Chapter 15

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_ CHAPTER FIFTEEN

My convalescence--Julius Caesar befriends me--We pass the Cape de Verde Islands--Our hopes of a change of diet disappear--My turn at last--A severe discipline--Captain Longfleet--"Please, sir, I couldn't help it"--"There goes the baby and his nurse"--Caesar's sympathy--How I owed my life to Tom Trivett--Bad food--"It makes me sick to cook it"--The deputation to the captain--The discontent increases among the crew--Crossing the line--"What ship is that?"--We receive a visit from Daddy Neptune and his court--Rough play, and what it might have come to.

I intended to take the advice of my friend and not get well too soon, but in reality there was no malingering in the case, for I remained too low and weak to get out of my bed.

Tom Trivett all the time, having given up his berth to me, slept in a far more uncomfortable bunk right forward, but never uttered a word of complaint, or tried to induce me to turn out. His was true Samaritan charity, and I was grateful to him. He even, I knew, tried to influence the rest of the crew for good, but did not succeed. They let him alone, which was all he could expect of them. The third mate, who knew I was there, never came near me to inquire how I was getting on.

Mark paid me a visit whenever he could venture to do so, and brought me my food when Tom was on duty.

The only other man who was kind to me was Julius Caesar, the black cook, and he frequently sent me wholesome messes which he had concocted for my special benefit; but he had to charge Mark and Tom not to let the other men see them, lest they should be gobbled up on their way. Mark told me this, for Julius Caesar himself never came to have a look at me.

"If I come, den dey say I friend of his--it worse for him."

Both Mark and Caesar slept in the larboard berth, so that they had no business in the one I occupied.

I should explain that the space under the topgallant forecastle was divided by a bulkhead running fore and aft into parts forming separate cabins, one called the starboard, and the other the larboard berths, with bunks built up on both sides, one above another, or rather, in two stories, to explain myself better.

In moderate weather they were tolerably comfortable, but with the sun beating down on the deck they were fearfully hot. In a gale of wind, as the seas dashed against the bows or she pitched into them, the noise and movement were tremendous. However, to that I in time got accustomed.

Sometimes the decks and upper works leaked, and the water coming in wetted the clothes and bedding. However, in other respects they were better than the forepeak in a flush-decked ship, which is generally close and hot, full of horrible odours, and totally destitute of ventilation, and often wet into the bargain, from unseen leaks which are not of sufficient consequence to trouble the officers, as they do not affect the safety of the ship.

At length, one day Tom told me that we were within sight of the Cape de Verde Islands, at which he believed the captain intended to call. He was very glad, he said, of this, as he hoped to be able to get me a supply of oranges and limes, which he thought would do me more good than anything else.

The very name of fruit made my mouth water, and I thought I would give a great deal just to have one good suck at an orange. Great was my disappointment, therefore, when shortly afterwards Mark came in, and said that a strong north-easterly wind had sprung up, and that we were standing away from the islands, but that the captain, he believed, intended to put into Rio de Janeiro.

"I must wait patiently till we get there," I said. "I hope it won't take us long."

"We have to pass through the horse latitudes, and to cross the line first, and Rio is some way to the south of that, so I'm afraid you must suck your fingers instead of oranges," he answered.

I was now rapidly getting better, and I began to pine for fresh air and exercise.

"You'll be wiser to stay where you are, Master Dick," said Mark. "No one believes that you're a gentleman's son, and if they did I'm very sure it would make very little difference. I should, perhaps, benefit by your getting about, as you would have all the dirty work to do which now falls to my lot. It's only surprising that the captain has allowed you to remain so long in the berth, for he knows that you're aboard, though he takes no notice of you. Still I'd advise you, as long as you can, to stay where you are."

I had not long the opportunity. Two days afterwards the third mate came into the berth with a short, knotted rope in his hand.

"Come, youngster, you have been long enough malingering here," he exclaimed; "I find the cook has been serving out no end of good grub to you, and you've done nothing for it. We don't want idlers aboard the 'Emu;' show a leg there pretty smartly."

I attempted to rise. Tom had washed and dried my clothes. I got hold of my trousers, and slipt my legs into them. When I attempted to stand upright, my knees gave way and down I sank. At the same moment the mate's colt descended on my back. I was taken so completely by surprise that I shrieked out with pain. I tried to lift myself up by the supports of the bunk, and succeeded in getting on my feet.

"I thought I'd cure you. Do you want another dose of this rope?"

"Oh! No, sir! No, sir! Don't! I'll dress as fast as I can," I called out.

The moment I let go I felt that I must slip down again. Still the fear of another lash made me exert myself in a way I could not otherwise have done, and I tried very hard to put on my waistcoat and jacket, and to tie my handkerchief, by sitting down on a lower bunk.

"Now, come along!" said the mate; "the captain wants to speak to you."

I attempted to walk, but as I tottered on my knees again failed me, and I should have fallen had not the mate caught me by the shoulders and dragged me along the deck.

It was a severe discipline, but it was effective, for the air and the necessity of moving quickly brought back strength to my limbs, and by the time I reached the quarterdeck I was able to keep my feet, though I should have fallen had not the mate still held me.

We there found the captain pacing to and fro. On turning he stopped when he saw me.

"Is this the young stowaway, Mr Huggins?" he asked, eyeing me very sternly. "What business had you to come aboard, boy, without leave?"

"Please, sir, I couldn't help it," I said, and I told him that when merely intending to look round the ship I had fallen into the hold.

"A likely story, youngster, which I don't intend to believe. You came on board to please yourself, and now you'll learn to please me, and do the work you're set to do."

"I'll do my best, sir," I answered, for I saw he was not a man to be trifled with; "but I am not fit for much at present."

"You contrived to live down in the hold in an extraordinary manner--how did you manage it?"

I told him in a few words.

"Another likely story," he remarked. "In other words, you stole the ship's provisions as long as you could get at them, or you had an accomplice who kept you fed--he'll be made to smart for it."

On hearing this, I began to tremble for the consequences to Mark. Though the captain didn't mention his name, I guessed that he pointed at him. I was much inclined to say who I was, and to speak of Mr Butterfield, but shame prevented me, and the captain made no inquiries on the subject.

"Now go forward," he said; "look out sharp, get back your strength, and make yourself useful."

He turned on his heel, not deigning to hold any further conversation with so insignificant a person as he considered me.

The mate let me go. I tried to walk, but staggered like a drunken man, and could only just manage to reach the side, and catch hold of a belaying-pin. I remained there until the captain turned round, when, afraid of his looks, I once more set off to make my way along the deck, the mate taking no trouble to help me, while the crew jeered and laughed at me; till Tom Trivett, who had been at work on the other side, crossing over, took my arm and led me along to the forehatch, where he bade me sit down.

"There goes the baby and his nurse," said one of the men.

"Tom will be getting him some pap presently," said another--at which they laughed in chorus.

The third mate, seeing Tom standing over me, ordered him back to his work. Mark made an attempt to join me, but was sent to perform some task or other, and I was left alone and forlorn to endure the gibes of my hardhearted shipmates.

Caesar, however, came out of his caboose, and whispered as he passed--

"Neber you mind, Dick, as long dey only use der tongue."

He grinned and pointed with his finger, so that the rest fancied that he was only mocking me as they were.

Notwithstanding this, the fresh air and the necessity of exerting myself did me good, and after I had taken some food that Caesar brought me when the men went into their berth to dinner, I felt quite another creature.

At nightfall I was allowed to slink into my bunk, of which Tom still refused to deprive me.

"I'm very well where I am. I'm accustomed to it, and you are not, Dick," he said, when I begged him to let me change places.

The next day I was still better, and after this I rapidly recovered my strength, notwithstanding the cuffs and kicks and rope's-endings I frequently received, and the hard work I had to perform.

My clothes were soon again as dirty as they were when I came out of the hold, and torn and tattered besides.

"Never mind, Dick," said Tom; "I'll rig you out in a suit of mine, which I'll cut down to suit you when we get into colder latitudes. It doesn't much matter about having old clothes now the weather is so hot."

Mark regretted that he could not help me, as he had only the clothes he stood up in, which would have been almost as bad as my own had they not been of stronger material, and thus held out better.

Though the rest of the crew ill-treated Mark and me, and Tom also when they had the chance, the captain and officers tyrannised over them in the most brutal fashion. It was no unusual occurrence for the first mate to heave a handspike at one of the men when he did not go about his work in a way to please him, and both captain and mates swore at the men on all occasions in the most fearful way.

At first I was horrified, but in time I got as much accustomed to it as they were, and was only thankful that the oaths were not accompanied by a rope's-ending.

All this time the discipline was really very slack, and the men behaved to each other as they pleased, and never failed to neglect their duty whenever the mates' eyes were off them. Still they resented, notwithstanding, the treatment they received, growling fiercely, if not loudly, when the quality of their provisions had begun to fall off. At first the food had been pretty good, but it now became worse and worse, and the men swore that they would stand it no longer. At last, when some rancid pork had been served out with musty peas and weevilly biscuits, the men went aft in a body, headed by the boatswain, Sass Jowler, and Growles, who were deputed to be spokesmen, to the quarterdeck, where the captain was walking.

"I axes you, Captain Longfleet, whether you think this ere stuff is fit food for British seamen?" said the boatswain, holding up a piece of the pork at the end of a two-pronged fork.

"It makes um sick to cook it," said Caesar, who was standing behind the rest.

"And I wants to know, in the name of the crew, whether this 'ere biscuit as is all alive with maggots, is the stuff we poor fellows forward should be made to put into our mouths?" cried Growles.

"What's that you're talking about, you mutinous rascals?" cried the captain; "stop a bit, and I'll answer you."

Saying this, he sprang back into the cabin, and while the men stood staring at the door without advancing, he reappeared with a pistol in the one hand and a cutlass in the other. I observed that he had a second pistol in his belt.

"You know I never miss my aim, you scoundrels. The first man that utters a word on the subject I'll shoot through the head. The food's good enough for better men than you, so be off forward, and let this be the last time I hear any complaint. If not, look out for squalls."

The men stood irresolute, and no one liked to run the chance of having a pistol-bullet sent through his head.

"Are you going, you villains?" thundered the captain, pointing his pistol at the boatswain.

He used a good many other stronger expletives, which need not be repeated.

The boatswain was a bold fellow, but his courage gave way, and he stepped back. The others, overawed by the determined manner of the captain, imitated the example of their leader, knowing that the pistol might be turned towards any one who stood his ground, and together they retreated forward, tumbling over each other in their endeavour to put as wide a distance as possible between themselves and their now furious commander.

For my part, I felt a greater amount of respect for him than I had ever done before. His eye did not for a moment quail, his arm appeared as firm as iron. Had he shown the slightest hesitation, the men, in the temper they were in, would have been upon him, and he would have lost his authority.

Mark and I remained at one side of the deck, where we happened to be at the time. Tom Trivett had not come aft, having refused to take any part in the affair, whereby he gained still greater ill-will than before from his shipmates.

The discontent which had thus shown itself, though kept down for a time, was by no means quelled. We had to eat the food, bad as it was, though perhaps not altogether as bad as the samples exhibited to the captain.

The third mate came forward much oftener than before, and tried hard to win back the men into something like good-humour, but his efforts were unavailing.

"You see, Mr Simmons, as how we poor fellows have got to work hard, and except we gets good grub we can't do it," I heard the boatswain remark in an insinuating tone; "it's very hard lines for us to have to eat rancid pork and weevilly bread, when we knows well enough that the captain and mates has good grub in the cabin. Share and share alike, and we sha'n't complain. But we must abide by it till the ship gets into harbour, and then we suppose that the captain will be getting good stores aboard and will serve out fresh meat and vegetables."

"Oh! Of course he'll do that," said Mr Simmons, pleased, as he thought, at having brought the men to reason. "You know Captain Longfleet is a just man, though he's a determined one, and won't stand nonsense. Everything will go well, I hope, by-and-by."

I should have observed that our boatswain held a very different position among the crew to that occupied by a warrant officer on board a man-of-war. He was merely one of the men, and was so called from certain duties he had to perform, and was a sort of link between the officers and the crew.

We were now in the tropics. When there was a breeze the heat was supportable enough, but when it fell calm we could scarcely bear our clothes on, and went about in shirts and trousers, with bare feet, and were glad to have the opportunity of getting into the shade. The pitch boiled up out of the seams, and old Growles declared that he could cook a beefsteak on the capstan-head, if he only had a beefsteak to cook.

The heat did not improve the temper of the men, and the ship became to Mark and me a regular hell afloat. Matters were almost as bad with Tom Trivett, but he could hold his own better than we could.

One day Mark came to me.

"I say, Dick," he exclaimed--a common fate had made us equal, and he had long ago dropped the master--"I've been hearing that to-morrow we're to cross the line. I wonder what sort of place we shall get into on t'other side; as far as I can make out, it's a kind of bar, and those who go over it for the first time have to pay toll to old Daddy Neptune, who is coming aboard to collect his dues."

I was surprised that Mark had never heard of the line, and so I tried to explain to him what it was. As to Neptune coming on board, I knew that that was all nonsense, and so I told him.

During that evening and the next morning some of the men were busily engaged in their berth, into which they allowed no one but themselves to enter.

Soon after noon the captain, having taken his observations, gave notice that we were about to cross the line. Mark and I had been sent aft, when we heard a voice hail as if from under the bows.

"What ship is that?"

"The 'Emu,'" answered the captain, who with the officers was standing on the poop.

"Where did you come from, and for what port are you bound?" asked the voice.

"From Liverpool, and we're bound to Rio and round Cape Horn," answered the captain.

"All right, Captain Longfleet; with your leave my wife and I will pay you a visit and bring some of our children and attendants, and if you have any youngsters who have not crossed the line before, we shall have a word to say to them."

"You're welcome, Father Neptune, for I suppose no one else would be desirous of giving me a call out in these seas."

It was amusing to observe Mark's look of astonishment when immediately afterwards a party of grotesque figures appeared clambering over the bows. The first was an old fellow with a long white beard, a gold paper crown on his head, and a sceptre in his hand, and dressed in a flowing robe painted all over with curious devices. With him came a huge woman, also wearing a crown and garments of many colours, a necklace of huge beads and a couple of clasp-knives hanging down from either side of her face to serve as ear-rings; another figure followed them equally curiously dressed, with a basin under one arm, a pair of sailmaker's shears hanging round his neck, and a piece of rusty hoop shaped like a razor in his hand. A fourth person, tall and gaunt, was seen in a cocked-hat, a thick cane in one hand, and a box of pills of large proportions in the other. Following them came a party of monsters in green dresses with long tails, and heads covered by oakum wigs.

The captain, wishing to humour the men, shouted out--

"Glad to see your majesty on board my ship. You're welcome to come aft and look out for any of those whose acquaintance you have not before made."

On this the whole gang came tramping aft. Mark and I saw that their eyes were fixed upon us. We had no place to fly to but up the mizen rigging. We made the attempt, but were quickly caught by some of the monsters, who managed to climb up in spite of their tails.

The barber had in the meantime placed a huge tub on the deck, and a couple of small casks. On these we were compelled to sit down, when he immediately with a paint-brush began to daub our faces over with the contents of a bucket of grease. He then drew out his razor, and scraped us in the most cruel fashion, taking off the skin at every stroke.

The doctor in the meanwhile, with mock solemnity, felt our pulses, and then observing that we were terribly sick, crammed one of the boluses out of his box into our mouths, and forced it down with his tarry finger.

"A bath would do them good," he growled out.

We were seized, and soused head over heels in a tub till we were well-nigh drowned. In vain we struggled and shrieked. Every time we opened our mouths the barber shoved his brush into them, and the monsters then ducked our heads under water to wash them out, as they said.

More dead than alive we were at last allowed to go, but had scarcely strength left to crawl away.

Tom Trivett was next dragged aft, though he declared that he had often crossed the line. Daddy Neptune refused, however, to believe him, protesting that he had never seen his face in those parts before. Though he fought bravely he was overpowered, and was even worse treated than we had been, the monsters, aided by the doctor and barber and Mrs Neptune, holding his arms and legs.

The captain and officers all the time in no way interfered, but seemed to enjoy the cruel sport. They wished, indeed, to allow the sailors to take their full fling according to their barbarous fancies.

Mark and I, seeing how our friend was treated, attempted to go to his rescue, but we had better have remained quiet, both for his sake and our own, for we were cuffed and kicked even worse than before, and with difficulty again made our escape.

A double allowance of grog was served out, which made the men even more savage than before; and when they were tired of ill-treating us they took to rough play among themselves. Daddy Neptune's crown was torn off, his sceptre broken in two, his wife was despoiled of her finery; the doctor's hat and spectacles shared the same fate; he was made to swallow his own pills, and the barber had his brush nearly shoved down his throat.

They would have come to serious blows had not the captain ordered them to knock off and return to their duty. The mates, with boats' stretchers in their hands, had to rush in among them before they could be induced to desist. Not until a breeze sprang up, and they were ordered aloft to make sail, were they brought into anything like order.

For days afterwards Mark and I limped about the deck, with aching heads and sore faces, and Tom Trivett could with difficulty get through his duty.

This relaxation of discipline had no good effect on the men. They still grumbled and growled as much as ever at every meal over the food served out to them. _

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