In three days I was quite well, and the doctor sending me a suit of
seaman's clothes, I dressed and found my way up on deck. I looked about
eagerly for Clem, but not seeing him, I became anxious to learn how he
was. I could make none of the men understand me. Most of them were
Finns--big broad-shouldered, ruddy, light-haired, bearded fellows; very
good-natured and merry, notwithstanding the harsh treatment they often
received. Big as they were, they were knocked about like so many boys
by the petty officers, and I began to feel rather uncomfortable lest I
should come in for share of the same treatment, of which I had had
enough from the hands of old Growl. I determined, however, to grin and
bear it, and do, as well as I could, whatever I was told.
I soon found that I was not to be allowed to eat the bread of idleness,
for a burly officer, whom I took to be the boatswain, ordered me aloft
with several other boys, to hand the fore royal, a stiff breeze just
then coming on. Up I went; and though I had never been so high above
the deck before, that made but little difference, and I showed that I
could beat my companions in activity. When I came down the boatswain
nodded his approval. I kept looking out for Clem. At last I saw my
friend the doctor, with several other officers, on the quarter-deck. I
hurried aft to him, and, touching my cap, asked him how Clem was. The
others stared at me as if surprised at my audacity in thus venturing
among them. "The boy is doing well," he answered; "but, lad, I must
advise you not to infringe the rules of discipline. You were, I
understand, one of the ship's boys, and must remain for'ard. He is a
young gentleman, and such his dress and appearance prove him to be, will
be allowed to live with the midshipmen."
"I am very glad to hear that," I answered; "but I am a gentleman's son
also, and I should like to live with the midshipmen, that I may be with
Clem."
"Your companion has said something to the same effect," observed the
doctor; "but the captain remarks that there are many wild, idle boys
sent to sea who may claim to be the sons of gentlemen; and as your
appearance shows, as you acknowledge was the case, that you were before
the mast, there you must continue till your conduct proves that you are
deserving of a higher rank. And now go for'ard. I'll recollect what
you have said." I took the hint. The seamen grinned as I returned
among them, as if they had understood what I had been saying.
I kept to my resolution of doing smartly whatever I was told, and
laughed and joked with the men, trying to understand their lingo, and to
make myself understood by them. I managed to pick up some of their
words, though they almost cracked my jaws to pronounce them; but I
laughed at my own mistakes, and they seemed to think it very good fun to
hear me talk.
Several days passed away, when at length I saw Clement come on deck. I
ran aft to him, and he came somewhat timidly to meet me. We shook
hands, and I told him how glad I was to see him better, though he still
looked very pale. "I am very glad also to see you, Jack," he said, "and
I wish we were to be together. I told the doctor I would rather go and
live for'ard than be separated from you; but he replied that that could
not be, and I have hopes, Jack, that by-and-by you will be placed on the
quarter-deck if you will enter the Russian service."
"What! and give up being an Englishman?" I exclaimed. "I would do a
great deal to be with you, but I won't abandon my country and be
transmogrified into a Russian."
"You are right, Jack," said Clem, with a sigh; "however, the officers
will not object to my talking with you, and we must hope for the best."
After this I was constantly thinking how I should act should I have the
option of being placed on the quarter-deck and becoming an officer in
the Russian service, for we were on board a Russian frigate.
Clem got rapidly better, and we every day met and had a talk together.
Altogether, as the boatswain's lash did not often reach me, though he
used it pretty freely among my companions, I was as happy as usual. I
should have been glad to have had less train-oil and fat in the food
served out to us, and should have preferred wheaten flour to the black
rye and beans which I had to eat. Still that was a trifle, and I soon
got accustomed to the greasy fare. Clem was now doing duty as a
midshipman, and I was in the same watch with him.
The weather had hitherto been generally fine; but one night as the sun
went down, I thought I saw indications of a gale. Still the wind didn't
come, and the ship went gliding smoothly over the ocean. I was in the
middle watch, and had just come on deck. I had made my way aft, where I
found Clem, and, leaning against a gun, we were talking together of dear
old England, wondering when we should get back there, when a sudden
squall struck the ship, and the hands were ordered aloft to reef
topsails. I sprang aloft with the rest, and lay out on the lee fore
yard-arm. I was so much more active than most of my shipmates, that I
had become somewhat careless. As I was leaning over to catch hold of a
reef point, I lost my balance, and felt, as I fell head foremost, that I
was about to have my brains dashed out on the deck below me. The
instant before the wind had suddenly ceased, and the sail giving a flap,
hung down almost against the mast. Just at that moment, filled with the
breeze, it bulged out again, and striking me, sent me flying overboard.
Instinctively I put my hands together, and, plunging down, struck the
now foaming water head first. I sank several feet, though I scarcely
for a moment lost consciousness, and when I came to the surface I found
myself striking out away from the ship, which was gliding rapidly by me.
I heard a voice sing out, "A man overboard." I knew that it must have
been Clem's, and I saw a spar and several other things thrown into the
water. I do not know whether the life-buoy was let go. I did not see
it. Turning round I struck out in the wake of the ship, but the gale
just then coming with tremendous fury, drove her on fast away from me,
and she speedily disappeared in the thick gloom. I should have lost all
hope had I not at that moment come against a spar, and a large basket
with a rope attached to it, which was driven almost into my hands.
Climbing on to the spar, to which I managed to lash the basket, I then
got into the latter, where I could sit without much risk of being washed
out. It served, indeed, as a tolerably efficient life-preserver; for
although the water washed in and washed out, and the seas frequently
broke over my head, I was able to hold myself in without much trouble.
I still had some hopes that the ship would come back and look for me.
At length I thought I saw her approaching through the darkness. It
raised my spirits, and I felt a curious satisfaction, in addition to the
expectation of being saved, at the thought that I was not to be
carelessly abandoned to my fate. I anxiously gazed in the direction
where I fancied the ship to be, but she drew no nearer, and the dark
void filled the space before me. Still I did not give way to despair,
though I found it a hard matter to keep up. I had been rescued before,
and I hoped to be saved another time. Then, however, I had been in a
comparatively narrow sea, with numerous vessels passing over it. Now I
was in the middle of the Atlantic, which, although rightly called a
highway, was a very broad one. I could not also help recollecting that
I was in the latitude where sharks abound, and I thought it possible
that one might make a grab at my basket, and try to swallow it and me
together, although I smiled at the thought of the inconvenience the fish
would feel when it stuck its teeth into the yard, and got it fixed
across its mouth. Happily no shark espied me.
Day at last dawned. As I looked around when I rose to the summit of a
sea, my eyes fell alone on the dark, tumbling, foaming waters, and the
thick clouds going down to meet them. I began to feel very hungry and
thirsty, for though I had water enough around me, I dare not drink it.
I now found it harder than ever to keep up my spirits, and gloomy
thoughts began to take possession of my mind. No one, I confess, would
have called me Happy Jack just then. I was sinking off into a state of
stupor, during which I might easily have been washed out of my cradle,
when, happening to open my eyes, they fell on the sails of a large brig
standing directly for me. I could scarcely fail to be seen by those on
board. On she came before the breeze; but as she drew nearer I began to
fear that she might still pass at some distance. I tried to stand up
and shout out, but I was nearly toppling overboard in making the
attempt. I managed, however, to kneel upon the spar and wave my
handkerchief, shouting as I did so with all my might. The brig altered
her course, and now came directly down for me. I made out two or three
people in the forechains standing ready to heave me a rope. I prepared
to seize it. The brig was up to me and nearly running me down, but I
caught the first rope hove to me, and grasped it tightly. I could
scarcely have expected to find myself capable of so much exertion.
Friendly hands were stretched out to help me up, but scarcely was I safe
than I sank down almost senseless on deck. I soon, however, recovered,
and being taken below, and dry clothes and food being given me, I
quickly felt as well as usual. "Where am I, and where are you bound
to?" were the first questions I asked, hoping to hear that I was on
board a homeward-bound vessel. "You are on board the American brig
_Fox_ bound out round the Horn to the Sandwich Islands and the west
coast of North America," was the answer. "But I want to go home to
England," I exclaimed. "Well, then, I guess you had better get into
your basket, and wait till another vessel picks you up," replied the
captain, to whom I had addressed myself. "Thank you, I would rather
stay here with dry clothes on my back and something to eat," I said.
"Perhaps, however, captain, you will speak any homeward-bound vessel we
meet, and get her to take me?"
"Not likely to fall in with one," he observed. "You had better make the
best of things where you are."
"That's what I always try to do," I replied. "You are the right sort of
youngster for me, then," he said. "Only don't go boasting of your proud
little venomous island among my people. We are true Americans, fore and
aft, except some of the passengers, and they would be better off if they
would sink their notions and pay more respect to the stars and stripes.
However, you will have nothing to do with them, for you will do your
duty for'ard I guess." I thought it wiser to make no reply to these
remarks, and as the crew were just going to dinner, I gladly accompanied
them into their berth under the topgallant forecastle. The crew, I
found, though American citizens, were of all nationalities--Danes, and
Swedes, and Frenchmen, with too or three mulattoes and a black cook.
They described Captain Pyke, for that was the master's name, as a
regular Tartar, and seemed to have no great love for him, though they
held him in especial awe. I was thankful at being so soon picked up,
but I would rather have found myself on board a different style of
craft. The cabin passengers were going out to join one of the
establishments of the great Fur Trading Company on the Columbia river.
They were pleasant, gentlemanly-looking men, and I longed to introduce
myself to them, as I was beginning to get somewhat weary of the rough
characters with whom I was doomed to associate. But from what the men
told me, I felt sure that if I did so I should make the captain my
enemy. He and they were evidently not on good terms. I got on,
however, pretty well with the crew, and as I could speak a little
French, I used to talk to the Frenchmen in their own language, my
mistakes affording them considerable amusement, though, as they
corrected me, I gradually improved.
Among the crew were two other persons whom I will particularly mention.
One went by the name of "Old Tom." He was relatively old with regard to
the rest of our shipmates, rather than old in years--a wiry, active,
somewhat wizen-faced man, with broad shoulders, and possessing great
muscular strength. I suspected from the first, from the way he spoke,
that he was not a Yankee born. His language, when talking to me, was
always correct, without any nasal twang; and that he was a man of some
education I was convinced, when I heard him once quote, as if speaking
to himself, a line of Horace. He never smiled, and there was a
melancholy expression on his countenance, which made me fancy that
something weighed on his mind. He did not touch spirits, but his short
pipe was seldom out of his mouth. When, however, he sat with the rest
in the forecastle berth, his manner completely changed, and he talked,
and argued, and wrangled, and guessed, and calculated, with as much
vehemence as any one, entering with apparent zest into their ribald
conversation, though even then the most humorous remark or jest failed
to draw forth a laugh from his lips.