TEMPTATION.
Derry Duck was no mean ally. The strength of his arm, and his position
as second in command, gave him great influence on board the Molly. There
were traditions of the power of his bare fist to deal death with a
single blow--traditions which won for him an odd kind of respect, and
insured for him the obedience he never failed to exact. Derry having
avowed himself the friend of Blair Robertson, it was well understood
that there must be an end to the peculiar persecutions to which the boy
had been subjected. He could not of course escape such rough usage of
word and act as the crew had for each other, but he was to be no longer
their chosen butt and scape-goat.
Blair felt at once the advantage of having so powerful "a friend at
court," and he eagerly seized upon the favorable turn in affairs to
carry out his new plans and wishes for his associates. It had struck him
that there was but one way to avoid having his ears pained and his soul
polluted by the conversation that was the entertainment of the mess. He
must do his share of the talking, and so adapt it to his own taste and
principles. The lion's share Blair determined it should be, and that
without unfairness, as he had to make up for lost time. Once assured
that Brimstone's unwashed hand was not to be placed over his mouth if he
attempted to speak, and the cry, "Shut up, Mum," raised by his
companions, Blair's tongue was set loose.
We have said that Blair was by no means averse to hearing his own voice;
and much as his guiding motives and aims had changed, the Blair on
board the Molly was still the same human being that he was in Joe
Robertson's little parlor in Fairport. Never did city belle strive more
earnestly to make her conversation attractive to her hearers, than did
our young patriot, actuated by a motive which is in comparison with hers
as the sunlight to the glow-worm's uncertain ray.
Blair had songs to sing and speeches to make. He had wild stories of the
struggles of the early settlers of Maine, caught long ago from the lips
of gray-haired men and treasured in the boy's heart, that had little
reckoned the coming use for these hoarded wonders. The captains who had
shared the services of the pilot of Fairport had filled his willing ears
with tales of their adventures in every sea and on every coast, and the
fond father had garnered these marvellous legends to tell to his little
listener at home, till the child's eyes glowed bright as he panted to
taste of peril, and do and dare amid the stormy waves.
Now indeed came a time of peril to Blair. With secret delight he found
he had a power to charm and move even the rough band who gathered round
him to catch every word of the glowing narratives he poured forth from
his crowded storehouse. There is something within us all which prompts
us to adapt our conversation to the taste and capacity of our
companions. A kindly inclination it may be, and yet it is full of
danger. He who may dare to be "all things to all men," must, like St.
Paul, have set his feet on the rock Christ Jesus, and be exalted by the
continual remembrance of the "cloud of witnesses" in the heavenly
kingdom, and the fixed, all-searching glance of the pure eye of God,
reading the inmost soul.
Insensibly Blair inclined to use the language in which his hearers
couched their own thoughts. As we speak baby-talk to the infant, and
broken English to the Frenchman, he unconsciously dealt in expressions
adapted to the wild eager faces that looked into his. Here had surely
been a temptation that would have dragged the young speaker down to the
pit which the great adversary had made ready for him, but for the strong
Deliverer who walked amid the flames of fire with the three faithful
"children" of old.
Blair saw his danger, and met it not in his own strength. Whether he sat
down at table, or mingled in the groups on deck, or shared the watch of
a companion, by a determined and prayerful effort he strove to keep in
his mind the presence of "One like unto the Son of man." To him that
face, unsullied by taint of sin or shame, was in the midst of the
weather-beaten, guilt-marked countenances of the crew of the Molly. He
who "turned and looked on Peter" was asking his young servant in a
tender, appealing glance, "Will you blaspheme my name? Will you offend
Him in whose eyes the heavens are not pure, and who chargeth even his
angels with folly?"
A deep "No; so help me God," was the full response of the whole being of
Blair Robertson. He would watch his tongue and guard his lips by the
continual prayer which should stir in his heart in the midst of speech,
song, or tale of wild adventure.
When the young sailor had taught his listeners gladly to hear when he
would give them pleasure, he by degrees gave full utterance to the
natural language and interests of his heart. They learned to love to
listen even when he poured forth in his peculiarly melodious voice some
majestic mariner's hymn, or told in thrilling tones how some God-fearing
seaman had stood at the helm of a burning ship and headed her to land,
until he passed from amid the devouring flames to the glory of the
kingdom of heaven. They heard and could not but admire the story of the
unselfish Christian captain, who saw himself left alone on the sinking
ship, but would not crowd the already overloaded boats with his manly
form. He preferred to meet his doom in the path of duty, and on the deck
where God had placed him go down to the depths of the sea, sure that his
Saviour would there receive him and give him an abundant entrance into
heaven.
Thus in his own way Blair was laboring for the welfare of his shipmates,
ever praying that some good seed might be blessed by the Lord of the
vineyard, and spring up unto eternal life.