I was in much better spirits when I rejoined my uncle than when I had
been led below by Mr Saunders. I found him standing with the captain
on the main-deck, they having just come out of the cabin.
"I should like to take a turn round the ship before we leave her, in
case I should be unable to pay you another visit," said the major. "I
wish to brush up my recollections of what a frigate is like."
"Come along then," answered the captain, and he led the way along the
deck.
As we got forward, we heard loud roars of laughter and clapping of
hands. The cause was very evident, for there was Larry in the midst of
a group of seamen, dancing an Irish jig to the tune of one of his most
rollicksome songs.
"Stop a bit, my boys, and I'll show you what real music is like," he
exclaimed after he had finished the song. "Wait till I get my fiddle
among yer, and I'll make it squeak louder thin a score of peacocks or a
dozen of sucking pigs;" and he then began again singing--
"A broth of a boy was young Daniel O'Shane,
As he danced with the maidens of fair Derrynane."
Then he went on jigging away, to the great delight of his audience,--no
one observing the captain or us.
It was very evident that Larry had without loss of time made himself at
home among his new shipmates. They treated him much as they would have
treated a young bear, or any other pet animal they might have obtained.
I had expected to find him looking somewhat forlorn and downcast among
so many strangers; but in reality, I ought to have trusted an Irish boy
of his degree to make friends wherever he goes.
"I think we may leave your follower where he is, as, should you not
require his services, he is much more likely to be kept out of mischief
here than he would be ashore," said the captain to the major.
To this my uncle agreed. We had got some way along the deck when I felt
a touch on my shoulder, and turning round, saw Larry's countenance
grinning from ear to ear.
"Shure they're broths of boys these sailor fellows, and I'm mighty
plaised to be among them; but, Maisther Terence dear, I have a favour to
ask you. Would you tell the captain that I'd be mightily obliged to him
if he would let me go back to Cork for my fiddle. I left it at the inn,
and if I had it now I'd set all the boys on board a-jigging, with the
captain and officers into the bargain."
I told him that as the captain thought it better he should remain on
board, I could not ask leave for him to go on shore; but I promised that
if I had an opportunity, I would send him his violin at once, or if not,
would be careful to bring it myself.
"You'll not be long then, Maisther Terence; for the boys here are mighty
eager to hear me play."
Assuring him how glad I was to find that he was happy, I advised him to
go back to his new friends again, promising not to forget his violin.
We had come on board on the larboard side; we now went to the starboard.
On each side of the gangway stood several officers and midshipmen,
while on the accommodation-ladder were arranged two lines of boys. The
captain's own gig was waiting for us, manned by eight smart seamen,
their oars in the air. The captain himself descended, returning the
salutes of the officers and men. I followed my uncle, who was treated
with a similar mark of respect; but as I thought a portion was intended
for me, and wishing to act in the politest way possible, I took off my
hat altogether, and made several most polite bows. I had a suspicion,
however, from the expression on the countenances of the midshipmen, with
the suppressed titter among them, together with the grin on the faces of
the men and boys, that I was doing something not altogether according to
custom. Perhaps, I thought to myself, I hadn't bowed low enough, so I
turned, now to my right, now to my left, and, not seeing where I was
going to, should have pitched right down the ladder had not one of the
men standing there caught my arm, bidding me as he did so to keep my hat
on my head.
In my eagerness to get into the boat I made a spring, and should have
leapt right over into the water had not another friendly hand caught me
and forced me down by the side of the major.
The captain, taking the white yoke-lines, gave the order to shove off;
the boat's head swung away from the side of the frigate; the oars fell
with their blades flat on the water; and we began to glide rapidly up
the harbour, propelled by the sturdy arms of the crew. I felt very
proud as I looked at the captain in his cocked hat and laced coat, and
at the midshipman who accompanied him, in a bran new uniform, though, to
be sure, there wasn't much of him to look at, for he was a mere mite of
a fellow.
Had I not discovered that my own costume was not according to rule, I
should have considered it a much more elegant one than his. After some
time, the captain observing, I fancy, that I looked rather dull, having
no one to talk to, said something to the midshipman, who immediately
came and sat by me.
"Well, Paddy, how do you like coming to sea?" he asked in a good-natured
tone.
"I've not yet formed an opinion," I answered.
"True, my boy; Cork harbour is not the Atlantic," he remarked. "We may
chance to see the waves running mountains high when we get there, and
all the things tumbling about like shuttlecocks."
"I'll be content to wait until I see that same to form an opinion," I
answered. "As I've come to sea, I shall be glad to witness whatever
takes place there."
"You're not to be caught, I perceive," he said. "Well, Paddy, and how
do you like your name?"
"Faith, I'm grateful to you and my other messmates for giving it," I
answered. "I'm not ashamed of the name, and I hope to have the
opportunity of making it known far and wide some day or other; and now
may I ask you what's your name, for I haven't had the pleasure of
hearing it."
"Thomas Pim," he answered.
"Come, that's short enough, anyhow," I observed.
"Yes; but when I first came aboard, the mess declared it was too long,
so they cut off the `h' and the `as' and `m' and called me Tom Pi; but
even then they were not content, for they further docked it of its fair
proportions, and decided that I was to be named Topi, though generally
I'm called simply Pi."
"Do you mind it?" I asked.
"Not a bit," he answered. "It suits my size, I confess; for, to tell
you the truth, I'm older than I look, and have been three years at sea."
"I thought you had only just joined," I remarked, for my companion was,
as I have just said, a very little fellow, scarcely reaching up to my
shoulder. On examining his countenance more minutely, I observed that
it had a somewhat old look.
"Though I'm little I'm good, and not ashamed of my size or my name
either," he said. "When bigger men are knocked over, I've a chance of
escaping. I can stow myself away where others can't get in their legs;
and when I go aloft or take a run on shore, I've less weight to carry,--
so has the steed I ride. When I go with others to hire horses, I
generally manage to get the best from the stable-keeper."
"Yes, I see that you have many advantages over bigger fellows," I said.
"I'm perfectly contented with myself now I've found that out, but I
confess that at first I didn't like being laughed at and having remarks
made about my name and my size. I have grown slightly since then, and
no one observes now that I'm an especially little fellow."
Tom spoke for some time on the same subject.
"I say, Paddy Finn, I hope you and I will be friends," he continued.
"I've heard that you Irishmen are frequently quarrelsome, but I hope you
won't quarrel with me, or, for your own sake, with any of the rest of
the mess. You'll gain nothing by it, as they would all turn against you
to put you down."
"No fear of that," I replied, "always provided that they say nothing
insulting of Ireland, or of my family or friends, or of the opinions I
may hold, or take liberties which I don't like, or do anything which I
consider unbecoming gentlemen."
"You leave a pretty wide door open," remarked Tom; "but, as I said
before, if you don't keep the peace it will be the worse for you."
We were all this time proceeding at a rapid rate up the stream, between
its wooded and picturesque banks. On arriving at Cork, the captain
wished the major good-bye, saying that I must be on board again within
three days, which would allow me ample time to get a proper uniform
made.
I asked Tom Pim what he was going to do with himself, and proposed that,
after I had been measured by the tailor, we should take a stroll
together.
"Do you think the captain brought me up here for my pleasure?" he said.
"I have to stay by the boat while he's on shore, to see that the men
don't run away. Why, if I didn't keep my eye on them, they'd be off
like shots, and drunk as fiddlers by the time the captain came back."
"I'm sorry you can't come," I said. "By the bye, talking of fiddlers,
will you mind taking a fiddle on board to the boy who came with me,--
Larry Harrigan? I promised to send it to him, though I didn't expect so
soon to have the opportunity."
"With the greatest pleasure in the world," said Tom Pim. "Perhaps I may
take a scrape on it myself. When I was a little fellow, I learned to
play it."
"You must have been a very little fellow," I couldn't help remarking,
though Tom didn't mind it.
As our inn was not far off, I asked my uncle to let me run on and get
the fiddle, and take it down to the boat. As I carried it along, I
heard people making various remarks, evidently showing that they took me
for a musician or stage-player, which made me more than ever anxious to
get out of a costume which I had once been so proud of wearing. Having
delivered the violin in its case to Tom Pim, who promised to convey it
to Larry, I rejoined my uncle.
We proceeded at once to the tailor recommended by Captain Macnamara,
who, having a pattern, promised to finish my uniform in time, and to
supply all the other articles I required. We spent the few days we were
in Cork in visiting some old friends of the major's.
I was very anxious about the non-appearance of my chest, but the night
before I was to go on board, to my great satisfaction, it arrived.
"It's a good big one, at all events," I thought; "it will hold all the
things I want, and some curiosities I hope to bring back from foreign
parts."
It was capable of doing so, for although it might have been somewhat
smaller than the one in which the bride who never got out again hid
away, it was of magnificent proportions, solid as oak and iron clamps
could make it; it was big enough to hold half-a-dozen of my smaller
brothers and sisters, who used to stow themselves away in it when
playing hide-and-seek about the house.
Soon after the chest arrived the tailor brought my uniform.
It certainly was a contrast to the comical suit I had hitherto been
wearing. I put it on with infinite satisfaction, and girded to my side
a new dirk, which my uncle had given me, instead of my grandfather's old
sword. The latter, however, my uncle recommended me to take on board.
"You may want it, Terence, maybe on some cutting-out expedition," he
said; "and you'll remember that it belonged to your ancestors, and make
it do its duty."
As the chest was already full, I had a difficulty in stowing away the
things the tailor had brought. I therefore began to unpack it while he
was waiting, and I observed that he cast a look of supreme contempt on
most of the articles it contained. He even ventured to suggest that he
should be allowed to replace them with others which he could supply.
"The boy has enough and to spare, and I should like to know how many of
them will find their way back to Cork," said my uncle.
Some of them I found, on consideration, that I should be as well
without. Among other things were a pair of thick brogues, which Molly
the cook had put in to keep my feet from the wet deck, and a huge cake;
this, though, I guessed would not be sneered at in the mess, and would
travel just as well outside. At length I found room for everything I
required, and the chest was once more locked and corded.
I don't believe I slept a wink that night with thinking of what I should
do when I got on board the frigate. It was a satisfaction to remember
that the ice had been broken, and that I should not appear as a perfect
stranger amongst my messmates. I already knew Tom Pim, and he had told
me the names of several others, among whom were those of Jack Nettleship
the old mate and caterer of the mess, Dick Sinnet the senior midshipman,
Sims the purser's clerk, and Donald McPherson the assistant-surgeon.
The others I could not remember. The lieutenants, he said, were very
nice fellows, though they had their peculiarities. None of the officers
were Irishmen, consequently I had been dubbed Paddy.