"No, not a bit of it," I replied. "But I say, captain, I thought I was
to come as a midshipman, and mess with the other young gentlemen on
board."
He now fairly laughed outright; and looking at me for some time,
answered, "We have no young gentlemen on board here. You'll get your
breakfast in good time; but you are of the right sort, leddie, and
little Clem shall show you what you have got to do," pointing as he
spoke to a boy who just then came on deck, and whom I took to be his
son.
"Thank you, captain," I observed; "I shall be glad of Clem's
instruction, as I suppose he knows more about the matter than I do."
"Clem can hand, reef, and steer as well as any one, as far as his
strength goes," said the captain, looking approvingly at him.
"I'll set to work as soon as he likes, then," I observed. "But I wish
those fellows would be sharp about breakfast, for I am desperately
hungry."
"Well, go into the cabin, and Clem will give you a hunch of bread to
stay your appetite."
I followed Clem below. "Here, Brooke, some butter will improve it," he
said, spreading a thick slice of bread. "And so you don't seem to be
seasick, like most fellows. Well, I am glad of that. My father will
like you all the better for it, and soon make a sailor of you, if you
wish to learn."
I told Clem that was just what I wanted, and that I should look to him
to teach me my duties.
"I'll do my best," he said. "Take my advice and dip your hands in the
tar bucket without delay, and don't shirk anything the mate puts you to.
My father is pretty gruff now and then, but old Growl is a regular
rough one. He does not say much to me, but you will have to look out
for squalls. Come, we had better go on deck, or old Growl will think
that I have been putting you up to mischief. He will soon pick a
quarrel with you, to see how you bear it."
"I'll take good care to keep out of his way, then," I said, bolting the
last piece of bread and butter. "Thank you, Clem, you and I shall be
good friends, I see that."
"I hope so," answered my young companion with a sigh. "I have not many
on board, and till you came I had no one to speak to except father, and
he is not always in the mood to talk."
Clem's slice of bread and butter enabled me to hold out till the
forecastle breakfast was ready. I did ample justice to it. Directly I
made my reappearance on deck, old Growl set me to work, and I soon had
not only my hands but my arms up to the elbows in tar. Though the
vessel was pitching her head into the seas, with thick sheets of foam
flying over her, he quickly sent me aloft to black down the main
rigging. Clem showed me how to secure the bucket to the shrouds while I
was at work, and in spite of the violent jerks I received as the vessel
plunged her bluff bows into the sea, I got on very well. Before the
evening was over I had been out on the yards with little Clem to assist
in reefing the topsails, and he had shown me how to steer and box the
compass.
Nothing particular occurred on the voyage, though we were ten days in
reaching the mouth of the Thames. Clem and I became great friends. The
more I saw of him the more I liked him, and wondered how so
well-mannered a lad could be the son of such a man as Captain Grimes.
I saw nothing of London. I should, indeed, have been ashamed to go on
shore in my now thoroughly begrimed condition. We were but a short time
in the Thames, for as soon as we had discharged our cargo we again made
sail for the Tyne.
Before this time old Growl, the mate, had taught me what starting meant.
He had generally a rope's end in his fist, and if not, one was always
near at hand. If I happened not to do a thing well enough or fast
enough to please him, he was immediately after me, laying the rope
across my shoulders, or anywhere he could most conveniently reach. I
generally managed to spring out of his way, and turn round and laugh at
him. If he followed me, I ran aloft, and, as I climbed much faster than
he could, I invariably led him a long chase.
"I'll catch you, youngster, the next time. Mark me, that I will," he
shouted out to me one day, when more than usually angry.
"Wait till the next time comes, mate," I sang out, and laughed more
heartily than before.
The men sympathised with me, especially Dirty Dick. His shoulders, till
I came on board, had been accustomed to suffer most from the mate's ill
temper. Now and then old Growl, greatly to his delight, caught me
unawares; but, suffering as I did from his blows, I never let him see
that I cared for them, and used to laugh just as heartily as when I had
escaped from him. On this, however, he would grin sardonically, and
observe, "You may laugh as you like, young master, I know what a rope's
end tastes like; it's a precious deal bitterer than you would have me
fancy. I got enough of it when I was a youngster, and haven't forgotten
yet."
One day when old Growl had treated me as I have described, and had gone
below, Clement came up to me. "I am so sorry the mate has struck you,
Brooke," he said. "It's a great shame. He dare not hit me; and when I
told father how he treats you, he told me to mind my own business, and
that it was all for your good."
"I don't know how that can be," I answered; "but I don't care for it, I
can assure you. It hurts a little at the time, I'll allow, but I have
got used to it, and I don't intend to let him break my spirit or make me
unhappy."
Clement all the time was doing his best to teach me what he knew, and I
soon learned to steer in smooth water, and could hand and reef the
topsails and knot and splice as well almost as he could. Some things I
did better, as I was much stronger and more active. I was put to do all
sorts of unpleasant work, such as blacking down the rigging, greasing
the masts, and helping Dirty Dick to clean the caboose and sweep out the
forecastle. Though I didn't like it, I went about the duty, however, as
if it was the pleasantest in the world. Pleasant or not, I was thus
rapidly becoming a seaman.