For many days and nights the good ship _Foam_ sailed the wide ocean
without encountering anything more than the ordinary vicissitudes and
experiences of sea-life. Dolphins were seen and captured, sharks were
fished for and caught, stiff breezes and calms succeeded each other,
constellations in the far north began to disappear and new
constellations arose in the southern skies. In fact, during many weeks
the voyage was prosperous, and young Will Osten began to experience
those peculiar feelings with which all travellers are more or less
acquainted--he felt that the ship was "home"; that his cabin with its
furniture, which had appeared so small and confined at first, was quite
a large and roomy place; that all the things about him were positive
realities, and that the home of his childhood was a shadow of the past--
a sort of dream.
During all this time the young doctor led a busy life. He was one of
those active, intelligent, inquiring spirits which cannot rest. To
acquire information was with him not a duty, but a pleasure. Before he
had been many days at sea he knew the name and use of every rope, sail,
block, tackle, and spar in the ship, and made himself quite a favourite
with the men by the earnestness with which he questioned them in regard
to nautical matters and their own personal experiences. George Goff,
the sail-maker, said he "was a fust-rate feller;" and Larry O'Hale, the
cook, declared, "he was a trump intirely, an' ought to have been born an
Irishman." Moreover, the affections of long Mr Cupples (as the first
mate was styled by the men) were quite won by the way in which he
laboured to understand the use of the sextant, and other matters
connected with the mysteries of navigation; and stout Jonathan Dall, the
captain, was overjoyed when he discovered that he was a good player on
the violin, of which instrument he was passionately fond. In short,
Will Osten became a general favourite on board the _Foam_, and the
regard of all, from the cabin-boy to the captain, deepened into respect
when they found that, although only an advanced student and, "not quite
a doctor," he treated their few ailments with success, and acted his
part with much self-possession, gentleness, and precision.
Larry O'Hale was particularly eloquent in his praises of him ever after
the drawing of a tooth which had been the source of much annoyance to
the worthy cook. "Why, messmates," he was wont to say, "it bait
everything the way he tuk it out. `Open yer mouth,' says he, an' sure I
opened it, an' before I cud wink, off wint my head--so I thought--but
faix it wor only my tuth--a real grinder wi' three fangs no less--och!
he's a cliver lad intirely."
But Will did not confine his inquiries to the objects contained within
his wooden home. The various phases and phenomena of the weather, the
aspects of the sky, and the wonders of the deep, claimed his earnest
attention. To know the reason of everything was with him a species of
mania, and in pursuit of this knowledge he stuck at nothing. "Never
venture never win," became with him as favourite a motto as it had been
with his father, and he acted on it more vigorously than his father had
ever done.
One calm evening, as he was leaning over the side of the ship near the
bow, gazing contemplatively down into the unfathomable sea, he overheard
a conversation between the cook and one of the sailors named Muggins.
They were smoking their pipes seated on the heel of the bowsprit.
"Larry," said Muggins, "I think we have got into the doldrums."
"Ye're out there, boy," said Larry, "for I heerd the capting say we wos
past 'em a long way."
The men relapsed into silence for a time.