"Oh, yes, plenty. You're very good-natured, Tom, and I'm so glad you're
come."
Bessy and I were fully employed for nearly an hour in the front room and
kitchen, clearing up and cleaning and preparing for breakfast. All was
ready before Bramble came down and took a seat in his big chair, close
to the breakfast-table.
"All ready, father," said little Bessy, going up to Bramble to be
kissed. "Tom has been helping me."
"All's right," said Bramble; "bring the book, dear." Bessy brought a
large Bible, and read a chapter aloud, then closed it and put it away.
"We can't always do this, Tom," observed Bramble, "when we're knocking
about in the Channel; all we can do is to read it when we can. Come now
to breakfast."
When we had finished I assisted Bessy to put everything away, and then
Bramble said to me, "Anderson tells me you're a good scholar, Tom; but
you must now learn what will be of use to me as well as to you. The
first thing you must learn, and which you can do on shore, are the
points of the compass, to know them at sight and tell them quickly; for
you see it's of great importance to a pilot to know exactly how a ship's
head is; and the men at the helm, although good seamen and steering
well, are not so ready at answering as a pilot wishes, and very often
stammer at it--sometimes make mistakes. Now, you see, when I'm piloting
a vessel, if you stand at the binnacle, watch the compass, and answer me
quickly how the ship's head is, you'll be of use to me in a very short
time. Go up into my room, and under the bed you will find a compass;
bring it down carefully, and I'll give you a lesson at once." I brought
the compass to him, and Bramble made me write down the whole thirty-two
points at full length upon a piece of paper. When I had done so, he told
me I must learn them by heart as fast as I could.
I studied them the whole of that day; and in the evening, finding myself
perfect, I went up to Bramble and repeated them without one mistake.
"All's right," said Bramble. "Now, Tom, give me the paper; if you know
them to-night you ought to know them to-morrow morning. I'll hear if you
do, after breakfast."
I went to bed, was tapped up as before by Bessy, assisted her to clean
everything, taking off her hands all the heaviest of the work; indeed,
what I have narrated of the first day may be taken as a sample of my
life on shore at Deal. After breakfast I repeated the points of the
compass correctly.
"Well, Tom, you have a good memory, that's certain; all the better for
you, for pilots carry everything in their heads, as you will find out.
Now, then, look here." Bramble took the glass off the top of the
compass-box, lifted up the card, and then showed me the needle below,
which pointed to the north. He then showed me the north point above, and
then the other points, making me repeat them as he put his finger on
them. As soon as I understood them, he would put the stem of his pipe to
one and ask me which it was. When I was perfect with the points, he
explained the half points and quarter points. In two days I had gained
them all by heart.
"And now," says he, "we must try you. This iron skewer is the ship's
head, recollect, and I shall stick it into the table. When I do so, you
must tell me what point of the compass stands to it, and then that will
be the direction of the ship's head. Do you understand? Practice makes
perfect, and you must work at this all the time that you are ashore.
When you know the compass well then I'll teach you something else. Now,
then, how's her head, Tom?"
"North-half-west," said I, after a little time.
"Yes, very true; but you see, Tom, that wouldn't do aboard ship. That's
just the way most of the seamen would puzzle at it. I must have the
answer in a moment, and that's why you must practice."
In the evening, when Bramble was smoking his pipe, I was seated by him,
and every minute he would change the place of the iron skewer, with
"How's her head, Tom?"
"We must get your 'prentice papers signed before we go afloat again,"
said Bramble, "for they pick up boys as well as men for the King's
service, and you're a stout boy for your age."
"Were you ever pressed yourself?" inquired I.
"No, but I had a narrow chance once, and had not our captain been a
smart fellow I and many more would have been serving the King at this
present moment."
"Tell me how that was," said I.
"Well, as soon as Bessy has done rattling with the cups and saucers, I
will."
"I've done now, father," said Bessy, taking her seat on a stool close to
Bramble's feet.
"Well, then, before I passed for pilot, just after the breaking out of
the war, I took it into my head to try my chance at privateering. There
was plenty to pick up at that time, and some of the Deal men had been
very fortunate, so I went on board of a twelve-gun lugger, commanded by
Captain Shank, fitted out in the river, with a crew of sixty men. The
press was very hot at that time, and our men were kept at the crimps'
houses until all was ready, when we started, and got off clear into the
Channel without being overhauled.
"We had been out a fortnight, keeping well on the French coast, and had
picked up two good prizes, when one morning, as the fog was cleared up
with a sharp northerly wind, we found ourselves right under the lee of
an English frigate, not a mile from us. There was a bubble of a sea, for
the wind had been against the tide previous to its changing, and we were
then about six or seven miles from the French coast, just between
Boulogne and Cape Grisnez, lying to for the fog to clear away. As soon
as we saw the frigate we knew that she would board us, and we were all
in a terrible fright." Here Bramble shifted the skewer and said, "How's
her head, Tom?"
[Illustration: "HOW'S HER HEAD, TOM?"--Marryat, Vol. X., p. 281.]