"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."