When I came to my senses again, I saw that I was lying upon the deck. A
crowd was gathered around, and look in what direction I might, my eyes
rested upon faces. They were rude faces, but I noticed no unkindly
expression in any one of them. On the contrary, I perceived looks of
pity, and heard words of sympathy.
They were the sailors--the whole crew was around me. One was bending
over my face, pouring water into my lips, and cooling my temples with a
wet cloth. I knew this man at the first glance. It was Waters--he who
had carried me ashore, and presented me with my precious knife. Little
knowledge could he have at the time of the great service it was to do--
and had since done--me.
"Waters," said I, "do you remember me?"
He started at my words, uttering, as he did so, a sailor's exclamation
of surprise.
"Shiver my timbers!" was the phrase. "Shiver my timbers! if 'tain't the
little marlin-spike as boarded us a-port!"
"Him as wanted to go a seelorin?" cried several in a breath.
"The same, for sartin'."
"Yes," I answered, "it is; I am the same."
Another volley of ejaculations followed, and then there was a momentary
silence.
"Where is the captain?" I asked. "Waters, will you take me to the
captain?"
"You wish to see the capten? he's here, my lad," answered the big
sailor, in a kind tone; and then, stretching out his arm, he made an
opening in the ring that encircled me.
I glanced through this opening. I saw the same well-dressed man whom I
had before recognised as the captain. He was only a few yards off,
standing in front of the door of his cabin. I looked in his face. The
expression was stern, but yet it did not awe me. I fancied it was a
look that would relent.
I hesitated for a moment what course to pursue, and then, summoning all
my energy, I rose to my feet, tottered forward, and knelt down before
him.
"Oh, sir!" I cried, "you can never forgive me!"
That, or something like it, I said. They were all the words I could
utter.
I no longer looked him in the face. With my eyes fixed upon the deck, I
awaited his reply.
"Come, my lad! rise up!" said a voice, in a tone of kindness; "rise up,
and come with me into the cabin."
A hand was placed upon mine, I was raised to my feet, and led away. He
who walked by my side, and conducted me as I tottered along, was the
captain himself! This did not look like giving me to the sharks. Was
it possible that the ending should be of this merciful complexion?
As I passed into the cabin, I beheld my shadow in a mirror. I should
not have known myself. My whole body was as white as if it had been
lime-washed; but I remembered the flour. My face alone was to be seen,
and that was almost as white as the rest--white, and wan, and bony as
that of a skeleton! I saw that suffering and meagre fare had made sad
havoc with my flesh.
The captain seated me on a sofa, and, having summoned his steward,
ordered him to fill me out a glass of port wine. He uttered not a word
till I had drunk it; and then, turning to me, with a look in which I
could read nothing of sternness, he said--
"Now, my lad, tell me all about it!"
It was a long story, but I told it from first to last. I concealed
nothing--neither of the motives that had led me to run away from my
home, nor yet any item of the vast damage I had done to the cargo.
This, however, was already well-known to him, as half the crew had long
since visited my lair behind the water-butt, and ascertained everything.
When I had gone through every circumstance, I wound up with the proposal
I had resolved to make to him; and then, with an anxious heart, I
awaited his response. My anxiety was soon at an end.
"Brave lad!" he exclaimed, rising to his feet, and going towards the
door, "you wish to be a sailor? You _deserve_ to be a sailor; and by
the memory of your noble father, whom I chanced to know, you _shall_ be
a sailor!"
"Here, Waters!" he continued, calling to the big tar, who was waiting
outside, "take this youngster, have him fresh rigged; and, as soon as he
is strong enough, see that he be properly taught the ropes."
And Waters did see that I was taught the ropes--every one of them, and
in the proper manner. For many years afterwards he was my shipmate,
under that same kind-hearted captain, until I rose from the condition of
a mere "boy tar," and was rated upon the _Inca's_ books as an "able
seaman."
But my promotion did not end there. "_Excelsior_" was my motto; and,
assisted by the generous captain, I soon after became a third mate, and
afterwards a second mate, and, still later, a first mate, and, last of
all, a _captain_!
In course of time, too--still better than all--I became _captain of my
own ship_.
That was the crowning ambition of my life; for then I was free to go and
come as I pleased, and plough the great ocean in any direction, and
trade with whatever part of the world I might think proper.
One of my very first and most successful voyages--I mean in my own
ship--was to Peru; and I remember well that I carried out a box of
bonnets for the English and French ladies resident at Callao and Lima.
But these arrived safe, and no doubt disgusted the eyes of the fair
Creoles, who were expected to admire them!
The crumpled bonnets had been long ago paid for; so, too, the spilt
brandy and the damage done to the cloth and velvet. After all, it did
not amount to such a vast sum; and the owners, who were all generous
men, taking the circumstances into account, dealt leniently with the
captain, who, in his turn, made the terms easy for me. In a few years I
had settled for all, or, as we say in sailor language, "squared the
yards."
And now, my young friends! I have only to add, that having sailed the
seas for many long years, and by careful mercantile speculations, and a
fair economy, having acquired sufficient means to keep me for the
remainder of my days, I began to grow tired of wave and storm, and to
long for a calmer and quieter life upon land. This feeling grew upon
me, every year becoming stronger and stronger; till at last, unable to
resist it any longer, I resolved to yield to its influence, and anchor
myself somewhere upon shore.
For this purpose, then, I sold off my ship and sea stores, and returned
once more to this pretty village, where I have already told you I was
born, and where I have also made known to you, that _it is my intention
to die_!
And now, good-day! and God bless you all!