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Jack at Sea, a novel by George Manville Fenn |
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Chapter 7. First Sniffs Of The Briny |
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_ CHAPTER SEVEN. FIRST SNIFFS OF THE BRINY. "He's beginning, Meadows," said the doctor, as they sat together in their room at the hotel, waiting for the guests of the evening. "Think so?" said Sir John sadly. "Of course I do," cried the doctor. "But it's very pitiful to see a lad of his years shrinking like a timid girl, and changing colour whenever he is spoken to. He seems to have no spirit at all." "He has though, and plenty, only it's crusted over, and can't get out; I noticed a dozen good signs to-day." "A dozen?" said Sir John. "Well, more or less. Don't ask me to be mathematical. You'll want to know the aliquot parts next," said the doctor snappishly. "I see you want your dinner," said Sir John, with a smile. "I do--horribly. This sea-air makes me feel ravenous. But, as I was going to say, there were abundant signs of the change beginning. He's ashamed of his--his--" "Well, say it--cowardice," said Sir John sadly. "Yes, poor fellow! he is ashamed of it, as I well know." "But he can't help it, weak and unstrung as he is. It will come all right, only let's get him out of his misery, as we used to call it. Get him to make his first plunge, and he'll soon begin to swim. Did you see what a brave fight he made of it over and over again to-day? There, I'm sure we're right; and, my word, what a chance over this yacht." "Yes, it would have been folly to hesitate." "But it's going to cost you a pretty penny, my friend." "I do not grudge it, Instow, if we can bring him back well. We'll be off as soon as I can get the preliminaries settled." "These things don't take long when a man has the money." "Hush!" said Sir John; "here he is. Don't say anything to upset him." Jack came in, looking sad and dispirited. "Ah, Jack, my boy, ready for dinner?" "No, father." "Hah! chance for the doctor," cried that gentleman merrily. "Let me administer an appetiser." "No, no, Doctor Instow; I'm sure it would do no good." "Wait till you hear what it is, O man of wisdom, and be more modest. You don't know everything yet. Now then: prescription--take a walk as far as the kitchen door, wait till it is opened, and then take four sniffs quickly, and come back. That will give you an appetite, my boy, if you want one; but I don't believe you do, for you have a lean and hungry look, as Shakespeare calls it. It's the sea-air, Jack; I'm savage." "Some one coming," said Sir John, and a minute later the waiter showed in the two guests. Jack did not notice it himself, but others did: he ate about twice as much as he was accustomed to, and all the while, after looking upon the dinner and the visitors as being an infliction, he found himself listening attentively to Captain Bradleigh, who was set going by a few questions from the doctor, and proved to be full of observation. "Oh no," he said, "I'm no naturalist, but I can't help noticing different things when I am at sea, and ashore, and if they're fresh to me, I don't forget them. Let me say now, though, Sir John Meadows, how glad I am that you will buy the yacht and go on this cruise. The lads are half wild with excitement, for we've all been, as the Irishmen call it, spoiling for something to do. It has seemed to be clean and polish for no purpose, but I told them they ought to feel very glad to have had the yacht in such a state. I trust, Sir John, that you will never have cause to regret this day's work." "I have no fear," said that gentleman. "I shall be glad, though, as soon as you receive notice of the transfer to me, if you will do everything possible toward getting ready for sea." "Getting ready for sea, sir? She is ready for sea. Fresh water on board, coal-bunkers full. Nothing wanted but the provisions--salt, preserved, and fresh--to be seen to, and that would take very little time. As soon as you have done your business with the owner, send me my orders, and there'll be no time lost, I promise you." Jack bent over his plate, and was very silent, but he revived and became attentive when the doctor changed the subject, and began to question the captain about some of his experiences, many of which he related in a simple, modest way which spoke for its truth. "I suppose," said Sir John merrily, after glancing at his son, "you have never come across the sea serpent?" The captain looked at him sharply, then at the mate, and ended by raising his eyebrows and frowning at his plate. "That's a sore point for a ship captain, sir," he said at last, "one which makes him a bit put out, for no man likes to be laughed at. You see, we've all been so bantered about that sea serpent, that when a mariner says he has seen it, people set him down for a regular Baron Munchausen, so now-a-days we people have got into the habit of holding our tongues." "Why, you don't mean to say that you have ever seen it, captain?" cried the doctor. "Well, sir, I've seen something more than once that answered its description pretty closely." "I always thought it was a fable," said Sir John. "No, sir, I don't think it is," said the captain quickly. "As I tell you, I've seen a great reptile sort of creature going along through the sea just after the fashion of those water-fowl that are shot in some of the South American rivers." "The darters," said Sir John; "_Plotius_." "Those are the fellows, sir; they swim with nearly the whole of their body under the surface, and look so much like little serpents that people call them snake birds. Well, sir, twice over I've seen such a creature--not a bird but a reptile." "And they are wonderfully alike in some cases," said the doctor quietly. "So I've heard, sir, from people who studied such things. Mine was going along six or seven knots an hour, with its snake-like head and neck carried swan-fashion, and raised fifteen or twenty feet out of the water as near as I could judge, for it was quite half-a-mile away. It was flat-headed, and as I brought my spy-glass to bear upon it, I could see that it had very large eyes. I kept it in sight for a good ten minutes, and could not help thinking how swan-like it was in its movements. Then it stretched out its neck, laid it down upon the water, and went out of sight." "And you think it was a sea serpent?" "Something of that kind, gentlemen. Bartlett saw it too, and he was sure it was a great snake." "Yes, I feel sure it was," said the mate quietly. "Very strange," said Sir John, who noted how Jack was drinking it all in. "Strange, sir, because we don't often see such things. That was in my last long voyage, a year before I was introduced to Mr Ensler, but I don't look upon it as particularly strange. Why, I hope that before very long we shall be sailing through bright clear waters where I can show you snakes single, in pairs, and in knots of a dozen together basking at the surface in the sunshine." "What, huge serpents?" said Jack shortly. "No," replied the captain, turning upon him with a pleasant smile, while the doctor kicked at Sir John's leg under the table, but could not reach him. "They are mostly quite small--four, five, or six feet. The biggest I ever saw was seven feet long, but I've heard of them being seen eight feet." "Yes, I saw one once seven feet nine. It was shot by a passenger on his way to Rangoon, and they got it on board," said the mate quietly. "Oh, but that's nothing of a size," said Jack. "No, Mr Meadows," replied the captain; "but we know it as a fact that there are plenty of sea serpents of that size, just as we know that there are adders and rattlesnakes on land." "Yes, poisonous serpents," said Jack. "So are these, sir, very dangerously poisonous. I have known of more than one death through the bite of a sea snake. But, as I was going to say, we know of adders and rattlesnakes, and we know too that there are boas and pythons and anacondas running up to eight-and-twenty and thirty feet long on land. There's a deal more room in the sea for such creatures to hide, so why should there not be big ones as well as small there?" "That's a good argument," said Sir John, "and quite reasonable." "And you think then," said the doctor, "that yours which you saw were great serpents swimming on the surface?" "No, sir, I thought they were something else." "What?" said Jack, with a certain amount of eagerness. "They struck me as being those great lizard things which they find turned into fossils out Swanage and Portland way. I dare say you've seen specimens of them in the British Museum." "No," said Jack, colouring a little, "I have never taken any interest in such things." "No?" said the captain wonderingly. "Ah, well, perhaps you will. Now it struck me that these things were--were--Do either of you gentlemen remember the name of them?" "Plesiosaurus. Lizard-like," said Sir John. "That's it, sir," cried the captain, glancing at the speaker, and then looking again at Jack. "And I tell you how it struck me, and how I accounted for their being so seldom seen." "Yes!" said Jack, who had laid down his knife and fork, and was leaning forward listening attentively. "How did you judge that?" "From its large eyes." "What had that to do with it?" "It meant that it was a deep-sea living creature. You'll find, if you look into such matters, sir, that things which live in very deep water generally have very large eyes to collect all the light they can." "But yours were living on the top of the water," said Jack. "To be sure," cried the doctor, giving Sir John a sharp glance. "Come, captain, that's a poser for you." "Well, no, sir," replied the captain modestly, and with a quiet smile; "I think I can get over that. Perhaps you know that fish which live in very deep water, where the pressure is very great, cannot live if by any chance they are brought to the surface. The air-vessels in them swell out so that they cannot sink again, and they get suffocated and die." "But if it was their natural habit to live in deep water," said Jack, "they would not come to the surface." "If they could help it, sir," said the captain; "but when a creature of that kind is ill it may float toward the surface, and turn up as you see fishes sometimes. I fancy that my great lizard things are still existing in some places in the mud or bottom of the sea, that they are never seen unless they are in an unnatural state, and then they soon die, and get eaten up by the millions of things always on the look-out for food, and their bones sink." "I should like to see one," said Jack thoughtfully. "And I should like to show you one, sir," said the captain. "There's no knowing what we may see if we cruise about. Well, I'll promise you sea-snakes and whales and sharks. I can take you too where there are plenty of crocodiles for you to practise at with a rifle. Good practice too to rid the world of some of its dangerous beasts." Jack shuddered, and wanted to say that he did not care to see anything of the kind, but he did not speak, and just then the captain rose from the table, drew up the blind, and looked out. "There you are, sir," he said. "Come and look. The lads were ready enough when I told them to light up to-night. Looks nice, don't she?" Jack followed to the window, to see that it was a glorious night, with the sky and sea spangled with gold, while out where he knew the yacht lay, there shone forth with dazzling brilliancy what seemed to be a silver star, and dotted about it, evidently in the rigging of the yacht, were about thirty lanterns of various colours, but only seeming to be like the modest beams of moons in attendance upon the pure white dazzling silver star. The boy gazed in silence, impressed by the beauty of the scene, as the captain now quietly opened the window to admit the soft warm air from off the sea, while faintly heard came the sound of music from some passing boat. "How beautiful!" said Sir John, who had come unheard behind them. "Yes, sir," said the captain quietly, "with the simple beauty of home; but you will have to see the grand sunrises and sunsets of tropic lands to fully understand the full beauty of God's ever-changing ocean. But even now, Mr Meadows, I think you can hardly say you don't like the sea." Jack made no reply, but drew a deep breath which sounded like a sigh. "Well, Jack," said Sir John, when they were about to retire that night, "what do you think of Captain Bradleigh?" "I liked him better this evening, father," said the boy thoughtfully. "He did not treat me as if I were a child, and he left off calling me 'young gentleman.'" "Good-night, Meadows," said the doctor, a short time after; "I wish you weren't going to spend so much money, but Jack has had his first dose of medicine." "Yes," said Sir John; "and it has begun to act." _ |
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