The morning came. My chest and my other strat things had been carried
down in a cart to the river, where they were shipped on board a
shore-boat. As we walked along following it, my uncle, after being
silent for a minute, as if considering how he should address me, said:
"You have got a new life before you, away from friends, among all sorts
of characters,--some good, it may be, many bad or indifferent, but no
one probably on whom you may rely. You will be placed in difficult,
often in dangerous situations, when you'll have only yourself, or Him
who orders all things, to trust to. Be self-reliant; ever strive to do
your duty; and don't be after troubling yourself about the consequences.
You will be engaged in scenes of warfare and bloodshed. I have taken
part in many such, and I know their horrors. War is a stern necessity.
May you never love it for itself; but when fighting, comport yourself
like a man fearless of danger, while you avoid running your head
needlessly into it. Be courteous and polite, slow to take offence,--
especially when no offence is intended, as is the case in ninety-nine
cases out of a hundred where quarrels occur. Remember that it always
takes two to make a quarrel, and that the man who never gives offence
will seldom get into one. Never grumble; be cheerful and obliging.
Never insist on your own rights when those rights are not worth
insisting on. Sacrifice your own feelings to those of others, and be
ever ready to help a companion out of a difficulty. You may be
surprised to hear me--an old soldier and an Irishman--talking in this
way; but I give you the advice, because I have seen so many act
differently, and, wrapped up in intense selfishness, become utterly
regardless of others,--reaping the consequences by being disliked and
neglected, and finally deserted by all who were their friends. There's
another point I must speak to you about, and it's a matter which weighs
greatly on my mind. Example, they say, is better than precept. Now
your father has set you a mighty bad example, and so have many others
who have come to the castle. Don't follow it. You see the effect which
his potations of rum shrub and whisky-toddy have produced on him. When
I was on duty, or going on it, I never touched liquor; and no man ever
lost his life from my carelessness, as I have seen the lives of many
poor soldiers thrown away when their officers, being drunk, have led
them into useless danger. So I say, Terence, keep clear of liquor. The
habit of drinking grows on a man, and in my time I have seen it the ruin
of many as fine young fellows as ever smelt powder."
I thanked my uncle, and promised as far as I could to follow his
excellent advice.
As we reached the water-side, my uncle stopped, and putting one hand on
my shoulder and taking mine with the other, looked me kindly in the
face.
"Fare thee well, Terence, my boy," he said; "we may not again meet on
earth, but wherever you go, an old man's warmest affection follows you.
Be afraid of nothing but doing wrong. If your life is spared, you'll
rise in the profession you have chosen, second only in my opinion to
that of the army."
I stepped into the boat, and the men shoved off. My uncle stood
watching me as we descended the stream. Again and again he waved his
hand, and I returned his salute. He was still standing there when a
bend of the river shut him out from my sight. I was too much engaged
with my thoughts to listen to what the boatmen said, and I suspect they
thought me either too dull or too proud to talk to them. As we pulled
up on the larboard side, thinking that I was now somebody, I shouted to
some men I saw looking through the ports to come down and lift my chest
on board, though how that was to be done was more than I could tell. A
chorus of laughs was the reply.
Presently I heard a gruff voice say, "Send a whip down there, and have
that big lumber chest, or whatever it is, up on deck." My chest was
quickly hauled up, and as quickly transferred by the orders of the
lieutenant in charge of the watch below, before Mr Saunders' eyes had
fallen on it. I mounted the side in as dignified a way as I could,
saluting the flag on reaching the deck, as my uncle had told me to do.
I had recognised Tom Pim, who was ready to receive me. "You must go to
the first lieutenant,--he's in the gun-room,--and say, `Come aboard,
sir,' and then when you're dismissed make your way into the berth," he
said.
"But how am I to be after finding the gun-room; is it where the guns are
kept?" I asked.
Tom laughed at my simplicity. "No; it's where the gun-room officers,
the lieutenants and master, the doctor, and purser, and lieutenant of
marines, mess. They all mess together, as do the mates, and we the
midshipmen, the second master and master's assistant, the clerks and the
assistant-surgeon."
"And have you no ensign?" I asked.
"No; there are none in the marines, and so we have no soldiers in our
berth," he answered; "but let's come along, I'll show you the way, and
then you'll be in time for dinner." We descended to the gun-room door,
where Tom left me, bidding me go in and ask for the first lieutenant. I
didn't see him, but one of the other officers, of whom I made inquiries,
pointed me to the first lieutenant's cabin.
I knocked at the door. "Come in," answered a gruff voice. I found the
lieutenant with his shirt-sleeves tucked up, he having just completed
his morning ablutions, an old stocking on one fist and a needle and
thread in the other, engaged in darning it.
"Come on board, sir," I said.
"Very well, youngster," he answered; "I should scarcely have known you
in your present proper uniform. There's nothing like being particular
as to dress. I'll see about placing you in a watch. You'll understand
that you're to try and do your duty to the best of your abilities."
"Shure it's what I hope to do, sir," I answered briskly; "and I'm mighty
glad you like my uniform."
"I didn't say I liked it, youngster,--I said it was proper according to
the regulations. Turn round, let me see. There is room for growing,
which a midshipman's uniform should have. You'll remember always to be
neat and clean, and follow the example I try to set you youngsters."
"Yes, sir," I answered, my eyes falling on a huge patch which the
lieutenant had on one of the knees of his trousers.
"Now you may go!" he said. "Understand that you're not to quit the ship
without my leave, and that you must master the rules and regulations of
the service as soon as possible, for I can receive no excuse if you
infringe them."
Altogether I was pretty well satisfied with my interview with old
Rough-and-Ready, and hurrying out of the gun-room I directed my course
for the young gentlemen's berth, as it was called, which was some way
further forward on the starboard side. I intended, after making my
appearance there, to go in search of Larry, but the mulatto steward and
a boy came hurrying aft along the deck with steaming dishes, which they
placed on the table, and I found that the dinner was about to commence.
"Glad to see you, Paddy," said Jack Nettleship, who had already taken
his place at the head of the table. "You look less like a play-actor's
apprentice and more like an embryo naval officer than you did when you
first came on board. Now sit down and enjoy the good things of life
while you can get them. Time will come when we shall have to luxuriate
on salt junk as hard as a millstone and weevilly biscuits."
Plenty of joking took place, and everybody seemed in good humour, so
that I soon found myself fairly at my ease, and all I wanted to be
perfectly so was to know the ways of the ship. I succeeded in producing
several roars of laughter by the stories I told, not attempting to
overcome my brogue, but rather the contrary, as I found it amused my
auditors. When the rum was passed round, of which each person had a
certain quantum, the doctor sang out to the youngsters, including Tom
Pim and me, "Hold fast! it's a vara bad thing for you laddies, and I
shall be having you all on the sick list before long if I allow you to
take it. Pass the pernicious liquor along here."
Tom obeyed, and so did I, willingly enough, for I had tasted the stuff
and thought it abominably nasty, but two or three of the other
midshipmen hesitated, and some seemed inclined to revolt.
"I call on you, Nettleship, as president of the mess, to interfere,"
exclaimed the doctor. "What do these youngsters suppose I'm sent here
for, but to watch over their morals and their health; and as I find it
difficult in the one case to do my duty with the exactitude I desire, I
shall take care not to neglect it in the other. There's young Chaffey
there, who has stowed away enough duff to kill a bull, and now he's
going to increase the evil by pouring this burning fiery liquid down his
throat. Do you want to be in your grave, Jack? if not, be wise, and let
the grog alone."
Chaffey, the fattest midshipman among us, looked somewhat alarmed, and
quickly passed up the rum. I observed that the doctor kept it by his
side, and having finished his own quantum, began to sip the portions he
had forbidden the youngsters to drink. It was difficult to suppose that
he was perfectly disinterested in his advice.
Being in harbour, we sat much longer than usual. At last I asked Tom if
he thought I could venture to go and look out for Larry.
"Oh, yes; this is Liberty Hall," he answered.
I was going forward, when I heard my name called, and going to the spot
from whence the voice came, I saw the first lieutenant standing before
my chest, at which he cast a look of mingled indignation and contempt.
By his side was a warrant officer, whom I heard addressed as Mr
Bradawl, with a saw and chisel and hammer in hand.
"Does this huge chest belong to you?" asked old Rough-and-Ready, as I
came up.
"Yes, sir," I answered; "I'm rather proud of it."
"We shall see if you continue so," he exclaimed. "Do you think we have
room to stow away such a lumbering thing as this? Where's the key?"