Chapter 5. I Make The Acquaintance Of One Of My New Messmates

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_ CHAPTER FIVE. I MAKE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF ONE OF MY NEW MESSMATES.

I was in much better spirits when I rejoined my uncle than when I had been led below by Mr Saunders. I found him standing with the captain on the main-deck, they having just come out of the cabin.

"I should like to take a turn round the ship before we leave her, in case I should be unable to pay you another visit," said the major. "I wish to brush up my recollections of what a frigate is like."

"Come along then," answered the captain, and he led the way along the deck.

As we got forward, we heard loud roars of laughter and clapping of hands. The cause was very evident, for there was Larry in the midst of a group of seamen, dancing an Irish jig to the tune of one of his most rollicksome songs.

"Stop a bit, my boys, and I'll show you what real music is like," he exclaimed after he had finished the song. "Wait till I get my fiddle among yer, and I'll make it squeak louder thin a score of peacocks or a dozen of sucking pigs;" and he then began again singing--

"A broth of a boy was young Daniel O'Shane,
As he danced with the maidens of fair Derrynane."

Then he went on jigging away, to the great delight of his audience,--no one observing the captain or us.

It was very evident that Larry had without loss of time made himself at home among his new shipmates. They treated him much as they would have treated a young bear, or any other pet animal they might have obtained. I had expected to find him looking somewhat forlorn and downcast among so many strangers; but in reality, I ought to have trusted an Irish boy of his degree to make friends wherever he goes.

"I think we may leave your follower where he is, as, should you not require his services, he is much more likely to be kept out of mischief here than he would be ashore," said the captain to the major.

To this my uncle agreed. We had got some way along the deck when I felt a touch on my shoulder, and turning round, saw Larry's countenance grinning from ear to ear.

"Shure they're broths of boys these sailor fellows, and I'm mighty plaised to be among them; but, Maisther Terence dear, I have a favour to ask you. Would you tell the captain that I'd be mightily obliged to him if he would let me go back to Cork for my fiddle. I left it at the inn, and if I had it now I'd set all the boys on board a-jigging, with the captain and officers into the bargain."

I told him that as the captain thought it better he should remain on board, I could not ask leave for him to go on shore; but I promised that if I had an opportunity, I would send him his violin at once, or if not, would be careful to bring it myself.

"You'll not be long then, Maisther Terence; for the boys here are mighty eager to hear me play."

Assuring him how glad I was to find that he was happy, I advised him to go back to his new friends again, promising not to forget his violin.

We had come on board on the larboard side; we now went to the starboard. On each side of the gangway stood several officers and midshipmen, while on the accommodation-ladder were arranged two lines of boys. The captain's own gig was waiting for us, manned by eight smart seamen, their oars in the air. The captain himself descended, returning the salutes of the officers and men. I followed my uncle, who was treated with a similar mark of respect; but as I thought a portion was intended for me, and wishing to act in the politest way possible, I took off my hat altogether, and made several most polite bows. I had a suspicion, however, from the expression on the countenances of the midshipmen, with the suppressed titter among them, together with the grin on the faces of the men and boys, that I was doing something not altogether according to custom. Perhaps, I thought to myself, I hadn't bowed low enough, so I turned, now to my right, now to my left, and, not seeing where I was going to, should have pitched right down the ladder had not one of the men standing there caught my arm, bidding me as he did so to keep my hat on my head.

In my eagerness to get into the boat I made a spring, and should have leapt right over into the water had not another friendly hand caught me and forced me down by the side of the major.

The captain, taking the white yoke-lines, gave the order to shove off; the boat's head swung away from the side of the frigate; the oars fell with their blades flat on the water; and we began to glide rapidly up the harbour, propelled by the sturdy arms of the crew. I felt very proud as I looked at the captain in his cocked hat and laced coat, and at the midshipman who accompanied him, in a bran new uniform, though, to be sure, there wasn't much of him to look at, for he was a mere mite of a fellow.

Had I not discovered that my own costume was not according to rule, I should have considered it a much more elegant one than his. After some time, the captain observing, I fancy, that I looked rather dull, having no one to talk to, said something to the midshipman, who immediately came and sat by me.

"Well, Paddy, how do you like coming to sea?" he asked in a good-natured tone.

"I've not yet formed an opinion," I answered.

"True, my boy; Cork harbour is not the Atlantic," he remarked. "We may chance to see the waves running mountains high when we get there, and all the things tumbling about like shuttlecocks."

"I'll be content to wait until I see that same to form an opinion," I answered. "As I've come to sea, I shall be glad to witness whatever takes place there."

"You're not to be caught, I perceive," he said. "Well, Paddy, and how do you like your name?"

"Faith, I'm grateful to you and my other messmates for giving it," I answered. "I'm not ashamed of the name, and I hope to have the opportunity of making it known far and wide some day or other; and now may I ask you what's your name, for I haven't had the pleasure of hearing it."

"Thomas Pim," he answered.

"Come, that's short enough, anyhow," I observed.

"Yes; but when I first came aboard, the mess declared it was too long, so they cut off the 'h' and the 'as' and 'm' and called me Tom Pi; but even then they were not content, for they further docked it of its fair proportions, and decided that I was to be named Topi, though generally I'm called simply Pi."

"Do you mind it?" I asked.

"Not a bit," he answered. "It suits my size, I confess; for, to tell you the truth, I'm older than I look, and have been three years at sea."

"I thought you had only just joined," I remarked, for my companion was, as I have just said, a very little fellow, scarcely reaching up to my shoulder. On examining his countenance more minutely, I observed that it had a somewhat old look.

"Though I'm little I'm good, and not ashamed of my size or my name either," he said. "When bigger men are knocked over, I've a chance of escaping. I can stow myself away where others can't get in their legs; and when I go aloft or take a run on shore, I've less weight to carry,-- so has the steed I ride. When I go with others to hire horses, I generally manage to get the best from the stable-keeper."

"Yes, I see that you have many advantages over bigger fellows," I said.

"I'm perfectly contented with myself now I've found that out, but I confess that at first I didn't like being laughed at and having remarks made about my name and my size. I have grown slightly since then, and no one observes now that I'm an especially little fellow."

Tom spoke for some time on the same subject.

"I say, Paddy Finn, I hope you and I will be friends," he continued. "I've heard that you Irishmen are frequently quarrelsome, but I hope you won't quarrel with me, or, for your own sake, with any of the rest of the mess. You'll gain nothing by it, as they would all turn against you to put you down."

"No fear of that," I replied, "always provided that they say nothing insulting of Ireland, or of my family or friends, or of the opinions I may hold, or take liberties which I don't like, or do anything which I consider unbecoming gentlemen."

"You leave a pretty wide door open," remarked Tom; "but, as I said before, if you don't keep the peace it will be the worse for you."

We were all this time proceeding at a rapid rate up the stream, between its wooded and picturesque banks. On arriving at Cork, the captain wished the major good-bye, saying that I must be on board again within three days, which would allow me ample time to get a proper uniform made.

I asked Tom Pim what he was going to do with himself, and proposed that, after I had been measured by the tailor, we should take a stroll together.

"Do you think the captain brought me up here for my pleasure?" he said. "I have to stay by the boat while he's on shore, to see that the men don't run away. Why, if I didn't keep my eye on them, they'd be off like shots, and drunk as fiddlers by the time the captain came back."

"I'm sorry you can't come," I said. "By the bye, talking of fiddlers, will you mind taking a fiddle on board to the boy who came with me,-- Larry Harrigan? I promised to send it to him, though I didn't expect so soon to have the opportunity."

"With the greatest pleasure in the world," said Tom Pim. "Perhaps I may take a scrape on it myself. When I was a little fellow, I learned to play it."

"You must have been a very little fellow," I couldn't help remarking, though Tom didn't mind it.

As our inn was not far off, I asked my uncle to let me run on and get the fiddle, and take it down to the boat. As I carried it along, I heard people making various remarks, evidently showing that they took me for a musician or stage-player, which made me more than ever anxious to get out of a costume which I had once been so proud of wearing. Having delivered the violin in its case to Tom Pim, who promised to convey it to Larry, I rejoined my uncle.

We proceeded at once to the tailor recommended by Captain Macnamara, who, having a pattern, promised to finish my uniform in time, and to supply all the other articles I required. We spent the few days we were in Cork in visiting some old friends of the major's.

I was very anxious about the non-appearance of my chest, but the night before I was to go on board, to my great satisfaction, it arrived.

"It's a good big one, at all events," I thought; "it will hold all the things I want, and some curiosities I hope to bring back from foreign parts."

It was capable of doing so, for although it might have been somewhat smaller than the one in which the bride who never got out again hid away, it was of magnificent proportions, solid as oak and iron clamps could make it; it was big enough to hold half-a-dozen of my smaller brothers and sisters, who used to stow themselves away in it when playing hide-and-seek about the house.

Soon after the chest arrived the tailor brought my uniform.

It certainly was a contrast to the comical suit I had hitherto been wearing. I put it on with infinite satisfaction, and girded to my side a new dirk, which my uncle had given me, instead of my grandfather's old sword. The latter, however, my uncle recommended me to take on board.

"You may want it, Terence, maybe on some cutting-out expedition," he said; "and you'll remember that it belonged to your ancestors, and make it do its duty."

As the chest was already full, I had a difficulty in stowing away the things the tailor had brought. I therefore began to unpack it while he was waiting, and I observed that he cast a look of supreme contempt on most of the articles it contained. He even ventured to suggest that he should be allowed to replace them with others which he could supply.

"The boy has enough and to spare, and I should like to know how many of them will find their way back to Cork," said my uncle.

Some of them I found, on consideration, that I should be as well without. Among other things were a pair of thick brogues, which Molly the cook had put in to keep my feet from the wet deck, and a huge cake; this, though, I guessed would not be sneered at in the mess, and would travel just as well outside. At length I found room for everything I required, and the chest was once more locked and corded.

I don't believe I slept a wink that night with thinking of what I should do when I got on board the frigate. It was a satisfaction to remember that the ice had been broken, and that I should not appear as a perfect stranger amongst my messmates. I already knew Tom Pim, and he had told me the names of several others, among whom were those of Jack Nettleship the old mate and caterer of the mess, Dick Sinnet the senior midshipman, Sims the purser's clerk, and Donald McPherson the assistant-surgeon. The others I could not remember. The lieutenants, he said, were very nice fellows, though they had their peculiarities. None of the officers were Irishmen, consequently I had been dubbed Paddy. _

Read next: Chapter 6. I Commence My Naval Career

Read previous: Chapter 4. My First Day On Board

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