXXI.</td><td> SHE DESCRIBES A STORM</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_242"> 242</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXXII.</td><td> SHE DESCRIBES THE SEIZURE OF THE SHIP BY THE CONVICTS</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_256"> 256</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="tdr">XXXIII.</td><td> SHE DESCRIBES THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE CONVICTS</td><td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_287"> 287</a></td></tr> -</table> - - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[1]</span> - -<p class="ph1">THE CONVICT SHIP</p> -</div> - - - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII<br /> - - -<small>SHE IS TAKEN BEFORE THE COMMANDER</small></h2> - - -<p><span class="smcap">I was</span> awakened from a deep slumber by the -glare of a lantern upon my eyes, by the -weight of a heavy hand upon my shoulder, -and by a deep voice roaring out: ‘Here y’are, -then! Another convict, is it? Who’s to say -what’s right aboard a craft where everything’s -wrong? Out you come, my lively!’ And, -still half asleep and blinded by the light and -deafened by the fellow’s roaring voice, I was -dragged as though I had been a child out of -the sail and held erect.</p> - -<p>A second man holding a lantern raised it -to my face and peered at me. I had seen -both fellows in this place before; they were -the boatswain and the sailmaker.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2"></a>[2]</span>‘What are you a-doing down here?’ said -the sailmaker.</p> - -<p>The boatswain now let me go, and I stood -upright before the two men, still dazed and -horribly frightened, though my wits were -slowly returning.</p> - -<p>‘I’m doing no harm,’ said I, blinking at -the light, which, as it was held close, put an -insufferable pain into my eyes. ‘I hid myself. -I want to get to Australia.’</p> - -<p>‘Australia, is it?’ thundered the boatswain. -‘Why, you young rooter, d’ye know -we ain’t bound to Australia? Where did ye -come aboard?’</p> - -<p>‘Woolwich.’</p> - -<p>‘D’ye know this is a convict ship?’</p> - -<p>‘Yes, I know it.’</p> - -<p>‘Has he been a-broachin’ of anything?’ -said the sailmaker, holding high the lantern -and slowly sweeping its light round the interior.</p> - -<p>‘What are ye?’ said the boatswain, whose -voice was louder than that of any man I had -ever heard or could dream of.</p> - -<p>‘A runaway boy,’ said I. ‘Take me on -deck. I’m sick for the want of light.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3"></a>[3]</span>‘Sails, d’ye hear him?’ said the boatswain. -‘By the great anchor, as my old -mother used to say, but here’s one I allow as -has squeezed through the hawse-pipe on his -road to the quarter-deck, for, hang me, if he -hain’t a-hordering of us already.’</p> - -<p>‘What’s your trade, Jimmy?’ said the -sailmaker, addressing me. ‘Nuxman or jigger, -or are you a lobsneaker, hey? Self-lagged, -by the Lord!’</p> - -<p>‘Come along aft and see the capt’n,’ said -the boatswain.</p> - -<p>He then spoke to the sailmaker about the -sails which they had apparently descended to -view, and, catching me by the arm, walked me -under the hatch, where he came to a stand.</p> - -<p>‘Been here since Woolwich, ye say?’</p> - -<p>‘Yes,’ I answered.</p> - -<p>‘All in the dark?’</p> - -<p>‘Yes.’</p> - -<p>‘What have you eaten and drunken?’</p> - -<p>‘I brought some food with me.’</p> - -<p>‘Are you one of a gang?’ And here he -rolled a pair of large glassy eyes over the -casks and coils of rope. He was a very<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4"></a>[4]</span> -powerful seaman, deeply bitten by small-pox -and without a right ear.</p> - -<p>‘I am alone,’ said I.</p> - -<p>‘Up ye go!’ he cried, and he partly -hoisted and partly tossed me through the -hatch on to the upper deck.</p> - -<p>It was broad day, though the interior of -the forecastle into which I had emerged was -gloomy. Beyond the forecastle-entrance the -white and windy sunshine was coming and -going to the frequent sweep of clouds athwart -the sky. The brightness of that light thrilled -my eyes with pain, and I turned my back -upon it, putting my hand to my head for a -few moments.</p> - -<p>‘’Tisn’t everybody, mates, that goes to sea -afore the mast as signs on,’ said the boatswain, -generally addressing a few sailors who -had risen from their sea-chests or lounged out -of the shadow forward to look at me.</p> - -<p>‘If this here was a female convict ship, -Mr. Balls,’ said one of the men, ‘you’d -find that that there covey was after one of -the gals.’</p> - -<p>‘Let him wash hisself,’ said another seaman,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5"></a>[5]</span> -speaking with his hands plunged deep -in his pockets, ‘and there’ll be nothen likelier -aboard us. Dummed if he don’t remind me -of my Mary Hann.’</p> - -<p>‘Let’m sit,’ said another of the sailors. -‘I’ve got a drop of grog in my chest. I -started on my first voyage in the fore-peak -and knows what head seas mean down there -to a country stomach.’</p> - -<p>‘Sit and breathe,’ said the boatswain, -backing me to a chest. ‘Fetch your sup -along, Joe. He don’t look much of a -rascal, do he?’ And I observed that he -eyed me very closely and with looks of surprise -and doubt which somewhat softened the -fierceness of his one-eared, glassy-eyed face.</p> - -<p>I was glad to sit. My strength had been -fearfully overtaxed by confinement and by -my mental sufferings and want of air. I -was afraid I should faint and my sex be discovered. -A pannikin with a dram of black -rum in it was given to me. I smelt the fiery -stuff and asked for water.</p> - -<p>‘Neat, my warrior, neat, and down with -it!’ cried the fellow who had given me the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6"></a>[6]</span> -rum. ‘Water’s for washin’ in. Don’t talk of -rum and water. Soap and water, my heart; -that’s it.’</p> - -<p>‘Give the lad water,’ said the boatswain. -‘Blowed if I’m going to take him aft drunk.’ -One of the fellows brought a pannikin of -water and turned a small quantity into the -rum. I looked up into his face and thanked -him with a smile and drank.</p> - -<p>‘Ever at sea afore, Jacky?’ said a sailor.</p> - -<p>‘D’ye hear the grit of old hoss in his -squeak that you asks that?’ said the deep-lunged -boatswain.</p> - -<p>‘And to think,’ said a surly-looking sailor, -‘that the town-crier’s still a-ringing for him -and his grandmother still a-calling at every -public-house to see if he ain’t there!’</p> - -<p>‘What d’ye say to a rinse, bo’, afore ye -lays aft?’ said the fellow who had offered me -the rum. ‘A clean face may stand the little -chap in with the old man,’ said he, addressing -the boatswain.</p> - -<p>‘Have a clean-up, young ’un, afore I takes -ye aft?’ said Mr. Balls.</p> - -<p>‘Yes,’ I answered.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7"></a>[7]</span>The boatswain stepped out, and in a few -moments returned with a tin dish of cold -water and an old towel. ‘Turn to now and -polish away,’ said he. ‘Bear a hand. A -clean face is like a clean shirt; it gives a -man a chance.’</p> - -<p>I dipped a corner of the towel into the -water and rubbed my face, and when I had -looked at the towel I judged I had wanted -washing very badly indeed. By this time -some fourteen or fifteen seamen had come -about me; they lounged and stared, and commented -freely in growling, very audible voices -upon my appearance and new suit of pilot -cloth. It was the forecastle dinner-hour, -whence I concluded the time was something -after twelve. Nearly all the ship’s company -were below, some seated on their chests, eating, -a few in their hammocks, smoking, and -looking at me over their swinging beds; some, -who had drawn close, brought their dinners -in their hands, a cube of beef or a hunch of -pork on a biscuit, that served as a trencher; -these fellows flourished sheath- or clasp-knives, -and they chewed slowly, as men whose teeth<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8"></a>[8]</span> -had long grown artful and wary in the business -of biting on shipboard.</p> - -<p>The interior was indeed a grim, gloomy, -massive picture; the men were rudely and -variously and some of them half savagely -attired; the place was roofed with hammocks; -tiers of bunks arched into the head where -they vanished in the gloom. A lamp swung -under a great beam, and its light was needed, -despite the brightness of the day outside, -and of the shaft of daylight that floated -through the open scuttle forward and hung -in the obscurity like a square of luminous -mist, as a sunbeam streams through a chink -of closed shutter. A number of stanchions -supported the upper deck, and suits of oilskins -hung upon nails swayed against these -wooden supports like hanged men as the ship -bowed and lifted her head. The atmosphere -was scarcely supportable with its mingled -smells of strong tobacco and the fumes of -the kids or tubs in which the greasy boiled -meat had been brought in.</p> - -<p>‘Aft with us now, youngster,’ said the -boatswain, ‘and give an account of yourself.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9"></a>[9]</span> -And may the Lord ha’ mercy on your soul! -This here’s a convict ship; there’s nothen -going under six dozen. Everything over -that’s a yard-arm job.’</p> - -<p>He grasped me by the arm and walked me -out of the forecastle, but not, I thought, with -the temper he had dragged me out of my -hiding-place with. By this time my sight -had strengthened, and, though the broad daylight -outside brought the tears to my eyes, -the pain passed in a moment or two.</p> - -<p>I glanced at the deck of the ship, but -should not have known the vessel as the <i>Childe -Harold</i>. Strong barricades, studded with iron -spikes, had been erected a little way abaft the -foremast and upon the quarter-deck, leaving a -narrow open space betwixt this after-fencing -and the front of the cuddy. Each barricade -had a gate. At the after-gate stood a red-coated -sentry, with a loaded musket and fixed -bayonet. At the great central or main-hatch -stood another sentry. In the recess formed -by the overhanging lap of the poop-deck was -a stand of arms. The barricades made a huge -pen of the waist, main-deck, and part of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10"></a>[10]</span> -quarter-deck. On the left or port side ran a -strong barrier, like a great fence, leaving a -narrow gangway betwixt it and the bulwark. -This I afterwards understood was to enable -the sailors and others to go backward and -forward without constantly obliging them to -pass the sentries and enter the space barricaded -off for the convicts.</p> - -<p>I glanced behind me as I walked with the -boatswain, and saw a sentry stationed at the -forecastle, and two more, each with muskets -and fixed bayonets, paced the break of the -poop athwartships to and fro in a regular, -pendulum, sentinel swing, which brought them -crossing each other always in exactly the same -place. I had young, very keen eyes. All -these points I had collected before we had -gone half the length of the main-deck gangway. -Not a convict was to be seen. I had -caught a sight of two men walking together -on the poop right aft, near the wheel, and -I also saw Will on the poop standing to leeward -beside another young apprentice; and -on the other side of the deck, at the head of -the poop-ladder, was the officer of the watch.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11"></a>[11]</span>As I advanced with the boatswain I saw -Will look, make a step toward the brass rail -which protected the fore-end of the raised -deck and stare a moment; he then wheeled -round, walked to the side and gazed at the -white wash of passing water. The ship was -under a great spread of canvas, heeling over -and sailing fast, and the yeasty swirl alongside -was swift and dazzling. I could not see the -horizon over the weather bulwarks; but to -leeward it was all open sea, green, ridging and -flecked, with a cold blue sky over the trucks -and many large white clouds sailing down -into the west. Two or three women, with -shawls over their heads, sat on the edge of a -little square hatch under the break of the -poop; some children were running about near -them. These women stared very hard at me -as I passed.</p> - -<p>‘Hullo, bo’sun!’ called out the man who -was standing at the head of the poop-ladder. -‘What have you got there?’</p> - -<p>‘A stowaway, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘When did you find him?’</p> - -<p>‘Just now, sir.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12"></a>[12]</span>‘Where?’</p> - -<p>‘Under the forecastle.’</p> - -<p>‘Step him up here.’</p> - -<p>The boatswain made me ascend the poop-ladder, -himself following. This was a deck -well remembered by me; I had spent a long -hour upon it with Tom and Will when we -visited the ship in the docks. All was unchanged -here; the boats swung in their -davits; the sweep of deck went white as a -freshly peeled almond to the grating abaft the -wheel; the skylights sparkled and the bright -brass binnacle-hoods mirrored the sun in -crimson stars. On high the full-breasted -canvas rose in space after space of milky -softness with a stately swaying of the button -of the truck, as the ship leaned to the sea and -lifted to windward again.</p> - -<p>The person who had ordered the boatswain -to bring me on to the poop was, as I -afterward got to know, the second mate, Mr. -Thomas Masters, a full-faced man, short and -strong, his nostrils tinged with purple, no -visible throat, and a strange, leering smile -upon his mouth when he looked or spoke.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13"></a>[13]</span> -Will left the poop by the other ladder; his -fellow-apprentice leaned against the lee rail -staring at me. The second mate turned his -face in the direction of the two men whom I -had observed walking aft abreast of the wheel.</p> - -<p>One of these two cried out: ‘Who’s that, -Mr. Masters?’</p> - -<p>‘A stowaway, sir,’ answered the second -mate.</p> - -<p>Both persons approached. As they advanced -along the deck, a third man came up -out of the cuddy or saloon through the companion, -and joined them. The three stepped -up to me. One was Joseph Sutherland, the -captain of the vessel, a lean man with a slight -stoop, about forty years of age. His face was -thin; the skin had a look of leather from long -exposure to weather; his eyes were a weak -blue with a tear in each corner, which kept -him mopping with a pocket-handkerchief. -Yet I liked the expression of his face; there -was the heart of a man in it.</p> - -<p>The second person was Surgeon Russell-Ellice, -R.N., the doctor who had supreme -charge of the convicts. This man was without<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14"></a>[14]</span> -any hair on his face; and the hair on his -head was cropped as close as mine was or -a convict’s. He had large, soft brown eyes -and a brown skin, blue on the cheeks and lip, -where he shaved. His mouth was firm, with -an expression that seemed to lie between -scornfulness and self-complacency. He had a -manner of thrusting out his chest and backing -his head when he spoke, and of so holding -himself when he stood or walked as to stretch -the inches of his stature to their limits.</p> - -<p>The third person was Captain James Barrett, -of the —th Regiment of Foot. He was -the captain in charge of the guard. He was -of the average type of British officers; smart, -well-dressed, good-looking, with a glass which -he put into his eye to examine me.</p> - -<p>I ran my gaze over the faces of these -three, not then knowing who they were, -though I guessed by their air that they were -chiefs in the ship. I did not feel afraid; my -end had been triumphantly accomplished. -I needed but look over the rail on either hand -to know that we were out upon the wide -ocean, that, though England indeed could not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15"></a>[15]</span> -be very far astern, yet the land was as far -away for my purpose as if it had been a -thousand leagues distant. And then there -was the consideration of my sex to give me -nerve; these people were gentlemen. I had -but to declare myself to make sure of tender -usage. But though I did not mean to do this, -and prayed heartily that no occasion might -arise to force me into it, yet the sense of it -was a refuge that wonderfully supported my -spirits, the more particularly now that I had -observed there were women on board and -quarters where, should the worst come to the -worst, I could live with my own sex.</p> - -<p>The captain and the doctor (as I shall -henceforth call Surgeon Russell-Ellice for the -sake of brevity) eyed me all over for some -moments without questioning me—the captain -with looks of surprise and wonder that came -very nearly to commiseration, the other -with frowns and suspicion like fire in his -gaze.</p> - -<p>‘What are you doing on board my ship?’ -said Captain Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘I wish to get to Australia, sir,’ said I.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16"></a>[16]</span>‘What! Without paying? Do you know -that this is a convict ship?’</p> - -<p>‘Yes, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘I could have him brought to the gangway -for this,’ said the doctor. ‘Has he been -searched, bo’sun?’</p> - -<p>‘No, sir.’</p> - -<p>The doctor stamped his foot. ‘Search -him!’ he cried.</p> - -<p>Captain Sutherland looked on as though -he recognised a superior in the doctor. At -this moment Will came up to the lee ladder -and leaned beside the other apprentice, listening -and watching. The boatswain threw open -my pea-jacket and drove his huge hands into -my pockets. I was thankful not to feel the -blood in my cheeks; had this piece of rude -handling reddened my face the doctor would -have found me out. His soft but scrutinising -eyes were upon me.</p> - -<p>‘He’s a plump young man,’ exclaimed -Captain Barrett, in an aside to the commander -of the ship. ‘What’s in your hold to make -him fat?’</p> - -<p>The boatswain drew out my handkerchief,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17"></a>[17]</span> -the two new clay pipes I had put in my pocket -that I might seem a man when the crowning -occasion arose, and the tinder-box and matches. -Happily I had left the little parcel of candles -in the sails. The boatswain dived his immense -tarry fingers into the pockets of my -waistcoat and found nothing.</p> - -<p>Whilst I was being searched I observed -that one of the sentries who marched athwart -the poop was the man who had looked over -the rail when I was in the boat alongside off -Woolwich. I met his glance and saw he did -not remember me. I never once turned my -eyes in the direction of Will.</p> - -<p>‘Is that all?’ said Dr. Russell-Ellice.</p> - -<p>‘That’s all, sir,’ replied the boatswain, -replacing my cap on my head, after feeling -the lining.</p> - -<p>‘Where do you say this lad was found?’</p> - -<p>‘Just for’ards of the bulkhead under the -fo’c’sle.’</p> - -<p>‘It’s a store-room,’ said Captain Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘Has it been searched?’ exclaimed the -doctor.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18"></a>[18]</span>‘I dunno what ye mean by searched,’ answered -the boatswain sullenly, resenting as a -merchant seaman the imperious manner of -the Royal Naval surgeon.</p> - -<p>‘Captain,’ cried the doctor. ‘You know -what I mean; explain to this man.’</p> - -<p>‘Have you overhauled the store-room, -Balls, for others of this fellow’s pattern?’ -said the captain.</p> - -<p>‘No, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘Then go with the sergeant of the guard,’ -said the doctor; ‘examine every nook and -corner, and make your report.’</p> - -<p>‘Ay, ay, sir,’ answered the boatswain very -sulkily again, and swinging round on his heels -he quitted the poop with a sullen walk eloquent -of malediction. The doctor drew back as if -he would admit it was now the commander’s -right to ask questions. Captain Barrett gazed -at me strenuously through his eye-glass. His -intent regard made me feel very uneasy.</p> - -<p>‘What’s your name?’ said Captain Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘Simon Marlowe, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘What are you?’ I hung my head. ‘No<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19"></a>[19]</span> -need,’ he exclaimed, ‘to ask if you were ever -at sea; your hands are like a woman’s.’</p> - -<p>‘He’s a deuced good-looking chap, doctor,’ -said Captain Barrett in another aside. ‘Plump -as a partridge, by the great horn spoon! -What runs a chap to fat down in your hold, -captain?’</p> - -<p>‘What have you come to sea for?’ said -the captain, speaking with a severity whose -forced note my ear could not miss. Indeed, -he seemed to find a sort of pleasure in looking -at me.</p> - -<p>‘I want to get to some friends in Tasmania, -sir,’ I answered.</p> - -<p>‘What names?’</p> - -<p>I was ready for him; for weeks I had -been rehearsing too diligently the part I was -now playing not to be ready. ‘Satchell, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘Where do they live?’</p> - -<p>‘At Hobart Town.’</p> - -<p>‘What’s their address, boy?’</p> - -<p>‘I don’t know, sir. I’ll find out when I -arrive.’</p> - -<p>The doctor grinned gravely.</p> - -<p>‘“Arrive!”’ cried the captain. ‘How do<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20"></a>[20]</span> -you know I’ll allow you to arrive, as you -call it? “Arrive,” you monkey! You’ve -committed a felony; you’ve broken into private -premises; for all I can tell, you may -have broached the cargo of the ship. There -are men in that prison down there,’ said he, -pointing to the main-hatch, ‘who are being -transported for life for smaller crimes.’</p> - -<p>‘I’m sorry, sir. I would do nothing -wrong. I will gladly pay for my passage -with my labour if you will give me work—such -work as I can do.’</p> - -<p>The doctor put his hand on the commander’s -arm and whispered in his ear. -Captain Barrett exclaimed: ‘If you’re satisfied -with the lad’s account of himself, Captain -Sutherland, he shall wait upon me, if you -like.’</p> - -<p>‘What work have you for two servants?’ -exclaimed the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘I like his pluck, d’ye know,’ answered -Captain Barrett, ‘and just now he happens to -be rather friendless, Ellice.’</p> - -<p>The doctor looked annoyed and walked to -the rail.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21"></a>[21]</span>‘Where do you come from?’ asked the -commander.</p> - -<p>‘London, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘Who are your people?’ Again I hung -my head.</p> - -<p>‘He is in the right to look ashamed,’ said -the doctor. ‘Take it that he has brought -great grief and distress upon a respectable -family by his mysterious disappearance. I -don’t believe for a moment,’ continued he, -eyeing me sternly, ‘that he has friends at -Hobart Town. It’s just an ordinary runaway -case. He may have robbed some kind employer—perhaps -defrauded his own father. -His clothes are new and good. Where did -you get the money to buy these clothes -with?’ he asked. I kept my head hung. -‘Lads of your sort,’ he continued, ‘get hold -of cheap romancing works—vile, lying fictions—books -which represent Jack Sheppard as a -greater man than Wellington. Little by little -they advance till they end there,’ said he, -pointing, as Captain Sutherland had, to the -main-hatch. ‘Down there, weighted with -irons, branded as criminals, leaving their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22"></a>[22]</span> -native country for ever, expelled by the just -laws of an outraged community, are many -men who have begun as you have begun—nay, -who may have started on their downward -career with a great deal more of -modesty than you have exhibited.’</p> - -<p>Captain Barrett let his eye-glass fall, -whistled softly and lounged aft to the wheel.</p> - -<p>All this while the decks had remained -comparatively deserted. Just at this moment -a boatswain’s mate tuned up his whistle, and -a number of seamen came out of the forecastle -and went to work in various parts of -the ship forward. The doctor continued to -lecture me; but I was looking at the strange, -grim scene of decks and did not heed him. -You would have thought, at sight of the -barricades, that the ship was full of wild -beasts; that man-eating and ravening creatures -took the air in the space inclosed by -the savage, iron-studded, bristling fence -work.</p> - -<p>Suddenly, the sentry at the main-hatch -stiffened his figure, as though to a sudden call -to attention. He guarded a door at the extremity<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23"></a>[23]</span> -of a short wooden passage, broad -enough to allow one person to pass through -at a time. A man clothed as a convict -stepped through this door. On perceiving -him the doctor broke off, and went to the -brass poop rail and overhung it, gazing -eagerly. A second and a third convict appeared, -then a fourth; this man held a fiddle -in one hand and a bow in the other.</p> - -<p>And now I heard a sound of heavy clanking -footfalls, as though a long end of chain -cable was being dragged along the deck, and -one after another, to the number of perhaps -seventy or eighty, issued the convicts, every -man, saving the first four, wearing iron rings -and chains upon his ankles, the chains triced -up to the waist. They were clothed in the -same garb I had observed on board the <i>Warrior</i>; -a dingy sort of gray striped with red -and a kind of Scotch cap. The convicts who -had led the way cried out sharply: they -delivered their orders fast and fierce, like a -drill-sergeant savage with yokel recruits. The -fellows ranked themselves into a line with -something of the discipline of soldiers; then<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24"></a>[24]</span> -the fellow who held the fiddle put it into his -neck and began to screw out a march.</p> - -<p>‘Attention! Left turn!’ shouted one of -the unshackled convicts. ‘Quick march!’</p> - -<p>The fiddle played, and away stepped the -line of men, all keeping time to the music, -faltering but a little to the movement of the -ship, and their irons clanked and their chains -rattled as they tramped.</p> - -<p>I lost all sense of my situation when I saw -those convicts. I made a step to the side of -the doctor, and my eyes seemed on fire as I -gazed. Tom was not one of them. I guessed -that this was a gang brought up to exercise -and take the air according to the notions of -Doctor Russell-Ellice. It sickened my heart, -but it made my spirit mad to witness those -wretches marching round and round within -the wild-beast-like enclosure, to listen to the -mocking squeak of the fiddle threading the -dull metallic tramp of the ironed felons, to -feel that Tom was one of them and amongst -them below, ironed as they were, apparelled -and disciplined as they were, guarded by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25"></a>[25]</span> -soldiers with loaded muskets—himself as innocent -as I, as the dark-eyed doctor beside -me, as the commander of the ship, who appeared -to have forgotten me in watching this -strange march of felons clanking round and -round to the tune of the fiddle.</p> - -<p>‘That’s my idea,’ said the doctor to the -captain. ‘That’s the way to keep them in -health. You may judge by their manner of -marching that they enjoy the music.’</p> - -<p>The captain looked at his second mate -and smiled sarcastically. Another person -had by this time arrived on the poop; he, -like Captain Barrett, was attired in undress -uniform. I afterward learned that he was -Lieutenant Chimmo, one of the two officers -in charge of the guard. They approached -and looked hard at me—so hard that I -imagined Captain Barrett had divined my -sex. Their observation won the attention of -Captain Sutherland, by whom I had been -unheeded whilst he watched the convicts. -He said: ‘Get you down there to leeward -and wait till you’re wanted.’ He spoke sternly,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26"></a>[26]</span> -but almost in the same breath of his speech -his face relaxed, and he exclaimed: ‘Are you -famished!’</p> - -<p>‘No, sir.’</p> - -<p>The doctor shrugged his shoulders, as -though vexed that the captain should pity -me.</p> - -<p>‘Get you down to leeward,’ repeated the -commander; and I went and stood at the -rail.</p> - -<p>Will was aloft in the mizzen-top and the -other apprentice in the ratlines of the mizzen -shrouds at work there. I looked up at Will, -who kissed his hand. The act was boyish -and indiscreet, and I averted my face, for I -did not then know he was not to be seen from -the other side of the poop.</p> - -<p>The clear wind was sweet and refreshing -after my many hours of confinement. I -glanced over the side and watched the feather-white -swirl of cloudy foam; the yeast burst -in a rainbow splendour from the bow and -raced astern in ridges of snow, and I saw the -spreading wake of the flying ship dancing -miles distant in the airy green that ran in a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27"></a>[27]</span> -twinkling horizon round the sky. Far ahead -slanted a sail, and far abeam to leeward was a -dash of dusky-red canvas, whence I concluded -that the coast was not very remote.</p> - -<p>The tramping convicts marched round and -round in single file to the tune of the fiddle. -Some of them were little more than boys, -eighteen or twenty years of age, and one or -two of them were gray-haired men. Their -dress was so levelling, and it seemed besides -to stamp so strong an impression of rascality -upon their faces, that one could not look at -the ironed gang without supposing them all -rogues and criminals of the worst sort. And -yet I’d fancy, as they came facing aft toward -the poop, I could see some countenances -which would have passed in the streets and in -company for comely, honest faces. But the -general type was very villainous; the brow -low, overhanging, and scowling: the eye small, -deep-set, and restless; the mouth coarse and -heavy, and the jaw strong, thick, defined like -a beast’s.</p> - -<p>My eye rested upon one man. I was certain -I had seen him before. He was immensely<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28"></a>[28]</span> -broad-shouldered, pitted with small-pox. His -arms were too long for his body, and the -thickness of them and the fists were a giant’s. -His eyebrows were black; his eyes a deep -and fiery black; his nose coarse, spread, flat -and heavy at the nostrils. He had the look -of a Jew, and after I had watched him a little -while, I said to myself: ‘Yes, now I remember. -He is Barney Abram, the prize-fighter, -who was under sentence of transportation for -life in Newgate when I visited Tom in that -jail with Uncle Johnstone.’</p> - -<p>I craved to see my sweetheart. I waited -for the hideous fiddle to cease squeaking, and -for the gang to go below and a second gang -to take its place, hoping that Tom might be -one in this second gang. I say I waited. -Rather, I stood hoping. Why they kept me -waiting down to leeward on that poop I could -not imagine. I guessed it would shock me -horribly to see Tom with irons on, marching -in convict’s attire, a mere machine at the will -of warders, themselves convicts; yet did I -passionately wish to see him that I might -make sure he was on board, for though I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29"></a>[29]</span> -never dreamt that Will had mistook, still I -yearned to satisfy myself with my own eyesight. -But the gang continued to march -round and round to the strains of the fiddle. -Oh, the mockery of the blithe Irish tune the -fellow played, timed by the metallic tramp of -felons on the echoing deck!</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30"></a>[30]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XIX<br /> - - -<small>SHE IS QUESTIONED BY THE DOCTOR</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">I was</span> kept waiting, I knew not why, and used -my leisure to gaze about me. I was without -fear. I had scraped, with a stout heart, -through the worst part, and cared little for -what might follow. I had made up my mind -to avow my sex if they should send me into -the forecastle to live. I was very sure I -should be unable to keep my secret amongst -that body of rough, blaspheming, joking -sailors. Nor should I be equal to the work -of a seaman—I mean as an ordinary seaman -or boy. It turned me dizzy to look aloft and -think of climbing those towering heights.</p> - -<p>Whilst I thus thought, I used my eyes and -examined the ship. Opposite the main-hatch, -within the convicts’ inclosure, stood a tall -box, something like a sentry-box; over it a -bucket was hung by an iron bar, and there<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31"></a>[31]</span> -was a short length of rope attached to the -bucket. I supposed the box was a sort of -shower-bath for the prisoners. The main -hatch was the only visible means of entering -and leaving the prison quarters. It was extraordinarily -protected, first, with heavy -gratings with a manhole for the passage of -one body, then by a strong railing of oak -stanchions of a triangular shape, thickly -studded with iron nails (the tops or heads of -these stanchions I could just see as they sank -like the vertical wires of a cage from the -sides of the hatch down to the lower-deck), -then by a strong bulkheaded passage or corridor -with a door at the end, as I mentioned -when I spoke of the sentry stationed there. -I saw two galleys. The forward one I guessed -was for the ship’s use, the after for the convicts; -for in this galley I had observed a -man in felon’s dress. A huge long-boat lay -stowed in chocks athwartships just forward of -the ship’s galley.</p> - -<p>Such details to me entered like the very -spirit of prison life into the gleaming fabric of -the ship, soiling, debasing, so flavouring her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32"></a>[32]</span> -that there was no magic in the pure freshness -of the ocean wind to purge her into sweetness. -Marvellous that human sin should subtly enter -and find expression in timber and hemp and -canvas, in bricks and mortar, in old hulks, in -prison piles—it matters not what—subduing -all suggestions to its own inspirations. I had -noticed how the sordid influence and degrading -quality of human wickedness had worked -in dismantled hulks, making more hideous -that which was already hideous with felon-carpentry; -and now here was all beauty in -this buoyant and bounding picture of a ship -in full sail, leaning from the shining breeze, -pouring into her wake the snow of the crested -and dissolving surge, dimmed and defiled and -saddened by her errand and cargo, by the -aspect of her decks, and by the noise of men -marching in irons.</p> - -<p>All this while the doctor stood at the break -of the poop with his hands upon the rail, -watching the convicts exercising, and sometimes -nodding in time when the fiddler changed -his tune; the captain likewise watched the -convicts from the head of the weather poop<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33"></a>[33]</span> -ladder; the two officers patrolled the weather -deck, and both of them constantly looked at -me when their walk brought them with their -faces forward; the second mate was near the -wheel, and the two sentries, with shouldered -muskets with shining bayonets, crossed and -recrossed each other at a little distance from -where I stood.</p> - -<p>By-and-by the boatswain and a soldier -with stripes upon his arms came along the -narrow gangway from the forecastle. They -arrived on the quarter-deck, and the soldier, -looking up, saluted.</p> - -<p>‘Step up, sergeant, and you, Mr. Bo’sun, -if you please,’ said the doctor. ‘Well,’ said -he, when they had mounted the ladder, -‘what have you found where the lad’s been -hiding?’</p> - -<p>I was prepared to hear that they had discovered -my stock of provisions and the bottles -of water, and possibly the parcel of wax candles. -But I was not uneasy; I was ready -with a story. The sergeant, speaking with -an Irish accent, answered: ‘We have found -nothing, sirr.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34"></a>[34]</span>‘Did you thoroughly overhaul the place, -Mr. Balls?’ said the captain.</p> - -<p>‘Ay, sir. We’ve likewise been down into -the fore-peak. All’s right for’ards.’</p> - -<p>I was astonished, for I had never doubted -that they would light upon my tins of meat -and the bottles. Whether they had honestly -overlooked the nook in which the things were -stowed or whether, having met with them, -they had resolved to keep the stuff to secretly -eat and enjoy, is a question I cannot answer. -Suppose this, they’d say nothing about the -bottles of water, lest one discovery should -force them into owning the other.</p> - -<p>‘Captain,’ exclaimed the doctor, ‘I shall -want that lad locked up until I have satisfied -myself as to his motive in hiding!’</p> - -<p>‘I’m quite willing to lock him up,’ answered -the captain, ‘but I’m an old hand, and I may -tell you that there’s never much need to -scratch deep to find out your stowaway’s -reason.’</p> - -<p>‘I’m not satisfied,’ said the doctor, turning -his head and staring at me very sternly; -‘you’ll lock him up, if you please.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35"></a>[35]</span>‘Clap him in your jail; there’s a proper -prison below,’ said the captain.</p> - -<p>‘Certainly not!’ cried the doctor, with a -toss of his head, seemingly insensible of the -sarcasm of the captain’s suggestion. ‘He’s no -convict, sir, he’s the ship’s prisoner.’</p> - -<p>The sergeant eyed me very steadfastly. -He suddenly saluted the doctor, and exclaimed: -‘May I list him, sir?’</p> - -<p>‘Try him,’ said the captain, dryly. ‘It’s -a sure sign a young chap wants to ’list when -he hides in the fore-peak of an outward-bounder.’</p> - -<p>‘Leave that matter, sergeant. Captain, -you will be so good as to lock up that boy,’ -said the doctor.</p> - -<p>On this the captain told the boatswain to -send the steward to him. A man with prominent, -purple-tipped cheek-bones and blue -eyes, very narrow shoulders and legs arching -out to a degree I had never before beheld, -wearing a blue jacket decorated with rows of -buttons, came out of the cuddy. The captain -called him on to the poop.</p> - -<p>‘That lad’s a stowaway,’ said the captain,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36"></a>[36]</span> -pointing to me. The man looked. ‘By -order of the surgeon-superintendent he’s to -be locked up. Where? In the forecastle? -In the soldiers’ quarters? You have spare -cabins in the steerage?’</p> - -<p>The man answered: ‘Three.’</p> - -<p>‘Very well,’ the captain said. ‘Take him -below and lock him up.’</p> - -<p>‘You’re his jailor,’ said the doctor, ‘and -I hold you responsible for his safe keeping.’ -The steward looked uneasy and astonished, -and cast a glance at the marching file of -convicts.</p> - -<p>‘Here,’ said the captain. The steward -approached him close. Something was said. -The steward then came to me and exclaimed: -‘Come along, young man!’ I followed him -down the steps on to the quarter-deck. At -this instant the fiddle ceased, the echoing -tramp of the felons was hushed, the convict warders -as before cried out sharply and -fiercely.</p> - -<p>‘This way,’ said the steward; and I walked -after him through the cuddy door. Here -was a bright, cheerful interior. The <i>Childe<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37"></a>[37]</span> -Harold</i> was a passenger ship, and her accommodation -aft was rich and fine. She was a -convict ship now, but they had made no -change. The bulkheads, ceiling, and trunk -of the mizzen-mast were beautiful with gilt -carving and paintings; narrow lengths of -brilliant mirrors flashed back the light that -streamed through the skylights; the chairs -and lounges were choicely upholstered. Whilst -I gazed, my imagination figured the grimy, -barricaded, sentinelled, ’tweendecks prison in -which Tom was to live. I caught sight of -myself in a looking-glass. I had omitted to -pull off my cap when I entered the cuddy—an -oversight that might have convicted me -to a keen eye. I scarcely knew myself in -the glass. Spite of the rub I had given my -face in the forecastle, I was still dark with -the dirt of the store-room. It was as good -as a mask. No one would have suspected -the delicate skin of a woman under the -grime on my cheek.</p> - -<p>‘This way!’ said the steward.</p> - -<p>He led me down some steps that fell from -a small square of hatch close against the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38"></a>[38]</span> -inside of the cuddy front. It was gloomy -down here. A corridor ran fore and aft, and -on either hand were two or three cabins. -The steward put his hand upon the door of -the first of these cabins.</p> - -<p>‘Step in,’ said he. ‘Is this your first -appearance in quod, youngster?’</p> - -<p>I did not understand him. He leaned -against a bunk, thrust his hand into his -trousers’ pockets, and looked me over. -‘What’s brought you into this day’s mess?’ -said he. ‘Wasn’t you ’appy at home?’</p> - -<p>I resolved to answer the man civilly, -trusting he would befriend me.</p> - -<p>‘I have friends in Tasmania, and wish to -join them. I’m willing to work for nothing -if you’ll give me work I can do. I’m not -strong, sir.’</p> - -<p>He asked me where I had come aboard, -if I had known before hiding that this was -a convict ship, where I had hidden, and how -I had managed for food. ‘You’re a young -gent,’ said he; ‘that’s clear. Them ’ands -have never done dirtier work than quill-driving -in some office, I’ll swear. Hope for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39"></a>[39]</span> -your soul’s sake you haven’t run away for -wrong-doing, and that there’s no kind ’arts -at home a-haching for you.’</p> - -<p>I declared in the most solemn and impassioned -tones that I had not run away for -wrong-doing, and that I had hidden in this -ship for no other motive than to reach Tasmania. -He inquired my name, and said: -‘Well, I don’t mind saying I like your looks. -I believe you’re honest and there’s no ’arm in -you. What does that there doctor mean by -turning me into a jailor? I’m head-steward. -That’s what I shipped for. He gets his living -by looking after criminals at sea; and them -as ain’t criminals, according to him, must be -tarned into tarnkeys, is it? He be blowed! -Ye’ve had a tidy spell down for’ards. Since -Woolwich, hey? Well, the capt’n told me -to give ye a mouthful of grub, and that looks -well. I’ll turn the key upon ye, because it’s -the capt’n’s orders. But as for that there -doctor—he be blowed!’</p> - -<p>He went out, leaving me easy, I may say -almost happy, so different had been the usage -I had received from what I had expected;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40"></a>[40]</span> -though, to be sure, the doctor had yet to -settle accounts with me. But what could he -do? If he kept me locked up, I was still in -the ship that was carrying Tom across the -seas. If he threatened me with the gangway, -there was my sex. I might know—nay, I -would swear, myself a sailor’s daughter—that -there was never a seaman on board that ship -who would allow a hand to be lifted against -a girl.</p> - -<p>I took a view of the little cabin I was in. -It was a steerage-berth, designed for the use -of second-class passengers. Two mahogany -bunks were affixed to the ship’s wall under -the circular porthole. In a corner near the -door was a convenient arrangement of -drawers and wash-stand and a flap, which, -on lifting, I found to be a looking-glass. I -went to the bunks to look through the porthole -at the sea, and beheld in the upper bunk, -on the bare boards, a large parcel. I could -scarcely credit my sight. It was, in truth, -the parcel of wearing apparel I had made up -when I put on my boy’s clothes and addressed -to the care of the captain of this ship and left<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41"></a>[41]</span> -in my Woolwich lodging, on the bare chances -of my landlady sending it to the vessel! I -say it was truly extraordinary that those -clothes should be lying in the very cabin in -which I was now lodged.</p> - -<p>Whilst I stood looking at the parcel and -musing upon the associations it recalled, and -speculating upon the ideas the landlady had -formed of me, the key was turned and the -steward entered.</p> - -<p>‘Here’s some lush and a mouthful of -grub for you,’ said he. ‘It isn’t every stowaway -who’s waited on by a head-steward, -I can tell you. But it’s the cap’n’s orders, -and luck comes with looks in this blushen -universe.’</p> - -<p>He placed a mug of red wine and a plate -plentifully heaped up with cold boiled beef -and ship-baked bread upon the wash-stand -and again left me, turning the key. I ate -heartily, and the wine did me good. I should -have been mightily thankful for soap and -water, but had not dared ask the steward for -such luxuries. I walked about the cabin -and looked through the portholes, and killed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42"></a>[42]</span> -the time by thinking. I was used to being -alone, and after the darkness forward, with -the furious motion of the ship’s bows and the -noises in the hold and the thunder of seas -smitten by the thrust of the cutwater, this -lighted cabin was heaven with its tranquillity -and gentle motion of deck. I thought of -Tom, and struggled to realise his prison -quarters. Gloomy I knew they must be, -heavily grated and shrouded by its sentinelled -doorway as the main-hatch was; gloomy and -evil-smelling, repulsive and inhuman, with -spiked barricades and a prison and hospital. -But I could not witness the picture in imagination. -How and where did the prisoners -sleep? How and where did they eat? And -what was their fare?</p> - -<p>And what would my uncle and aunt think -if they knew where I was? I imagined them -opening that door there and looking in and -seeing me dressed as a boy and leaning on -the edge of the bunk. So far my love had -marched to a conquering tune. And it was -not only that I had overcome several wonderful -difficulties for a young woman to encounter<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43"></a>[43]</span> -single-handed; it was not only that -I was in the same ship with my sweetheart, -bound to a land where we should be together, -where in God’s good time and with patience -we might come to dwell together as husband -and wife, happy in our love, happy under -new skies, happy in our eternal severance -from the odious and inhuman associations of -our native country; I, too, should have suffered -with Tom, and taken my share of his -misery, if not of his humiliation and degradation. -This was a sweet and noble supporting -thought. It was the one triumph of my love -which gladdened me most to think of.</p> - -<p>After I had been locked up two or three -hours, and whilst the sun was still strong -over the west, filling all that part with a -moist scarlet light, the key was violently -turned and Doctor Ellice walked in. My -blood was fired by his insolent entrance, as -though he were a warder with a right to -break in upon a prisoner at any instant; but -I swiftly cooled when I recollected that he -did not know I was a woman. In truth, for -the moment I had forgotten my masquerade.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44"></a>[44]</span> -And, indeed, there is nothing so hard to sham -as the airs and behaviour of the other sex. -A woman may look a young man to perfection, -as, indeed, I did; but her female tricks -and instincts will be breaking through if -vigilance sleep an instant. You will find -this so by observing even the most accomplished -actress in male parts.</p> - -<p>‘I have come to talk to you,’ said the -doctor, very sternly. ‘I don’t understand -your presence in this ship. Your explanations -to the captain and to myself are not -sufficient, and are unsatisfactory so far as they -go.’ And then he began to question me. -Who was I? What was my age? Would I -swear that I was going to Tasmania to seek -some relations? Would I swear that my -name was Simon Marlowe? By this time my -blood was on fire again, and, weakened as I -was by what I had passed through, I might -guess the old flashing lights were in my eyes -as I looked at him.</p> - -<p>‘I’ll tell you this much about myself,’ said -I, stepping up to him and swelling my breast -and tossing my head after my fashion when I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45"></a>[45]</span> -was in a rage: ‘my father was a sailor, and I -know enough of the sea to inform you that -the master is the only head and authority -which the people on board need recognise. -You are not the master of this vessel. What -right have you to come here and talk to me -as you do, and to insult me as you lately did -in the hearing of others, with your doubts as -to my honesty and my motives for leaving -home and the rest of it?’</p> - -<p>He gazed at me in silence with the utmost -astonishment. Indeed, he looked crestfallen. -His lips lay apart in a sort of yawn of wonder, -but he quickly recollected himself, as you will -suppose of a man who, as I afterward learned, -had made several voyages in charge of convicts, -and was used to felons. His face darkened -with temper, but his self-mastery was fine, -and there was no passion in his tones.</p> - -<p>‘You do not understand. You are insolent -and ignorant, though you are educated and -refined, and altogether superior to the situation -in which you have placed yourself. On this -I base my suspicion and I must have the truth. -I am supreme in this ship. The captain obeys<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46"></a>[46]</span> -my orders. This is a Government ship, and -you are subject to my discipline.’</p> - -<p>He then began to question me afresh very -deliberately. But I observed that he no longer -insisted upon my swearing that my name was -Simon Marlowe and so on; and indeed it was -wonderful that so sensible a man should ask -questions which only a fool would put; for, -let me have answered him as I might, would -he have believed me? I struggled with my -temper and replied to him; now and again I -would not answer, and he passed on. Once -he threatened to bring me to the gangway, by -which he meant that he would order me to -be flogged; I folded my arms when he said -that and looked him in the eyes.</p> - -<p>He continued to question me very sternly -nevertheless; demanded full particulars of my -coming on board; asking whether I had -travelled directly from my home wherever it -might be, or loitered at Woolwich before hiding -in the vessel. I told him I had stayed a short -time at Woolwich.</p> - -<p>‘Are you acquainted with any one of the -convicts on board this ship?’ he exclaimed,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47"></a>[47]</span> -bursting out with this question abruptly, as -though to catch me unawares.</p> - -<p>My eyes sought the deck. I went to the -bunk and looked through the porthole, turning -my back to him.</p> - -<p>‘Answer me,’ he cried.</p> - -<p>I slowly confronted him and said: ‘Yes, I -know one of the convicts.’</p> - -<p>‘Which is the man?’</p> - -<p>‘Barney Abram.’</p> - -<p>He stared in good earnest, made a step the -better to see me, my back being to the porthole, -and said: ‘You know Barney Abram? -Probably one of the worst characters in this -ship. You are a friend of his?’</p> - -<p>‘I did not use the word friend, sir. I -know Barney Abram by sight. I recognised -him as he paced the deck this afternoon.’</p> - -<p>‘Where have you met him on shore?’</p> - -<p>‘He was pointed out to me.’</p> - -<p>‘Where—where?’</p> - -<p>I paused to let him know I was not to be -frightened by his imperious manner, and -answered: ‘In Newgate Prison.’</p> - -<p>‘Were you a prisoner?’ he asked quickly.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48"></a>[48]</span>‘I was a visitor.’</p> - -<p>‘Whom visiting?’</p> - -<p>‘The jail.’</p> - -<p>‘Who pointed the man out to you?’</p> - -<p>‘My companion.’</p> - -<p>‘Who was your companion?’</p> - -<p>‘I’ll not answer that question,’ I replied, -‘because if I tell you who that companion was, -I shall be acquainting you with more than I -intend you shall know. But neither will I tell -you any lies.’</p> - -<p>He looked hard at my hands. I held -them up close to his face and exclaimed: -‘Judge for yourself, sir. I have been no -prisoner!’ and laughed.</p> - -<p>‘You are the most impudent young dog I -ever met,’ said he, with a sort of admiration -in the anger of his looks. ‘Where were you -educated?’</p> - -<p>‘I never went to school; I was educated -at home,’ I answered, feigning an air of shyness -and swinging my leg.</p> - -<p>‘Is your mother living?’</p> - -<p>‘No, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘Father?’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49"></a>[49]</span>‘I have a stepfather,’ I answered.</p> - -<p>‘And his is the home you have run away -from, I suppose.’ He mused for a few -moments and then said: ‘Put on your cap, -and follow me.’</p> - -<p>He led me through the saloon on to the -main-deck, and so through the gate in the -after barricade where the sentry stood. I -followed him without alarm, though I wondered -with all my might why he should bring -me into this convicts’ inclosure. Did he mean -to send me below to live among the felons, or -to be locked up in their bulkheaded prison? -Not very likely. But what did he mean to -do?</p> - -<p>There was not a convict to be seen within -the barricades. The sunset was rich and -thunderous, and the air full of red light; the -wind had freshened and blew very cold. The -watch on deck were shortening sail, and the -three royals and the mizzen top-gallantsail -and some fore and aft canvas were slatting -and jumping overhead, with a few seamen -hoarsely bawling at the clew-lines, and some -hands sprawling aloft. The first mate was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50"></a>[50]</span> -now in charge, and he stood on the poop -looking up, watching the fellows climbing. -This man I had seen aboard the ship in the -East India Docks. Tom knew him and had -shaken hands with him. The captain was -walking with the two military officers, the -sentries crossed and recrossed the poop-break, -and round about the little booby-hatch, close -against the cuddy front, were two or three -soldiers and a few women and children.</p> - -<p>‘Pass the word for Barney Abram,’ said the -doctor to the sentry at the door of the main -hatch.</p> - -<p>The soldier did so, and after a minute or -two the prize-fighter, with irons on his legs -and a chain triced up to his waist, came -through the door, attended by a convict -warder, or ‘captain.’ He was a fierce and -brutal-looking creature when you saw him -close. His face was pitted with small-pox, and -embellished besides with the scars of many -bloody conflicts in the ring. He wore an -extraordinary expression; it was not a grin; -it was not a smirk; it was a fixed, crafty leer -of knowingness.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51"></a>[51]</span>‘Abram, look at this young man and tell -me who he is,’ said the doctor.</p> - -<p>The prize-fighter, resting his elbows in the -palms of his immense hands, leaned his ugly -face forward and stared at me; he contracted -his brows whilst he looked as though he -hunted through his memory. At last he -exclaimed: ‘I devver saw the young gentlebud -before.’</p> - -<p>‘He says he knows you,’ says the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘By sight,’ I exclaimed.</p> - -<p>‘That’s dot ibprobable,’ said the prize-fighter, -with a glance at the sentry and a -complacent look-round, and holding up his -head.</p> - -<p>‘Look at this young man,’ said the doctor. -‘Where have you met him?’</p> - -<p>‘Debber saw bib in all by life. S’elp be -as true as by ’air’s growig,’ returned the -prize-fighter.</p> - -<p>‘He says he saw you at Newgate.’</p> - -<p>‘I was there,’ answered the prize-fighter, -pursing up his leathery under-lip.</p> - -<p>‘Observe him well and try to recollect if -he was a prisoner?’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52"></a>[52]</span>‘Dot in by tibe,’ said the prize-fighter.</p> - -<p>This insinuation, after what I had said, -enraged me. ‘You know I never was a -prisoner, sir,’ I cried. ‘You are acting inhumanly -in trying to confirm your hopes, but -not your suspicions, that I was one. I was on -a visit to the jail for my entertainment. My -companion and I were conducted to the -prisoners’ visiting-room. There I saw Mr. -Barney Abram in conversation with a stout, -dark lady, gaily attired, and I looked at him -with attention because he was pointed out to -me as the greatest prize-fighter of the age, and -that is why I mentioned his name when you -asked me whether I knew any of the convicts -on board.’</p> - -<p>A savage glow of pleasure brightened the -prize-fighter’s eye as he listened; my audacious -address, my reference to the brute’s fame, -acted upon his spirits like a can of drink. -The sentry eyed me askant; the warder with -a satisfaction which his flat, ruffianly face -could not conceal.</p> - -<p>‘You saw be talking to by wife,’ said<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53"></a>[53]</span> -Barney Abram!—‘a stout, splendid woban, -’adsobly dressed as you put it, sir. The circumstance -is all correct.’</p> - -<p>‘You can go below,’ said the doctor.</p> - -<p>I received a fierce, exulting, congratulatory -glance from the bruiser as he turned about in -his shackles to re-enter the door. He might -have meant to applaud me for my fearless -speech, or, which is more likely, he might have -meant to wish me luck in the scheme which -had brought me into conflict with the surgeon, -and which he would naturally hope and believe -was criminal.</p> - -<p>The doctor now told me to pass on to the -quarter-deck, and I thought he meant to -take me below and lock me up again. -Instead of which he left me standing outside -the barricade and went on to the poop, -where he joined Captain Sutherland and his -military companions, all of whom had been -gazing at us from over the brass rail whilst -we talked with Mr. Barney Abram. I could -not understand the meaning of this doctor’s -purposeless questions and behaviour, but I dare<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54"></a>[54]</span> -say I was right when I supposed he intended -to let everybody see and understand he was -first in the ship.</p> - -<p>Always, in the days of the convict ship, -the unhappy criminals were dispatched across -the sea in charge of a naval medical officer -appointed by the admiralty, and called the -surgeon-superintendent. The ship was virtually -placed in his hands to do what he pleased -with, and, though I don’t suppose he was empowered -to interfere in the navigation of the -vessel, he was undoubtedly privileged to order -the master to call into such ports on the way -as he (the surgeon) might choose to name; -thereby retarding the voyage of the ship, and -perhaps imperilling her, as was the case with a -certain convict ship which was nearly lost -through the surgeon ordering that she should -make Simon’s Bay under conditions of season -and weather which the captain declared -dangerous. Hence there was usually a strong -feeling between the surgeon-superintendent -and the captain and mates. I suspected something -of the sort here, and believed Doctor<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55"></a>[55]</span> -Russell-Ellice had given himself a great deal -of unnecessary trouble to prove me a rogue, -merely that the captain and the mates should -see what a very clever fellow he was, and how -very much in earnest also in his resolution to -strut to the very topmost inches of his little -dignity and his brief authority.</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56"></a>[56]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XX<br /> - - -<small>SHE CONVERSES WITH HER COUSIN</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Presently</span> I stepped leisurely into the recess -under the poop where the soldiers and the -women were. One was the pretty young -woman who had given me a smile when I -came on board the ship at Woolwich. She -viewed me with her soft, dark eyes with a -wistful admiration, but I could not observe -that she remembered me. The three or four -soldiers without belts, their jackets unbuttoned, -lounged against the bulkhead, -smoking their pipes. I was now used to being -stared at, and gave them no heed. Whilst I -thus stood waiting for what was next to -happen, Will came along from his berth forward. -When he saw me, he seemed to pause, -as though not knowing what to do. With -the most pronounced air I could contrive I -averted my face and looked into the saloon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57"></a>[57]</span> -through the window, and when I glanced -again my cousin was out of sight. I was -very much in earnest that he should not get -in trouble through me; nay, I desired that -for a long time yet he and I should keep as -wide apart as the two ends of the ship. He -was boyish and imprudent, and might at any -moment say or do something that would lead -to the disclosure of my sex, and, for all I -knew, to the revelation of my motive in hiding -in this ship.</p> - -<p>The soldiers talked of the convicts, and I -pricked up my ears, thirsty for all information -of the gloomy, hidden quarters where Tom -lived. One asked if the people were kept -in irons throughout the voyage. Another -answered, No; he believed the irons were -taken off after the ship was out of the Bay of -Biscay.</p> - -<p>‘I couldn’t ’elp laughing,’ said one of the -soldiers. ‘I was on sentry below and heard -a chap say to some others: “I don’t mind -praying, but cussed if I’m going to pray for -the Governor of Tasmania! I’ll pray for rain -if it’s wanted, but not for a bloomed Governor.”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58"></a>[58]</span> -“Who asks ye?” says one of the convicts. -“It’s to be a part of the prayers,” said the -other. “Me pray for the Governor of Tasmania!”—and -here he swore and used such -language that I had to caution him.’</p> - -<p>‘I wouldn’t pray for ne’er a Governor if -I was a convick,’ said the pretty young -woman, with a toss of her head and a side-glance -at me. ‘It’s a shame to make a joke -of sacred things. Should a convick be made -to pray for his jailer? Would the Lord listen -to the prayer of a sailor who asks a blessing -on the bo’sun who’s just been flogging him?’</p> - -<p>‘There’s some queer chaps downstairs,’ -said one of the soldiers. ‘There’s a fellow -they call the smasher—a little, gray-haired -man with the kindest of faces, and speaks as -soft as pouring out milk; he’s lagged for one -of the most awful crimes. There’s a play-actor—dunno -what right he’s got down there. -They sails under false colours. Dessay if -he’d got his right name ye’d find him some -one as had been tiptop at Drury Lane and -the best of theayters. There’s a quiet, pleasing-looking -chap, lagged for scuttling.’ A<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59"></a>[59]</span> -woman asked what that was. ‘Sinking a -ship by making a hole in her.’</p> - -<p>‘The villain!’ cried the woman. ‘I hope -they’ll not give him a chance with his tricks -here.’</p> - -<p>‘I’m sorry for that chap, somehow,’ said -the soldier. ‘If I was a painter I’d like to -draw his picture. I’ll point him out some -time or other, and then you take notice, Jim, -of his melancholy face. One picks up a lot -on sentry.’</p> - -<p>‘A bad lot,’ said another soldier, spitting.</p> - -<p>I listened eagerly and longed passionately -to ask questions, but durst not. Yet I might -be sure that the soldier spoke of Tom, and I -loved the fellow for speaking of him kindly; -and it was another proof that my sweetheart -was in the ship.</p> - -<p>A child came and stood in front of me -and looked up into my face. It was a pretty -little girl. I stooped and patted her cheek -and kissed her, took her by the hands and -jumped her into a little dance, which kept -her laughing. I knew which was the child’s -father by the pleased look one of the soldiers<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60"></a>[60]</span> -regarded me with. It was the man who had -spoken kindly of Tom. When I found this -out I kissed the child again and talked to her -of the ship and the sea. I observed that my -manners and speech controlled the listeners. -They all knew I was a runaway stowaway, -and though they could know no more they -might suspect a great deal more. And yet -they viewed me respectfully and talked with -a sort of civil reference to me as though I -was a gentleman, listening.</p> - -<p>The lights were burning very red but gradually -dimming in the west, and the sides of the -seas slipped away from under the ship in hard, -dark-green slopes, laced with spray, and -the froth of their heads was faintly coloured -by the sunset. The heel of the ship was sharp, -and she broke through the billows in thunder. -There was a mighty noise of whistling and -raving aloft, and the strange shrill shrieking of -the foaming and dissolving salt alongside made -me wonder what that sound in the wind was.</p> - -<p>An apprentice came off the poop and -struck a bell suspended this side of the -quarter-deck barricade. A minute or two<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61"></a>[61]</span> -later a convict passed through the door of the -main-hatch and placed himself beside the -sentry; a second and then a third emerged -until a considerable number of men had -assembled; they formed in a close-packed -column which stretched about half-way to the -convicts’ galley; the soldier with whose child -I played, seeing me looking at the convicts, -exclaimed: ‘They’re getting their supper. -Them’s the messmen. As the fellows receive -their cocoa or whate’er it be, from the galley, -they carries it below, one by one.’</p> - -<p>I imagined that Tom might be amongst -that set of convicts, and made a movement -with the idea of walking some distance forward, -where I should be able to see; but I -stopped myself on reflecting that the doctor -was probably at the poop rail overhead looking -on.</p> - -<p>‘’Taint bad discipline, taking it all round,’ -said the soldier, speaking to all who chose to -listen, though I seemed to find his remarks -intended for my amusement or enlightenment. -‘It’s mostly settled aboard the hulks before -the parties come aboard. So I’m told. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62"></a>[62]</span> -convicts they think proper to trust are made -petty officers of. There’s first and second -captains, captains of divisions, captains of -wards. Then some of them are made cooks -of, t’others barbers, and every mess has its -head. With this sort of arrangement they -keeps each other in order.’</p> - -<p>‘Do any privileges go along with these -appointments?’ asked one of the soldiers.</p> - -<p>‘The privilege of being appointed.’</p> - -<p>I listened, but asked no questions. I -dared not exhibit interest. I could not forget -that these soldiers formed a portion of the -convicts’ guard.</p> - -<p>‘I notice,’ said one of the soldiers, ‘that -they puts them there malefactors to all sorts -of ship’s work. They were helping the sailors -wash the deck down this morning. They -work hard, as though eddicated under the -muzzle of the carbine. A sight of difference -there was ’twixt the sailors’ scrubbing and -their’n.’</p> - -<p>I was watching the convicts whilst I listened -to the soldier’s talk, when some one -inside of the cuddy called out: ‘Marlowe!’<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63"></a>[63]</span> -I forgot my feigned name, and did not respond. -The voice again called, on which, with a start. -I looked through the cuddy door and saw the -steward.</p> - -<p>‘I reckoned as much,’ said he, with a -laugh. ‘’Taint every purser’s name as fits -like old boots. Step this way.’</p> - -<p>I entered. Just then the doctor came -down the companion-steps at the end of the -cuddy and entered an after-cabin on the port -side. He paused a moment, as though to -observe me, but did not speak. A young -man, whom I supposed to be an under-steward, -was lighting the cabin lamps, but there still -lived a wild flush of western light, and you -saw plainly by it.</p> - -<p>The steward began by informing me that -I had no business in the ship; that by stowing -myself away on board a convict ship I -risked the chance of being made a felon of, of -receiving six dozens at the gangway, of being -hanged at the yard-arm. In thus reassuring -me he gave himself the airs of the captain of -the ship. He then added: ‘However, I like -your looks, as I told you before, and I’ve put<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64"></a>[64]</span> -in a good word for you with Captain Sutherland, -who, I may tell you, don’t think any -the worse of a youngster like you for squaring -up, as he’s heard you’ve done, to the doctor. -The doctor himself owned to the captain,’ -said he, lowering his voice and looking aft -toward the surgeon’s cabin, ‘that he got -rather more from you than he knew what to -do with.’ He then abruptly inquired if I -possessed any clothes besides those I wore. I -answered I had not.</p> - -<p>‘Got any money?’</p> - -<p>‘How much ought I to want?’</p> - -<p>‘How much ha’ ye got?’ said he.</p> - -<p>‘All I shall need on my arrival,’ said I.</p> - -<p>He looked puzzled, eyed me all over, then -approaching me by a step he exclaimed with -an earnest, confidential face: ‘Jokin’ apart, -young man, who are you and what’s your -object in cutting this here caper?’ Finding -I did not reply, he continued: ‘You’re to -have all the money you want when you -arrive? And you haven’t money enough to -pay your passage to get what’s awaiting for -you?’ He paused. ‘Well, now, see here.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65"></a>[65]</span> -You’ve got no business aboard, and you stood -to be whipped, and you stood to be hanged -for hiding in a Government transport. You’ve -got to be fed, and gent or no gent, you must -work.’</p> - -<p>‘I’m willing and anxious to work.’</p> - -<p>‘The captain’s handed you over to me. -There’s plenty of hands for’ard, most of them -about as sarviceable at a pinch as you’d be -likely to prove. We’re short of a man aft, -and you’ll do for the post. Can you wait at -table?’</p> - -<p>‘I’ll try.’</p> - -<p>‘Well, you may rise to it. We’ll see. -You’ll be wanted to carry the dirty dishes -for’ard for the cook’s mate to wash, to help -bring the dishes along from the galley, and -to hang about here whilst the officers are -eating, ready to run to the galley on arrands.’</p> - -<p>‘I’ll do all that willingly,’ said I.</p> - -<p>He then told me that the second steward -slung his hammock next door to the pantry -in the steerage, but as there were two or three -empty cabins down there I was welcome to -use a bunk in the one in which I had been<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66"></a>[66]</span> -locked up. ‘As for a bed,’ said he—‘you’d -better ask the sailmaker to give you a piece -of old canvas, and the butcher to give you a -bundle of straw; you’ll get all the mattress -you’ll want out of that. If I can meet with a -stray blanket you shall have it. That pilot -jacket, though a good coat, ain’t quite up to -the knocker for table work. Pity you haven’t -got a little loose cash upon you. I’ve got a -spare jacket which,’ said he, taking a view of -my shoulders, ‘would fit you for breadth to a -hair. But not to button across; why, I never -see such a chest on a young fellow. And now -you can turn to,’ said he; ‘the table’s to be -got ready for dinner and you can help.’</p> - -<p>I requested him to lend me some soap and -a towel. He grinned and asked me if there -was any perfumery he could oblige me with. -‘But you’re right,’ said he. ‘You’re in want -of a wash-down.’ He left me, and presently -returned with a piece of marine soap and a -coarse towel. He then told me where I should -find a bucket, and recommended me to draw -some water at the head pump on the forecastle, -and to be careful not to spill any on the deck<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67"></a>[67]</span> -as I brought it along if I did not want to be -sworn at by the officer of the watch.</p> - -<p>I took a bucket from a rack near the mainmast -and went along the gangway, as I term -the alley betwixt the barricade and the bulwarks. -My heart was almost light. The work -I was to be put to was just such as I should -have chosen out of the whole group of duties -of the big ship. It was work that would keep -me away from the forecastle hands; it would -not put more upon me than my strength was -equal to. Best of all, I was to occupy a cabin -alone, which was an extraordinary piece of -good fortune.</p> - -<p>It was the first dog-watch. All the convicts -were in their prison quarters; a number -of sailors were smoking, idling, and talking in -the neighbourhood of the galleys; the wind -swept keen and hard athwart the forecastle; -and the sentry was the only figure that paced -that deck. Some rough chaff saluted me as I -passed the sailors. One asked if I was going -a-milking; another advised me to chuck the -bucket overboard and watch it tow. Just as -I was stepping up the forecastle ladder, Will,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68"></a>[68]</span> -with a pipe in his mouth, put his head out of -his berth. He instantly saw me, and called -out, with the manner of a young fellow exercising -some little authority:</p> - -<p>‘Where are you taking that bucket to?’</p> - -<p>‘On to the forecastle for water, sir,’ I -answered.</p> - -<p>‘Do you know anything about rigging a -head pump?’ he exclaimed. ‘Not you!’ he -cried, laughing with a fine assumption of half-jocose, -half-pitying good nature. ‘Here, I’ll -show you what to do.’</p> - -<p>He followed me up the ladder. Upon the -forecastle the wind was blowing with a great -roaring noise. The sentry leaned against it, -and his heavily coated figure swayed like a -scarecrow in a breezy field as he swung on -his gripping feet to the plunge and toss of the -bow. The surge, rent by the sheering cutwater, -rose in a boiling mass of whiteness to -within reach of the rail when the ship pitched. -The driven fabric swept the sea from her -weather bow in smoke, and at every stately -curtsey a vast sheet of foam washed many -fathoms ahead. The sea ridged dark and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69"></a>[69]</span> -hard. The ship heeled sharply over under -great breasts of canvas, and from the forecastle -you saw the froth race past her on -either hand, and lift astern like a snow-covered -path.</p> - -<p>‘This was my chance and the first chance, -Marian,’ said Will. ‘How are you getting on?’</p> - -<p>‘Well.’</p> - -<p>‘We’ll seem to loiter a bit over this pump. -What are they going to do with you?’</p> - -<p>I told him.</p> - -<p>‘What! Cuddy bottle-washer? And -the steward’s the cad of the ship. There are -many cads amongst us, but he’s head of the -clan here.’</p> - -<p>‘I’m perfectly satisfied, Will. I wish I -could see Tom. I want to see him with my -own eyes.’</p> - -<p>‘Hold the bucket so,’ said he, ‘and I’ll -pump. Oh, never mind the sentry. No -notice is taken of soldiers at this end of the -ship. I could hug you for your pluck, I -could. After all these days of black hole -under here to talk to the captain and doctor -as I heard you! Where do you sleep?’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70"></a>[70]</span>All this while he was pretending to work -the brake of the pump as though something -was wrong with it. I answered.</p> - -<p>‘Come, that’s good,’ said he; ‘a cabin to -yourself! They couldn’t have given you -more had they charged you sixty guineas.’</p> - -<p>‘I have no mattress and nothing to sleep -on but the bunk-boards,’ said I.</p> - -<p>‘And no bedclothes, of course?’ said he.</p> - -<p>‘The steward has promised me the loan of -a blanket if he can find one.’</p> - -<p>‘Leave me to see what I can do,’ he exclaimed.</p> - -<p>‘Run no risks, Will, for both our sakes.’</p> - -<p>‘Do you want your money, Marian?’</p> - -<p>‘No, I was searched. If I produce money -now, they’ll guess I have a friend on board. -Will, there’s one thing you must contrive: -Let me have pencil and paper. Not now. -Wait for a better chance. There will be -plenty. I must write to him.’</p> - -<p>‘How are you going to give him a letter?’</p> - -<p>‘I’ll find a way, Will.’</p> - -<p>‘Marian, there’s no man under these stars,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71"></a>[71]</span> -which are beginning to shine, who’s worth -what you’re doing for Tom. How cold the -wind blows! And aren’t they driving the old -bucket just! I know what it will be—eight -bells, and Balls’s infernal pipe, and an hour’s -roosting up amongst those boughs there to -reef and stow. You don’t want all that water -to wash in.’</p> - -<p>He emptied two-thirds of the bucket, put -the strap into my hand, and we went down -the forecastle ladder. The steward, who was -helping the other man to lay the cloth, asked -what had kept me so long.</p> - -<p>‘The pump’s stiff,’ said I, ‘and it blows -hard on the fo’c’sle.’</p> - -<p>‘Hard in your eye!’ he exclaimed. -‘Look lively now! There must be no -skulking. If you don’t bear a hand here, I’ll -send you forward to the bo’sun and the land -of ropes’ ends and kicks.’</p> - -<p>The under-steward laughed heartily. I -went briskly to my cabin, and washed my -face and hands as well as I could in the dark. -I found nothing in the steward’s language to -anger me—nothing in my situation to cause<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72"></a>[72]</span> -me an instant’s regret. The truth is, I was -extraordinarily encouraged and supported by -the sense of my sex—by the thought that -I need but avow myself to become an object -of romantic interest, and so be, at all events, -humanely treated. Indeed, I caught myself -laughing when I put my hand into the upper -bunk to feel for the parcel of my wearing -apparel. What, I thought to myself, would -the steward think if I were to dress myself in -those clothes and enter the cuddy?</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73"></a>[73]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXI<br /> - - -<small>SHE ENTERS UPON HER DUTIES</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">I did</span> but little on this the first day of my -entering upon my strange new duties. The -steward distrusted my sea-legs, and he and -his mate fetched the dishes from the galley. -I hung about the fore-end of the cuddy, put -the dirty plates into the basket, collected the -knives and forks, went on errands to the -pantry and the like. The picture of the -cuddy was bright and hearty. Two large -illuminated globes, in silver holders, swung -under the ceiling; the light of them flashed -in the mirrors and rippled with the movements -of the ship in the polished woodwork. -The captain sat at the head of the table, the -doctor on his right. Captain Barrett and -Lieutenant Chimmo sat together on the other -side. Once or twice Captain Barrett screwed -his glass into his eye and looked at me, but<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74"></a>[74]</span> -his gaze expressed no more than surprise to -find me at work as a cuddy-servant. The -others took not the least notice of me.</p> - -<p>Captain Barrett had a loud laugh and a -hearty manner of speaking; Lieutenant -Chimmo was thin of voice, stilted and affected, -so stiff and snobbish as to satisfy me he was -not a born gentleman. I wondered to find -neither of the mates at the table, but I soon -discovered that it was the custom on board -the <i>Childe Harold</i> for the mate of the watch -to come below and eat after the captain was -done, the other two mates joining him when -possible, so as to make a separate table.</p> - -<p>The talk at the beginning was not very -interesting. The convict guard, it seems, had -come to the ship from Chatham, and neither -Captain Barrett nor the lieutenant could say -too much in abuse of that place. There was -no society; dirt and drink formed the life of -the town. Deptford, nay even Sheerness, was -sweet and desirable compared to Chatham. -The doctor ate and drank water with a little -wine in it and seemed to listen. The captain -frequently lifted his eyes to the skylight as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75"></a>[75]</span> -though thinking more of the weather than -of the officers’ chatter. Presently Captain -Barrett, leaning across the table, said to the -doctor:</p> - -<p>‘Chimmo and I have been wondering -whether you’d have any objection, after the -fellow’s irons are knocked off, I mean, to -Barney Abram coming aft to give us a few -lessons in sparring? I dare say, captain, -your sailmaker could contrive to furnish out -an arrangement of canvas and oakum to -answer for boxing-gloves.’</p> - -<p>‘It would be impossible to imagine any -objection stronger than mine to your suggestion,’ -said the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘There’d be always a sentry at hand, you -know,’ said Lieutenant Chimmo.</p> - -<p>‘Let us change the subject,’ said the -doctor severely.</p> - -<p>Captain Barrett looked at the doctor with -a slight sneer and said: ‘We’ll not talk of -bringing Barney Abram aft: we’ll talk of -Barney Abram as he is. Pity so much talent -should go wrong. Transport your felonious -clergy, attorneys, farmers, medical men,’ he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76"></a>[76]</span> -added, with a significant look at the doctor, -‘there’d always then be too many to spare. -But to send such a prize-fighter as Barney -Abram out of the kingdom! To ship him -into a country where there’ll be nobody -to appreciate him! By Heaven, it’s as bad -as robbing the crown of England of a -jewel!’</p> - -<p>The captain, observing that the doctor -did not like this talk, changed the subject by -speaking of the fine progress the ship was -making. At this moment I was sent to the -pantry by the steward. When I returned, -I heard Lieutenant Chimmo say: ‘What -would those chaps under hatches give for a -taste of that curried fowl! Your cook’s a -neat hand, captain.’</p> - -<p>‘The provisions served out to the convicts -are infernally bad,’ said Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘“They are not good, but they may be -eaten,” as Charles XII. said to the soldier -who showed him some mouldy pieces of -bread,’ exclaimed the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘At such a table as this,’ said Lieutenant -Chimmo, ‘a man can take a philosophic view<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77"></a>[77]</span> -of the tastes and appetites of people who are -ill-fed.’</p> - -<p>‘Convicts are as well fed as sailors,’ said -Captain Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘I’d rather be a convict than a sailor,’ -said Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘One’s t’other more often than not,’ -observed Lieutenant Chimmo. ‘’Stonishing -what a lot of rascals sail afore the mast!’</p> - -<p>‘Take care that whisper don’t get forward -of the main-hatch sentry,’ said the captain, -with a glance at the steward. ‘Jack’s got a -sensitive side to his nature.’</p> - -<p>‘Doctor, what’s to be the routine when -decent weather sets in?’ inquired Captain -Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘Schools, Bible classes, and frequent -prayer-meetings, sir,’ answered the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘Don’t educate them,’ said Lieutenant -Chimmo. ‘They’re very bad now; education’ll -make them worse.’</p> - -<p>‘I’m with Chimmo,’ said Captain Barrett. -‘Doctor, I’ll wager you what you will that -the worst of your people are those who are -most intelligent and best educated.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78"></a>[78]</span>The doctor made no answer.</p> - -<p>‘I must state this as a fact,’ said Captain -Sutherland, with a side look at the doctor, -as though distrusting his topic: ‘Mr. Bates, -my chief officer, recognised one of the -convicts. His name—’ The doctor made a -motion with his hand. ‘Well, enough if I -say,’ exclaimed the captain, stammering, ‘that -this same man is a person of excellent antecedents, -was for years at sea, and held several -posts of trust, and finally wound up a flourishing -career by investing his savings in a smart -little barque for no other purpose than to -scuttle her that he might pocket about triple -the amount of his venture in insurance -money.’</p> - -<p>I heard this, and my heart turned hot. -I longed to walk up to Captain Sutherland, -look him in the eyes, and call him a beast and -a liar. No one observed me, which was -lucky. I was conscious that my face worked -with agitation and that my cheeks were red -with the blood which the captain’s lie had -driven into my head. At this point the -steward bade me carry a basket of dirty<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79"></a>[79]</span> -dishes to the galley, and I stepped out with -my burden upon the quarter-deck.</p> - -<p>The evening was black and the wind wet, -and it swept athwart the bulwark-rail with a -shriek and a bite of frost. Over the lee-rail -the seas ran from the ship in pale, cloudy -heaps. Occasionally the brine lashed the -forecastle like a showering of small shot, and -again and again you’d feel the blow of a sea -on the bow striking the ship before she could -rise, and the white water of it was flashed -back into the dark wind, though the hissing -body came like a thunder-squall, an instant -later, soaking the decks till the scuppers -sobbed again.</p> - -<p>I staggered along with the basket of -crockery, and passing the sentry, slipped -and slid forward through the convicts’ inclosure -till I came to the ship’s galley. A -number of seamen were gathered under the -lee of this place. The red fire of the stove -illuminated the fat figure of the cook as he -stood pointing a piece of paper to the flame -of the lamp to light his pipe. Another -fellow was busy at a kind of dresser. Against<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80"></a>[80]</span> -the closed weather-door leaned the boatswain -with folded arms and an inverted pipe betwixt -his lips. It was a hot, snug, mellow -interior to look in upon after the cheerless -scene of the decks and the leaning and waving -heights of dim canvas above.</p> - -<p>‘So they’ve found work for you, hey?’ -said the boatswain, giving me a large nod. -‘Yet you’d better ha’ stopped at home.’</p> - -<p>‘Who’s this?’ said the cook.</p> - -<p>‘The youngster as I found rolled up in a -spare t’gallan’s’l,’ answered the boatswain. -‘They’re a-going to keep him in the land o’ -knives and forks.’</p> - -<p>‘And you’d rather be a waiter than a -steward, Joey?’ said the cook with a greasy -chuckle. ‘I don’t blame you. It’s all night -in with us idlers, and a warm blanket’s -better than a lee earing, ain’t it, Mr. Balls? -But what’s brought the covey to ship in this -here convick barge?’</p> - -<p>‘What ha’ you got there?’ said the -fellow at the dresser.</p> - -<p>‘Dirty plates,’ said I.</p> - -<p>This man, who was the cook’s mate, who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81"></a>[81]</span> -had but one eye, and whose cast of face was -certainly more villainous than any of the -felons I had watched taking their exercise -that day, put his head out of the galley-door, -and exclaimed: ‘Fire that there steward! -Here’s a gallus look out o’ dishes! If that -there perishin’ Stiles could foul six plates -’stead o’ wan he’d do’t to spite me.’ He continued -to grumble hideously, and I backed -away from his ugly tongue and uglier face -and walked toward the cuddy, but slowly, -and holding on as I went, for the decks were -steep and greasy and the ship was taking the -seas in quick, angry jumps.</p> - -<p>As I passed through the quarter-deck -barricade my elbow was touched, and Will -accosted me.</p> - -<p>‘I’m going to bounce a mattress out of the -steward for you, Marian,’ said he, ‘but as no -more lies than can be helped must be told, -follow me.’</p> - -<p>I accompanied him up the lee poop-ladder. -He led me a little way along the deck and -then crossed it to where a man was standing -under the shelter of one of the quarter-boats.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82"></a>[82]</span>‘Here’s this stowaway lad asked me to -help him to a mattress, sir,’ he exclaimed. -‘They’ve given him a bunk in the steerage, -but there’s nothing in it to lie upon.’</p> - -<p>‘He deserves the cat for hiding aboard -us,’ answered the man, who was indeed Mr. -Bates, the first mate. ‘What have they put -him to, d’ye know, Johnstone?’</p> - -<p>‘He’s cuddy bottle-washer, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘What’s brought you to sea, you young -fool?’</p> - -<p>‘I want to get to Tasmania, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘Why didn’t you concern yourself in some -riot, or turn Irish politician; they’d have -clothed and bedded and fed and sent you -across handsomely, and perhaps have fitted -you with a good berth ashore at the end; instead, -you start as a sneak, and, no doubt, -you’ll come home as a sneak. Mattress—mattress—I’ve -got nothing to do with that. -Shift for yourself and be off.’</p> - -<p>I went on to the quarter-deck, wondering -what on earth Will meant by taking me to -the mate, as though to provoke him to abuse -me. Before I entered the cuddy my cousin<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83"></a>[83]</span> -was at my elbow. You will remember that it -was very dark and nobody but the sentry was -on the quarter-deck.</p> - -<p>‘It’s all right,’ said he eagerly. ‘I’ll -manage it now. Wait a bit. You must have -a bed to lie on, you know. Don’t take to -heart what the mate says. It’s his duty to -growl at you, but as a man he’s sound to the -heels.’</p> - -<p>They were still at table in the cuddy. It -was hard to realise that the vessel was a prison-ship -when you looked at this bright, rich interior, -with its soft yellow lamps flashing -under the skylights and the looking-glasses -reduplicating the sparkling and hospitable furniture -of the table. It was like passing from -another state of life to enter this brightness -and warmth from the wet and nipping blackness -outside, with the grim, dark figure of the -sentry, the barricades, the blackness and -silence of the sentinelled main-hatch.</p> - -<p>The steward sent me to the pantry to wash -glasses, and I went with his assistant, a fellow -named Franz or Frank, a young German. I -had not before known him for a German; I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84"></a>[84]</span> -believe I had not heard him speak. He was -a freckled, ginger-coloured man, as expressionless -of face as an oyster. But he was good-tempered -and willing, and when we were in -the pantry washing glasses he said that he -hoped we should be friends. I answered it -would not be my fault if we were not good -friends. On this he shook hands with me and -asked if I was ever in Germany. He wished -to know why I had stowed myself away in -this convict ship and if I had friends in -Tasmania.</p> - -<p>‘I need not have hidden,’ said I. ‘My -friends are well-to-do.’</p> - -<p>‘Dot I can believe,’ said he, polishing a -tumbler and closing one eye while he held it -to the lamp. ‘You vhas a young gentleman. -Dot I hear in your voice. Maybe you vhas -more of a gentleman dan some dot ve vaits on. -How do you like Mr. Stiles?’ naming the -steward.</p> - -<p>‘He is a funny man.’</p> - -<p>‘How vhas he funny?’ said he.</p> - -<p>‘He made you laugh heartily when he -talked to me.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85"></a>[85]</span>‘Dot vhas to please him. For my part——’ -He shrugged his shoulders. He then inquired -if I had agreed for any wages, and expressed -sorrow that we were not to share a berth. ‘I -likes to make you my chum—dot is der verdt—whilst -ve vhas togedder.’</p> - -<p>Presently the steward called to us, and -when I entered the cuddy I found Mr. Bates -at table and the captain and officers gone. -Mr. Bates was very quick with his dinner. -He had charge of the deck. I believe he was -not above ten minutes in despatching his meal. -He took no notice of me. When he was -gone, I helped the two stewards to strip the -table, and whilst this was doing Will Johnstone -put his head in at the cuddy door and called -to the steward.</p> - -<p>‘There’s some spare convicts’ mattresses -stowed away aft,’ said he, in the peremptory -voice of the sea. ‘You’re to let Marlowe have -one; and throw in a couple of the convicts’ -blankets for his use. D’ye hear me, steward?’</p> - -<p>‘Yes, I hear you, young gentleman,’ answered -the steward. ‘But who sent me that -bit of noose?’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86"></a>[86]</span>Will, however, had backed a step and disappeared -in the blackness.</p> - -<p>‘The order comes from Mr. Bates, I expect,’ -said I. ‘I stepped on to the poop -some time since, to see if he’d let me have a -mattress.’</p> - -<p>‘Well, pink me if you was behind the door -when cheek was sarved out,’ said the steward. -‘Did he offer to throw you overboard?’</p> - -<p>‘He asked me many questions. Mr. Bates -seems one of the kindest-hearted of men.’</p> - -<p>The steward stared at me for a moment, -muttered to himself, and then, with something -of an agitated hand, proceeded in his work of -stripping the table. However, Will’s ruse, or -‘bounce,’ as he had called it, proved successful. -Mr. Stiles, of course, supposed that the -apprentice had come with direct instructions; -and when he had cleared the table he took -me into the steerage and, opening a cabin -door, held up a lantern and bade me choose a -mattress. A number of convicts’ mattresses -lay stowed here, every one with a little pillow -attached to it, and every one was numbered, -as though as a provision for a larger assemblage<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87"></a>[87]</span> -of miscreants than had been shipped. Here, -also, were two or three bales of spare blankets, -to a couple of which I helped myself; and -now, thanks to Will, I had a bed to lie on and -clothes to cover me.</p> - -<p>In my own berth, as I may call it, I said to -the steward, pointing to the bundle in the -upper bunk: ‘That can be left there. It will -not be in the way.’</p> - -<p>‘What is it?’ said he. ‘Oh, it was brought -aboard just afore we started, and the captain -gave it to me, thinking it might belong to some -of the soldiers or their wives as’d presently be -claiming it. It’s a herror,’ said he, looking at -the parcel, ‘though the name of this vessel’s -wrote big enough for a monkey to read without -glasses. Let it lie. It’s out of the ways -here.’ Then, looking around him, he lost his -temper. ‘Here’s a pretty go!’ he cried. ‘To -think of a Woolwich stowaway berthed in such -a beautiful bedroom as this here! It’s a-flying -in the face of right, and it’s a-courting and -caressing of wickedness to make any one as -has done wrong so comfortable. If this gets -wind, suffocate me if stowaways won’t breed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88"></a>[88]</span> -thick as fleas in vessels’ holds! But you’ll -have to work.’</p> - -<p>‘I’ll work, and work well,’ said I, smiling; -‘and as you treat me so shall your reward be.’</p> - -<p>He held the lantern to my face and said: -‘Where?’</p> - -<p>‘Hobart Town.’</p> - -<p>‘There’s no use a-dangling that sort of fly,’ -said he; ‘I’m no one-eyed fish. When I rise, -it’s to summat juicy, with ne’er a hook in its -inside. Never you mind about Hobart Town, -but turn to and get your supper.’</p> - -<p>I went to the pantry, where I found Frank. -We supped off a dish that had come from the -cabin table. Frank informed me that had the -captain sent me to live before the mast, I -should never have beheld or tasted such a -dish even in my dreams. ‘They starfs you,’ -said he; ‘pork dot vhas deadt of der measles, -und beef dot vhas a horse until dey salt her -down into casks.’ Again he endeavoured to -ascertain who I was and what I meant to do -on my arrival in Hobart Town. He said, if -my connections were flourishing people, he’d -be very grateful if I’d put in a good word for<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89"></a>[89]</span> -him. He was not born to this sort of life; -he had seen better days, wrote a good hand, -and could correspond in three tongues. He -had signed articles for the round voyage, but -was ready to run from the ship if a chance -offered.</p> - -<p>I looked mysterious and smiled knowingly, -and said I guessed that when my friends -heard my story they would be glad to do a -kindness to any one who had proved a friend -to me during the passage. He put oil into -my cabin-lamp and showed me how to trim it, -and assured me that any little conveniences -which he possessed were at my service. I -learned that my work ended at nine. At half-past -eight, the materials for grog were placed -upon the cabin table, and at two bells I was -at liberty to go to bed.</p> - -<p>‘But you’ll understand,’ said the steward, -who gave me this information, ‘that if all ’ands -is called you must turn out. It’ll be for me -to sing down the hatch “All ’ands,” and you -don’t stop to dress, but rush up, for you’re -never to know what hawful things ain’t on the -heve of ’appening when that loud cry of “All<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90"></a>[90]</span> -’ands” rings through such a big ship as this, -and if you don’t turn out, then of course you’ll -be one of them parties as feel sorry for themselves -next day.’</p> - -<p>When two bells were struck I went into -the recess under the poop to take a look at -the labouring ship and the dark night before -going to bed. The canvas had been reefed -at eight o’clock; at that hour, and for -some time after, I had heard the wild -hoarse notes of sailors singing out at the -ropes, and the cannonading of heavy sails -whose released halyards had abandoned the -slack canvas to the thrashing gale. The ship -was rushing along her course, climbing the -high seas and whitening out the water till the -seething waves gleamed like moonlight round -about her. Captain Barrett and the doctor -were playing at chess in the cuddy; the -subaltern looked on with a paper cigar drooping -at his mouth. All seemed dark and at -rest down the hatch where the soldiers’ -quarters were. I thought to myself if this -ship were to strike another and founder, what -chance for their lives would the two hundred<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91"></a>[91]</span> -and thirty men below have, lying, for all I -knew, in their irons, so battened down that -nothing short of an explosion could lift the -hatch for them.</p> - -<p>A figure approached and peered in my -face; the cabin lamp-light was upon him; -it was Will.</p> - -<p>‘Is that you?’ said he doubtfully.</p> - -<p>On my replying, he put his hand into his -pocket and gave me a little parcel. ‘Here’s -a pencil and paper for you, Marian,’ said he. -‘Be mighty careful in writing, and don’t -mention my name. You can’t be too cautious. -The sentries’ eyes are as keen as their bayonets. -Have you a mattress?’</p> - -<p>‘Yes.’</p> - -<p>‘Why don’t you go to bed?’</p> - -<p>‘I am off in a minute.’</p> - -<p>‘This is no place for you. I wish you -were at home in Stepney.’ He went on to -the poop, and I descended to my berth.</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92"></a>[92]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXII<br /> - - -<small>SHE SEES HER SWEETHEART</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> convict mattress was hard, and the -pillow was hard, and the blankets as coarse -as manufacture could contrive; yet I would -not have exchanged them for my own soft -bed and linen at home. I was now sleeping -as Tom did: I was on board a convict ship -as he was; and some of the company I should -be forced to keep were scarcely less rough -than the felons below. I should be doing -work by day almost as hard, perhaps, as Tom -would be put to; I was, therefore, not only -hand in hand with my love in the sympathy -of suffering, I was bearing almost as heavy -a burden as weighed upon him; and even -his degradation was as much mine as though -I, too, were a convict, for he was my sweetheart, -and one day, God willing, would be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93"></a>[93]</span> -my husband, and whatever touched him -touched me as though we had been one.</p> - -<p>These were my thoughts as I pulled the -convict blankets over me and put my head -upon the little, hard, convict pillow, and lay -for a while listening to the torrent of foam -that thundered past the porthole. I then fell -asleep, and my sleep was deep and dreamless -as death, so exhausted was I; and when I -awoke, the cabin was glimmering out to the -light of the newly-broken morning, and I -beheld the young man Frank standing beside -me.</p> - -<p>He told me it was time to turn out; the -steward was calling for me; there was the -cabin deck to scrub and the cuddy to be -got ready for breakfast.</p> - -<p>‘I’ll follow you in an instant,’ said I.</p> - -<p>‘Do you know,’ said he, going to the door, -‘dot you vhas very goodt-looking? It vhas -lucky you hov goodt teeth, you show them -even in your sleep. I sometimes belief I -must hov seen your sister. But hov you a -sister?’</p> - -<p>‘No,’ said I, rubbing my eyes and troubled<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94"></a>[94]</span> -by these questions, and wishing he would -go.</p> - -<p>‘Vell, I vhas a waiter for two or three -months at the Brunswick Hotel in der East -India Docks, and I remember a handsome -young lady dot came in once or twice in dot -time. She vhas so much like you she might -easily hov been your sister.’</p> - -<p>He went out when he had said this. I -had no time to reflect, but certainly I had -found no air of suspicion in his manner. It -took me but a minute to plunge my face in -cold water and go out, having lain down for -warmth, fully dressed, save my cap and shoes. -On showing myself, the steward told me to -get a bucket and go on the poop and fetch -water from the pump, which the apprentices -and some ordinary seamen were washing -down the deck by.</p> - -<p>I mounted the companion-ladder and found -the morning brightening into sunshine. The -sea in the east was radiant with sliding hills -of silver; the sky was a delicate azure, high, -with small feather-shaped clouds linked like -lacework. Passing us at the distance of a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95"></a>[95]</span> -mile was a large ship with flags flying. She -was bowing the sea somewhat heavily, and -made a noble picture as she crushed the -brine into snow under her massive forefoot, -yielding to the surge till the line of her green -copper showed with a long, wet flash, whilst -the soft whiteness of her canvas ran trembling -in shadows to her trucks with her tossing, -where it blended with the feather-shaped -clouds, so that you could scarce tell one from -another.</p> - -<p>Our own ship was clothed with sail to the -royal yards, with dark lines of damp where -the reefs had been lately shaken out. I was -too far aft to see the main-deck. Smoke -from the chimneys of the two galleys blew -black and brisk over the bow, showing that -the wind nearly followed us. The sailors -were washing down, the head pump was -going, and buckets were being handed along -from the forecastle, where stood the sentry in -a grey coat with his bayonet gleaming like -silver. The first person I saw on the poop -was my cousin Will. He and several others -were scrubbing the deck hard with brushes,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96"></a>[96]</span> -whilst a broad-shouldered apprentice flung -pailfuls of water along the planks. Will -turned his head and saw me, but took no -further notice. Mr. Bates, the chief mate, -stood near the wheel, and I observed that he -watched me whilst I filled my bucket at the -little pump that was kept a-gushing by an -active young seaman. It was a strange real -picture of shipboard life on the high seas. -The cold of the night was still in the wind, -and not yet had the sun extinguished the -melancholy of the gray dawn in the distant -recesses of the west.</p> - -<p>I saw no convict, but when I returned to -the cuddy with my bucket full of water, on -looking through the windows which commanded -a view of the main-deck, I observed -a number of the felons all hard at work -brushing, swabbing and cleaning. For an -hour I worked with Frank, scrubbing the -cuddy deck, drying it, replacing the lengths -of carpet and so on. The steward then told -me to get a hook-pot from the pantry and go -to the galley for some hot coffee for Frank -and myself. I found a hook-pot and stepped<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97"></a>[97]</span> -on to the quarter-deck, meaning to walk -forward by the narrow gangway; but a -number of seamen on some job there blocked -it, so I went past the sentry at the barricade -gate.</p> - -<p>I was trembling, and felt myself pale. -There were many convicts about, and any one -at a moment might turn and prove to be -Tom. Some were coiling ropes away, some -slapped the deck with swabs, some were -cleaning the paintwork; they were all ironed. -The decks, dark with brine, were greasy, the -motions of the ship quick and uncomfortable, -and the irons, robbing the limbs of all elasticity, -caused many of the unhappy wretches to slide -and stagger as they moved about, for which -they would be sharply and sometimes brutally -yelled at by the convicts who overseered them. -The prize-fighter was savagely swabbing near -the main-hatch. He struck the deck as -though he would split it. I was obliged to -pass him close. He saw me and nodded, and -said in a low, thick, sarcastic voice, ‘Dice -work to put a gentlebud to.’</p> - -<p>‘Attend to what you’re about there!<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98"></a>[98]</span>’ -roared a man on the other side of the -deck.</p> - -<p>I pushed on. A convict stood at the -ship’s side, coiling a rope over a pin. His -face was averted, but as I neared him he -moved his head to look in the direction of the -poop. It was Tom. Our eyes met. He did -not know me and turned his gaze away, then -looked again, then stared as if paralysed. -His hands were arrested as though he had -been struck dead; his face whitened to the -complexion of death. I brushed past him -close, saying in a low voice, but distinctly, -‘Tom, dearest, it is Marian. We are together -and shall yet be happy,’ and so saying I went -on without again looking and entered the -ship’s galley.</p> - -<p>But the sudden encounter, seeing him in -irons, so affected me that I could scarcely -draw my breath. I noticed with a pang of -exquisite distress that he looked ill; his complexion -an unhealthy white, his cheeks sunk, -his eyes hollow and leaden. When I was in -the galley I stood struggling to get my breath -before attempting to speak; then I heard a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99"></a>[99]</span> -commotion outside. The stout cook pushed -past me, and, putting his head through the -galley-door, cried, after staring a few moments: -‘Blowed if it don’t look as if the poor -chap was dying!’</p> - -<p>I sprang through the door and saw Tom -supported by two or three convicts. He lay -in their arms in the posture of a man lifted -on to his feet but unable to stand. In a -minute or two he struggled and stood erect, -and I heard him say: ‘There, lads, I thank -you. Just a passing faintness. Take no more -heed of me;’ and, picking up the rope, he -continued in his task of coiling it over the -pin. I watched him coil a second rope away -and then re-entered the galley.</p> - -<p>‘I wonder them coves ain’t a-fainting -every hour,’ said the cook, as he filled my -hook-pot with hot coffee. ‘No grog and no -baccy! Think of that; and a vindier diet -than fo’c’sle allowance. Burgoo may be good -eating for them as thinks the bagpipes good -music; but you may take it from me, my lad, -that it ain’t the sort of stuff for a growed-up -man to go to bed on. There’s too much sop<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100"></a>[100]</span> -a-going in prison fare. A gent who’s brought -himself up for years on champagne, salmon, -and the best of eating, signs the wrong name -to a bit of paper and’s put aboard a ship like -this, where he gets nothen to eat but cocoa -and ship’s beef and burgoo. Can the likes of -such men help fainting? Ask yourself. I -dessey the covey as swounded just now was -a nob in his way before he was took. There’s -no telling who’s who down below. Out of -the road now, my lively! Here’s the sailors -a-coming for their tea.’</p> - -<p>I got into the narrow gangway and so -made my way aft that I might not again pass -Tom. My dread was for myself rather than -for him. If I drew close and once more -looked him in the face, my passion of love -must vent itself in some desperate betraying -manner. Girl as I was, I found a curse in -my heart for the barbarity that weighted my -sweetheart’s ankles with iron, and a curse for -the law that had suffered two villains to swear -his liberty, fortune, happiness away and make -a broken-hearted convict of him.</p> - -<p>I drank a little coffee in the pantry with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101"></a>[101]</span> -my fellow-servant, but ate nothing. The -German supposed I was fretting over having -run away and good-naturedly tried to cheer -me. However, as the time passed, my spirits -improved, for now I knew beyond all doubt -that Tom was on board; and he also knew -beyond all doubt that I was with him, and it -comforted me to reflect that without any further -explanation he would understand why I -had made no attempt to bid him farewell at -Woolwich.</p> - -<p>And still I was anxious. He would soon -discover, by observing me as I passed to and -fro, that I had been put to menial work unfit -for the lady of his love, for the girl of his -heart, for a woman who had been greatly -indulged, who knew nothing of hardships, -whose means were ample for one of her -degree. I feared his spirit would chafe and -fret over the thought of my being a common -helper in the cabin—cuddy-deck scrubber, a -ship’s scullery boy—and that to deliver me -from these degrading offices he might betray -me, tell the story of our love, and exactly -reveal my condition, not doubting, I dare say,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102"></a>[102]</span> -that Captain Sutherland would then charge -me for my passage and treat me as a passenger. -And, indeed, I should have been very willing -to be a passenger, to pay any exorbitant sum -for that privilege, had the thing been contrivable -now that I was on board. But could it -have been managed? No. Because whether -I revealed myself as a woman with a secret -which nothing could make her avow, or -whether I owned my sex and frankly declared -that I had followed Tom because of my love -for him, in either case the stern and suspicious -doctor would either oblige me to land at any -port we had occasion to water at, or compel -the captain to pass me into the first ship that -would receive me.</p> - -<p>I found an opportunity after the cuddy -breakfast things had been cleared away to -write a letter to Tom. I wrote in my cabin -and used the pencil and paper my cousin had -given to me. Whilst I wrote I had not felt -so tranquil in spirits, so easy, nay, so happy -in my heart, for months. Tom was near me. -Nothing but death or ocean calamity could -separate us till we arrived at Tasmania, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103"></a>[103]</span> -then I should be in the same land with him, -with opportunities that I could not now imagine; -this writing was like talking to him, -and the sweeter because it was secret; no -governor would first read my letter.</p> - -<p>I wrote very small, in pencil, that I might -put much into narrow compass. I told him -of the arrangements I had made before leaving -home, why I had dressed as a boy, why I had -hidden myself in this convict ship instead of -following by a passenger vessel. I gave him -my reasons for desiring to continue as a boy, -and wound up by begging him to keep up -his heart, to be sure we should be happy yet -in the new land, and I implored him to feel -easy as to my situation, my duties being light, -my berth comfortable, and my associates civil -and obliging.</p> - -<p>I folded this letter into the smallest square -I could pack it into, and put it into my waistcoat -pocket ready to convey to Tom at some -such another opportunity as had befallen that -morning. But as it turned out, the weather -changed that day, and for four successive -days it blew hard, with incessant rain, which<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104"></a>[104]</span> -often flashed in whole sheets of water betwixt -the reeling masts, and not a convict appeared -on deck except the messmen at meal-times to -pass the food below.</p> - -<p>During one of these wet and howling -days, when the ship, under small canvas, was -swinging over the hills of pallid water, I stood -in the recess under the break of the poop. -My work was done; I had stepped out to -look at the ship before going to bed. The -vessel rushed through the night in darkness, -and the night itself lay black as ink around -the sea with a little faintness over our mastheads -as though there was a moon there. I -was about to go to bed, when Will came off -the poop and, distinguishing me in the light -that lay on the cuddy windows, he screwed -himself into a dark corner, and called. I -went down the slope of deck.</p> - -<p>‘I have been talking about you to the -chief mate,’ said he. ‘I have told him that -by an accident I have found out who you are. -I said your mother’s name was Marlowe, and -that your father, in his life, was a client of -my father’s. Mr. Bates supposes that your<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105"></a>[105]</span> -mother married a cousin of her own name. -I told him I knew that you were thoroughly -respectable, and that you had left your home -because your stepfather led you a dog’s -life.’</p> - -<p>‘What was the good of your telling him -all this?’ said I, feeling very angry, though -I controlled myself. ‘But I know how it’ll -end. You’ll talk and talk till you betray me, -and then that odious doctor will take the first -opportunity to turn me out of the ship. All -that I have suffered and passed through will -go for nothing, and I shall lose sight of Tom, -and perhaps be separated from him for ever,’ -and now I felt as if I must cry.</p> - -<p>‘Don’t talk like a fool,’ said Will; ‘I’m -not going to betray you. I want to go on -helping you as I helped you from the start, -but as I ought never to have helped you. -How are you going to get any clothes? -Think! Don’t talk of the slop-chest. You’re -not on the articles. There’ll not be a farthing -coming to you. You’ve been searched, and, -as you said yourself, it’s out of the question -you should produce money now. Will the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106"></a>[106]</span> -captain trust a stowaway? Of course not. -So there’s no slop-chest so far as you’re concerned. -Yet how long d’ye think those -clothes of yours are going to hang upon your -body, scrubbing and messing about in them -as you are all day long? And when wear -has turned them into Irish pennants, what -are you going to do for a shift of duds? -Why, you must come to me, of course. But -how can I help you if I don’t know you in -some such a way as to justify me in taking -an interest in you? Now do you see what I -would be at?’ cried he, giving me a soft, -playful chuck under the chin.</p> - -<p>‘Yes, I understand now. I ask your -pardon. You are clever and look ahead.’</p> - -<p>‘Well, that’s all right,’ said he; ‘and now -I shall be able to give you a shift of linen and -to mostly rig you out. Most of what’s in my -chest was given to me by you. Nobody can -say a word when it’s understood that your -father was a client of the old man’s. It’ll -raise you in the general esteem, also. So, -say what you will, I’ve done you a good turn -this blessed night. And now get to bed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107"></a>[107]</span> -away out of this filthy yowling. Look how -sweetly it rains! And I’ve still three hours to -stand!’</p> - -<p>With that he made a spring on to the -poop-ladder and disappeared.</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108"></a>[108]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXIII<br /> - - -<small>SHE VISITS THE BARRACKS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">I have</span> said that this passage of wet, violent -weather lasted about four days. On the -morning of the fourth day of it the steward -sent me to the galley on some errand I forget -the nature of. The cook was wild with -temper. Everything seemed to have gone -wrong with him. The baker had offered to -fight him for his day’s allowance of rum. -He had scalded himself, besides, during an -unusually heavy lurch. When I looked in -on him he swore and told me to wait. It was -all the same to me. It had ceased to rain, -and I stood under the lee of the galley for -shelter from the wind.</p> - -<p>It was a grey, dark, dismal, roaring day. -The seas rolled in hills of green, and the foam -of them, as their heads broke, was blown high -up in white smoke. The ship looked strained<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109"></a>[109]</span> -aloft. Her lee rigging and gear were arched -out by the gale; the bands of topsails were -dusky with wet, and the wind screamed like -children flying in terror. The barricades gave -the ship a most miserable appearance. The -decks sobbed with the ceaseless soaking, and -the white water flashed inboards through the -scupper-holes wherever the vessel buried her -lee side. At the far end of the poop was the -helmsman, sharply rising and falling against -the whirling soot of the sky. The officer of -the watch, clothed in oilskins, stood grasping -a stay near a quarter-boat. A single sentry -stood at the head of the poop-ladder. The -poor fellow was sodden, and seemed withered -by the ceaseless pouring of the blast. One -cannot but feel sorry for soldiers at sea. The -forecastle sentry looked equally wretched. -Those on the main-deck were in some degree -sheltered by the weather bulwarks. A -strange smell of cattle, hay, poultry, and pigs, -came from the long-boat, within and under -which the live-stock were stowed. A dismal, -wet, roaring, frost-cold picture. The melancholy -horror of it is upon my spirits as I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110"></a>[110]</span> -talk to you, and yet this was but the first week -of what might prove a passage of months.</p> - -<p>I heard the boatswain’s voice of thunder -giving orders to some seamen on the other side -of the galley. Presently he came round to -my side of the deck, and on seeing me called -out, ‘I’ve got some o’ your property. The -chief mate says I’m to hand it over to you. -Here’s the handkerchief,’ said he. ‘There -was two pipes. Well, I can’t return ’em -because they’re broke. Here’s yer tinder-box -and arrangement, and a pretty contrivance it -is. When I get ashore I shall ask my young -woman to make me a present of such -another.’</p> - -<p>‘You are very welcome to it, Mr. Balls.’</p> - -<p>‘Say you so? Smite me if I haven’t been -swearing you was a gentleman born and bred -ever since I first lugged you out of the -t’garns’l. Well, I’m truly obliged. As pretty -a little——’ and he walked off, talking aloud -as he looked at the tinder-box.</p> - -<p>I heard the cook speaking with great -excitement to his mate, and guessed that I -should do well to keep quiet until he told me<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111"></a>[111]</span> -that he was ready. A few minutes later a -soldier’s wife rose through the hatch near the -cuddy-front—they called it the booby-hatch—and -came forward. She had a shawl over -her head, and was bringing a pudding to the -cook to be baked. A sudden heave of the -ship drove her against the lee bulwarks. I -went to her help, took the dish from her, and -put it into her hands again when we had -reached the galley. She was the pretty young -wife who had before taken notice of me with -smiles. The cook spoke insolently to her—asked -her if she thought he’d shipped to do -nothing but look after such small mucking -jobs of barracks pastry as that there. He -wasn’t ‘no blushen’ soldiers’ cook.’ If it -depended upon him there’d be no army. -‘What! Keep a scaldin’ lot o’ gutterpeckers -in money, good wittles, and fine clothes at the -expense of the nation, whose sailors has to do -all the real fighting when it comes to it?’ He -said much in this way, shouting loudly, and -sticking and thrusting and gesticulating with -a long, dangerous-looking fork used for bringing -up the meat out of the coppers. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112"></a>[112]</span> -woman threatened to fetch the sergeant. The -cook, with a horrid laugh, begged her to lose -no time. His coppers were ready, he said, -and he’d warrant the sergeant boiled to a turn -before four bells. After more of this Mr. -Cook took the dish from the woman, eyed and -smelled it, with a sarcastic leer, and requested -the woman to clear out.</p> - -<p>She stood at my side, breathing short, and -very angry and flushed, and said if she told -her husband of the cook’s behaviour he would -kill him. I advised her to take no notice of -the fellow. All sea cooks in a gale of wind -were bad-tempered to a proverb. They had -much to put up with. Only think of being -forced to cook in a kitchen that was continually -rolling about, saucepans sliding, sea-water -bursting in, hungry sailors, with knives in -their hands, full of threats and oaths if time -was not punctually kept. I put the case -humorously, and she began to laugh and to -peep at me with her bright eyes.</p> - -<p>She asked me what I waited for, and, one -thing leading to another, she seemed in no -hurry to quit me. And, indeed, we stood<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113"></a>[113]</span> -very snug, warm, and sheltered under the lee -of the galley. We got upon the subject of the -quarters below.</p> - -<p>‘What sort of barracks have you?’ said I.</p> - -<p>‘Come down and see them when you can,’ -said she.</p> - -<p>‘Whom must I apply to for permission?’ -said I.</p> - -<p>‘You’ll want no permission, I believe,’ she -answered. ‘You belong to the ship. But I’ll -speak to my husband, and the sergeant’ll make -no difficulty.’</p> - -<p>‘I should like to see the convicts’ quarters,’ -said I.</p> - -<p>‘You’ll be able to get a peep at them -through the door in the steerage bulkhead. I -may be able to manage that for you, too,’ said -she. ‘Dick has sentry there for some time -to-day. If you’ll stop here, I’ll find out at -once, and come back and tell you the hour.’</p> - -<p>I thanked her, earnestly hoping that the -hour would fit in with my duties. Before she -returned the cook was ready for me. I went -toward the cuddy, and as I passed the booby-hatch -the soldier’s wife came up.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114"></a>[114]</span>‘You’re welcome to step below whenever -you please,’ said she. ‘The sergeant’s got an -eye upon you and wants to ’list you,’ she -added, laughing. ‘And a sweet young soldier -you’d make—a heart-breaker, indeed,’ said -she, looking at me with a shake of the head. -‘Dick’s on sentry at twelve. If that’ll suit, -come then. He’ll take no notice whilst you -look.’</p> - -<p>Twelve was the very hour I would have -named. It was my dinner-hour, and I had a -clear half-hour at the very least before helping -to prepare the cuddy luncheon. When eight -bells struck I came to the hatch, but warily. -The doctor was talking to the captain at the -after-end of the cuddy, and I did not mean -that either of them should see where I was -going. It still blew hard, and was very thick, -and the officers were unable to get an observation -of the sun. I stooped, that the two -men in the cuddy might lose sight of me. By -the looks of the sentry at the quarter-deck -barricade I guessed he knew that I was going -to pay his quarters a visit, and that it was all -right. But I cared not who saw me descend<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115"></a>[115]</span> -unless it were the officers of the ship and -guard.</p> - -<p>I put my foot over and easily went down -an almost perpendicular ladder. I found myself -in a somewhat strange interior. On the -right, or starboard, hand was a long cabin, -which Will afterwards told me had been designed -for a midshipman’s berth. This cabin -was occupied by the unmarried soldiers. On -the left-hand side were a number of rough -whitewood cabins, rudely erected—such cabins -as are put together for the use of poor emigrants. -The married couples and children -slept in them. Light descended through the -booby-hatch, but the day was very scowling, -as you know, and it needed some use to see -well. A couple of tables were cleated athwartships, -and two or three of the women were preparing -them for dinner. A few soldiers were -sitting about reading or talking. In one of the -berths a baby was crying loudly, and several -children sat in a group in a corner playing.</p> - -<p>The good-looking young wife came from -some part of these quarters, or barracks, as I -descended. She showed me a married couple’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116"></a>[116]</span> -sleeping-berth, and bade me, as I was a young -man, put my head boldly into the single men’s -cabin and not mind them. I seemed to look, -but in truth I had no eyes but for the strong, -gloomy, prison-like bulkhead which served as -the afterwall of the convicts’ prison. This -bulkhead stretched from side to side. It was -studded with iron knobs, mushroom-shaped. -A number of holes were bored in it—perhaps -twenty. I knew the object of those holes. -They were intended to receive the muzzles of -muskets, so that a volley of twenty muskets -could be fired at once into the throng of convicts -confined below in case of an uprising or -other tragic trouble. I also observed what -resembled a disk in the centre of this barricade, -somewhat low down. I asked the woman what -it meant. She inquired of a soldier, who answered -that it had been a hole to receive the -muzzle of a cannon, but that the orifice had -been stopped.</p> - -<p>‘It’s handy to command with grape and -canister in case of a difficulty,’ said the soldier, -speaking with an Irish accent. ‘A great gun, -loaded to the muzzle, is the right way to keep<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117"></a>[117]</span> -an oye upon such lads as thim yonder. ’Tis -wan of them oyes that never winks nor -slapes.’</p> - -<p>On the right of the barricade was the door, -where stood the sentry—the ‘Dick’ of my -pretty companion. I had supposed that the -main-hatch was the only means of entering the -’tweendecks; but this afterdoor, it seems, was -always used by the doctor for going his rounds.</p> - -<p>‘Tell him to look and be quick, Jane,’ said -the sentry.</p> - -<p>‘Clap your eye to a hole,’ said the young -woman. ‘Dick dursn’t open the door for -you.’</p> - -<p>I did so, and saw almost as much as if the -sentry had opened the door. The light was -faint and dim; such daylight as there was -hung round about the main-hatch where the -stanchions came down from the sides of the -hatch in the form of a gigantic square bird-cage. -There were no scuttles or portholes, -no skylights for the admission of light or air -overhead. The place seemed full of men, -shadowy heaps of them, with a number of -dim shapes in motion, giving a look of wild,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118"></a>[118]</span> -unnatural vitality to such of the ghostly mob -as sat and were at rest.</p> - -<p>The soldier’s wife put her eye to a loophole -beside mine. I asked her what those -restless figures were about, and she answered -they were messmen and mess helpers preparing -for the convicts’ dinner by half-past -twelve. A double tier of sleeping shelves -divided into compartments, each wide enough -to accommodate several men sleeping side by -side, ran the whole length on either hand of -these ’tweendecks. I heard a subdued growl -of voices and the frequent clank of irons, but -high above all sounded the ceaseless straining -and crazy complaining of the numerous bulkheads -which went to the equipment of the -ship in this part.</p> - -<p>Far forward on the left was a sort of -cabin; I knew it was the prison by Will’s -description. The hospital lay in this end, -and I could not see it. The air was fairly -sweet and fresh where I stood, owing to the -booby-hatch lying wide open, protected as it -was by the cuddy recess; but I seemed to -fancy a dreadful oppression and closeness of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119"></a>[119]</span> -atmosphere in those ’tweendecks where the -many shadowy shapes were herded. Which -of all those spectral figures was Tom? Oh, -my heart! To think of him in his innocence, -ironed, entombed in that close and dimly-lighted -prison, forced to lie of a night, side by -side with felons, obliged to listen to their -hideous talk, to their boasts of past crimes, -to their threats of darker villainies yet, when -the moment should come to free their hand.</p> - -<p>‘Now, Jane, your friend must be off,’ -said the sentry, ‘or the doctor’ll be coming -along.’</p> - -<p>I nodded civilly to him, thanked his -pretty wife, and went on deck. I was half -mad with grief and passion. The reality had -far exceeded my imagination of the wretchedness -and horror of the prisoners’ quarters. I -believe I should have been less shocked had I -passed into the ’tweendecks by way of the -main-hatch; but it was like taking a view of -some nightmare imagination of human misery -to peer through the loophole into that tossing, -straining, and groaning interior, dimly touched -with daylight in the centre, faintly irradiated<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120"></a>[120]</span> -by lantern-light in other parts, the whole -strange shadow of it thickened and jumbled -by the scarcely determinable shapes of men -sitting, standing, moving, the clank of irons -coming from them, and the low growl of -speech.</p> - -<p>I went about my work as usual, helped at -the luncheon-table, exchanged sentences with -Frank, cleaned and polished as was now my -business; but all the while I was secretly -raging with sorrow and temper. I was asking -myself: Is it not in my power to release Tom -from this horrible hell? Have I not the wit -to devise a scheme for giving him his liberty? -They may flog me, they may hang me if they -will; let me but enable Tom to get away from -that loathsome jail below, and they may do -what they will. Twenty fancies occurred to -me. I thought of my cousin Will assisting -me to secrete my sweetheart in some part of -the ship, as I had lain hidden, where I should -be able to feed him and where he would lie -until the ship’s arrival! Then I thought of -his escaping in a quarter-boat which I would -secretly provision for him! But why pursue<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121"></a>[121]</span> -the catalogue of these ridiculous dreams? -They were a girl’s passionate, ignorant fancies, -born of despair and wrath. In some of my -fancies I was as wicked as the worst of the -wretches below. I would have sacrificed -every life on board, including my own, to -procure Tom’s liberty, to free him from the -horrors the unjust hand of the law had heaped -upon him. I would have set fire to the ship, -I would have gnawed a hole in her bottom as -patiently as a rat’s tooth penetrates a plank, -if by burning, if by sinking, the vessel I -could have liberated my sweetheart.</p> - -<p>But I cooled down by degrees. Indeed, -this morning the steward kept me running -about, and I could only think in snatches; so -that meditation was thin and brief, and its -influence light and passing.</p> - -<p>During the afternoon, some considerable -time before sunset, the wind shifted, the sky -cleared, and we had fine weather. Sail was -made on the ship. The sea ran in a strong, -dark-blue swell, which shouldered the sunshine -from brow to brow, and filled the ocean in the -south-west with a roving splendour. Two or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122"></a>[122]</span> -three white sails of ships showed upon the -horizon. I supposed that by this time we -had been blown some distance out of the Bay -of Biscay. Certainly our course had been -straight and our speed thunderous during the -past dark days of storm.</p> - -<p>Shortly after the weather cleared the convicts -were ordered on deck. I stood in the -cuddy door to see them assemble. They -came up one by one, and were massed in lines -close to the barricade, with their faces turned -toward the poop. I supposed they had been -disciplined aboard the hulk. The convict -‘captains’ and felon overseers found no difficulty -in marshalling them. The men fell in -as though they had been soldiers, wheeling -about and taking up their positions whilst the -decks rang with short, sharp cries of command -and the tramp of ironed feet. I took a -step on to the quarter-deck and looked up at -the break of the poop, and there saw the doctor, -with Captain Sutherland by his side. The -officers of the guard were at the rail, and behind -stood a number of the guard under arms.</p> - -<p>As the barricade obstructed my sight, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123"></a>[123]</span> -as I was determined to see what was going -on, I picked up a tray and went down the -port gangway alley, as though I had business -at the galley. The yards were braced somewhat -forward, and I stood close to the great -maintack, which sheltered me from the sight -of the poop. Here I could observe without -being seen. Unhappily, my position brought -the backs of the convicts upon me. Tom was -not to be distinguished among that throng of -closely packed felons. A few were in the -hospital; two or three in the prison. There -might be two hundred and twenty men -gathered together behind the barricade—all -facing aft—their faces upturned to the doctor.</p> - -<p>His purpose in assembling them was to -deliver a lecture. He spoke loudly and with -earnestness, but seemed to have no sense -whatever of irony. It was strange that a -person of his experience should not guess that -the greater part of his discourse would be -listened to with the tongue in the cheek. He -talked to the convicts as though they had -been a congregation of respectable worshippers, -people who led an honest life in their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124"></a>[124]</span> -trades and houses six days, and on the seventh -attended church, instead of a body of men -of whom two-thirds were hardened scoundrels—seasoned, -stewed, salted down in crime; -miscreants who would return to their old villainies, -and to viler villainies yet, the instant -they were at large, if the country they found -themselves in provided them with the chances -they wanted.</p> - -<p>I remember he told them they were one -large family, and that the opportunities during -the voyage of exercising the best and kindliest -feelings would be ample. Every one was to -prefer his brother to himself. They were not -only to be careful of each other’s comforts, but -to be kindly watchful over each other’s speech -and behaviour. ‘I forbid,’ said he, ‘the use -of all irritating or provoking speech or gestures -in your intercourse with each other, the employment -of all vulgar epithets and unmanly -nicknames, the use of which always indicates -a low and undisciplined mind.’ I listened for -a general laugh when he pointed out the -necessity for convicts cultivating a humble, -meek, and gentle spirit—submissive, contented,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125"></a>[125]</span> -and thankful; of their ever remembering -the injury they had inflicted on their -country, and particularly the expense to -which they had put the Government!</p> - -<p>The prisoners swayed with the movements -of the deck. They all seemed to listen with -attention to the doctor’s discourse, but then -any man will appear to listen with attention -to the speech of another who has it in his -power to flog him for not doing so. It was a -strange scene, familiar enough in those days, -never more by any possibility to be beheld -again. On high spread the canvas in cloud -upon cloud, swelling to the western brightness; -soft masses of vapour rolled stately -under a sky of deep, liquid blue; the swaying -mass of convicts in the sickly hue of their -prison dress, their irons like a chain cable -stretching the length of the planks, half filled -the barricade inclosure; at the brass rail -above stood the doctor, flourishing his hand -whilst he addressed them, and the listeners -beside him were thrown out strong upon the -eye by the red line of soldiers standing close -behind. A pause seemed to fall upon the ship;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126"></a>[126]</span> -the sailors dropped their work to stare and -hearken; the second mate and the apprentices -strained their gaze from the lee side of the -poop at the rows of faces; far aft was the -helmsman, stretching his neck and turning -his head on one side and then on the other, -as though to hear what the doctor said.</p> - -<p>‘The youngest amongst you now,’ continued -the doctor, ‘in some measure understand -that it is in the strictest sense a moral -discipline which I desire to see in operation on -board this transport. In further proof of -which I shall give orders that those irons—the -badges of your disgrace—with which you -are at present fettered, be removed from the -whole of you; and I do most ardently hope -that when I have once caused them to be -struck off, you will not by your conduct -demand of their being again replaced; for -what can be more disgraceful to you and -painful to me than the clanking of those irons -as you walk along the decks?’</p> - -<p>The address lasted about three-quarters of -an hour. Captain Barrett replaced and let -fall his eye-glass with impatience. A number<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127"></a>[127]</span> -of the convicts were now sent below, to return -presently, as I supposed, when the others -should have taken their allowance of exercise. -I dared not linger, and walked slowly aft, -sending searching looks at the prisoners, -though I did not see Tom. How was I to -deliver my letter? But it chanced that I had -sight of many strange faces. A gang of -prisoners passed close as I went toward the -cuddy; a few were grey-haired men, bowed -and wrinkled; some were young, and I -marked that all these had defiant looks. One -countenance, quickly as it passed, impressed -me strongly; the man had fine, large, black, -flashing eyes, and was a handsome, dark person, -half a head taller than those who trudged near -him; he held himself erect, and I seemed to -notice a sort of theatrical air in his strides -spite of the irons. I had heard someone say -there was an actor among the felons, and I -guessed that man was he.</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128"></a>[128]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXIV<br /> - - -<small>SHE ALARMS HER COUSIN</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">At</span> the dinner-table that day most of the talk -I caught concerned the convicts and the -Australian settlements. Captain Barrett told -the doctor that he considered his address to -the prisoners deuced fine. The doctor bowed.</p> - -<p>‘What makes criminals, sir?’ asked Captain -Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘The dislike of honest labour,’ answered -the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘It’s the mothers who make the criminals,’ -said the lieutenant.</p> - -<p>The doctor viewed him sternly. I do -not think he loved these discussions.</p> - -<p>‘Don’t the magnetic character of an iron -ship depend upon the direction of her head -while building?’ said the lieutenant.</p> - -<p>‘I have seen but one iron ship, sir,’ said -Captain Sutherland.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129"></a>[129]</span>‘Well,’ continued the lieutenant, ‘it’s so -with the baby before birth: the mother may -choose her own compass bearings for the child—virtue -or vice, as may be. ’Tis the mother -has the building of the bairn, look you, Ellice. -If she don’t go right whilst the bairn’s putting -together, be sorry for the little ’un. He’s -booked in irons and a gray suit for a shiny -land.’</p> - -<p>‘Fudge,’ said the doctor.</p> - -<p>The captain, however, seemed impressed -by the lieutenant’s opinion, and continued to -look at him.</p> - -<p>‘Did you ever have charge of an uglier lot, -Ellice?’ asked Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘I don’t recognise human ugliness,’ -answered the doctor. ‘Is the egg bad? -That’s it; never mind the look and colour -of the shell.’</p> - -<p>‘What becomes of a convict when he dies?’ -said the lieutenant.</p> - -<p>‘What becomes of the ripple when it -breaks upon the shore?’ answered Captain -Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘Do convicts really stand any chance out<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130"></a>[130]</span> -in the colonies, do you think?’ said the lieutenant.</p> - -<p>‘An excellent chance,’ said the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘Too good a chance!’ exclaimed Captain -Sutherland.</p> - -<p>I pricked my ears. I was then at the end -of the cuddy waiting till the gentlemen should -have done with certain dishes which it would -be my business to carry forward.</p> - -<p>‘How is a rogue to establish himself?’ -asked Lieutenant Chimmo.</p> - -<p>‘There’s plenty to be done,’ answered the -doctor. ‘Labour is always in demand. When -a man is on ticket-of-leave he may live where -he pleases.’</p> - -<p>‘They are much better used than our -labourers at home,’ said Captain Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘What about the chain-gangs?’ exclaimed -Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘The chain-gang is punishment,’ said the -doctor. ‘It is hard work, but not harder than -the toil of many an honest man at home for a -famishing wage. Not harder than the labours -of a French fishwife, for example.’</p> - -<p>‘I would rather work in a chain-gang<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131"></a>[131]</span> -than dig in a coal mine,’ said Captain Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘A convict’s hired out as a servant by the -Government to the applicant, isn’t he?’ said -Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘Yes. You must be a landholder if you -apply. I’m speaking of New South Wales,’ -answered the doctor. ‘You must hold three -hundred and twenty acres for every one convict -you get. Seventy-five convicts are the -limit. No man may have more.’</p> - -<p>‘Should you feel happy, Barrett,’ said -Lieutenant Chimmo, ‘to be waited on and -generally done for by seventy-five of the -gentry in our ’tweendecks? How would you -like to be shaved by a cracksman, tucked up -every night by an incendiary, cooked for by -a chemist lagged for a trifling blunder in the -shape of strychnia, waited on behind your -chair, you know, by a gent who has been -spun for digging up bodies?’</p> - -<p>‘Are the convicts decently well fed out in -the settlements?’ inquired Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘Yes. The hirer’s obliged to give his -man plenty to eat. He’s made to sign a bond,’<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132"></a>[132]</span> -responded the doctor. ‘The convicts feed on -beef, mutton, and pork, and they get wheat -and maize meal; their clothes are two jackets -and two pairs of trousers a year, shoes and -shirts, and a mattress and blankets besides.’</p> - -<p>Just then the steward motioned to me, -and I was sent out of the cuddy.</p> - -<p>This talk made me very thoughtful. I -went about my work as full of reflection as -though I had been planning a poem. What -was the cost of land by the acre in Tasmania? -If I purchased three hundred and twenty -acres in that country, would they give me -Tom for a servant? Or, suppose Tom should -be hired before I qualified for a landholder, -for I was without a friend in Tasmania and -months must pass before I could receive -money from England, should I be able to -bribe his employer into parting with him? -My spirits mounted with my fancies. The -doctor knew what he was talking about, and -in imagination I beheld myself the owner of -a little estate in Tasmania with Tom by my -side, and our home as happy as love could -make it.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133"></a>[133]</span>In the first dog-watch that evening I had -an hour to myself. The wind was mild and -sweet, and the sea ran in soft folds. Frank -had told me that the ship was many miles to -the south of the Bay of Biscay, and that if our -course was to be shaped east we should bring -Gibraltar over the bow.</p> - -<p>This young German joined me whilst I -stood near the cuddy door, and asked me to -smoke a pipe. I said that my pipes had been -broken for me by the boatswain. He offered -to lend me a pipe. I told him that the ship’s -tobacco was too strong for my taste, that I -was never much of a smoker, and then changed -the subject, but watched him whilst he talked; -conscience made me afraid; then again, I was -much thrown with this young man who, -though an insipid German, was not wholly a -fool: it was impossible to say what little hints -or tricks of my sex he might have observed.</p> - -<p>I was made uneasier still later on, when -Lieutenant Chimmo stepped through the -cuddy door with a cigar in his mouth; he -was passing, then paused and stood puffing -and looking at me without taking the least<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134"></a>[134]</span> -notice of the German steward. I was nearly -as tall as this subaltern.</p> - -<p>‘Are you an only child?’ said he.</p> - -<p>I stared at him, and in that instant meant -not to answer; changed my mind, and -answered: ‘Yes, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘A pity!’ said he. ‘If you had a sister -and she resembled you, she would be——’ He -glanced at Frank, who was grinning, checked -his speech with a face of contempt, and -addressing me again, exclaimed: ‘I hear they -are gradually making discoveries about you!’</p> - -<p>This startled me, and I may have looked -at him earnestly.</p> - -<p>‘Oh,’ said he, smiling, ‘nothing’s been -found out that’s going to bring you into -trouble; on the contrary, you prove much -more respectable than you seemed to wish us -to believe, when you were dug up out of that -hole forward. Your father was a sea-captain—the -sea is a very honest calling. But why -should you run away from your home to -become a cuddy under-steward? There’s no -ambition in that, my lad, is there?’ He cast -another look of contempt at Frank. ‘Unless,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135"></a>[135]</span> -indeed, you were for carrying out the old-established -notions of the story-writers who -are always sending their runaway heroes to -sea as cabin-boys.’</p> - -<p>At this moment, Captain Barrett, who was -on the poop, overhearing the subaltern’s -voice, called to him, and Lieutenant Chimmo -went up the ladder.</p> - -<p>‘I should like to be talked about as you -are,’ said Frank. ‘Dot means dey know you -vhas a shentleman. You vill find dot dey do -not talk about me. I fonder dot they doan -give you some verk your little handts vhas -more fit for dan vashing plates.’</p> - -<p>‘I wish they would not talk about me,’ -said I. ‘I am comfortable and content. I -wish to travel to Tasmania in my own way. -I earn my food. I shan’t receive a shilling -for my services. Why will they talk?’</p> - -<p>‘Dere vhas something about you, Marlowe,’ -said Frank, ‘dot oxcites and puzzles -them. She oxcites and puzzles me too. What -vhas it? Potsblitz! I likes to talk about -you myself if I meets mit any one dot vill -talk about you likewise.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136"></a>[136]</span>He was proceeding in this strain when my -cousin Will came along the gangway alley. -All the convicts were below at supper. -Nobody was on the main-deck but the sentry -at the hatch. A number of seamen were -assembled on the forecastle, and amongst -them were a few of the guard. At the break -of that raised fore-deck stalked the sentinel, -and his bayonet gleamed in the sun as though -wet with blood.</p> - -<p>‘Marlowe,’ said my cousin, halting at a -distance, ‘come forward and I’ll give you the -things I promised you.’</p> - -<p>And having said this he walked away as -though he had condescended enough. And -he was wise to treat me so, for on stepping -out of the recess and turning my head I saw -the captain and the doctor and the two -officers of the guard standing at the rail in -conversation.</p> - -<p>I followed my cousin to his cabin. He -had entered before me, and when I arrived I -found him alone.</p> - -<p>‘I shan’t call you Marian any more,’ said -he. ‘Suppose I should be overheard? And<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137"></a>[137]</span> -I’ll not call you Simon either. Why didn’t -you ship as Jack or Bill? Take now what -you want, and when you have shifted give me -your soiled clothes and I’ll get them washed.’</p> - -<p>He raised the lid of his chest, and I took -a flannel shirt and such other apparel as I -needed.</p> - -<p>‘You’ll find that pilot coat melting wear a -few degrees further south,’ said he. ‘Here’s -a serge jacket. Will it fit you?’</p> - -<p>I put it on, then rolled the clothes into a -bundle and stayed to talk.</p> - -<p>‘Will, does anyone on board suspect I’m a -woman?’</p> - -<p>‘I don’t know of any one,’ he answered; -‘what’s put that into your head?’</p> - -<p>‘Nothing. I don’t want to be found out. -Depend upon it, if the doctor and the others -discovered that I was a girl, they’d suspect -me of some desperate purpose and send me -out of the ship at the first chance.’</p> - -<p>‘That’s likely,’ said Will, cutting up a -piece of tobacco to fill his pipe with; ‘but -who’d imagine you’re a girl? You walk like -a man and begin to roll about like a sailor.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138"></a>[138]</span> -You lug your basket of foul dishes forward in -true bottle-washer fashion.’</p> - -<p>‘Not so loud,’ said I, looking toward the -door.</p> - -<p>‘I’ve heard nothing about you for’ard,’ he -continued. ‘They occasionally talk of you -aft. I catch scraps of speech as the skipper -and the others stump the poop. I heard that -fellow, Captain Barrett, say that he notices -you take a great interest in all talk at table -that concerns the convicts. I’d wear a deaf -face in the cuddy, if I were you.’</p> - -<p>‘I’ll do so. That Captain Barrett’s right. -The hint won’t be lost, I assure you,’ said I, -looking at myself in a square of glass and -observing by the strong red light that my -complexion had been something darkened -already by my frequent exposure on deck, -though it was still too soft and delicate a skin -to please me. ‘But,’ said I, speaking low, ‘I -shan’t greatly heed any suspicions that don’t -touch my sex.’</p> - -<p>‘Have you seen anything more of Butler?’ -he asked, also speaking low.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139"></a>[139]</span>I shook my head with a sigh, and, pulling -the letter from my pocket, told him how long -it had been written, and that I had found no -chance of delivering it.</p> - -<p>‘Now mind how you attempt to deliver -it!’ he exclaimed. ‘If the sentry sees you -giving it to him, say good-night to your -projects, for they’ll find out you’re a woman, -and lock you up for examination and punishment -on your arrival. They’re hideously in -earnest in these ships. And take care that -you don’t get Tom flogged.’</p> - -<p>This talk frightened and angered me too. -I took several turns up and down the little -berth, whilst he smoked and watched me, and -then said: ‘I must risk it. Tom shall get -this letter, and then I’ll be satisfied.’</p> - -<p>‘If the third mate could be trusted,’ said -he, ‘it might be contrived without risk. He -serves out stores to the convicts, and Butler’s -one of the gang who fetches the stuff. I -heard the third mate tell Mr. Bates that. -Bates takes a good deal of interest in Butler. -It was only yesterday he was talking to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140"></a>[140]</span> -captain, and I heard him say he considered -Butler an injured man.’</p> - -<p>‘“Injured!”’ I cried, scornful of that meek -word.</p> - -<p>‘But the third mate mustn’t be trusted, so -there’s an end.’</p> - -<p>I looked at Will steadily, and said in a soft -voice: ‘Isn’t Tom to be freed?’</p> - -<p>‘“Freed?”’ he echoed.</p> - -<p>‘Got out of the ship?’</p> - -<p>‘How?’</p> - -<p>‘You’re the sailor. Will. How would you -go to work to enable an innocent man to -escape from a convict ship?’</p> - -<p>‘How would I go to work?’ He paused -with his mouth open and the hand which held -his pipe arrested midway. ‘How would I go -to work? I’d tell him to jump overboard, or -I’d slip a knife into his hand that he might -cut his throat. What other way? Escape! -Escape from a convict ship on the high seas! -With loaded muskets ready to make eyelets -in a man’s head at any moment in the night -or day, with look-outs for’ard and look-outs -aft, and a sentry below with a bayonet fixed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141"></a>[141]</span> -for the first. Now, see here,’ said he, growing -pale and putting his pipe down, ‘if you talk -like that, if you allow any fancy of helping -Tom to escape to enter your head, then, to -save you from God alone knows what consequences, -I’ll go right aft to the skipper and -make a clean breast of it.’</p> - -<p>‘I don’t say that it is to be done,’ said I, -vexed that I should have so agitated him, ‘but -is there any harm in talking, Will?’</p> - -<p>‘Yes, in talking of such things as that. -You are madly in love with Butler, and your -notions and your dreams of helping him are -mad. Haven’t you made sacrifice enough for -the man? Do you want to become a felon -too? That won’t help him.’</p> - -<p>‘What could I do that you should talk to -me like this?’ said I, reddening and staring at -him in my old fiery way.</p> - -<p>‘You could do nothing,’ he answered, -‘and that’s just it. But you can talk and you -might attempt, and I’ll blow the gaff, so help -me God, if you don’t give me your word.’</p> - -<p>He was as red as I, and his face worked -with consternation and anger.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142"></a>[142]</span>‘I give you my word,’ I exclaimed, and -took him in my arms and kissed him on either -cheek.</p> - -<p>The boy was deeply moved and almost -crying. Just then an apprentice came into -the berth, on which, in a changed voice, I -thanked Will for his kindness, picked up my -bundle, and walked aft.</p> - -<p>My talk had so deeply scared my cousin -that he took an opportunity before that -evening was gone of again speaking to me. -He implored me not to believe for an instant -that Tom could escape out of this ship at sea. -‘You can’t help him,’ said he. ‘But what -might happen to you? The punishment for -helping a convict to escape is fearfully heavy. -They’d try you at some Tasmanian court of -justice and make a felon of you. You’d be a -female convict, associating with the vilest of -the vile of your own sex. Why, sooner than -such a thing should happen, I’d go straight to -the skipper and tell him who you are!’</p> - -<p>I answered with a hot face and angry eyes -that if I could help Tom to escape, they might -do what they liked afterwards—mangle me,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143"></a>[143]</span> -crucify me, bury me alive. ‘But what is the -good of talking?’ I said. ‘I know there is -nothing to be done. Don’t tell me I love Tom -as if I were a mad woman. It maddens me -to hear that said. I love him as sanely as -your father loves your mother. I love him -loyally and with all my heart. We were to -have been married, and, before God, we are -married, and who shall hinder me from fulfilling -my unspoken marriage vow to abandon -everybody and cleave only to my love?’ Here -a great sob interrupted me, but I fought with -my tears and after a little struggling pause I -continued: ‘I will do nothing rash, Will. Be -easy, dear heart. I would help Tom to escape -this night if I could, but I cannot; I -can do nothing: so rest your peace of mind -on that.’</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144"></a>[144]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXV<br /> - - -<small>SHE DELIVERS HER LETTER, AND SEES A CONVICT -PUNISHED</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Next</span> morning on coming into the cuddy from -my berth and looking through the door, I -saw a number of convicts washing the decks -down. Some were on the forecastle, some in -the barricaded inclosure, and three or four -were scrubbing the quarter-deck close beside -the cuddy front. Every morning small gangs -of the felons helped the sailors to wash down, -whilst numbers below scrubbed their own -quarters out. The boatswain and his mates -and the captains of the gangs superintended, -hurled the water along the decks out of the -buckets handed to them, and kept the men to -their work. It was a very fine morning; the -wind was on the quarter, and the second mate -overhead was calling to some hands aloft -who were rigging out booms for the setting of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145"></a>[145]</span> -those wide overhanging wings of canvas called -‘studding-sails.’</p> - -<p>I immediately observed that the convicts -were without irons. What with the soldiers, -the prisoners, the sailors scrubbing or preparing -to run the studding-sails aloft; what -with the flashing of the sun on the wet decks, -the pendulum swing of the straight-lined -shadows of the rigging, the blowing of smoke -from the two galley chimneys, combined with -the sense of life in the noises of people scrubbing -the poop overhead, of the bleating of -sheep forward, the crowing of cocks, the -grunting of a sow, the clanking of the head -and poop pumps, the ceaseless gushing of -water—the scene was one of such life and -motion as forbade me for a little while from -distinguishing.</p> - -<p>I looked eagerly for Tom. The steward -called to me sharply and angrily, after which -I was for half an hour occupied with Frank in -cleaning down the cuddy, without a single -opportunity to turn my eyes toward the main -deck. When this odious task was ended, Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146"></a>[146]</span> -Stiles gave me a piece of raw bacon to carry -to the cook for the cuddy breakfast.</p> - -<p>I took care to hold the letter in the palm -of my hand, in the hope that I should meet -Tom as I went or returned. A batch of about -fifty convicts, stripped to the waist, were -washing themselves on the port side of the -main-deck, close against the barricade of the -gangway alley. The doctor stood, viewing -them, at a little distance. Two or three -‘captains’ walked to and fro, to observe that -the men washed themselves properly. Seeing -no other convicts on deck, I went along the -gangway alley, and with my head straight, -but with my eyes in the corner that the doctor -might not detect my scrutiny, I narrowly -viewed the convicts as I stepped forward, but -Tom was not of that gang.</p> - -<p>On coming, however, abreast of the -prisoners’ galley, I saw my sweetheart inside. -I did not notice what he was about. No -doubt he had been told off to help the cooks -that morning, or maybe he was there on some -errand relating to his mess. Be this as it may, -I saw him in an instant, and formed my<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147"></a>[147]</span> -resolution in a single beat of my heart. I -coughed. The note of my cough made him -turn his head. Even whilst our eyes met I -entered the galley in which he stood.</p> - -<p>‘Here, cook,’ said I, ‘the steward -says——’ I started as though I had discovered -my error. ‘I beg pardon for mistaking -the galley,’ said I, and in turning, as -though to leave, I purposely struck my foot -against the coaming of the door, fell a step -backward, and let fall the dish and the bacon. -The dish was of tin: had it been crockery I -should have let it fall all the same, though -the noise of the breakage might have brought -the doctor to the door. Tom stooped to pick -up the bacon; our fingers touched, and I -slipped the letter into his hand.</p> - -<p>This was admirably done; the swiftness of -the manœuvre renders it one of the most -memorable of my exploits in this way. I had -feared that Tom would not understand in time -to render the trick successful, but the moment -he felt the letter his hand closed upon it. I -did not look at him or attempt to breathe a -syllable, though our faces were close when we<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148"></a>[148]</span> -stooped. I could not tell who besides Tom -was in that galley: there were several persons, -convicts no doubt, men whose behaviour in -the hulks had warranted the doctor in giving -them posts of some little consequence and -trust. All had happened so quickly, that I -could not say whether the others besides Tom -were clothed as felons or not.</p> - -<p>This convicts’ galley, I should explain, -was a temporary deck structure, built -strongly abaft the ship’s galley, furnished -with an abundant cooking apparatus, as you -may suppose would be needed for the feeding -of two hundred and thirty souls. None of -the crew were suffered to enter it; it was -sentinelled by convict warders or captains -only. It was inspected every day by the -doctor, and closed and locked when the -convicts’ supper had been handed along.</p> - -<p>I came out of the ship’s galley with a rejoicing -heart, and peeped at the door of the -other as I passed, but Tom was not in sight. -However, he now had my letter; no risk had -been run, not the most suspicious mind, not -the most vigilant eye in the ship, could have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149"></a>[149]</span> -imagined or detected what had passed -between my sweetheart and me. My spirits -were in a dance; for my letter would tell -him as much—as much to the point, I mean—as -my lips could have uttered in a half-hour’s -meeting. I figured his impatience to -read it, the glow of hope and pleasure that -would warm his poor, dear heart as he read, -the courage and support he would get out -of it.</p> - -<p>‘You vhas light-hearted this morning,’ -said Frank to me, as we helped the steward -to prepare the breakfast-table. ‘Dere vhas -no twopenny postman at sea, or I should -say dot you hov’ received some goodt news.’</p> - -<p>‘It is the weather,’ I answered; ‘and then -a young apprentice has kindly given me a -clean flannel shirt to wear.’</p> - -<p>‘Who’s the apprentice?’ exclaimed Mr. -Stiles, who overheard me.</p> - -<p>‘Mr. Johnstone,’ I answered.</p> - -<p>‘Picked him up aboard, or did yer know -him before you stowed yourself away?’</p> - -<p>‘My father was a client of his father’s,’ I -replied.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150"></a>[150]</span>‘Wither me if it ain’t a-coming stronger -and stronger with you every day!’ exclaimed -Mr. Stiles. ‘What are you going to turn out -afore you’re done?’ he added, stopping in his -work to look at me.</p> - -<p>‘I tell you vhat it vhas, sir,’ said Frank. -‘Dis vhas no ordinary shentleman. Dis vhas -a young nobleman in disguise.’</p> - -<p>‘Hold your yaw-yawing!’ cried the -steward. ‘Who’s a-talking to you? You’re -always a-putting in, you are, and a-stopping -the work.’</p> - -<p>The cuddy breakfast-bell was rung, and -at half-past eight the captain and officers -seated themselves. I received a sort of nod -from Lieutenant Chimmo, and Captain Barrett -looked at me pleasantly. Both men suggested -that they regarded me as coming near to -their social level. This was odd, for, as a rule, -people rather shrink from and give the cold -shoulder to gentle-folks who have been sunk -by fortune into getting their bread in mean -positions such as mine was on board that ship. -Captain Sutherland never heeded me, but -sometimes I thought the doctor’s stern eyes<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151"></a>[151]</span> -rested upon me with an expression of inquiry. -The cuddy was full of sunlight; the glory of -the morning sparkled in glass and crystal and -plate, and the radiance was made lovely by -the soft atmospheric azure tint which floated -into it off the blue sea.</p> - -<p>‘When do you start your school, doctor?’ -said Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘On Monday,’ was the answer.</p> - -<p>‘Captain,’ said Lieutenant Chimmo, addressing -the commander of the ship, ‘did you -see Barney Abram washing himself this morning? -What a chest! What arms! Cut his -head and legs off, fossilise what’s left, chuck -the torso into the Tiber, and when dredged -up it would be sworn to as the most magnificent -fragment of ancient art in the wide -world.’</p> - -<p>‘A pity, Ellice,’ said Captain Barrett, -‘that you object to Barney stepping aft -occasionally to give Chimmo and me a few -tips in the grandest of all sciences.’</p> - -<p>‘The most degrading, sir,’ said the doctor. -‘I am surprised that you should think proper -to repeat the request.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152"></a>[152]</span>‘The voyage is a doocid long one,’ -murmured Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘Isn’t there to be some punishment this -morning?’ asked Captain Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘A little light punishment,’ answered the -doctor—‘two hours of the box.’</p> - -<p>‘You don’t believe in the cat, sir?’ said -Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘I do not,’ answered the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘I believed in the cat until pickling went -out of fashion,’ said the subaltern. ‘A man -who had been salted down whilst bleeding -seldom courted a second dose; but now I -understand your man-of-war’s man thinks so -lightly of flogging that he would rather take -three dozen than forfeit a day’s allowance of -grog.’</p> - -<p>‘I’m no lover of the cat myself,’ said -Captain Sutherland, ‘but it’s good discipline. -It’s a degrading punishment, very proper for -degraded men. I have some men forward -who deserve whipping, and whipping, perhaps, -isn’t enough for them; nor would -pickling suffice. They want quartering. The -Government forces us commanders of hired<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153"></a>[153]</span> -transports to fill our forecastle with a given -number of hands. No questions are asked. -So long as your complement numerically -corresponds with the Government requirement, -all’s supposed to be right. Now, what -sort of a crew did the crimp scramble together -for me that my muster might answer to the -Admiralty wants? I’ve about six seamen -qualified to steer. I doubt if there are ten -men forward who know how to send down a -yard. But one has to take what one can get. -The crimp comes along and throws a gutter-brood -aboard; some are not fit even as -shilling-a-monthers, and have bribed the -crimp to the pawning of their only shirt to -ship them, that they may get abroad, where -they’ll run.’</p> - -<p>‘I don’t like the looks of a good many of -your men,’ said the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘But you could muster strongly enough -for an emergency, captain?’ said the subaltern.</p> - -<p>‘What do you mean by an emergency?’ -said Captain Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘A heavy squall of wind, sir, and the ship -aback with royals set.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154"></a>[154]</span>‘Where the deuce did you pick up your -nautical knowledge, Chimmo?’ said Captain -Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘Is that an emergency, captain?’ asked -the subaltern.</p> - -<p>‘Oh, I’ve no doubt we could manage, I’ve -no doubt we could manage,’ answered the -captain, with something of gloomy impatience.</p> - -<p>Here I was dispatched to the pantry, and -when I returned after a considerable interval -the gentlemen had gone on deck.</p> - -<p>As Tom was always in my mind when any -sort of reference was made to the convicts, I -was very eager and anxious to know what the -punishment of the box was—to speak of it as -the doctor had—and who was the culprit. -A number of prisoners were assembled between -the barricades, whether employed or -not I do not recollect. The steward had -gone forward, in all probability to smoke a -pipe with the cook, under pretence of talking -about the cabin dinner. I stood in the cuddy -doorway viewing the prisoners, yearning for -a sight of Tom, that by a swift look or smile -he might let me know he had read my letter.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155"></a>[155]</span> -An apprentice struck four bells—ten o’clock. -The doctor came up from the prisoners’ -quarters followed by Captain Barrett and the -sergeant of the guard, and the three of them -stood under the break of the poop, near -enough for me to overhear them, though they -could not see me.</p> - -<p>Scarcely had the bell struck when a -convict in irons passed out of the main-hatch. -Two convict warders were with him and each, -grasping an arm, marched him to that sort of -sentry box which I have before described—a -contrivance of about the width of a coffin -and a trifle longer or higher, with a bucket -hanging from a bar over it. The convict -struggled angrily, and I guessed by the faces -of those who were near enough for me to -read that he cursed and swore very vilely, -but only now and then did I catch an oath. -A man stepped forward and threw open the -front of the coffin-like structure, then helped -the others to twist the prisoner with his face -looking inboards, and when they had put him -into this posture they thrust him backwards -into the box and shut him up.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156"></a>[156]</span>He was a young fellow of about twenty-two, -with the wickedest face of any man’s in -the ship. A grinning, wrinkled seaman stood -beside the box holding the rope that was -attached to the bucket. Another seaman -was near, and beside him were four or five -buckets of water.</p> - -<p>‘He’s a profane rascal, and I have no -hopes of him,’ I heard the doctor say.</p> - -<p>‘Why not flog him?’ said Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘It may come to it, but I trust not.’</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the prisoner in the box was -bawling at the top of his voice and doubtless -using horrid language. I observed that the -wrinkled, grinning seaman watched the doctor, -who, after a few minutes’ pause, lifted his -hand as a signal, whereupon the sailor pulled -the rope and tilted the bucket, and the water -fell in a heavy splash upon the blaspheming -youth boxed up inside.</p> - -<p>Captain Barrett gave a great laugh. Indeed, -a noise of laughter ran through the -ship. A number of sailors, who had gathered -together in sundry parts to witness the -spectacle, seemed to find much to be pleased<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157"></a>[157]</span> -with in it. The prisoners within the inclosure -grinned, without sound of merriment, and I -thought that the rascally faces amongst them -looked the rascallier for their smiles. The -second sailor beside the box filled the hanging -bucket afresh, and the wrinkled mariner -continued to watch the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘That’ll have extinguished the brimstone -in him!’ exclaimed Captain Barrett, giving -another great laugh. ‘Is the idea yours?’</p> - -<p>‘No,’ answered the doctor. ‘I took the -idea from a female convict ship which I went -on board of at Sydney.’</p> - -<p>By this time the half-drowned youth -within had recovered his breath and was -roaring out curses again. The doctor waited -three minutes; then signed. The wrinkled -sailor tilted the bucket, and the coffined -wretch was soused for the second time. Once -more Captain Barrett laughed loudly, and a -rumble of laughter came from the seamen, -who hung about in groups forward. I had -imagined that two buckets would have done -the fellow’s business for him, yet in five -minutes he began to curse and swear once<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158"></a>[158]</span> -more, whereupon a third bucket was upset -over his head. This proved effectual. No -more noise proceeded from the inside of the -box. The doctor, having waited some time, -spoke to Captain Barrett, who crossed to the -sentry at the quarter-deck barricade-gate and -delivered certain instructions. Shortly afterward, -Mr. Stiles came into the cuddy and -ordered me to the pantry. I afterwards -heard that the fellow in the box was silent -whilst he stood in it, and that when he was -let out and taken below he looked the most -miserable, soaked, scowling, shame-faced, -shivering wretch that was ever clothed in -felon’s garb.</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159"></a>[159]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXVI<br /> - - -<small>SHE ATTENDS CHURCH SERVICE AND WITNESSES -A TRAGEDY</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">At</span> lunch that day the doctor congratulated -himself warmly upon the success of the -ducking punishment. ‘I never doubted,’ said -he, ‘that it would fail in the case of female -convicts. Two buckets they told me sufficed -for the most clamorous of the foul-mouths. -But I had my misgivings as to its efficacy -with male prisoners. I am satisfied. The -fellow below seems to have been soaked into -repentance. I spoke to him in the prison a -little while since, and he humbly begged my -pardon and promised never to use another -oath again.’</p> - -<p>‘It’s a goosefleshing discipline,’ said Captain -Barrett! ‘but they’ll make a joke of it -in the tropics.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160"></a>[160]</span>‘Is this box arrangement your only -punishment, Ellice?’ said the subaltern.</p> - -<p>‘We have thin water-gruel,’ answered the -doctor. ‘I know a man who became sincerely -religious after two days of thin water-gruel. -Then there are the irons which I have struck -off, with or without the addition of handcuffs. -Then there is the prison. Separation works -wholesomely. Loneliness is good physic for -the felon mind. Finally, there’s a black-list, -in which I enter the offender’s name for submission -to his Excellency the Governor at the -end of the voyage.’</p> - -<p>The subject was then changed. To this -brief talk I listened greedily, forgetting Will’s -hint that I should carry a deaf face. I met -the doctor’s eyes, but my duties dismissed me -to the galley, and I was out of the cuddy -while the meal lasted.</p> - -<p>That afternoon, whilst I was rubbing the -shining length of cuddy-table, the doctor -came from his cabin. He looked at me a -moment or two and then approached. There -was a sort of kindness in his manner; he even -put on a grave, condescending smile when he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161"></a>[161]</span> -addressed me. It was seldom that Doctor -Russell-Ellice smiled.</p> - -<p>‘I am glad to believe,’ said he, ‘that I was -mistaken in you. One of the apprentices, -who, I understand, is very respectably connected, -has, I hear, some knowledge of you. -But, young man, you should have chosen any -vessel sooner than a convict ship to hide -yourself in.’</p> - -<p>I cast my eyes down.</p> - -<p>‘I observe that you take a great interest -in all conversation that relates to convicts. I -am willing to believe you honest. You will -therefore give me, truthfully, your reason for -the interest you take in the prisoners?’</p> - -<p>‘It is curiosity more than interest, sir. -I have often read and heard about convict -ships. I cannot help feeling curious and -listening and looking about me.’</p> - -<p>He stared at me searchingly and seemed -satisfied. But I noticed with some alarm that -he observed my face with unusual attention, -taking the lineaments, so to speak, one by -one. He then glanced down me—afterwards -let his eyes rest upon my hands, and all this<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162"></a>[162]</span> -in silence which might have filled an interval -of nearly a minute.</p> - -<p>‘What’s your age?’ he asked.</p> - -<p>This was forcing my hand; but then I -was a woman, and no woman is expected to -tell the truth when she is asked her age.</p> - -<p>‘I am seventeen, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘You do not seem to have been ill-used,’ -said he, again gravely smiling. ‘A plumper, -healthier young fellow I never met. What -made you run away?’</p> - -<p>‘I wished to go to Hobart Town.’</p> - -<p>‘Would not your friends have equipped -and sent you out respectably had you made -known your wishes?’</p> - -<p>‘My stepfather is no friend of mine, sir,’ I -answered.</p> - -<p>He asked me what I meant to do when I -arrived in Tasmania, and after putting many -questions, most of which I answered, he bade -me tell him what my religion was, in what -churches I worshipped, and then began to -lecture me; indeed, to sermonise me as though -I had been a convict under him. I listened -with a hung head and composed face, but I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163"></a>[163]</span> -could not draw my breath freely till he was -gone, for all the time he addressed me his -dark, scrutinising eyes seemed to search into -my very conscience. And then again I feared -his perception as a medical man.</p> - -<p>Next day was Sunday. The captain sent -word forward, and the instructions reached -us aft, that the whole of the ship’s company -were to attend Divine service on the poop at -ten o’clock. It was again a bright and beautiful -day. When I went on deck in the early -morning, I was in time to behold a most -glorious pink and silver sunrise; our coppered -forefoot had cloven the first of the warm -parallels, and already the flying-fish were -darting from the froth of the curl of the low -wave; the ship was heaped with gleaming -spaces of canvas to her trucks, and was -leaning over to the pressure of the cordial -breath of the north-east trade-wind. She was -sailing fast; the sea was smooth, and the -spitting of the narrow band of passing brine -was like the sound of satin torn by the hand; -and satin-like was the long gleam of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164"></a>[164]</span> -water, with a few small seabirds swiftly -winging along it in chase.</p> - -<p>The routine, I observed, was the same as -on other days. The convict deck-washers, -superintended by the captains of deck, helped -the watch to wash down as usual; the cooks -were admitted past the sentry, and speedily a -cloud of black smoke was blowing from the -prisoners’ galley chimney. When the decks -had been swabbed, the convicts in divisions -were turned up to wash themselves, and at -eight o’clock they went to breakfast.</p> - -<p>It was whilst the messmen were standing -in a compact row beyond the main-hatch -door waiting for their cans of cocoa, that I -saw Tom. He was one of the messmen. I -found an excuse to pass him thrice, that I -might greet him with my eyes and observe -him. I saw passion and grief and love in his -face when our gaze met, though neither of -us durst venture on more than a passing look. -It half broke my heart that I should be so -close to him and yet unable to speak. Whilst -he waited with the rest I could, indeed, have -made shift to pass him a fourth time, but the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165"></a>[165]</span> -strain was so terrible that I feared myself. I -felt a swelling within me as of hysteria, an -ungovernable madness to rush to him, to -fling my arms about his neck, to hold him to -me. So I passed into the cuddy, and a -little later the body of prisoners went below -and, saving the sentries, the inclosure was -empty.</p> - -<p>After the cuddy breakfast was over, whilst -taking some dirty dishes forward, I met -Will near the galley. He said, softly: ‘I was -on the poop watching you when you walked -up and down past Butler to look at him. -Old woman, these are risks and you mustn’t -run ’m. There are eyes aboard here sharper -than that chap’s bayonet.’</p> - -<p>‘I’ll run no risks, and all’s well so far, -Will.’</p> - -<p>‘What about that letter you were telling -me of? I dread to hear of your attempting -to give it to your sweetheart.’</p> - -<p>I looked at him with a smile. He asked -me if I slept comfortably, if his clothes fitted -me, if I had seen the prisoner boxed up and -washed down yesterday, and so on. ‘You’ll<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166"></a>[166]</span> -be up on the poop for prayers at four bells,’ -said he. ‘Lord!’ he added, bursting into a -nervous laugh. ‘To think of only two in -this ship knowing what you are! To think -of you, a young man as habit is bringing me -to fancy you, being the real and original -Marian of the milk and buttercup holiday -times! What would mother say to see you -as you stand here now, as complete a shell-back -to the eye as that second mate there, -with a big basket of dirty dishes alongside of -you lugged all the way from the cuddy by -your own little hands? And all for love—all -for love! By glory! But the woman that -could make me dress up as a girl and follow her -to sea in a convict ship would have to sink -down straight from heaven. This earth -couldn’t manufacture her.’ He rounded on his -heel and went off.</p> - -<p>Some time before ten o’clock the ship’s -bell was rung; presently Mr. Balls’s silver -pipe sang in shrill whistlings through the -ship. Mr. Stiles had ordered me below to -‘clean myself,’ as he called it, and on my -return I followed him and Frank on to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167"></a>[167]</span> -poop. The scene was one of extraordinary -life and full of brilliant colour. I never -can forget that picture of this first Sunday -morning I passed on board a convict -ship.</p> - -<p>When I gained the poop, the ship was -crowded with people in motion. The whole -of the crew, in such clean Sunday clothes as -they could muster, were coming aft. The -convicts, in a seemingly endless procession, -were passing through the door of the hatch -and massing themselves behind the quarter-deck -barricade with their faces aft. The -guard, saving the sentries on duty, were -drawn up in a line on the poop, giving an -amazing brightness to the scene with their -red coats, shakos, and sparkling arms. Their -officers were in full dress, and the doctor in -the uniform of a surgeon of the Royal Navy. -The commander of the ship stood near the -doctor. Behind the soldiers were women and -children. Aft, at the extremity of the poop, -his figure rising and falling against the dim -azure over the stern, stood the solitary figure -of the helmsman grasping the wheel, whose<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168"></a>[168]</span> -brass-work flamed in the sun, and abreast of -him paced the second officer, who had charge -of the ship. The sailors came tumbling up -the lee poop-ladder, and soon all the forward -portion of this raised deck was crowded with -people.</p> - -<p>Such a sight as it was! But I beheld a -horror in the beauty of it. Oh, the very -spirit of horror itself entered the beauty of -that spectacle of shining ship and radiant -uniforms and glowing sea out of the mass of -human misery and sin down on that main-deck -there. I had a clear view of the -convicts. I ran my eye over the line of faces -whilst I sought for Tom, and my very heart -shrank within me at sight of the countenances -my gaze briefly settled on. Prejudice, grief -and rage may have made me find the villainous -looks of numbers more villainous than they -were. I viewed them as my sweetheart’s -associates, as ruffians and crime-laden scoundrels, -into whose vile company my honest, -pure-minded sailor, my innocent, injured -Tom, had been thrust to toil in irons with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169"></a>[169]</span> -them, to lie at night with them, listening to -their talk.</p> - -<p>The solitary occupant of the forecastle was -the sentry. He walked the deck from one -rail to the other, sometimes halting to survey -the scene. The doctor stood amidships of the -break of the poop and began to read in a loud, -firm, but slightly nasal voice from the Book -of Common Prayer. Every head was bared. -The convicts gazed intently up at the reader. -There was a pathos in the wondering, staring -looks of many of them—a something of childishness -that sat strangely on their faces, as if -their gross, unlettered ignorance was to be -astonished and pleased by the cleverness of a -man who read without difficulty, as though he -perfectly understood the meaning of what he -delivered. Barney Abram was in the front -rank of the mass of men. His gaze was fixed -on the doctor; his posture was one of humility. -I observed that he occasionally nodded as -though in appreciation when the doctor paused -upon a passage and looked at the convicts. -Tom was behind. I saw him with difficulty. -The least movement of my head blotted him<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170"></a>[170]</span> -out by bringing the heads of men in front -between us.</p> - -<p>The picture was memorably impressive. I -have it now bright in my mind’s eye, all the -hues as gay as the shining colours in the silver -plate of a daguerreotype. Nothing disturbed -the stillness upon the ship but the voice of the -doctor. Yes, you heard a soft, creaming noise -of running waters, and at intervals a gentle -flap from aloft, and sometimes there would -break in a homely sound from the live-stock -forward. Never had the sea looked so wide -nor our ship so lovely. The feathering billows -ran chasing in flashes and gleams into the -south-west, where the ocean trembled in a -dark blue, with a horizon firm as though ruled -upon the delicate azure of the heavens. Southeast, -under the sun, it was all blinding splendour—sheer -dazzle that streamed to the tall, -leaning weather side of the ship and broke -from the bow in sudden light like molten -silver.</p> - -<p>When the doctor had recited as much of -the Liturgy as he thought proper to deliver, he -paused to breathe a while and drink from a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171"></a>[171]</span> -glass of water which stood at his feet. He -then began a sermon. He was in the midst of -his discourse, to which the prisoners appeared -to listen with close attention, Barney Abram -occasionally nodding in approval or admiration -as before, when a convict, who stood close -against the barricade on the port-hand side—I -mean that fore-and-aft barricade which -formed the gangway alley, as I call it—tossed -up his arms and in a loud, deep-chested, -tragedy voice cried out:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="first">‘I could tell a story</div> -<div class="verse">Would rouse thy lion-heart out of its den,</div> -<div class="verse">And make it rage with terrifying fury.’</div> -</div></div> - -<p>The doctor stopped.</p> - -<p>‘Silence there!’ roared a voice.</p> - -<p>‘Who was that?’ exclaimed the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘Thomas Garth, sir,’ responded a convict, -standing near the prisoner who had broken -out.</p> - -<p>The doctor stared for a while in the direction -of the man as though waiting to see if -this extraordinary offence of interruption -would be repeated. The convict was clear -within my view; he was the tall, dark, handsome<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172"></a>[172]</span> -man whom I supposed, and, indeed, -rightly supposed, to be the tragedian that one -of the soldiers had told me was amongst the -prisoners. After an interval of two or three -minutes, all remaining quiet, the doctor resumed; -but scarcely had he pronounced a -dozen words when I saw the actor throw up -his right arm, and, whilst he brandished his -left fist, making the strangest, maddest faces -in doing so—and at this moment I see the -lunatic fire in his eyes as he rolled them along -the line of us who stood at the break of the -poop—he burst out:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="first">‘Oh, dismal! ’Tis not to be borne! Ye moralists!</div> -<div class="verse">Ye talkers! What are all your precepts now?</div> -<div class="verse">Patience! Distraction! Blast the tyrant, blast him!</div> -<div class="verse">Avenging lightnings, snatch him hence, ye fiends!</div> -<div class="indent">Nature can bear no more.’</div> -</div></div> - -<p>‘Seize that man!’ roared the doctor, who -seemed instantly to understand what had come -to the unhappy wretch.</p> - -<p>But a man who goes on a sudden raving-mad -is not very easily seized. This convict -was immensely strong; his chest, bulk, and -stature were assurance of that. All in a -moment half a dozen prisoners were rolling<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173"></a>[173]</span> -upon the deck, beaten down by the madman’s -fists and elbows as though they had been -children. With agility that might be possible -only to such madness as was in him, the man -sprang, grasped the top of the barricade, and -with a kick of his feet vaulted into the gangway -between. He ran a few yards forward, -sprang upon a scuttle-butt and gained the -bulwarks, on which he stood erect, holding -by nothing, swaying his fine figure with the -movements of the ship, laughing the shocking -laughter of madness and shaking his clenched -fists at the poop.</p> - -<p>‘Seize him!’ shrieked the doctor, nearly -throwing me as he rushed to the poop-ladder.</p> - -<p>‘Come down!’ roared the sentry on the -forecastle, and the bayonet flashed as he swept -his piece from his shoulder to level it.</p> - -<p>‘Quick, or he’ll be overboard!’ bawled -Captain Sutherland.</p> - -<p>The swaying figure on the bulwark-rail -roared with maniac laughter.</p> - -<p>‘Come down, or I’ll fire!’ shouted the -forecastle sentry.</p> - -<p>‘He’s mad! He’s mad!’ went up in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174"></a>[174]</span> -very thunder of noise from the mass of the -convicts.</p> - -<p>It was then that I heard Captain Barrett -cry to the sentry not to fire; but the man -did not hear; he stood at a considerable distance -from the poop, and the roar of the convicts -was in the air as the captain shouted. -The soldier fired. I screamed with the voice -of a woman when I beheld the spit of the -flame and the blue wreath of the smoke.</p> - -<p>‘Oh, Jesu!’ cried the convict. He turned -slowly, as though to look at the man who had -shot him, and fell backward into the sea.</p> - -<p>The women behind the line of guards -shrieked, and some of them fainted. My -knees failed me, and I sank down in the horror -of that moment, clutching at a stanchion -of the brass rail. Captain Barrett delivered -an order swiftly and fiercely, and the armed -guard came with a hurried tramp to the brass -rail, the outermost one on the left thrusting -me with his foot to get me out of the road. -Sick and terrified as I was, my wits were sufficiently -collected to mark an ugly movement -among the prisoners, an indescribable stir of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175"></a>[175]</span> -figures, quick turnings of the face and eyes, -as though the many-headed beast sniffed blood -and saw its chance. It might have been that -they were enraged by the slaying of the -maniac, yet nothing more sinister, nothing -more deeply tragic in its suggestions than -that stir of agitation, those sudden, wild, eager -looks and movements of the head could be -imagined.</p> - -<p>The man had fallen overboard on the -weather side of the ship. The sailors assembled -on the poop rushed to the rail when the -man reeled and dropped; they shouted as they -stood looking; the captain sped to the grating -abaft the wheel and gazed astern there, calling -to know if anyone saw anything of the man. -Twenty throats were bawling: some saw him; -some said he had gone down like lead; some -that he had been shot through the heart, and -that there would be nothing to pick up. -Meanwhile the ship was sweeping swiftly and -smoothly onward; the white brine spun in -sheets past the quarters, and the ridged seas -of the trade-wind beat their plumes of snow -into showerings of spray against the coppered<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176"></a>[176]</span> -bends of the heeling vessel. The spread of -canvas was great—the studding-sails were out -besides. The seamen would have needed a -clear deck to bring the ship to the wind, and -the convicts still stood massed, covered and -overawed by the soldiers at the line of the -break of the poop—every man so grasping -his musket as to be ready to take aim at the -word of command.</p> - -<p>The time was wild with confusion and -terror; the sailors continued to shout as they -looked astern. Some of the children were -yelling loudly with fright on the poop; sharp, -harsh cries resounded from the main-deck, -where I saw the doctor thrusting in amongst -the convicts, whilst a few of the men whom -he had appointed ‘captains’ appeared to be -shoving and pushing and marshalling the prisoners -so as to form them into some sort of -marching order for the descent of the main -hatch.</p> - -<p>Captain Sutherland came hastily forward -to the rail and looked down upon the convicts. -He then shouted to his chief mate, who was -standing near a quarter-boat to windward.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177"></a>[177]</span>‘Send all hands forward, Mr. Bates! -Send all hands forward, sir! There’s nothing -to be done!’ and he motioned significantly -toward the main-deck.</p> - -<p>And, indeed, until the convicts were all in -their quarters below, nothing was to have been -done, for the seamen must have gone amongst -them to haul and drag upon certain of the -gear. At the foot of the mainmast, for -example, were belayed many ropes, all belonging -to the vast spread of sail stretching -on high overhead, and this mast stood within -the barricades. What might have happened -had the sailors rushed in amongst the convicts -to bring the ship to the wind?</p> - -<p>Captain Sutherland stood pale and still -at the head of the poop-ladder; the ship’s -company were streaming forward through the -gangway galley, and when I quitted the poop -in the tail of the procession of women and -children, the captain, the officers, and the line -of soldiers, who stood in a posture to instantly -cover the convicts, alone remained on that -deck.</p> - -<p>I stood in the recess along with Frank and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178"></a>[178]</span> -some of the soldiers’ wives, waiting to see what -was going to happen within the barricades. -One of the convicts had been killed or stunned -by the maniac, and lay as motionless as a log. -The sentinel who had shot the man trudged -the forecastle with frequent looks in the direction -of the main-deck, as though prepared at -any instant for a call to level his piece afresh. -The women near me jabbered incessantly, and -every tongue wagged in defence of Murphy, -as they called the soldier.</p> - -<p>‘God pity me!’ exclaimed Frank, looking -at the woman. ‘But it vhas murder to shoot -a madman.’</p> - -<p>‘Mind your own business!’ cried one of -the women, angrily. ‘It’s the duty of a soldier -to obey orders, and the orders of a sentry -are to shoot down any convict who gets over -the barricade and attempts to leave the ship. -So there!’ she cried spitefully. I believe she -was Murphy’s wife. ‘How was the sentry to -know he was mad? If a soldier don’t obey -orders he stands to be shot himself. So -there.’</p> - -<p>‘It vhas murder,’ said Frank, and, smiting<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179"></a>[179]</span> -his thigh, he cried, ‘she makes my blood -boil.’</p> - -<p>‘If you calls it murder again,’ said another -of the women, ‘I’ll speak to the sergeant, and -he shall talk to you. You’re a low German -fellow, and us soldiers’ wives are not to be insulted -by the likes of you.’</p> - -<p>‘So there!’ cried the woman who had -just spoken, spitting the words at the young -fellow.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile sharp orders were being delivered -within the barricade. I took my chance -of being reprimanded from the poop and went -a little way along the alley, and saw all the -convicts still massed, but in motion; they -were descending the hatch, but one at a time, -for there was room for no more. The body -of the fellow who had been stunned was held -by four of the prisoners. The doctor stood -alone and apart within the inclosure, looking -at the men as they swarmed slowly toward the -main-hatch, filtering to their quarters. He -was white, but stern and collected. Sometimes -he spoke, pointing or moving his hand -as though to insist on more order. He seemed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180"></a>[180]</span> -a fearless figure, and though I disliked him, I -could not but admire him. There were scores, -perhaps, amongst those felons who would have -made no more of felling him and kicking -out his brains than of dashing an egg to the -deck.</p> - -<p>I did not see Tom, so I went back to the -recess, and just then an apprentice struck six -bells. Ten minutes later, every convict was -below and the main-deck clear; but I observed -that when the guard came off the poop one of -the soldiers passed through the quarter-deck -gate to double the sentry at the main-hatch, -and I heard another tell one of the women, -as he went below to the barracks, that he was -to do duty as second sentry at the prison door -of the steerage bulkhead.</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181"></a>[181]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXVII<br /> - - -<small>SHE LISTENS TO A CONVERSATION</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">All</span> the time I was in the cuddy that day, -whilst the captain and officers lunched, I kept -my ears open, supposing that the talk would -wholly concern the dreadful, tragic incident -of the morning. But no man said a word on -the subject. Perhaps they had talked it out -before they came to the table, or perhaps they -would not speak of it before me and the other -stewards. I was greatly disappointed. I -wanted to hear that the sentry had exceeded his -instructions and was to be severely punished. -It was horrible that a man should be empowered -to shoot down a fellow-creature as the -sentry shot down the poor mad actor. I had -hoped that Captain Sutherland, whose heart -was a British sailor’s, would ask the doctor -and the officers why a sentry should be instructed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182"></a>[182]</span> -to fire at a man for no worse crime -than scaling a barricade and climbing on to -the bulwarks of the ship. To kill a man for -so behaving might be all very well in harbour, -where a convict could contrive to swim -ashore. But what dream of liberty could -visit an unhappy wretch in mid-ocean, unless -it were the freedom that death provides? -And why should a convict be shot for attempting -suicide? Out of mercy, that his blood -might be upon the head of another instead of -on his own?</p> - -<p>The cool chatter of the officers upon light, -frivolous topics filled me with wrath. I -wanted to hear them talk of the shooting of -the madman. But nothing was said. No -reference was made to that strange, threatening -stir which had been visible amongst the -convicts, like the passing of a sudden darkness -over a waving field of grain. The doctor -was very stern. He ate little and talked -seldom. Only once did I catch the least -allusion to that morning’s bloody business. I -was coming up from the pantry with some -glasses, when I heard Captain Sutherland<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183"></a>[183]</span> -say, ‘By-the-by, how is the man that was -knocked down?’</p> - -<p>‘All right again,’ answered the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘He lay like a corpse,’ said the captain.</p> - -<p>‘He was stunned,’ said the doctor. And -then Captain Barrett spoke, and the subject -was changed.</p> - -<p>I went forward that night after dark, when -my work was done, knowing it was Will’s -watch below, and wishful for a chat with him. -He lay, smoking, upon a chest in his cabin, -and an apprentice swung overhead in a hammock, -with one leg dangling down. I could -not converse before that fellow up there, -though nothing would have been thought had -I entered and sat down beside Will, for it was -gone about that he knew me through his father -having had mine for a client.</p> - -<p>He saw me by the light of the slush lamp -that sootily burned against the bulkhead near -the door, nodded, and, filling his pipe afresh, -lighted it and lounged out. We leaned against -the ship’s galley to leeward, where all was -quiet.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184"></a>[184]</span>‘What have you to tell me about this -morning’s fearful job?’ said I.</p> - -<p>‘A sweet experience for you, my honey,’ -said he. ‘See what’s to be learned by stowing -oneself away in a convict ship.’</p> - -<p>‘What will they do to the soldier who -killed the man?’</p> - -<p>‘Do to him? Give him a stripe to wear -on his arm when they get ashore.’</p> - -<p>‘It was a brutal murder!’ I exclaimed.</p> - -<p>‘You say that because your sympathies -are below. Duty’s no murder. The man -obeyed orders, and very right orders they are. -Let me tell you, my daisy, there’s a very considerable -slice of hell stowed away under -hatches in this ship; and if it wasn’t for the -guffies, there’d be such a blaze as ’ud make -you, for one, wish Stepney were closer aboard -than it is.’</p> - -<p>‘Do you mean to tell me,’ said I, ‘that -twenty soldiers in command of half a man -and a puppy can keep two hundred and thirty -desperate, fearless, crime-hardened ruffians -under?’</p> - -<p>‘Two hundred and thirty! That figure<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185"></a>[185]</span> -counts Butler as one of the beauties, eh?’ said -he, laughing. ‘But I answer yes; twenty -soldiers can do it, backed, of course, by our -machinery of barricades, manholes, and the -rest of it, not to mention a moral influence -that counts more usefully than a great gun -loaded chock-a-block with scissors and thumbscrews.’</p> - -<p>‘If those convicts had found a leader to-day,’ -said I, ‘they would have seized the ship.’</p> - -<p>He turned his head about in the gloom to -see if anybody was near.</p> - -<p>‘Seize the ship!’ he exclaimed with a -little snort of contempt. ‘With a file of soldiers -splendidly placed ready to fire amongst the -devils as fast as they could load! With three -sentries in addition to help! With officers -and a crew ready to support the soldiers! -But, hang me,’ said he, with a change of voice -and peering close into my face to catch a sight -of me, ‘if I don’t think you’re sorry the ship -wasn’t seized!’</p> - -<p>‘I wish you didn’t excuse the diabolical -murder. I’d shoot that sentry with my own -hand for killing a poor, unhappy madman<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186"></a>[186]</span> -goaded into insanity, for all you know, by an -unjust sentence. It might have been Tom. -Suppose Tom’s heart broke and his mind went? -A soldier would shoot him!’</p> - -<p>‘D’ye know you hiss when you talk? -I used to like your spirit, but love is -making a tigress of you. You make a fellow -afraid?’</p> - -<p>But I had not come to talk with him to do -that. I wanted news, and he had none; and -I had no idea of scaring or disgusting the dear -lad by causing him to fancy that my sympathies -were with the felons under hatches when -I had a heart but for one man only in the -whole world. Will was just the sort of lad to -betray me that I might not come to harm or -harm others; so, after laughing at his likening -me to a tigress, I talked of Stepney and his -father’s house near the Tower, and in a few -minutes the pair of us were happy in old, kind, -gentle memories.</p> - -<p>He grew a little inquisitive presently, however, -and asked me some questions.</p> - -<p>‘Have you thought of what you mean to -do when you arrive at Hobart Town?’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187"></a>[187]</span>‘I shall be guided entirely by what is done -with Tom,’ I answered.</p> - -<p>‘Shall you settle in Tasmania?’</p> - -<p>‘Somewhere in that part of the world,’ I -said. ‘Once a convict, always a convict. I -know Tom and his proud heart; if his innocence -could be established on his arrival -and liberty given to him, he’d not return -home. He hates England—I’ll swear it. And -I hate home for his sake.’</p> - -<p>‘You’ll sell your house in Stepney, I -suppose!’</p> - -<p>‘Yes, I may do that. There’s much I -may do. I shall be guided by what befalls -Tom. I have money enough to establish ourselves -in comfort. We shall want for nothing -in our new home.’</p> - -<p>‘Maybe I shall turn squatter, myself,’ -said Will. ‘There’s a big thing to be done -in wool. But give me New South Wales. I -wish they had sent Butler there. What’s -become of the <i>Arab Chief</i>, I wonder? And -does he lose all the money he invested in -her?’</p> - -<p>‘No,’ said I.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188"></a>[188]</span>Here some seamen came and lolled alongside -of us; we could talk no more, so I went -aft.</p> - -<p>All next day the doctor was full of business. -I heard him tell the captain at the -breakfast-table what the routine was to be: -at half-past eight prayers and a portion of -the Scriptures were to be read to the prisoners -in divisions, some below, some on deck, as -the weather might permit; then schools were -to be formed, but this could not be done -until the doctor had ascertained the ability of -the prisoners to read—he needed time to put -a book into each man’s hand to test him. -Every school would consist of nine or ten -pupils; schoolmasters would be selected from -the best educated of the convicts. School -would be held morning and afternoon; after -supper, at four o’clock, the doctor would -regularly deliver a lecture on any subject -likely to improve and enlighten his hearers.</p> - -<p>You’ll suppose he was a busy man. Indeed! -he had a hundred things to see to. -Besides the schools, the lectures and the like, -exercise had to be arranged for, the washing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189"></a>[189]</span> -of linen, airing of bedding and so forth. -Then there was the hospital to visit, troublesome -convicts to examine and punish, a -journal to write up, and I know not what -besides. This, the first Monday of fine weather -and freedom of irons, was spent by him in -planning the convict routine for the voyage. -I collected from his talk at the table that the -prisoners were very quiet, and looking forward -with interest to the educational work he was -cutting out for them. He told Captain -Sutherland he had addressed them below very -seriously on the Sunday morning’s tragic -business; in fact at lunch he spoke out -without reserve.</p> - -<p>‘I was impressed,’ said he, ‘by the -thoughtful looks of many of the unhappy -people when I bade them accept the death -of the poor, miserable man Garth as an awful -warning—not in respect of discipline, not in -respect of the penalty that attaches to insubordination, -but in regard to their souls’ -health.’ And then he occupied ten minutes -in repeating what he had said to the convicts. -Lieutenant Chimmo hemmed and tried to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190"></a>[190]</span> -break through the dull prosing; but the -doctor loved his own eloquence too well to -let his companions off a single sentence -that he could recollect. ‘I believe,’ -said he, ‘that there is some good in that -man Barney Abram, after all. I observed -that he was very attentive at Divine service -yesterday.’</p> - -<p>‘But he is not of your persuasion, surely?’ -said Captain Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘He’s of the persuasion of them all,’ -answered the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘The persuasion that has the devil for -high priest, eh, Ellice?’ said Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘That’s so,’ said the doctor. ‘Barney -Abram is a man I should be proud and thankful -to bring over. He was a very bad lot at -home. This ship might not hold all the -wretches he has tempted and ruined. Yet I -seemed to find an expression of contrition in -the fellow’s face, a softening look as though -he might not prove so inaccessible as I had -feared. He asked leave to speak to me before -I came up from below this morning, and I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191"></a>[191]</span> -was gratified to understand that his object -was to thank me for the remarks I had -offered to the prisoners on the subject of the -sudden appalling death of Garth.’</p> - -<p>Captain Barrett burst into one of his -great laughs, for which he apologised by -saying that he was thinking of a story he had -heard of Barney; it was not fit to repeat, -however.</p> - -<p>‘Then, sir,’ said the doctor, sternly, ‘we’ll -not trouble you for it.’</p> - -<p>‘Whisper,’ said the subaltern, side-long, -to his brother-officer.</p> - -<p>‘Have you given the prize-fighter any -sort of appointment, doctor?’ said Captain -Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘Not yet. I have my eye on him. His -immense strength will make him useful. -He may end as my first captain. Had he -stood near the madman, the poor fellow -would now be alive. Abram is, perhaps, the -only man in the ship who could have grasped -and held him.’</p> - -<p>He then talked of his schools. His head -was full of the thing. I learned, through<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192"></a>[192]</span> -listening, that the Admiralty instructions provided -for the establishment of schools and -religious teaching.</p> - -<p>After the doctor had made all his arrangements -on this Monday, nothing happened of -any consequence that I can recall for some time. -We carried a strong north-east trade-wind, -and we drove along by day and by night, -with foam sometimes lifting to the cathead. -There was scarcely need to handle a rope, so -fresh and steady was the trade-wind, with its -wool-white clouds scattering like sheep down -the sky and the horizon bright and hard and -blue in the windy distance. At times I -caught sight of Tom. The intervals were -wide, and I never found an opportunity to -breathe so much as a syllable of love to him. -And this was very well. It was enough that -he knew I was on board, and that we were -able sometimes to see each other. I never -attempted to write a second letter. The risk of -delivering it was too great, and I was resolved -to run no risks, lest some act that would add -nothing to Tom’s happiness nor mine should -betray me and extinguish my hopes, nay,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193"></a>[193]</span> -slay my chance of reaching Tasmania with -him in the same ship.</p> - -<p>Sometimes I feared my sex was dimly -suspected, but mainly my mind was at rest -on that score. The persons I was afraid of -were the two military men and the German -steward. The idea of my being a woman, I -am sure, never entered the doctor’s mind. -Had he entertained the least suspicion, he -was just the man to settle it out of hand by -sending me down among the soldiers’ wives -to be examined. And yet, when I peeped at -myself in one of the long cuddy mirrors, I’d -wonder at the success of my masquerade. I -repeat here that I was a very fine figure of a -woman. In none of the points which are -admirable in the equipment of the best shaped -of my sex was I lacking. Yet it is certain -that my impersonation was perfect, and that, -if I except the three men I have named, there -was not a man in the ship who by looks or -speech caused me the least anxiety.</p> - -<p>However, to provide against the reasons -of my being on board becoming known, -should detection of my sex happen unexpectedly,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194"></a>[194]</span> -I sought out Will one evening, and had -a long, earnest chat with him. I put it to -him thus:</p> - -<p>‘You are supposed to know me; that is -to say, you are supposed to know that I am -the son of a man who was a client of your -father. Suddenly I am discovered to be a -girl. The captain sends for you, and you are -challenged in the presence of the doctor. -What will you say?’</p> - -<p>‘That’s where it is,’ said he. ‘Make one -false step, and ten to one if you’re not -presently up to your neck.’</p> - -<p>He scratched his head and mused, staring -at me. I would not help him. I wished to -test the quality of his wits in case he should -be challenged as I have said. After a bit, he -exclaimed:</p> - -<p>‘I should disown all knowledge of you.’</p> - -<p>‘That’s good,’ said I.</p> - -<p>‘I’d say you told me your name was -Simon Marlowe and that your father was a -client of my father’s. I should tell no lie by -owning I believed the story, because, you see, -uncle was a client of the dad’s. Well,’ he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195"></a>[195]</span> -went on, ‘I should tell them that now you -proved to be a girl, you weren’t the young -fellow I took you for, and I should call you a -liar and disown all knowledge of you.’</p> - -<p>‘And in saying so you’d be strictly speaking -the truth, so far as Simon Marlowe is -concerned,’ said I, rejoiced to find him so -ready. ‘You’ll disown me. You’ll call me -a liar. You’ll know nothing whatever about -me. That’ll be the programme, Will, should -you be called upon.’</p> - -<p>We stood discussing the matter some -time, and then separated, but I was mightily -glad to have had this talk with him.</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196"></a>[196]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXVIII<br /> - - -<small>SHE OVERHEARS TWO SAILORS TALKING</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">For</span> many days we met with very beautiful -weather, and every day the sun grew hotter -and hotter. The moon enlarged and became -a full moon, and the prospect of the dark -blue night, with the moon shining higher in -the heavens than ever I had seen her shine, -and the stars in multitudes of brilliants -trembling in a very sheet of silver down to -the vague, obscure line of the horizon, was -glorious and wonderful. Often on those fine -nights, instead of going to bed, I’d creep to -the forecastle, where nobody walked but the -sentry and a seaman on the look-out. There -I would overhang the head rail and gaze -down at the star-white foam as it spread out -with a soft, boiling noise from the steady, -shearing thrust of the cutwater. The sea -was full of fire and many strange shapes of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197"></a>[197]</span> -dim, greenish flame swept past in the black -water as I looked. The moonlight lay upon -the sails and they rose stirless as carvings in -marble. The stars glittered like jewels in the -dark arches under the sails and twinkled -gem-like along the black lines of the yards, -and danced like the mystic fire of the corposant -beyond the trucks to the swaying of the -fragile points of masthead.</p> - -<p>Oh, it was at such times as these that I -longed for Tom! What happiness, I would -think, to have his hand in mine; to be standing -here at his side, gazing up with him at -the moon-whitened canvas, or watching the -sea-fire leaping in sparks amidst the rushing -froth on either hand! He had talked once of -my going a voyage with him. He had talked, -too, of his carrying me to sea when we were -married. I could understand what I had lost -when I stood lonely on that dark forecastle -watching the yearning breasts of canvas leaning -from the wind and thinking of the home -that was low down behind the sea. My heart -beat with passion when, on these lovely moonlight -nights, sweet with the strong blowing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198"></a>[198]</span> -of the trade-wind, I’d think of my dear one -locked up in the ’tweendecks below—imprisoned -with the rest of them since half-past six, -to emerge from the pestilential atmosphere at -daybreak—for what?</p> - -<p>Whilst I thus thought, I’d clench my -hands in the agony of my mind till the nails -were driven into the palms of them.</p> - -<p>But everything went along very quietly. -Tables were knocked together, and schools -held on deck in the inclosure; that is, a proportion -of the schools. There was not room -for all, and the convict classes alternated -between the ’tweendecks and the main-deck. -The doctor speedily found out that Tom was -one of the best educated of the prisoners, and -set him to help in teaching the many wretches -who knew not their alphabet. But it rarely -happened, as I have said, that I saw my -sweetheart. Either I was at work in the -cuddy when he was on deck, or he was below, -or the schools broken up when I might have -found leisure to watch him.</p> - -<p>I often speculated upon the histories of -the many convicts—chose a face and mused<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199"></a>[199]</span> -upon it. My conviction—nay, my knowledge—that -Tom was as innocent as I of the crime -for which he was being transported made me -think that there might be others as guiltless -as he; and this sort of fancy or sympathy -often raised a passion of pity in me as I’d -stand staring at a convict, striving to fetch -his life-story out of his face, though, for all I -knew, the man I watched might have been -one of the very worst scoundrels in the ship.</p> - -<p>What affected me most was the guessing -that lots of them must have left wives and -mothers, children and dear ones behind. I -had heard the doctor say that not above one -out of every one hundred convicts ever -returned home, so that, unless the parents or -the wives of the poor, miserable felons followed -them, they would be as completely sundered -from home ties as though they had been sentenced -to the gallows instead of to the hulks -and transport. My eyes would moisten sometimes -in thus thinking whilst I watched a -prisoner in some hour of leisure, fancying a -past for him. Once I saw this: Two children -belonging to the soldiers had strayed into the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200"></a>[200]</span> -gangway alley and were playing there. I -observed a convict, a middle-aged man, watching -them. A sudden spasm contorted his -face. He jerked down his hand in a snapping -way, in some instant anguish of memory, as -though he cast something from him, and -turned his head and moved a few paces, then -raised his cuff to his eye, with a look-round -afterward to see if he was noticed.</p> - -<p>One evening I went forward, meaning to -get upon the forecastle to breathe the air. It -was hot in the recess. Some women were -seated round the booby-hatch, and the noise -of the children vexed the mood I was then in. -It was toward the close of the second dog-watch -and dark. I saw some figures on the -forecastle, and learnt by the voices that Mr. -Stiles, Mr. Balls, and the sailmaker were of -them. Therefore, that I might be private, -meaning to breathe in solitude upon the forecastle -later on, I went round to the lee side of -the galley, the door of which was closed, and -stood there, looking at the dark sea above -the line of the bulwark-rail, for the ship was -heeling over somewhat sharply this night.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201"></a>[201]</span>Though the noise of the pouring and -foaming brine rose shrill and strong, other -sounds were very plainly to be heard. For -instance, I often caught what they said upon -the forecastle, though the speakers were at a -distance. The main-deck was empty. A few -figures moved about the poop. Presently -two sailors stationed themselves against the -foremost end of the galley, round the corner, -so to say, facing the lofty pillar of the foremast. -I smelt the fumes of their coarse tobacco. -They could not see me nor I them; -but what they said was as distinct as though -they stood alongside of me, spite of their -speaking in subdued voices. I knew not who -they were, but guessed them to be two forecastle -hands.</p> - -<p>‘I had a yarn along with Bob this morning,’ -said one of them. ‘Them gallus sentries -are made up of eyes. Fust time I’ve been -able to speak to him.’</p> - -<p>‘What’s he lagged for?’ said the other -man.</p> - -<p>‘Buzzlement. I knew it ’ud happen. He -grew too confident and was ate up with pride.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202"></a>[202]</span> -He might be helping himself now, theayters -and dancin’ kens as often as you like, lush to -swim in and quids for his piece. But the -gallus fool must grow greedy; he takes too -big a handful, and now he’s outward-bound. -But twelve bob a week and find himself! A -covey with Bob’s tastes, too, mind ye, and one -of your gallus high-flyers to rig out. But he -says he ain’t sorry it’s over. He never felt -comfortable. His piece was always a-scolding -and threatening to split if the swag warn’t -forthcoming; and, blow me, she stumped -him, after all, for split she did, but not afore -she’d got another cully, in tow, unbeknown to -Bob, you take your oath.’</p> - -<p>‘I heard Micky Volkins,’ said the other, -‘a-telling Bill Flanders that he squeezed in a -yarn with his old chum when they was washing -down. They scrubbed side by side. -Micky says the old chum’s glad to be going -abroad. The shore-work took it out of him, -but the hulk gave satisfaction. The feeding -was beef, soup, mutton, spuds, bread, porridge, -and treacle. I recollect the boiling. If a -man’s sick, they put him on sheep’s head,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203"></a>[203]</span> -eggs, soft puddens, tea and butter, along with -brandy and wine, which they sarve out by -the hounce. Is that sailors’ fare? Strike my -eyes if it ain’t good enough to go into irons -for!’</p> - -<p>‘There’s only one sailor-man among ’em, -Bob was a-saying,’ said the first sailor.</p> - -<p>‘Who’s he?’</p> - -<p>‘Didn’t hear his name. Lagged for -scuttling a vessel. Gallus good job if the -old man tried it on with this ship. Everything’s -blooming wrong. All the work comes -upon a few. What’s good goes below; -what’s stinking’s sent for’ard. Well, I never -shipped expecting to see Bob, and I’m game -to swap places, if they’ll consent. Look -what’s done for ’em! Prayer-meetin’s, eddication -up to the knocker, a doctor to physic -’em! If a man growls, he’s spoke to as a -man. One of the convicts complained to the -doctor of the cooking. The gent sniffed and -tasted, said the man was right and winged the -gallus cook. Let e’er a one of us lay aft, and -what’s a-goin to happen?’</p> - -<p>The conversation was at this point interrupted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204"></a>[204]</span> -by the second sailor beginning to -sneeze. He sneezed at least twenty times -with a great roaring noise. Mr. Balls came -to the edge of the forecastle and cried down: -‘Withered if there ain’t a grampus jumped -aboard!’ The fit of sneezing passed, and the -fellow lighted his pipe afresh, and the men -resumed their conversation.</p> - -<p>‘It’s gallus queer,’ said the first speaker, -‘that there should be only one sailor among -’em.’</p> - -<p>‘One navigator, perhaps,’ said the other.</p> - -<p>‘Well, that may be. I wish they was all -ships’ captains for my part—skippers and -mates. I’m gallus glad whenever I hear a -skipper’s lagged. But they’re too leary, -bully. Ha, ha! They knows how to keep -to wind’ard, scrape and go as it often is.’</p> - -<p>‘What’s the coveys made up of?’ said the -second speaker.</p> - -<p>‘I asked Bob that. “All sorts,” said he. -“One’s a parson.”’ Here both sailors laughed -loudly. ‘A harbour missionary, lagged for -fishing through the slit in the mission box.’ -Both men laughed loudly again. ‘You’ll know<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205"></a>[205]</span> -him, maty, by singling out the cove as carries -his hands as though he wore long thread -gloves. Bob told me to twig him by that.’</p> - -<p>‘Only one sea-captain?’ said the second -speaker. ‘It must be the next ship, then, -that’s a-bringing of them out?’</p> - -<p>Eight bells at this moment were struck; -the boatswain sent some thrilling message -through the ship with his pipe; and, unwilling -that the two speakers should know that -I had been a listener, I went softly round the -galley and made my way aft.</p> - -<p>The reference to Tom in this conversation -had struck me as strange. The men undoubtedly -meant Tom when they spoke of -one of the convicts as the only sea-captain -amongst the prisoners. How should that be -known? The doctor was doubtless acquainted -with the felons’ antecedents, but he never -talked and rarely answered questions. The -convicts, then, had made the discovery -amongst themselves; this I thought extraordinary. -Tom might have admitted his -calling to the fellows who shared his sleeping -berth, to the prisoners who formed the mess<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206"></a>[206]</span> -he was in; but how should it be known to -two hundred and twenty-nine convicts that -the two hundred and thirtieth was the -only sea-captain amongst them? Perhaps I -mistook; a few had learned Tom’s calling, -and one of those few had talked with the -sailor whose conversation with his mate I had -listened to.</p> - -<p>I did not give the matter much thought; -I should have given it much less thought had -not Tom been the man the sailors referred to. -That some of the sailors should have found -friends amongst the prisoners was quite in -keeping with the looks of a few of the crew. -I had often thought that were the forecastle -hands to shift clothes with the malefactors, -they would make wickeder-looking convicts -than the bulk of the prisoners.</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207"></a>[207]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXIX<br /> - - -<small>SHE IS ALARMED BY WHAT IS SAID BY THE -OFFICERS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> convict ship <i>Childe Harold</i> drove steadily -down the North Atlantic with the trade-wind, -and then, losing those prosperous gales something -north of the Equator, crept stealthily -through a wide, white, gleaming zone of -calms, blurred with fainting catspaws as a -mirror is dimmed by the breath. No incident -of any sort broke the profound monotony -of the routine of shipboard life. Captain -Barrett and the subaltern killed the time by -firing at a mark with pistols, by cards, chess, -deck quoits, fishing for sharks, and the like. -Their duties were trifling. The sergeant of -the guard seemed to do all the work. The -discipline of the sea had the regularity of the -tick of a clock. Sights were punctually -taken, the log hove, the watch relieved—so it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208"></a>[208]</span> -went on. The crew came and went to the -sound of Balls’s pipe or to the warning voice -of the officer of the watch.</p> - -<p>I was now looking very close into the sea -life, and was of opinion that it was a sickening, -tedious calling. The atmosphere of -romance which had coloured my early -thoughts of it, got from my father’s and his -friends’ merry or wild or exciting yarns, had -perished out of my mind long before we were -up with the Equator, as the term is. The -captain was burdened with enormous responsibilities. -The safety of a large, valuable -ship freighted with human lives was dependent -upon him, and his pay was perhaps less -than the wages of a head-waiter of a City -tavern. The mates were at the mercy of the -captain, who could break them if he chose, -send them forward to do common sailor’s -work and ruin them. They lived without -friendship. One was superior to the other. -The captain addressed them only on matters -of ship work, and talked familiarly with -nobody but the doctor and military officers. -There were three mates. Two of them led<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209"></a>[209]</span> -lives as lonely as the ship’s figure-head; the -third, who was a person of no consequence, -would carry his pipe into the boatswain’s -or apprentices’ berth, and so kill time for -himself.</p> - -<p>I had not guessed that this was the life of -the deep when I used to listen to the ocean -talk of my father’s friends at Stepney or view -the ships in the Thames, and create a fairy -sea with rich skies and spicy breezes for them -to sail over. It was my acquaintance, however, -with the forecastle side of the life that -completely ruined my idealism. I could not -wonder that sailors should be the mutinous -and growling dogs they are represented when -I peeped into the forecastle and smelt the -smells and blinked at the gloom and beheld -the damp and the dirt, the half-clad figures -of men who had shipped without a shift of -clothes and whose wage would not bring -them within hail of the slop-chest; when I -saw the lumps of green pork or blue and iron -beef carried from the galley into the forecastle -along with the slush-thick peasoup or the -dingy, bolster-hard duff at which any famished<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210"></a>[210]</span> -mongrel of the London streets might hiccough.</p> - -<p>‘Is it the same everywhere at sea?’ I -once asked Will.</p> - -<p>‘No,’ he answered, ‘the crew are well fed -and well treated aboard us—comparatively -speaking,’ he added, with a grin.</p> - -<p>‘And do you like the life?’ said I.</p> - -<p>‘The country must have sailors, young -woman?’</p> - -<p>‘I would rather be a convict,’ said I.</p> - -<p>‘Yet it was not always thus, you know, -my pretty Mary Jane,’ he exclaimed, singing. -‘When Butler was a sailor you nailed your -heart to the foremast; now he’s a convict -you want to clank it through life, eh?’</p> - -<p>‘It was not always thus, Mary Jane, -because I had never been to sea. I read in -books and listened to talk and painted on -clouds. Now I am at sea. I have watched -the life and swear that I would rather take -a convict’s discipline along with a convict’s -chances than be a foremast hand.’</p> - -<p>My work was light, and this was a wonderful -mercy, seeing that I had been made a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211"></a>[211]</span> -cuddy-servant without anybody knowing I -was a girl. I washed glasses, fetched and -carried dishes, cleaned knives and plate and -so on. This was no more than housemaid’s -work, down even to the scrubbing of the -deck, which was the same as washing the -floor of a room. Added to this, I slept alone -in a comfortable cabin and had all such conveniences -as a young woman who masquerades -as a boy could need.</p> - -<p>I was nearly of Will’s height, and his -clothes fitted me, and when the weather grew -very hot I wore his flannel shirts, serge jacket -buttoned up to conceal my figure, and white -drill trousers. I also got him to buy me a -new grass hat from one of the sailors, and -thus attired, I looked the smartest, sauciest -young fellow that ever stepped the decks of a -ship. The captain and the mates knew how -I came by the clothes I wore, and asked no -questions.</p> - -<p>The Woolwich apparel remained in the -upper bunk. Long before this I had opened -it and inspected the contents, and found every -article as I had packed it. It was a very<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212"></a>[212]</span> -large bundle; it contained my hat and bodice -and skirt and the under-linen and shoes I -had removed when I dressed myself as a -boy.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile the doctor was highly satisfied -with the progress the convict school-classes -were making. He would come to the table -and rub his hands and declare, with one of -his grave smiles, that since such and such a -date So-and-so—and here, perhaps, he would -give the initials of a convict or quote several -examples by their initials only—had got the -Lord’s Prayer by heart and was beginning -to pronounce words of two and even three -syllables. I am sure he was a benevolent, -good, pious man, but repulsive to my sympathies -by sternness and officialism and, perhaps, -by the thought that Tom was under him, in -his power, of no more account than the rest -of the prisoners, many of whom were being -transported for vile and some for diabolical -crimes.</p> - -<p>I’d keep my ears open to hear if he spoke -of Tom; but he never uttered my sweetheart’s -name nor indicated him by any fashion of his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213"></a>[213]</span> -own. Strange to relate, one of his favourites -was now the prize-fighter Barney Abram. It -puzzled me to imagine by what acts this man -Abram had succeeded in gaining the doctor’s -good opinion and confidence. Certainly -during service no man was so attentive as the -prize-fighter. I see him now with his head -slightly on one side, his eyes fixed upon the -doctor with an expression of half-complacent -admiration, as though what he heard was not -only doing him good but amazing him with -the beauty and eloquence with which it was -delivered. Then I gathered that Barney was -very zealous in the school-work. I remember -the doctor telling Captain Barrett that the -tears stood in the prize-fighter’s eyes whilst he -expressed his gratitude for the opportunities -provided by the discipline of the convict ship -for improving his understanding and qualifying -him to think and reason as a rational, responsible -being. Captain Barrett looked silently -at the doctor through his eye-glass; but immediately -the doctor had quitted the table -the captain turned to Lieutenant Chimmo and -spoke in a low voice, and then they both<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214"></a>[214]</span> -laughed wildly. Indeed, the subaltern beat -upon the table as though he would suffocate.</p> - -<p>I remember again, one afternoon, that I -was sent with a tray of seltzer and glasses to -the poop. The commander of the ship was -seated in company with the doctor and the -two military men. An awning was stretched -overhead, and its shadow was pleasant with -the breath of a small breeze off the beam, and -it danced with a strange pulsing of lights from -the diamond twinkling of the brilliant blue sea.</p> - -<p>We had by this time crossed the Equator; -I believe our latitude was about three degrees -south. Sentries paced the fore part of the -poop as usual; the sentry forward sheltered -himself in the gloom of the corner of sail; -a few convicts were lounging in a lifeless -manner betwixt the barricades. Tom was -one of the convicts. He sat at the foot of the -mainmast in the shadow of it with his elbows -on his knees, his brows betwixt his clenched -fists, his head hanging down, his eyes rooted -to the deck, his whole posture extraordinary -with its suggestion of that sort of grief which -turns a man into stone.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215"></a>[215]</span>Captain Sutherland and the others sat -near the foremost skylight that stood but a -short distance from the break of the poop. -The captain told me to put the tray down on -the skylight and fetch a bottle of brandy. I -returned with the brandy and a corkscrew, -when, just as I was about to draw the cork, -the doctor lifted his hand, and with an odd -pleased look, bade me stand still and make no -noise. Then it was that I heard a sound of -singing; the melody was a hymn, but I -cannot give it a name; I have since believed -it was the air of a well-known hymn sung to -words which were written by some convict -converted into an honest man by the doctor -during a previous voyage.</p> - -<p>I judged by the volume of sound that -about ten men sang; they sat under the hatch -where the gratings made a frame like a bird-cage, -otherwise we should not have heard -them. They sang well, in good time, and one -deep voice was noticeable for its manner of -working into the singing in a harmonising -way as though the fellow knew music.</p> - -<p>Captain Barrett asked a question.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216"></a>[216]</span>‘Hush, I beg of you,’ said the doctor, -with a face of grave satisfaction.</p> - -<p>No one could have listened to the voice of -the finest Italian opera-singer of the day with -more relish and ardent attention than the -doctor to the chanting of the convicts.</p> - -<p>The singing ceased. I stood at a little -distance, with the brandy and the corkscrew, -waiting to be told to draw the cork.</p> - -<p>‘Whose was that deep voice?’ said Captain -Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘Barney Abram’s,’ answered the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘Was it a Christian hymn they sang?’ -asked Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘Certainly,’ responded the doctor. ‘Do -you suppose that I would allow any other -sort of hymn to be sung in this ship?’</p> - -<p>‘What’s Barney’s creed?’ said the subaltern.</p> - -<p>‘He’s coming right,’ answered the doctor, -severely. And then turning to Captain Sutherland, -he exclaimed: ‘I know you take an -interest in these matters. You will be gratified -to learn that Abram expressed a wish -yesterday to be received into our Church.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217"></a>[217]</span>‘Indeed!’ said Captain Sutherland.</p> - -<p>‘That could only be done by a bishop or -a clergyman, I suppose?’ said the subaltern.</p> - -<p>The doctor, without answering, left the -poop, walked to the main-hatch and addressed -some words to the men at the bottom of it.</p> - -<p>‘What’s your opinion of Barney’s conversion?’ -said Captain Sutherland to Captain -Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘My opinion is,’ answered the other, ‘that -I shall give instructions for the sentries to -keep an extra sharp eye upon him.’</p> - -<p>‘Now the hymn’s over, suppose we get -that cork drawn?’ said the subaltern.</p> - -<p>I started on the captain of the ship turning -to look at me. My eyes had been fastened -upon Tom, who, on the doctor approaching -the hatchway, had risen and gone to the rail, -and stood there looking out to sea. The -convicts came up in divisions to breathe the -air. It was so burning hot that the doctor -had stopped the walking exercise. Tom’s -division happened to be up, and my eyes were -rooted to his pale face as he stood looking -over the rail into the dim blue distance, when<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218"></a>[218]</span> -I was startled by Captain Sutherland turning -upon me.</p> - -<p>‘Draw that cork,’ said he; ‘I had forgotten -you.’ And he said to Lieutenant -Chimmo, but he did not mean that I should -hear him: ‘Do you observe that this lad is -always at one’s elbow when the convicts are -under discussion?’</p> - -<p>This speech brought some colour into my -face; I was sensible that I blushed and was -deeply vexed that I did so. All three watched -me draw the cork out of the brandy bottle. I -poured brandy into the tumblers and filled -them up with foaming seltzer and handed the -draughts to the gentlemen. Captain Barrett -looked me hard in the face when I handed -him his tumbler. My fears made me find -detection in his stare; I thought to myself in -his heart this man has found out that I am a -woman.</p> - -<p>I went toward the companion hatch to -re-enter the cuddy; Lieutenant Chimmo said -loudly, as though indifferent whether I heard -or not: ‘What a devilish good-looking chap -he is! He blushes like a girl.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219"></a>[219]</span>‘There’s a mystery about the youngster,’ -said Captain Barrett. ‘He puzzles me.’</p> - -<p>I did not catch what the captain let fall, -but feeling alarmed and eager to know if -more was said, I ran hastily down the companion -steps and posted myself under the -open foremost skylight.</p> - -<p>‘What makes you think so?’ I heard -Lieutenant Chimmo say.</p> - -<p>‘He seems too stoutly built for a lad,’ -answered Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘I’ve met young fellows more girlish-looking -than that lad,’ exclaimed Captain -Sutherland. ‘The apprentice, Johnstone, I -understand, knows all about him. Johnstone -is of respectable stock. His father is a solicitor -near the Tower; I’ve never done business -with him, but he has helped many a poor -gentleman of the jacket out of difficulties.’</p> - -<p>The subaltern spoke of several effeminate -officers whom he had met with in various -places. He mentioned one Captain Dawson, -who, he said, was called Pretty Polly. He -wore his hair parted down the middle; it was -a rich auburn and waved, and the fellows of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220"></a>[220]</span> -his regiment tried to persuade him to let it -grow to see to what length it would descend. -He had no hair except eyebrows and eyelashes -upon his face; his complexion was -amazingly delicate, much more so than young -Marlowe’s. He blushed readily; his voice -was a contralto, and when he sang you -thought you were listening to a woman.</p> - -<p>This reminded Captain Barrett of a girlish-looking -cornet named Sheridan. Then Captain -Sutherland furnished an instance of a -singularly effeminate second mate; after which, -amid frequent sippings of brandy and seltzer -and puffing of paper cigars, the conversation -went again to Barney Abram, thence to other -matters; whereupon, satisfied that they had -done with the topic of girlish-looking boys, I -went to the pantry, breathing a little more -freely, though still somewhat uneasy, for I was -afraid of the meaning I had found in the stare -that Captain Barrett had regarded me with.</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221"></a>[221]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXX<br /> - - -<small>SHE CONVERSES WITH HER SWEETHEART</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> utmost I dared hope was that my sex -would remain concealed until we had rounded -the Cape of Good Hope. When once our -ship had entered the great Southern Ocean, -there would be no more land to touch at -until Hobart Town was reached. Often at -home, whilst thinking of Tom and resolving -to follow him, had I studied the map of the -world—or rather those portions of the globe -which a ship traversed in her passage from -the Thames to Tasmania; and I knew that -there was no land betwixt Agulhas and the -great New-Holland continent, saving two little -islands, one called St. Paul’s and the other -Amsterdam Island, the latter of which it was -then customary (I had read or been told) for -ships to sight to verify their reckonings. But -it was a desert island, not such an island as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222"></a>[222]</span> -the doctor would set me ashore on; so that -after we should round the Cape I had no fear -of being landed; nor was it very conceivable -that the doctor, however suspicious he might -prove, would think it needful to tranship me -should an opportunity occur, seeing that our -destination would not then be very remote, -with the proper machinery for inquiry at -hand there should the doctor or Captain -Sutherland think proper to charge me.</p> - -<p>I was relieved, however, by finding that, -during the remainder of that day, Captain -Barrett took no further notice of me. The -heat was very great. The doctor said it was -like a furnace in the ’tweendecks, and that -some of the convicts who were sick in the -hospital were suffering fearfully. The heels -of three or four wind-sails penetrated the -hatches, but the air blew small and fiery hot, -and the gushing of it down those canvas -pipes made no sensible difference in the fever -of the atmosphere of the ’tweendecks, filled -with the breath and the heat of the bodies of -the two hundred and thirty convicts.</p> - -<p>At dinner in the cuddy, on the afternoon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223"></a>[223]</span> -of the third day, dating from the incident of -the singing of the hymn in the hatch, the -captain spoke of a partial eclipse of the moon -that was to happen that evening at about -nine o’clock. I stood behind the captain’s -chair when this was said, for I must tell you -that I now regularly waited at table, though -Frank was above me, and I had to do work -which Mr. Stiles would not have put the -young German to.</p> - -<p>The doctor lifted his head from the soup-plate -which he overhung and exclaimed: ‘A -partial eclipse of the moon? That will be an -interesting sight!’</p> - -<p>Captain Barrett and the subaltern asked -several questions about this eclipse. The -conversation flowed on. I fetched a second -or third course from the galley, and whilst -the captain carved, the doctor, looking at him, -said: ‘I have a great mind to allow the -convicts, in divisions, to witness this eclipse. -The spectacle might produce a very salutary -effect upon the minds of many. The loneliness -of the ocean, the sight of the familiar -face of the moon being slowly darkened—it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224"></a>[224]</span> -will provide me with a fine subject for our -address to-morrow, and the prisoners will be -more likely to benefit from my discourse by -having beheld the eclipse. You are sure, sir, -that the hour is nine?’</p> - -<p>‘About nine. I will presently let you -know for certain,’ answered the captain.</p> - -<p>‘We should require the guard drawn up -on the poop,’ said the doctor.</p> - -<p>‘Give your orders, Ellice,’ said Captain -Barrett.</p> - -<p>‘The soldiers and the women will enjoy -the sight,’ said the doctor; ‘it is insufferably -hot in the prison. These occasional indulgences -often do much good.’</p> - -<p>‘How long does the eclipse last?’ asked -the subaltern.</p> - -<p>‘I believe the disk is less than a quarter -obscured,’ replied the captain.</p> - -<p>‘That should give time for each division -to take a peep,’ exclaimed Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>Here I was sent into the pantry, and lost -what followed. I gathered, however, on my -return, from what the doctor and the others -let fall, that the matter was settled, and that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225"></a>[225]</span> -the convicts in divisions, the guard being -under arms on the poop, were to be brought -up on deck to view the partial eclipse of the -moon.</p> - -<p>Dinner was over in the cuddy by seven. -The captain and military officers went on to -the poop to smoke, and I carried coffee to -them whilst Frank waited upon Mr. Bates -and his brother mate. The doctor, who did -not smoke, and who drank his wine well -watered, descended the booby-hatch to acquaint -the prisoners with his intentions, and -to make the necessary arrangements. It was -a true tropic night, splendid and silent. -Often do I recall that night, and always with -a bitter sense of the blindness of the human -mind, of our incapacity to see one minute -ahead of us. The moon at this hour was -rising, and the lunar dawn lay in a streak of -dim red along the eastern seaboard. I do -not remember the hour; it was not yet eight -bells; in the west was a fast-waning flush, -for we floated in a part of the ocean where -the night crosses the sea in a stride. Not a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226"></a>[226]</span> -breath of air! The waters stretched flat as a -surface of polished ebony, and only at intervals -there ran a sighing sort of movement -over the sea, which sent a delicate stir -through the canvas, and set the dew raining -from aloft in little pattering showers. In the -south there was much lightning; the leap of -the violet sparks flashed up the battlements -and ragged brows of a mass of electric cloud. -The water reflected the play, and sometimes -a little note of distant thunder came humming -across the glass-smooth surface. Elsewhere -under the brightest of the stars hung tremulous -wakes of silver fire.</p> - -<p>Even now, early as it was, the mighty -shadow of the ocean night was majestic and -awful with the wild, flashful colouring of -lightning in the south, and the dustlike multitude -of stars over the three glooming spires -of our ship, and the rising moon rusty-red -and imperfect and distorted, as though lifting -heavily through some noxious belt of African -river vapour.</p> - -<p>What I saw, however, was quickly embraced -by my sight. Having put the gentlemen’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227"></a>[227]</span> -coffee upon the skylight, I durst not -linger.</p> - -<p>The steward found me plenty to do till -a quarter before nine. I then went to my -cabin to refresh myself with a wash. When -I came into the cuddy again, I found the -lamps turned down and heard a sound of -many feet in motion. I stepped into the -recess and found nobody there. I walked a -little way forward along the gangway alley, -and looking up at the poop, saw the guard -drawn in a line near the rail. The awning -was furled, and the moonlight sparkled on -their firearms, and the bayonets glanced as -the lightning leapt in the south.</p> - -<p>A division of convicts was in the inclosure, -standing in dusky groups, and at -every man’s feet stretched his shadow, with -scarcely a move of the clean black line of -it, so reposefully did the ship sleep. I saw -a crowd of seamen on the forecastle and -heard women’s voices, and guessed that the -wives had gone forward to view the eclipse.</p> - -<p>The moon was now bright. You could -distinguish faces by her beam. I went<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228"></a>[228]</span> -slowly along the gangway alley, looking hard -at the prisoners, and when about midway I -saw a man standing alone, with his arms -folded and his eyes fixed on the moon. It -was Tom. I stopped. I must tell you that -this fore-and-aft barricade, which was designed -as a convenience more than as a prison -barrier, was not above five feet high, and -formed of strong wooden rails, sufficiently -wide apart to disclose the figure. I coughed, -and then Tom saw me.</p> - -<p>I advanced very slowly in the direction of -the forecastle and then came to a stand and -seemed to look at the moon; and when I -warily turned my eyes upon the inclosure I -observed that Tom had advanced as I had -and was abreast of me, though he had drawn -nearer to the fore-and-aft barricade. My -heart beat quickly, for if I could speak to -him now it would be the first time since -that day when I had whispered as I passed -and when he had discovered that I was on -board.</p> - -<p>I walked a little way farther. This carried -me out of sight of the poop, unless any<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229"></a>[229]</span> -one should come to the head of the port -poop-ladder and stare along the alley. The -yards were braced forward, and the corner -of the foresail lay between me and the moon, -and plunged in shadow that part of the deck -where I again halted. I saw that Tom had -walked with me on the other side of the -barricade, and when I stopped he stopped, -too, so close that had he sighed I should -have heard him. The shadow that was upon -me was upon him and stretched athwart the -deck, darkening the two galleys and the -great mass of long-boat; but under the yawn -of the foresail the forecastle whitened out in -the light, with the silvered figures of many -persons upon it, and beyond hung the jibs, -falling like streaks of snow to the bowsprit -and jibbooms. Outside the shadow in the -inclosure the moonshine lay like frost upon -the planks, and the shapes of the convicts, -in their pale apparel, showed like figures in -yellow wood. They moved or stood in -groups; here and there was a lonely shape. -The nearest group to where I had come to -a stand was at a distance of about twenty<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230"></a>[230]</span> -paces, close against the fore-and-aft barricade. -The yet distant lightning flashed -upon the canvas, and high as the royals -which crowned the towering fabric of cloths -the sails flashed and faded in the electric play -as though to the revolution of some gigantic -violet-tinted lantern.</p> - -<p>I kept my back upon Tom and seemed -to be looking up at the sky; he stood with -his right side toward me gazing aft as though -he heeded me not. We spoke swiftly under -our breath.</p> - -<p>‘How is it with you, Tom?’</p> - -<p>‘This coolness and freshness and moonlight—it -is heaven after the hell below. My -brave heart, my beloved girl, how is it with -you?’</p> - -<p>‘Well; I am happy. I am with you. -Our time is coming. In our new home all -this will be no more than a horrid dream.’</p> - -<p>‘A dream!’ said he, with fierceness in -his whisper. ‘It is no dream to be ruined -and have one’s heart broken. They have -made a devil of me. I am no longer fit for -you. You don’t know my heart.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231"></a>[231]</span>‘Whatever you are, I am. If they have -made you a devil I will be a devil too. I am -yours and one with you, and live for nothing -but for you. Ask me to set this ship on fire -to-night and I’ll do it.’</p> - -<p>‘Ay, yours is the true woman’s spirit. -I have no right to such a love. It is too -noble for a wretch. Don’t let them ruin -two lives. Curse them! See what they -have made of me! I would to God you -were not here.’</p> - -<p>‘Oh, Tom!’</p> - -<p>‘Ay, but to see you dragging the dirty -burthen of the cuddy along the deck—to -think of my proud and beautiful girl masquerading -as a boy—ordered about by -wretches who would be glad to clean her -doorsteps and windows at home—and for a -convict! But you know I am innocent.’</p> - -<p>‘Whisper softly,’ said I, marking a note -of bitter temper, a tone as of ferocity in his -speech. It hissed in his feverishly rapid -whispers and seemed as a revelation to me -of a change of nature. ‘Do not gesticulate; -the sentry at the head of the poop-ladder<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232"></a>[232]</span> -seems to be watching us. I have settled it -thus: On our arrival I will take steps to -qualify as a landholder, and you shall come -to me. Leave me to act and keep up your -heart, and do not say you wish I was not -here.’</p> - -<p>‘This ship will never arrive!’ said he.</p> - -<p>‘Why do you say that?’ I whispered, -turning to look at him and then giving him -my back again.</p> - -<p>‘That’s what I mean by wishing to God -you were not here,’ he answered, whispering -passionately, as though he could not contain -himself. ‘This ship will never arrive! I -could save her and I could save life by a -word. If I thought you were in danger—but -not with me! Not with me! Abram -and others have taken their oaths upon it, -and they cannot do without me. They don’t -know that you are a girl. They must not -know it! You are my dear friend and that -is enough; and they believe you to be -friendly toward them and would help them -if you could. They’ll not harm you. I’d -strangle myself sooner than utter a word<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233"></a>[233]</span> -that should save this ship! I’m here for a -crime I never committed. They have made -a devil of me! I’ll take no active part. I’ll -have no blood upon my head, but I’ll help -them in the way they want when they call -upon me.’</p> - -<p>‘What can I do?’</p> - -<p>‘Nothing but wait.’</p> - -<p>‘I’d give my life to free you!’</p> - -<p>‘Oh, your devotion breaks my heart! I -was worthy of it once.’</p> - -<p>‘When is this thing to happen?’</p> - -<p>‘The ship will be in the hands of the -convicts to-morrow.’</p> - -<p>I fetched a deep breath and turned cold.</p> - -<p>‘And Will—and Will, Tom?’ I said in a -whisper that shuddered with the icy fit.</p> - -<p>‘I have stipulated for Will. They’ll not -hurt him.’</p> - -<p>‘How will they be able to do it?’</p> - -<p>‘Some of the crew are with them. For -three weeks this has been secretly working -out. I’m the only navigator among the convicts, -and they depend on me.’ He added, -after a pause, during which my breath came<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234"></a>[234]</span> -and went hysterically: ‘If you fear for yourself -or for Will; if you think this thing -should not be done—for it will be attempted, -and if it is attempted it will be done—go to -the captain of the ship, tell him that the -convicts, backed by a portion of his crew, -have planned to seize the vessel, and that -to save her the sentries must be doubled -throughout, no convicts allowed on deck, -no messmen to pass the main-hatch sentry, -the prison victuals to be passed through the -door of the steerage bulkhead by the soldiers, -mates, and trustworthy petty officers of the -ship.’</p> - -<p>‘Why should I tell him this?’</p> - -<p>He was silent.</p> - -<p>‘Sooner than speak, I would fling myself -into the sea.’</p> - -<p>‘It will be a bloody business.’</p> - -<p>‘But if it gives you your liberty!’</p> - -<p>‘They have driven me to it!’ he cried, -raising his voice; and he stamped on the -deck in the passion of the minute.</p> - -<p>‘Gangway there!’ shouted the forecastle<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235"></a>[235]</span> -sentry. ‘What are you doing at that barricade? -Come out of it!’</p> - -<p>I instantly walked forward, and whilst I -walked I heard the voice of the doctor on -the poop.</p> - -<p>‘Let the people fall in. Let the captains -rank them on the starboard side, where -they’ll get a good view.’</p> - -<p>I went up the forecastle ladder, at the -head of which stood the sentry. He was the -husband of the pretty young woman—the -Dick who had been on duty when I visited -the barracks.</p> - -<p>‘Is it you?’ said he. ‘You mustn’t get -yarning with the convicts. It’s against the -orders.’</p> - -<p>‘Yarning!’ said I. ‘If a prisoner wishes -me good-night and asks me questions about -the moon, I may stop to be civil, I hope?’</p> - -<p>‘It’s against the orders,’ said he, and with -a swing of his figure he resumed his walk.</p> - -<p>The greater part of the crowd on the -forecastle stood in the bows or head of the -ship. The whole of the crew was assembled;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236"></a>[236]</span> -the soldiers’ wives, some of them holding -children by the hands, swelled the crowd. -I stepped to a part of the forecastle rail -where the deck was vacant and looked out -to sea. The hush on the ocean this side -the storm was unutterably deep, and the -distant tempest did not vex it, though the -great masses of vapour had risen considerably -and the lightning was running all over the -breast of it in rills of fire, and the thunder -boomed along the level plain of sea as though -some leviathan mermen or Titans of the brine -were playing at bowls upon the horizon.</p> - -<p>I looked up at the moon and beheld the -shadow of the earth touching the crystal -edge of the satellite like a ring of smoke. -The reflection flowed gloriously under the -luminary in a spreading wake of greenish -silver, whose hither extremity trembled to -the vessel’s side. The convict ship, sleeping -upon the dark and breathless surface of -water, her white sails gently fanning at long -intervals to a delicate motion of the hull; -the dark figures of the convicts grouped in -a mass on one side of the main-deck, their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237"></a>[237]</span> -faces pale in the night-beam as they gazed -at the moon; the crowd of seamen and women -talking in subdued voices in the bows of the -ship, where beyond them soared the jibs -floating like gossamer in the moonlight; the -dark ocean stretching, stirless and silent, -into the north, star-studded, whilst southward -it was lighted up by the distant, sunbright -and violet flames of the electric clouds; the -face of the patient, silver moon, with a shadow -of the earth painted in a corner of her—this -was a scene so rich in poetry, so vital, besides, -with a strange, bitter human significance, -that at any other time I would have -abandoned my whole spirit to it and lost -myself in contemplation.</p> - -<p>But I could think of nothing but my conversation -with Tom, the change my quick ear -had detected in his nature, his assurance to -me that I did not know his heart—above all, -his statement that before to-morrow night -the ship would be in possession of the convicts. -I believed him, but I could not realise -his meaning. Yet I remember very well that -conversation I had overheard between two<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238"></a>[238]</span> -sailors who talked of the convicts, knowing -that Tom—I guessed they meant Tom—was -the only navigator among the prisoners.</p> - -<p>I tried to settle my spirits, but my heart -flung a fever into my blood and I longed to -laugh out, to cry out, to run about. As the -shadow deepened upon the moon, the crowd -upon the forecastle fell silent. I looked over -the side into the dark water and beheld a -fish-shaped phantom of phosphorus sliding -slowly along close under the surface; there -was a little bubbling of fire about the centre -of this strange shape where the fin of it projected. -I knew what it was, yet glanced -once or twice only without curiosity and -went on thinking.</p> - -<p>Would they spare my cousin Will? -Would they spare me? How could Tom -be sure? The liberation of the convicts -would be like the disgorging of hell. How -could Tom foretell what would follow the -demons’ seizure of the ship? But I cared -not. Let Tom but gain his liberty and -it mattered nothing to me what followed, -though my own life should be forfeited. By<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239"></a>[239]</span> -the magic of sympathy the change that I had -noticed in him was working in me. I felt as -though a devil had entered into me, even as -Tom had whispered that they had driven him -to it: that injustice and labour and punishment, -maddening to an innocent heart, had -made a devil of him.</p> - -<p>I was in the way of the walk of the -forecastle sentry; that is to say, at the extremity -of it, and twice he halted at my -side to look at the moon, but never spoke. -I heard the doctor talking to the prisoners. -He addressed them from over the rail of -the poop, and no doubt made the most of -this solemn occasion of eclipse and the terror -of the gathering storm and the mighty scene -of loneliness in whose heart the ship slumbered.</p> - -<p>I was forced to the quarter-deck presently -by a ridiculous argument between the -boatswain and the cook. The cook declared -that it had long ago been proved that the -earth was flat; therefore, as that corner of -shadow upon the moon was round, it could -not be cast by the earth. Mr. Balls, with a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240"></a>[240]</span> -loud, hoarse laugh, exclaimed that those who -believed the earth to be flat were misled by -the shape of their own heads.</p> - -<p>‘Not that I’m a-going to argue,’ said he, -‘that that there shadder’s the earth’s. For -the matter of that, who’s going to say it’s a -shadder at all? The moon has a hatmosphere, -I suppose, and why shouldn’t its -hatmosphere be shaped as our’n is with -mucky thicknesses like to what’s blazing -away yonder? Who’s a-going to prove to -me that that there shadder, instead of an -eclipse, as they calls it, ain’t a storrum?’</p> - -<p>I walked aft and sat upon the coamings -of the booby-hatch where I was alone. A -fresh division of convicts had been brought -up, and the doctor stood over my head -haranguing them. He spoke of the enormity -of the crimes they had committed, and begged -them to consider the moon as a likeness of -their soul and the shadow overcreeping it as -the darkness of sin and death. ‘But presently,’ -said he, ‘that shadow will pass, and -the brightness of the moon will look forth -in splendour, and the sea beneath it will<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241"></a>[241]</span> -smile and rejoice in her light. Be it even -so with you, my brother sinners; pray that -the shadow that is upon you may pass away, -that the light which is within you may purely -shine again.’</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242"></a>[242]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXI<br /> - - -<small>SHE DESCRIBES A STORM</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">But</span> now the storm was approaching, the -moon’s light was growing weak and the stars -over our mastheads dim and spare. The -lightning was incessant; its flashes glanced -into the remotest recesses of the north and -brought out the horizon there in gleams of -sulphur. The hum of the thunder was deep -and ceaseless, with many savage cracks and -rattling peals. I cannot tell what progress -the eclipse had made by this hour; the moon -hung distorted in the sky like a dim silver -shield with its sides hacked, and the night -looked wild with her and the gathering -tempest.</p> - -<p>I heard the commander of the ship address -the doctor, who called to the captains -of the division to march the prisoners below; -and he added that the last of the divisions<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243"></a>[243]</span> -could not be brought up, as sail was to be -reduced and room was wanted. Moreover, in -a very short time the moon would have -vanished. Now followed a lively time. The -prisoners’ inclosure being clear, Mr. Bates, at -the head of the poop-ladder, began to shout out -orders; all hands were on deck and all hands -were wanted. ‘Clew up the royals and furl -them! Down flying and outer jibs and topgallant -staysails! Clew up topgallant sails -and furl them! Main-clewgarnets and let the -sail hang!’ So ran the orders; the lightning -played upon the figures of the seamen as they -trotted aloft; the moon turned a watery, -silvery, oozing, draining through the film of -the advanced shadow of the storm, then -vanished behind a jagged peak of cloud, and -the night-dye sank upon the ocean in deepest -shadow, the deeper for the play of the lightning; -after each flash the blackness thrilled -with the blindness of the vision.</p> - -<p>The women came off the forecastle, and I -entered the cuddy. The steward told me to -turn up the lights, and Captain Barrett and -Lieutenant Chimmo, descending the companion-steps<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244"></a>[244]</span> -at that moment, called for brandy -and seltzer, which I procured for them. The -steward bade me be at hand; if there was a -gale of wind in the storm, I, with the rest of -the ‘idlers,’ would be wanted. I hung about -in the recess, and all the time I wondered -whether the convicts would rise in the morning, -whether their friends amongst the crew -were to be depended upon; whether this -storm of thunder and lightning would work a -change in the prisoners’ intentions by terrifying -them; and I also strove to imagine the -programme that had been concerted, what -part the confederate seamen were to play; -whether the guard would find time to arm -and turn out, and if so, whether the uprising -would not be suppressed by their coolness -and discipline and by the support of the loyal -part of the crew.</p> - -<p>The storm was now overhead; the ship -was clothed in lightning and the thunder was -deafening and frightful. The whole fabric -trembled to every explosion as though the -broadside of a three-decker had been fired -into her. There was no wind. The men had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245"></a>[245]</span> -come from aloft, and the ship stood motionless -and upright under her three topsails, the -courses hanging festooned in their gear. I -crouched in a corner of the recess, amazed -and bewildered. I had always from a child -been frightened of lightning, and here now -was lightning that was like one vast sheet of -flame; the heavens were sheeted with its -blinding blaze; it was so continuous that you -saw the ship as by sunshine; the whole vessel -crackled with sparks and explosions, fireballs -ran down the chain-topsail sheets, played -about the pumps, sparkled and snapped on -the boom-irons at the yardarms, and the sea -that had been silent roared back in echo to -the thunder and spread out in a wide field of -blue light that came and went, sometimes -showing in a leap of light that was as the flash -that it mirrored, then blackening for a breath -or two, during which you saw nothing but -the fireballs running over the ship.</p> - -<p>It rained and hailed suddenly with incredible -fury. The decks smoked; by the -lightning flashes you saw the spray of the -cataractal fall rising like steam to above the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246"></a>[246]</span> -height of a man. Just then the ship was -struck; I heard a crash and splintering on -high, and a great bulb of blue fire fell down -the rigging over the side into the sea, where -it burst like an exploded cannon. The mate -overhead shouted, and the boatswain who was -forward bawled in answer.</p> - -<p>Captain Barrett and the subaltern stood -at the cabin table; they had emptied their -tumblers and put down their cigars, and -looked pale and glanced often up at the -skylight, into which the lightning streamed in -an almost continuous living dazzle. I hung -in the cuddy door for shelter from the smoking -wet; a head showed in the booby-hatch and -cried out: ‘The doctor wants some brandy; -bring down half a tumblerful at once.’ I -ran to the table, took a glass from a swing -tray, and half filled it with brandy. The -steward at that moment coming up through -the steerage-hatch called to me: ‘Hi, you -there! What are you about? Liquoring -up unbeknown instead of being at your -prayers?’</p> - -<p>Lieutenant Chimmo grinned dismally.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247"></a>[247]</span>‘The doctor’s in the barracks and wants -brandy,’ said I.</p> - -<p>‘Curse it, what’s wrong?’ exclaimed Captain -Barrett, and instantly ran to the booby-hatch, -followed by the subaltern.</p> - -<p>‘Get on, then, get on!’ shouted Mr. Stiles, -who had been drinking.</p> - -<p>I ran with the brandy to the hatch, and -seeing nobody to hand it to, descended. The -scene of this interior of bulkheaded steerage -was extraordinary; a lantern burnt dimly, its -light was paled by the electric fires, which -sparkled all over the prison bulkhead as though -the wood was alive with the phosphoric lights -of decay and rot. The bulkhead was studded -with mushroom-headed nails, and every nail -was tipped with fire. The sight was fearful; -I thought the ship was burning. The women -and the children were gathered in a heap in -one corner, holding to one another, as though -the vessel was about to founder; no child -cried; the roar of the thunder seemed to have -frightened the infants into silence.</p> - -<p>A man lay on his back against the prison -door, which was a little way open; the doctor<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248"></a>[248]</span> -bent over him and Captain Barrett and the -subaltern stood close looking down. Such of -the guard as were below were grouped with -the women and children; they seemed dazed. -The prostrate man was a soldier; doubtless -the sentry stationed at the prison door. His -musket, with its fixed bayonet, lay at a little -distance from him, and I saw threads of fire -writhing upon the bayonet.</p> - -<p>‘Here’s the brandy!’ cried Captain Barrett.</p> - -<p>The doctor looked up, and extended his -hand for the glass. This brought me close to -the door, and for a minute or two I had a -clear view of the ’tweendecks prison. The -cage-like barricade at the main-hatch was full -of great nails, and every nail glowed as though -red-hot. I don’t know where the lightning -found entrance. It flashed through the blackness -of this floating dungeon as if half a dozen -hatches lay open to the sky. Wherever there -was iron for the electric fires to catch hold of -a small blue brilliant blaze was burning, inexpressibly -wild and awful to behold. I clearly -saw the whole sweep of the deck—the tiers -of sleeping shelves stretching on either hand,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249"></a>[249]</span> -the tables, the bulkhead of the prison and -whatever else there was of grim and odious -furniture in that interior. Numbers of the -convicts lay motionless upon their faces on -the deck; many crouched in squatting postures, -with their hands to their heads; a few -stood erect, defiant, as though waiting and -heedless of what was next to happen. One of -these, I might be sure, was Tom.</p> - -<p>No imagination could feign the terror -which the figures of the prostrate and crouching -convicts expressed. You needed to witness -the scene, as I did, by the terrific lights -that illuminated the prison and by the ceaseless -glittering of the lightning streaming -through the interior in shocks and explosions -of dazzling light. And the roar of the -thunder heard in this resonant cavity was -more dreadful to listen to than the stupendous -voice of it on deck, whilst a deep and ceaseless -note was added to the detonations by the -Niagara-like fall of hail and rain upon the -echoing planks.</p> - -<p>‘Is he dead, doctor?’ asked Captain -Barrett.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250"></a>[250]</span>‘No,’ said the doctor. ‘Have this door -shut, sir, and let another sentry be posted. -You can leave the brandy and go,’ said he to -me; on which I returned to the cuddy and -stood as before near the doorway.</p> - -<p>I believe this terrible storm had reached -the height of its rage when the ship was -struck. Its fury was now waning, though the -soot in the north continued to vomit sheets -of flame and the thunder-shocks striking the -level of the breathless sea were as the noise -of the rending of mountains. I have heard -of but one such another storm in which a -convict ship bore part. The vessel was the -<i>Earl Grey</i>, with two hundred and sixty-four -prisoners on board. The year was, I believe, -1842, and the ship was bound, as the <i>Childe -Harold</i> was, to Van Diemen’s Land. Dr. -Browning, who was the surgeon-superintendent, -mentions the storm in his account of the -voyage, but he saw nothing of it, owing to his -suffering from an affection of the heart which -obliged him to keep his cabin. This I regret, -as I should have been glad to know how the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251"></a>[251]</span> -prisoners under his charge behaved on that -occasion.</p> - -<p>It was now about a quarter to eleven; the -rain had ceased, but the decks were full of -water, which cascaded continuously into the -calm sea through the scupper-holes. The -captain and his mates kept the poop. I heard -the squelch of their tread as they tramped to -and fro in their sodden boots. Suddenly an -order was shouted, and in a few minutes two -or three men came aft, one of them holding -a lantern. They gathered about the pump -and the second mate left the poop and joined -them. I could not see what they did, but -after a short interval the second mate went -on the poop again, and the men, one of them -swinging the lantern, walked forward.</p> - -<p>A little clock hung under the break of -the poop in the cuddy recess hard by the -soldiers’ arms; a bull’s-eye lamp cast a light -upon its face; this lamp was used for heaving -the log, for writing up the log-slate and the -like, and the clock for keeping the ship’s -bells. A figure came off the poop to see the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252"></a>[252]</span> -time; he was draped in streaming oilskins, -which flashed out to the lightning, but his -face was so muffled by his sou’-wester, that I -looked two or three times before I knew him -to be Will. I was still alone in the cuddy; -Frank and the steward were probably in the -steerage; I took a step or two that carried -me to the door and pronounced Will’s name.</p> - -<p>He drew close and said: ‘What do you -think of this?’</p> - -<p>‘It is awful,’ said I.</p> - -<p>‘It might have been worse than awful!’ -he exclaimed. ‘The ship has been struck! -Luckily, the thunderbolt went overboard. -Had it gone through the bottom we should -have followed it; nothing could have saved -us. But it’s all right with the old hooker; -the well’s just been sounded again and she’s -as dry as a rotten nut.’</p> - -<p>I looked at him eagerly; my heart all at -once grew so full, that I felt I must speak or -shriek out; I set my teeth on my lip and bit -till I tasted blood, and clenched my hands -till my arms stiffened as though I had been -poisoned, whilst I turned my head that he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253"></a>[253]</span> -might not see me. He said: ‘I must be off. -Why don’t you go to bed? There’s nothing -to keep you up. A fine night’ll be coming -along by eight bells and they’ll be making -sail.’ With that he went up the ladder.</p> - -<p>I had barely arrested speech in myself: -but for that supreme effort I should have -warned him, and he would at once have -carried the news to the captain.</p> - -<p>I stood in the door, gazing at the ship -that flashed out and vanished, no longer -scared by the flames and the thunder. I -could think of nothing but what to-morrow -was to bring forth. Men in scores lay below -in the prison quarter, stricken into motionless -logs by fright. Were they and the like -of them capable of a victorious uprising? -And suppose the ship seized, what was to -follow? I dared not think how the convicts -might serve those who were not of them. I -asked myself: If they put Tom in charge of -the ship, what will he do with her, and how -will he act so as to escape from the ruffians -and secure his own liberty? Then I thought -to myself: he is an innocent man now, though<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254"></a>[254]</span> -suffering as a criminal; but if the ship is -seized by the convicts, he’ll be taken as -having helped them, as being one of the two -hundred and thirty, as being the one who -navigated the ship afterwards, and who was -as answerable as any of the rest for all that -happened. He will then be a criminal in -terrible earnest. Indeed, the business might -bring him to the gallows. But then, thought -I, he is a convict now in any case. He cannot -be worse off. He never can—he never would—return -home. Whatever happens cannot -blacken his future. The darkness over which -that lightning is flashing is not deeper. If -the convicts rise, he may escape and get his -liberty, free himself from his felon clothes, -and hide with a changed name in a foreign -country. Oh, cried my heart, God grant that -I may be spared to escape with him wherever -he goes!</p> - -<p>Thus ran my thoughts. After all these -years, I put them dully and coldly; but they -boiled in me then. They were as the electric -fluid itself whilst I stood in the doorway of -that cuddy, mechanically watching the great<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255"></a>[255]</span> -fabric of the ship glancing out green and -violet and yellow to the lights of the storm -over the bow.</p> - -<p>Shortly after eleven the sky cleared in the -south; the clouds rolled away in black masses -into the north, and the moon shone out, and -the sea was again beautiful with her light. -A soft wind blew and the decks grew busy -with the life of seamen’s figures running here -and there, and pulling and dragging and -making sail to the noise of hoarse cries and -choruses. The steward lurched up to me, -and his breath filled the atmosphere around -with a smell of spirits. He said, with a -hiccough: ‘You can turn in.’ So I went -below and lay down, fully clothed, in my -bunk, but not to sleep.</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256"></a>[256]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXII<br /> - - -<small>SHE DESCRIBES THE SEIZURE OF THE SHIP BY -THE CONVICTS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">My</span> head was full of Tom, of that change -into fierceness which I had noticed in his -whispers, and I dwelt upon his sad, wild -saying that I did not know his heart, by -which he meant that his heart had been -transformed by the wrong that had been -done him and by his punishment and sufferings. -Never had I felt madder than when I -thought of him. I put my hands together, -and prayed that if the convicts rose they -would successfully seize the ship.</p> - -<p>My blood was so hot and the heat of the -atmosphere so great that I could not rest. I -opened the porthole and put my face into it -for the coolness of the air, and for a long -while listened to the pleasant, rippling sounds -of the water gently broken, and to the gushing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257"></a>[257]</span> -of water from the decks and the noise -of men’s voices high aloft, and sounding as -though the tones came across the sea. The -moon was on the other side, but the stars -were again plentiful, many meteors sailed in -delicate trails of light, and the sea-line ran -black against the sheet lightning that played -behind it. The dew-laden night-breath fanned -my face and cooled me, and by this time -having thought myself into some composure -of mind I laid my head down and slept.</p> - -<p>I was awakened by Frank; day had broken, -and on looking through the porthole I saw -that it was a fine clear morning, and that the -ocean trembled with the brushing of a small -wind. I might be sure that nothing had as -yet happened; but I was so agitated, felt so -cold and pale, that I expressly lingered, hoping -to rally, till I suddenly heard the vulgar voice -of Mr. Stiles bawling my name, on which I -went out quickly.</p> - -<p>‘Look here, young man,’ cried Mr. Stiles, -‘if you’re a-going to skulk after this here -fashion I shall have to send ye forward with -a message to Mr. Balls. D’ye think I’m<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258"></a>[258]</span> -a-going to do your work?’ And for some -time he continued to abuse me, calling me a -little idle beast of a stowaway, a worthless, -loafing young sojer, and the like. I glanced -at him and perceived that his eyes were inflamed -and his complexion of a strange unwholesome -dye; he had evidently drunk -heavily overnight in his terror, and the fumes -of the drink were still in his head.</p> - -<p>I gave him no heed, but went to my work -as usual, and presently wanting water walked -to the forecastle for a bucketful instead of to -the after-pump, as I wished to see what was -going on forward. I took a bucket from the -rack near the mainmast and went along the -alley; a gang of convicts were scrubbing -the main-deck and waist, and another gang -were washing themselves in a row near the -fore-and-aft barricade. The doctor, who always -rose very early, almost as soon as the -convicts turned out, stood at the quarter-deck -gate looking at the prisoners cleaning -the planks.</p> - -<p>The last man in the line of those who -were washing themselves was Barney Abram;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259"></a>[259]</span> -on catching my eye as he lifted his ugly face -out of the bucket he smiled, winked and -made a singular gesture, the significance of -which I could not gather. His back was -upon the captains or warders, and the look -he gave me was unobserved. I faintly smiled -as if I understood him, though I did not, and -went on to the forecastle.</p> - -<p>The head pump was worked by one or -two ordinary seamen; the others were passing -buckets along to the boatswain and his mates -on the main-deck. I delayed to press forward -and fill my bucket, as I wished to look around -me, and made as though I waited for a -chance, in case I should be watched. The -sun was up; the eastern sky was full of pink -splendour. I saw no clouds, and the light -wind was almost directly aft. The ship floated -along very slowly. I had an eye by this time -for sea-signs and guessed we should have a -calm presently by the glassy appearance of -the horizon. I heard men calling out on -high, and, directing my eyes aloft, perceived -that the main-topgallantmast had been -wrecked to the height of the masthead—that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260"></a>[260]</span> -is to say, the royal yard still lay across, -but the mast had been splintered just above -it and showed a foot or two of ragged fangs.</p> - -<p>One of the seamen near me said that a -hot morning’s job lay before them. Would -they make an all-hand business of sending a -new topgallantmast aloft?</p> - -<p>The other answered: ‘A brimstone hot -job it’s going to be, you take your haffidavy, -matey! All hands or no hands, a bleedin’ -hot job’s afore some of us, roastin’ as the -lightning that’s blasted that spar!’ He -laughed low and spat and wiped his lips on -his wrist.</p> - -<p>I knew the speaker by his voice as one of -the two seamen whose talk I had overheard. -The other stared up at the splintered topgallantmast. -It was clear that he was not in -the secret.</p> - -<p>The sailor’s extraordinary speech left me -in no doubt that the attempt to seize the ship -would be made, and soon. Not a hint of -anything wrong, of anything brewing, was to -be discovered. Never had the ship worn a -quieter, peacefuller face as she floated along<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261"></a>[261]</span> -this morning over the smooth, light blue of -the tropic sea, bathed in the early silver sunshine, -her canvas gleaming like silk, softly -lifting and hollowing, and all right with her -save that splintered masthead. They were -washing down the poop; I saw Will and -others hard at work with their scrubbing-brushes; -a sentry stood at the head of each -ladder, and the captain was now on deck -looking up at the injured mast and talking -about it with the ship’s carpenter. A single -sentry, as heretofore, stood at the quarter-deck -gate, another at the main-hatch door, a -third on the forecastle; thus the decks were -guarded by five armed soldiers, as usual. -Those who were off duty lounged with the -women and a few children near the booby-hatch, -waiting to get their breakfast. The -convict cooks were at work in their galley, -as I might guess from the smoke which blew -from its chimney.</p> - -<p>The fate of the ship was in my hands—her -fate and the lives and fortunes of a crowd -of people! A fierce, wild pride, a wicked -exultation swelled my heart. There was yet<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262"></a>[262]</span> -time! The captain was on the poop; I had -but to measure the length of the deck to -acquaint him with what I knew, and the ship -would be saved. And sooner than speak, I -would have killed myself. The blood would -be on the heads of those who had unjustly -sentenced and made a convict and a broken-hearted, -ruined man of my sweetheart. Whatever -devil had been driven into him was in -me too; what he did I would do; what he -wished would be my law; let the change that -had been worked in him be as frightful as you -please, I would lay down my life that he might -get his liberty and escape the horrors of the -base and degrading term of servitude which -he was to complete in a distant land. Yes, I -could have saved the ship by whispering a -single sentence in the captain’s ear, and had -a knife been put into my hand, and had I -been compelled either to speak or to stab my -heart, I vow to God I would have sheathed -the knife in my breast without an instant’s -hesitation.</p> - -<p>I was not more than five minutes upon -the forecastle. Then drawing a bucket of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263"></a>[263]</span> -water, I went aft. Captain Barrett and Lieutenant -Chimmo, as was their habit in these -sultry latitudes, quitted their cabins in their -dressing-gowns for a bath in the ship’s head. -This refreshing bath they obtained by standing -under the pump, whilst their orderlies, as -I suppose you would call the soldiers who -waited upon them, plied the handle. They -returned in twenty minutes, and disappeared -in their cabins to dress.</p> - -<p>I helped Frank to drape the breakfast-table, -but every instant my eye was going -toward the open door and windows which -overlooked the quarter-deck. My hands -trembled; I frequently let things fall; and -three or four times Mr. Stiles swore at me for -a clumsy young fool and threatened me with -Mr. Balls. Frank asked me what was the -matter, and I told him I supposed my nerves -had been shaken by the storm.</p> - -<p>I think it was about a quarter to eight -when Captain Barrett and the subaltern -emerged from their berths. As they walked -to the companion-steps to go on deck, the -captain and the doctor descended, and the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264"></a>[264]</span> -four came to a stand at the foot of the ladder -and talked. I strained my ear. Their chatter -was of the lightest—the weather, the wrecked -topgallantmast, the soldier who had tumbled -down in a fit and who was now well.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Mr. Masters, who was on the -poop—whether in charge of the watch or not, -I can’t say—put his head into the skylight -and cried out in a voice loud with -terror:</p> - -<p>‘Captain Sutherland, the convicts are -breaking out! Some of our men have -knocked the forecastle sentry down! Quick -on deck! The main-hatch sentry’s over-powered -and the prisoners are pouring up!’</p> - -<p>Just as he spoke a musket was fired—then -a second. Some of the women shrieked. -A third musket was fired. This was followed -by an indescribable roaring noise of groans -and yells, accompanied by the sound of the -tread of many feet. The captain and the -doctor rushed on deck, the two military -officers to their cabins, out of which they -broke again in a twinkling, each man pulling -a pistol out of its case as he ran toward the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265"></a>[265]</span> -companion-way and flinging the case down as -he bounded up the steps.</p> - -<p>‘Here they are!’ shouted the steward, and, -followed by Frank, he fled to the steps which -led to the poop.</p> - -<p>A mass of the convicts were coming -toward the recess where the soldiers’ arms -were. Gaining the steerage hatchway in a -leap or two, I rushed into my cabin, and as I -closed my door and bolted it I heard the -prisoners shouting as they swarmed into the -cuddy. Their footsteps thundered over my -head. I saw myself in the wash-stand looking-glass, -and was as white as milk. I was only -sensible now of the horror that had seized me -at the sight of the faces of the convicts. I -stood with my hand upon my heart, holding -by the side of the upper bunk, breathing fast -and listening. But voices could not pierce -the thickness of the deck-plank. Nothing -took my ear but the confused tread and -shuffling movements of feet overhead like to -what I had heard when I lay in hiding, only -softer because of the carpets.</p> - -<p>A horrid fancy seized me. Shots had been<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266"></a>[266]</span> -fired. Suppose Tom had been wounded or -killed! The handle of the door was violently -tried and the door shaken and beaten upon. -I cried out: ‘Who’s that?’</p> - -<p>‘Will Johnstone! Let me in!’</p> - -<p>I rushed to the door and opened it, and -Will entered. In the time that the door lay -open I heard a great shouting and hoarse -roaring, distant, as though a fierce struggle -were happening on the main-deck, likewise a -single musket-shot. This I heard whilst I let -Will in. He was deadly white; his eyes were -large and strange with a wild stare of horror.</p> - -<p>For some moments he could utter no -words.</p> - -<p>‘Are you hurt?’ I exclaimed.</p> - -<p>‘No, but I have seen—but I have seen—oh, -the bloody villains! One stabbed Chimmo -in the throat, and they threw him overboard -alive. He levelled his pistol and shot a man. -He was mad to do it. He stood no chance. -They wrenched the musket out of a sentry’s -hand and bayoneted him and tossed him into -the sea, alive like the subaltern.’</p> - -<p>Horror overcame the poor fellow. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267"></a>[267]</span> -memory of the shocking sights seemed to -paralyse him; his jaw moved, but he ceased -to speak. I was horror-stricken too, but not -as he, for he had beheld what he described. -But impatience was rending my heart; I could -not give him time.</p> - -<p>‘Have you seen Tom?’</p> - -<p>He answered with a nod.</p> - -<p>‘Is he safe?’</p> - -<p>The poor lad dryly swallowed and wiped -his blanched lips and said huskily: ‘Yes; he -told me to run to this cabin and keep with -you. He’ll be here soon. He stays to save -Mr. Bates’s life.’</p> - -<p>‘The convicts will not hurt us,’ said I. -‘Tom stipulated for our safety.’</p> - -<p>‘I guessed that,’ he exclaimed. ‘When -they rushed upon the poop they struck out -and stabbed to right and left of them, but -none offered to hurt me. Butler stood on -the ladder where the sentry had been -bayoneted.’</p> - -<p>‘He didn’t do it?’ I shrieked.</p> - -<p>‘No; it was a young convict with a -purple face, who kept yelling like a madman.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268"></a>[268]</span> -Butler stood on the ladder and shouted to -me, and I ran to him. He put his arm round -my neck and said: “Will, it’s a bloody business. -I could have stopped it by peaching, -but they would have killed me; and what -was to become of Marian?” A line of convicts -was drawn across the quarter-deck, and they -saw Butler with his arm round my neck. -He told me that he had seen you run into the -steerage and that I should find you in your -cabin.’</p> - -<p>He was now beginning to breathe with -more freedom, and something of the dreadful, -staring look was passing out of his eyes. He -listened and then said: ‘They’ll not hurt us. -Butler seems to have authority. Did he plan -this frightful business?’</p> - -<p>‘No, but he would not hinder it. Why -should he? He’s an innocent man, and must -have his liberty. Let those who swore his -freedom away, who sentenced him, who have -ruined our lives and made him what he is, be -responsible for this.’</p> - -<p>‘It couldn’t have happened,’ he exclaimed, -‘but for our men. Many of them are as vile<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269"></a>[269]</span> -as the worst of the convicts. I was on the -poop and saw it all, and it was as quickly -done as letting go a topsail-halliards. The -prisoners’ messmen massed themselves as usual -past the main-hatch at breakfast-time; I -noticed some of our sailors loafing near the -convicts’ galley within leap of the main-hatch -sentry. I also saw a cluster of seamen standing -close in the way of the forecastle sentry’s -walk. I heard a loud shout; I’ll swear it was -the prize-fighter’s voice. In an instant the -forecastle sentry was knocked down by the -seamen; the main-hatch sentry was seized -from behind and disarmed by the sailors who -rushed from the convicts’ galley. The messmen -threw down their breakfast utensils as a -sort of second signal; I watched and saw it -all, Marian; quicker than I can talk the convicts -on deck made for the quarter-deck -barricade-gate, and fast as water pours -through a scupper-hole the prisoners came -streaming up out of their quarters. The -quarter-deck sentry levelled his piece and -fired, and a convict dropped. The convicts -forced the gate; the sentry bayoneted the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270"></a>[270]</span> -first of them and was then knocked down; -his musket was wrested from him, and a -brutal ruffian beat his head in with the stock -as the poor fellow lay on his back. The -poop sentries fired at the convicts as they -burst through the barrier, but in a few -moments the prisoners got possession of the -arms in the recess and swarmed up by either -ladder. Oh, it was a splendid, maddening, -frightful sight to see those two soldiers, one -at each ladder, holding the steps against the -yelling mob until one was beaten down and -killed as I have told you!’</p> - -<p>‘Hark to the noise overhead!’ I cried. -‘The cuddy is full of men!’</p> - -<p>Through the open porthole came faintly, -like voices at a distance across the water, -sounds of the shouting on deck. The wind -had dropped. A sheet calm had fallen. -Through the cabin window I saw the sea -stretching to its dim, hot confines in a vast -spread of soft silver blue, with scarce a -breathing of swell to stir the ship.</p> - -<p>‘What have they done with the captain?’ -I asked.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271"></a>[271]</span>‘As I ran to join Butler, a crowd of convicts -gathered round the captain and doctor, -as though to force them off the poop. I don’t -think they hurt them.’</p> - -<p>I asked some other questions. He had -rallied, and now talked with something of -composure.</p> - -<p>‘Hush!’ cried he suddenly. ‘There are -people outside.’</p> - -<p>The door of the cabin next mine was -beaten. Mine was then hammered on.</p> - -<p>‘Are you there, Johnstone?’</p> - -<p>It was Tom, and in a heart-beat I threw -open the door. Beside him stood Mr. Bates, -the chief officer of the ship. On my showing -myself, Tom extended his arms and gathered -me to his breast and held me tight. I broke -into a little passion of sobs, but shed no -tears.</p> - -<p>‘You are free,’ I cried, drawing from him -and grasping his hands and looking into his -dear eyes.</p> - -<p>‘Not yet! Not yet!’ he answered -hoarsely, as though his voice had been -strained by shouting. ‘But, dear heart, we<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272"></a>[272]</span> -are together and may talk together now. Mr. -Bates, step in.’</p> - -<p>They were alone. He shut the door when -the mate entered.</p> - -<p>‘This is Marian Johnstone, the lady I was -to have married, the lady who accompanied -me on board this ship in the East India Docks. -She followed me into this accursed vessel and, -herself a woman of wealth and a lady by -birth, has waited at your table, stooped to -the vile drudgery of the cuddy, worked like -a convict, associated with men no better than -convicts, that she might be in sympathy with -me in my degradation. May she find a reward!’ -he cried, raising his hands and speaking -in a broken voice. ‘Do you stare, Mr. -Bates? Why, yes, to be sure; she was a boy -and a cabin bottle-washer to your habit of -thought down to a minute ago. But the -secret of her sex is yours. This is her cousin, -Will. Sir, on your honour, this lady is still a -boy amongst us, and you know nothing. Consider -our company. Give me your hand -upon it.’</p> - -<p>Mr. Bates extended his hand, and Tom<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273"></a>[273]</span> -grasped it. The mate was a man of a somewhat -slow turn of mind. He looked at me -hard whilst he retained his grasp of my sweetheart’s -hand, and said: ‘I have been thinking -as much for some time. There never was a -boy with your skin and eyes. Butler’s a -lucky man!’</p> - -<p>‘A wronged man!’ I cried.</p> - -<p>‘I said so when I read the papers, and -I’ve been saying it ever since aboard this -ship, as you know, Johnstone.’</p> - -<p>‘She shipped as Simon Marlowe,’ said -Tom, ‘and so she remains—that’s understood. -Mr. Bates, you stop here with her and Johnstone. -I’ll bring Abram and others presently. -The wolves are tearing the cuddy to pieces in -their rage to eat and drink. No man’ll harm -you as my friend. You three are my friends—friends!’ -he cried, and again he took me -in his arms and held me to him, then passionately -broke away and said, speaking fast -and harshly and with a fierceness I had -noticed in his whispers: ‘They’ll not hurt -you! The devils are helpless without me.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274"></a>[274]</span> -There’s not a navigator amongst them. It -was concerted I was to take charge, and I do -so on my own terms.’</p> - -<p>‘What have they done with the captain?’ -cried Mr. Bates.</p> - -<p>‘He’s in the prisoners’ quarters along with -the doctor and Captain Barrett and the survivors -of the guard. I fear the bad part of -your sailors more than the convicts. There -must be no bloodshed. But let them yell and -roar. Give the mad spirits of the brutes time -to languish. They have their liberty, but it -is not the liberty of the shore, and they’ll not -know what to do with it presently when they -sober down and look around. Marian, my -brave heart!’ For the third time he pressed -me to him and stepped out, bidding us leave -the door unbolted and to stay till he returned.</p> - -<p>His face was white, hard and wild; his -manner that of one who is full of rage and -whose struggle to command it fills his eyes -with the light of madness. Mr. Bates gazed -at me when the door closed upon my sweetheart, -and, plunging his hands in his pockets, -said: ‘I owe him my life. He locked me in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275"></a>[275]</span> -my cabin, and a number of the convicts were -forcing the door when he thrust through and -brought me out. He shouted: “Men, I have -three friends; two are youngsters below, this -is the third. You know our compact. You -know who this man is. You have seen him -often enough. He is an old shipmate of mine -and a friend, and if a hair of his is harmed, -you sail the ship yourselves.” The cuddy was -full of convicts; but there fell a silence whilst -he roared this out. He has a noble voice. -He put his arm through mine and walked me -to the hatch. The devils fell away from me -and started shouting on other matters, as -though I was out of it and concerned them no -longer. He saved my life. They’ve killed -poor Masters. They would have killed me.’</p> - -<p>‘Is the second mate dead?’ gasped Will.</p> - -<p>‘Butler told me so. Masters showed fight -when they killed the sentry and rushed on to -the poop, and he was cut down. So Butler -told me as we came here. The convicts got -hold of the soldiers’ arms, and it was all done -out of hand. And what’s to become of the -ship?’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276"></a>[276]</span>‘What will they do with the captain and -the doctor?’ said Will.</p> - -<p>‘How many have been killed?’ I asked.</p> - -<p>‘Three convicts were dropped by the sentries,’ -answered Will. ‘Suppose them dead. -Then two soldiers. Then the lieutenant and -Mr. Masters. The tally’ll run to near half a -score, sir,’ said he, looking at the mate.</p> - -<p>‘And you’re a cousin of this lady?’ said -Mr. Bates.</p> - -<p>‘I’m no lady on board this ship. Pray -take heed, sir!’ I cried.</p> - -<p>‘She has nothing to do with this business!’ -cried my cousin. ‘She was afraid of losing -sight of Captain Butler if she followed him in -another ship.’</p> - -<p>The poor man durst not ask questions, for -fear of offending me.</p> - -<p>‘What noise is that?’ cried Will.</p> - -<p>I heard a kind of pounding, like the stroke -of a pump or the hitting of timber. Mr. Bates -put his head out of the door to listen. A -dull, confused tumult of voices came down -the hatch—wild cries as of mad or drunken -delight; but I seemed to catch a level note<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277"></a>[277]</span> -in the hubbub, and supposed that the first -delirium and wild-beast-like transports were -passing.</p> - -<p>Mr. Bates was about to shut the door, -when he was arrested by a noise of rushing -feet. He looked out, and said: ‘Here’s a -mob of convicts streaming into the steerage!’</p> - -<p>I pushed past him and took the door-handle -from his grasp, opened the door wide, -and stood in the way. The convicts were -abreast of me in a moment, twenty or thirty -of them. They shouted as they ran, using -language which has gone from my memory. -I guessed they had come to sack the cabins -down here, from the nature of their shouts -one to another; but they roared so hoarsely, -their oaths were so plentiful and unintelligible, -their speech so hard to understand, some -of them being of the provinces, that I could -only conjecture their designs. My voice, -though contralto, was piercing and clear. I -cried out: ‘Do you know who we are?’</p> - -<p>‘Ain’t they Butler’s lot?’ shouted one of -them.</p> - -<p>‘Yes, the three of us,’ I cried. ‘He’ll be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278"></a>[278]</span> -here in a moment, along with Barney Abram. -We’re keeping out of the muddle above till -you’ve found out who’s your friends.’</p> - -<p>‘It’s the spunky young devil as jawed the -doctor,’ said a voice.</p> - -<p>‘This is my cabin,’ said I. ‘There’s nothing -to take in it. But what’s your friend’s, -he keeps, don’t he? Look here! I’ve been -with you, if not of you, and tasted every joy -of yours but your irons, curse them!’ and -with a swaggering, bouncing, rollicking manner -I sprang to my bunk and pulled out the -convict mattress and pillow and flung them -on the deck. ‘No. 240,’ I cried, pointing, -and forcing a shout of laughter.</p> - -<p>Some of the convicts echoed that insane -burst of merriment. Their laughter was -hideous with its note of raw hoarseness.</p> - -<p>‘What’s that bundle there?’ cried one -of them, a heavy-jawed, low-browed ruffian.</p> - -<p>‘Skins and yacks and dummies is it, my -bulger? Where’s your pal?’ cried another -man.</p> - -<p>‘Show out! Show out!’ roared a third -voice.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279"></a>[279]</span>‘It’s woman’s clothes. Look and then let -them be,’ I cried, still preserving my bouncing, -dare-devil air.</p> - -<p>They were elbowing in; the atmosphere -was sickening with the fellows’ warm, hard -breathing. Many of them, I judged, had got -at the cuddy stock of liquor. Will and the -mate stood side by side in a corner. Never -shall I forget the show of faces that confronted -me; men with broken noses; one -with a hare-lip; one with a diabolical squint. -Some were gray, two or three a flaming red. -But the features and colour counted for nothing; -their looks were devilish and horrible, -and the prevailing expression an infuriate -triumph of the basest spirits, inflamed by -drink and animated yet by the brutal and -maddening lust of plunder.</p> - -<p>At this instant I heard Tom’s voice at the -back of the crowd. He cried out: ‘Is this -fair? Is this how their promises are to be -kept? What have they done? Abram, help -me to clear this cabin.’</p> - -<p>The rearmost of the convicts were violently -twisted out of the doorway; as Tom forced<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_280"></a>[280]</span> -his way in, the fellows reeled to the thrust of -his elbows. Abram was shouting: ‘Out, you -cub! A bargid’s a bargid. You’ve no right -here!’ And whilst he shouted he lay about -him, and some of the men absolutely flew -before the prodigious thrust of his arm, -tumbling others down as they bounded, until -perhaps a dozen of the felons lay sprawling -in the passage outside the cabin door, cursing, -roaring, laughing and filling the place with -the infernal din of a madhouse.</p> - -<p>‘Is it all right with you, Marlowe?’ cried -Tom passionately.</p> - -<p>‘All right,’ I answered, ‘and right also -with our two friends.’</p> - -<p>‘Dow look here!’ exclaimed Barney -Abram, whom I did not instantly recognise, -for he had removed his convict clothes and -wore a long pea-coat, cap and trousers belonging -to Captain Sutherland. ‘Look here!’ -he exclaimed, addressing the convicts, who -stood in a crowd at the cabin door. ‘Our -agreebet with Butler was that his two yug -freds was to be let alode. It was probised. -Why dote you keep your word? D’ye dow<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281"></a>[281]</span> -where y’ are? You’re at sea, and there’s dot -a bad you cad trust the ship to but Butler,’ -and here he put his immense hand upon Tom’s -shoulder. ‘There’s a third party he’s asked -our kideness for. He shall have it. We owe -hib do grudge. The chief bate of this ship’s -always beed a quiet bad. Did ady bad ever -hear hib slig a hard word at a prisoder? He’s -Butler’s fred, ad that’s edough. Butler’s our -fred, ad’ll carry you in safety to where you -bay scatter. Ate that what you want?’</p> - -<p>‘We never came ’ere to ’urt ’em,’ said one -of the convicts.</p> - -<p>‘D’ye know them now?’ shouted Tom. -‘Look, and tell all hands of you, fore and aft, -that these three are my friends and are not to -be molested. If they are not well used by -you all, if the smallest injury befalls them -through any one of you, I instantly chuck the -job of navigating the ship. You may threaten -me; you may torture me; you may hang me. -I’ll fling the navigating instruments overboard, -and leave the ship to drown you on a lee -shore or to run foul of an English man-of-war.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282"></a>[282]</span>I cannot express the savageness with -which he spoke; the hatred and contempt -with which he surveyed the crowd of ugly -rascals.</p> - -<p>‘That’s plaid English! Are you satisfied?’ -cried Barney Abram, clapping his hands on -his thighs and stooping and howling his words -at them.</p> - -<p>‘Come along, bullies! No use wasting -time here!’ cried a voice.</p> - -<p>In a moment the convicts broke away. -They burst into the cabin next door and filled -the pantry, and I heard them laughing and -yelling as they flung the food they found at one -another and dashed the crockery against the -bulkhead. Tom shut the door.</p> - -<p>‘Ad ’ow are you, yug gentlebud?’ said -Abram, offering me his hand. ‘So the doctor -wadted to bake be your pal, eh? He preaches -a good serbud,’ he added, shutting one eye -and looking at Mr. Bates. ‘What d’ye thik -of this, sir, for a piece of orgadisatiod? Is it -prettily badaged?’</p> - -<p>‘It is grandly managed,’ said I, answering -for the mate, who seemed incapable of speech,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_283"></a>[283]</span> -and who stood staring at the repulsive, massive, -small-poxed face and wonderful figure of -the prize-fighter with looks of dread and -aversion. ‘You, Mr. Abram, will have been -the genius of this splendid stroke.’</p> - -<p>‘I thik I bay claib to ’ave ’ad a small ’ad -in it,’ he answered, with an indescribable -smirk of self-complacency, as he gazed at -Tom.</p> - -<p>‘Hark at those brutes outside!’ cried my -sweetheart. ‘There’ll be no navigation, -there’ll be nothing to be done with the ship -if those hell-hounds are not to be brought -under some sort of government.’</p> - -<p>‘You bust let theb howl it out of thebselves. -They’ve got at the drik and that’s -dot going to quiet ’eb,’ said Abram. ‘Perhaps -sub of theb will be jubping overboard presedly, -or going for each other with the soldiers’ -sballarbs; we’re rather duberous.’</p> - -<p>He spoke with a great affectation of gentility -and superiority. At any other time -I should have burst into a fit of laughter at -the fellow’s grotesque, genteel air, coupled -with the indescribable leering smirk of self-complacency<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_284"></a>[284]</span> -that was fixed upon his pitted -face.</p> - -<p>‘Captain Butler, what use can you make -of me?’ said Mr. Bates, finding his voice on a -sudden. ‘I owe you my life, and I want to -prove myself grateful, and I want to show -myself grateful for Mr. Abram’s friendship -and protection.’</p> - -<p>‘Let Mr. Bates go and take charge of the -deck,’ said Tom, looking at Abram.</p> - -<p>Abram, with a cunning grin, shook his -head. ‘Trust the ship to wud of her bates! -Reckon that he’s going to steer you to the -port agreed upod for our dispersal? He’ll -wait upod you!’ said Abram.</p> - -<p>‘The ship must be watched,’ said Tom. -‘Suppose a squall should burst down upon -us! Suppose something with paddle-wheels -and a white pennant flying should heave into -sight!’ he added with an oath which I had -never before heard in his mouth, and looking -Abram fiercely in the face as he spoke. ‘How -am I to teach these wretches common-sense? -The ship must be watched!’ he shouted. -‘Am I to be your only man? Is it to be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_285"></a>[285]</span> -a twenty-four-hours’ look-out with me day -after day until I bring you in sight of the -land we agree to make? Bates, you are -still first mate of this ship under me. You -won’t go wrong. You’ll have no chance. -I’d blow out the brains of any man who’d -imperil the liberty I’ve regained this morning!’</p> - -<p>His eyes flashed, his face filled with blood, -he took a step and put his arms round my -neck and stood so, scarcely sensible, it seemed -to me, of what he did.</p> - -<p>‘I’ll back you, Tom!’ said I. ‘The liberty -you’ve this day got you’ll keep.’</p> - -<p>Abram burst out laughing. I felt, and -was amazed to feel Tom’s influence over this -ruffian.</p> - -<p>‘Your little fred’s got the spu’k, Butler,’ -said he. ‘A bugful of it wouldn’t hurt that -lad there,’ he continued, nodding at Will.</p> - -<p>‘He is my cousin,’ said I. ‘Don’t question -his courage. He’s fresh from seeing men -butchered and thrown alive overboard. You -are the greatest fighter in all England, with -the finest endurance and pluck of any man<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_286"></a>[286]</span> -that ever entered a ring; therefore, Mr. -Abram, you have a soft heart. Courage -and kindness go hand in hand. Bear with -that lad. He is horror-stricken.’</p> - -<p>‘Do deed for such sedsatiods, by warbler,’ -said the prize-fighter, grinning with gratification -and stepping up to Will. ‘Give us your -arb. I’ll take yours, Bates. Dow let’s step -od deck. I wadt air ad a drink.’</p> -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_287"></a>[287]</span> - -<h2 class="nobreak">CHAPTER XXXIII<br /> - - -<small>SHE DESCRIBES THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE -CONVICTS</small></h2> -</div> - -<p><span class="smcap">On</span> their going out, Tom shut the door and -locked it, then, catching me in his arms, -called me by twenty caressing words and -kissed and blessed me for my love and devotion. -I cried and lost my self-control, and -some time elapsed before we were composed -enough to talk. He then spoke of the <i>Arab -Chief</i>, and told me again how the conspiracy -against him had been contrived. His face -blackened and he turned motionless with -wrath when he mentioned Rotch and the -other. I see him now after he had said: -‘Marian, I swear by and before the great and -just and merciful God of Heaven that I am -as guiltless of the crime for which I am here -as you, and that Rotch and Nodder——’ -Then he stopped. He stood without a stir,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_288"></a>[288]</span> -his face blackened, and his eyes became enlarged -and fixed. Nothing moved but his -lips, which convulsively opened and shut. His -expression was one of horror and dreadful -rage.</p> - -<p>I was terrified, and threw my arms round -his neck and kissed him. He fetched two or -three deep sighs, and picked his convict cap -out of the upper bunk and fanned himself -with it. He then quickly rallied, but turned -as deadly pale as his looks had before been -black and terrible, and held me by the hand -a minute, watching me with a smile of heart-moving -sadness. ‘But God will not suffer it! -But God will not suffer it!’ he muttered -brokenly; and a minute later, in a collected -voice, he talked to me of his sufferings in the -London jails, of what he had endured on -board the hulk and in the dockyard.</p> - -<p>I strove to bring him away from these -maddening memories by speaking of myself, -but I presently saw it did him good to let -loose his thoughts.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, a second mob of convicts, -attracted by the noise below, had come down<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_289"></a>[289]</span> -into the steerage and were swelling the chorus -of yells and oaths which the felons were roaring -out. I heard a frequent splintering of -wood, as though drawers and doors and -lockers were being forced and smashed. The -ruffians’ object, unless it were diabolic wantonness, -I could not imagine; the cabins -there were few. One was full of some kind -of stores; then there was the pantry; the -other berths were empty; maybe the villains -beat and splintered the woodwork and did -what injury they could with the tools they -handled out of rage and spite at being baulked -in their hunt for booty.</p> - -<p>‘Do they mean to wreck the ship?’ said I. -‘Are they men or beasts? Listen to them!’</p> - -<p>‘They’re beasts! Don’t I know! But -why do they shout and roar? After the long -discipline of silence, I could roar myself. It -has made a devil of me.’</p> - -<p>‘What you are, I am,’ said I.</p> - -<p>He shook his head passionately, and said: -‘My business will be to get out of this ship -with you quickly. They trust me, and their -trust will be my opportunity. How long<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_290"></a>[290]</span> -should I keep you in this ship of demons? -There’s Bates and there’s young Johnstone. -I have a scheme. The three of us are -sailors.’</p> - -<p>‘Are the convicts without any chiefs, -without any head they are willing to own? -If there’s no discipline, what must happen? -They’ll get at the liquor; they’ll eat and -waste the provisions; they’ll knock the ship -to pieces and sink her. Is that the wretches’ -idea of liberty?’</p> - -<p>‘There are heads; Abram’s one. There -are others I needn’t name. I’m supposed to -be one, as taking charge of the ship. They’ll -fall into some sort of order by-and-by. Many -of them are not wholly beasts, and they’ll -understand for their lives’ sake what’s wanted -and what must be done. Marian, I had no -hand in this business. They asked me if I’d -navigate the ship if the prisoners seized her. -I said yes, and that that would be my share -in the outbreak. I’d do no more; I’d have -no man’s blood upon my head. If they seized -the ship, good and well; I’d navigate her to -any agreed part of the world. Understand<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_291"></a>[291]</span> -me, Marian, I am accountable for no life that -has been lost to-day. What is that bundle?’</p> - -<p>I explained.</p> - -<p>‘The clothes may prove useful,’ said he. -He pointed to the convict’s mattress on deck -and said, ‘Has that been your bed?’</p> - -<p>‘Yes, dear.’</p> - -<p>He tossed his hands and looked at me -with a face of sorrow and love, then put the -parcel into my bunk and the mattress on top -of it.</p> - -<p>‘They’ll give me the captain’s cabin,’ said -he, ‘and you must be near me. I couldn’t -rest to think of you sleeping down here. The -men’ll be filling these cabins; they’ll sleep in -bowlines over the side sooner than occupy the -prisoners’ quarters, though many of them’ll -have to live down there all the same. Come -with me on deck. I must see what’s doing.’</p> - -<p>‘Be careful how you address me, Tom. -I must be thought a boy whilst I am in this -ship.’</p> - -<p>We went out, and he locked the door after -him and gave me the key. He shouted to the -convicts, some of whom seemed to be dancing,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_292"></a>[292]</span> -others playing at leap-frog, whilst others -again ran in and out of the pantry and cabins -hallooing like madmen: ‘Let no man enter -that berth! My friend occupies it, and that’s -enough!’ He then passed his arm through -mine, and we walked to the steps of the hatch -that led into the cuddy.</p> - -<p>I never could have imagined such a scene -as this interior presented. Most of the tall, -thin sheets of looking-glass had been shivered. -The doors of the cabins lay open, and the -decks were covered with the tossed and tumbled -contents of rifled drawers, lockers, and -boxes. The convicts had found good booty -in these cabins. Here had slept the captain, -the two mates, the military officers, and the -surgeon-superintendent, and one or two spare -berths aft had been filled with certain valuable -consignments to Sydney, to which port the -ship was to have proceeded after discharging -her cargo of criminals at Hobart Town.</p> - -<p>The place was crowded with the felons. -They stood two and three deep at the table, -which, as you will remember, I and my associate -had prepared for breakfast. One of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_293"></a>[293]</span> -aftermost berths had been used as a cabin -larder; here the prisoners had found plenty -to eat and drink. The table was strewn with -tins of meat, pots of preserves, bottles of beer, -biscuits, bones of ham, and so forth. The -fellows bawled to one another to pass this and -that; to hand the ale along; to sling that -bottle of sherry across. They knocked the -heads off the bottles and, after emptying them, -threw them on the deck.</p> - -<p>The drink had mounted into the heads of -many, and the din of their shouts, songs, and -laughter, their filthy language and hideous -raillery, would have drowned the noise of a -thunderstorm. Here and there lay portions -of convicts’ clothes torn into shreds. Many -of the felons were dressed in plundered -apparel. A man at the foot of the table wore -the doctor’s naval coat; others the clothes -which had belonged to Lieutenant Chimmo -and Captain Barrett. A few had attired -themselves in the uniforms of these officers, -one in a tunic, another in the trousers, a third -in a military cloak. One fellow who ran past -us had the subaltern’s sword strapped to his hip.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_294"></a>[294]</span>‘Which was the captain’s cabin?’ said -Tom.</p> - -<p>We looked into it; it had been sacked -like the rest; the lockers opened and the -contents looted; the lid of a large sea-chest -was smashed as though by a chopper; but -they had left the nautical instruments alone, -perhaps guessing their importance. The -chronometers were safe; there were sextants -in their cases on a shelf; the nautical books -of reference were untouched; but the charts -had been emptied out of their bags, as though -the convicts supposed more was to be found -inside them than rolls of paper.</p> - -<p>We stepped on to the main-deck. The -barricades had been beaten down, and the -decks were covered with chips and fragments -of timber. I now understood what had occasioned -the pounding noise I had heard. A -dreadful stain of blood marked the spot where -the quarter-deck sentry had been felled. A -couple of convicts stood with muskets and -fixed bayonets at the main-hatch. Some food -and bottles of beer were beside them, and -they drank and ate, and chatted in harsh<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_295"></a>[295]</span> -syllables. The doors and barricade arrangements -here had been demolished. Gratings -covered the hatch. The cage-like bars which -descended to the lower-deck, with the doorway -to admit of the passage of but one man -at a time, still remained. I supposed that -the door in the steerage bulkhead was secured -and guarded.</p> - -<p>Thirty or forty convicts lingered about -this part of the ship. They seemed the quietest -portion of the vile rabble. They hung in -groups or marched up and down in little -gangs. Some were dressed in the clothes of -the soldiers. Others, again, wore the jackets -and coats of the seamen and soldiers. It was -clear that the forecastle and barracks had -been stormed and plundered, though possibly -the chests of the loyal portion of the crew -only had been rifled.</p> - -<p>I looked about me for the sailors, and -counted five or six talking to a little crowd -of convicts near the ship’s galley. I saw -nothing of Mr. Balls nor the other petty -officers of the vessel. Tom said he supposed -they had been driven below with the orderly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_296"></a>[296]</span> -part of the crew and were in the prisoners’ -quarters together with the captain, the doctor, -Captain Barrett, the survivors of the guard, -the women, and others.</p> - -<p>There might have been fifty or sixty convicts -upon the poop. I spied Will standing -beside a convict right aft. I took the man to -be a convict until I had stared awhile, and -then I saw it was Mr. Bates, the chief mate, -who had evidently been forced to change -clothes with a felon. Will, however, was -dressed as usual. The wheel was deserted. -The calm was profound; the sea flat and -sheeting into the dim, hot distance like a surface -of quicksilver. The sun was now high -and pouring in splendour into the vast mirror -of the deep, and his light was stinging with -heat, early as the hour yet was.</p> - -<p>A convict, flushed with drink, reeled up -to me and shouted: ‘Here’s one that ain’t of -us! Change clothes, my beauty! Off with -them duds!’ and he pulled at his own coat in -a drunken, wrestling way to remove it.</p> - -<p>Tom took him by the throat, and, running -him backward until he was abreast of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_297"></a>[297]</span> -convicts’ galley, flung him into the door with -a bitter curse, and the fellow fell with a -crash. My sweetheart shouted to the mob of -convicts who stood near the ship’s galley with -the sailors:</p> - -<p>‘Keep that drunken ruffian off me or I -shall kill him! D’ye know my compact? If -this lad is touched or hurt’—and he stepped -back to put his hand on my shoulder, whilst -he roared out these words in a voice of fury—‘you -shall sail the ship amongst you! -You shall run her ashore and drown every -mother’s son aboard! You shall run her into -a man-of-war, and find as many gibbets as you -have necks!’</p> - -<p>As he spoke, the drunken convict staggered -out of the galley with blood on his face -from his nose: he cursed wildly and incoherently, -and was approaching Tom in a -fighting posture.</p> - -<p>‘It’s all right, Butler,’ bawled a felon, ‘get -away aft to your quarters and look to the -ship!’</p> - -<p>‘It’s time!’ cried a seaman, and as this -was said three of the convicts sprang upon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_298"></a>[298]</span> -the drunken convict and thrust him back into -the galley.</p> - -<p>‘Lie there!’ roared one of them. ‘Seizing -the ship ain’t getting our liberty, curse you!’</p> - -<p>Tom took my arm and we went toward -the poop. I was terribly frightened. I shuddered -and trembled, and said: ‘Where shall -I find some convicts’ clothes? Think if I -should be forced to change when you were -not by to stop it!’</p> - -<p>He halted at the foot of the poop-ladder -and said: ‘Put this on and give me yours,’ -and pulled off his convict coat. It was large -and loose, and a more effectual disguise than -Will’s serge jacket or my monkey-coat. It -was Will’s serge that I handed Tom. He -found it small and tossed it to a young -convict who stood grinning at us whilst we -changed coats.</p> - -<p>‘I’ll find clothes when I want them,’ said -he, and I followed him up the ladder.</p> - -<p>There were several stains of blood about -the poop-deck. The sight made me ill. Tom -saw the sickness in my face and exclaimed:<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_299"></a>[299]</span> -‘The heat is too much for you. Go aft to -your cousin; I’ll join you in a minute.’ He -then, standing at the brass rail, shouted: ‘Aft, -a couple of hands, and spread the awning; -and lay aft a hand to the wheel! Do you -hear?’</p> - -<p>Strained as his voice had been by previous -exertion, it still rang clear and high, and went -through the ship with the carrying note of a -bell. I paused when he shouted, and took -notice that the convicts on the poop, who -were as fairly orderly as the fellows in the -waist, looked pleased on hearing him utter -this command.</p> - -<p>He followed me, and we joined Mr. Bates -and Will. Despite my sickness, I found a -difficulty in holding my face when I viewed -Mr. Bates dressed as a convict. He immediately -said, addressing me: ‘I see they have -figged you out, also, but not to the heels, as -I am. A fellow laid hold of me, though -Abram had my arm with Johnstone on -t’other side to let the gentry see that we were -friends. Abram said: “Change with him.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_300"></a>[300]</span> -You’ll be safer in that dress and they’ll like -you the better in it.”’</p> - -<p>‘He’s right,’ said Tom.</p> - -<p>Two sailors came aft to loose the little -awning; a third man approached the wheel. -He looked hard at Mr. Bates and burst into -a laugh. The mate wisely turned his back -upon him to conceal his temper, and held his -peace.</p> - -<p>It was no moment then to resent an insult, -though this scoundrel seaman had been in -Mr. Bates’s watch since the beginning of the -voyage, and, with the rest of the sailors, had -always been well used by him. Tom stepped -up to the fellow and exclaimed in a tone of -severity that made the man shrink: ‘I suppose -that you know I am the commander of -this ship now?’</p> - -<p>‘Yes, sir.’</p> - -<p>‘And I suppose you know that you are an -infernal mutineer?’</p> - -<p>The man stared at him in a hang-dog -way; he was the fellow who had spoken on -the forecastle that morning about the roasting -job which lay before them.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_301"></a>[301]</span>‘My command,’ continued Tom, hissing -his speech into the sailor’s face, ‘gives me unlimited -power, and if I insist upon your being -hanged, up you go! Mr. Bates is second in -command, and he is your chief mate still. -Laugh again if you dare!’</p> - -<p>He lingered to stare at the man, who -shuffled, spat, looked uneasily around him, -but made no reply.</p> - -<p>‘Bear a hand with that awning, then,’ -shouted my sweetheart to the two seamen. -‘Larking, Jephson, Simmonds,’ he cried, addressing -some of a knot of convicts who -stood looking at the sailors, ‘help those two -loafers, will ye? Show ’em what to do, and -how it may be done quickly. We’ve been -having our training, boys,’ he added, with a -great violent laugh, ‘whilst those chaps have -been a-bed sucking their pipes.’</p> - -<p>Three of the convicts sprang to his orders, -as sailors would to the command of an officer. -I caught Mr. Bates staring at Tom with -amazement and admiration. Just then Barney -Abram, dressed in Captain Sutherland’s -clothes, the brass button on either side the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_302"></a>[302]</span> -naval peak of his cap glittering in the sun, -came out of a group of eight or ten of the -felons, who had been earnestly and soberly -talking abreast of the foremost quarter-boat, -and walked up to us.</p> - -<p>‘Dow, Butler,’ he said, ‘we wa’t your -advice. The idea was to se’d the fellows -below adrift. But can we spare the boats?’</p> - -<p>The others of the select crew he had been -talking to followed him and came about us. -The crowd was quickly swelled; before Tom -could fairly answer, the whole of the convicts -on the poop were swarming aft to the -wheel, near which we stood, to hear what was -said.</p> - -<p>Tom, standing erect, folded his arms upon -his convict shirt and, gazing fixedly at the -prize-fighter, said: ‘I’ll not counsel you. I -accept no responsibility where life is concerned. -That was understood.’</p> - -<p>‘You cad give us ad idea?’</p> - -<p>Tom shook his head. ‘You have put this -ship into my hands and I’ll carry her where -you will,’ said he. ‘I’ve got no ideas outside -that.’</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_303"></a>[303]</span>I heard some murmurs as of grumbling, -and some of the ugly faces looked savage.</p> - -<p>‘You may growl as you please,’ said Tom, -running his eyes angrily along the crowd of -felons. ‘I’ve agreed to undertake as much -as you have a right to expect. In agreeing -to take charge, I convert myself into head -criminal aboard you here; and of you all, I’m -the surest to be hanged if we’re taken. Act -as you please. Do what you like. My part’s -big enough, isn’t it?’</p> - -<p>‘Yar might just answer a question!’ -exclaimed a convict.</p> - -<p>‘You want to turn the people below -adrift,’ said Tom to Abram. ‘Do so.’</p> - -<p>Mr. Bates looked at the sultry, breathless -expanse of ocean; I caught his eye and -witnessed horror and consternation in it.</p> - -<p>‘How bany boats are we to give ’eb?’ -said Abram.</p> - -<p>‘Reckon the number of people, then find -out the carrying capacity of the long-boat and -quarter-boats. See that they are plentifully -watered and provisioned. Give ’em a sextant -and charts, sails, oars, and rudders; let them<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_304"></a>[304]</span> -be wanting in nothing. It may tell for us, -Abram. That’s all I mean to say—the rest -you can do for yourselves.’</p> - -<p>Whilst Tom spoke, the prize-fighter’s -dead-black, fiery eyes were fixed upon Mr. -Bates; his pock-marked face wore its habitual -sardonic, leering, self-complacent expression.</p> - -<p>‘Is it understood,’ said he, ‘that Bates is -to help you to sail this ship?’</p> - -<p>‘Certainly. I must have help. I’ve told -you I can’t stand a twenty-four-hours’ watch. -I ask for no better sailor to help me than -Bates.’</p> - -<p>‘He was one of the ship’s officers, and -we’ll hold you responsible for his behaviour -if you employ him,’ said one of the convicts, -a tall, thin, gray-haired man, delicate, with -something of refinement in his face, speaking -with an educated accent.</p> - -<p>‘Parsons, I can’t navigate this ship alone. -I suppose you know that,’ said Tom, with -heat.</p> - -<p>‘We shall want to feel when we’ve turned -in that we’re being honestly steered,’ answered -the convict.</p> - - - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_305"></a>[305]</span>(Tom afterward told me that this man had -been a surgeon in a fair way of practice in a -London suburb, and had been sentenced to -transportation for life for arson.)</p> - -<p>‘What do you know about the sea?’ cried -my sweetheart, with the utmost scorn. -‘Abram, I can endure sensible opposition, -but this sort of jaw is swinish. My neck’ll -fit a halter as well as his,’ he added, pointing -to Parsons; ‘but my life is more precious, -certainly, for you’d not miss him if he dropped -overboard; but let me go, and if this gentleman,’ -and here he clapped Bates upon the -shoulder, ‘refused to stand by you, and carry -you to an agreed part of the world, I’d give -you a week to be dismasted, to be pumping -for your lives, to be in the utmost extremity. -Have you sought your liberty to end as puffed -and green carcasses a hundred fathoms deep -over the side if the sharks let you plumb that -depth?’</p> - -<p>‘There’s too buch talk,’ said Barney -Abram. ‘Is every bad to be baster? Butler’s -the agreed captid. He chooses Bates to -help hib. Bates he shall have, ad to prove<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_306"></a>[306]</span> -that we trust hib he shall give directions for -getting the boat over and sedding the prisoders -adrift. Cub along, sir, and give us the -pleasure of hearing you sig out.’</p> - -<p>He passed his giant arm through the poor -mate’s and walked off with him in the direction -of the main-deck. The convicts followed -to a man, talking eagerly and tumultuously -as they pressed forward in the wake of the -two. I said softly, that the fellow at the -wheel might not hear me: ‘They seem afraid -of you, Tom.’</p> - -<p>‘I am one of them,’ he answered, bitterly. -‘They are not afraid of me. But the thoughtful -amongst them know they are helpless -without me, and the other wretches are influenced -by the few who can think.’</p> - -<p> </p> -<p class="center">END OF THE SECOND VOLUME</p> - -<p> </p> -<p class="center"><small> -PRINTED BY<br /> -SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE<br /> -LONDON</small></p> - - - -<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i313.jpg" alt="" /></div> - - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<div class="transnote"> -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="ph2">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> -</div> - - -<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> - -<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> - -<p>The cover image for this eBook was created by the transcriber and is entered into the public domain.</p> -</div> -<div style='display:block;margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CONVICT SHIP, VOLUME 2 (OF 3) ***</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This file should be named 64114-h.htm or 64114-h.zip</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0;'>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in https://www.gutenberg.org/6/4/1/1/64114/</div> -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block;margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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