I soon made the discovery on getting there, however, that I was neither
alone nor unobserved; for a man called out to me almost the same instant
that my feet touched the deck.
"Hullo, youngster!" he shouted.
"Do you mean me?" I asked him politely, as father bad trained me always
to address every one, no matter what their social condition might be.
"An' is it manin' yez, I am?" retorted my interlocutor sharply. "Tare
an' 'ouns, av coorse it is! Who ilse should I mane?"
The speaker was a stout, broad-shouldered, middle-aged man, clad in a
rough blue jersey as to the upper portion of his body, and wearing below
a rather dirty pair of canvas overalls drawn over his trousers, which,
being longer, projected at the bottom and overlapped his boots, giving
him an untidy look.
He was busy superintending a gang of dock labourers in their task of
hoisting up in the air a number of large crates and heavy deal packing-
cases from the jetty alongside, where they were piled up promiscuously
in a big heap of a thousand or so and more, and then, when the crane on
which these items of cargo were thus elevated had been swung round until
right over the open hatchway, giving entrance to the main-hold of the
ship, they were lowered down below as quickly as the tackle could be
eased off and the suspending chain rattle through the wheel-block above.
The clip-hooks were then unhitched and the chain run up and the crane
swung back again over the pile of goods on the jetty for another load to
be fastened on; and, so on, continually.
The man directing these operations, in turning to speak to me, did not
pause for an instant either in giving his orders to "hoist!" and "lower
away!" or in keeping a keen weather-eye open, as he afterwards explained
to me, on the gang, so as to see that none of the hands shirked their
work; and, as I stared helplessly at him, quite unable as yet to
apprehend his meaning, or know what he wished me to do, he gave a quick
side-glance over his shoulder to where I stood and renewed his
questioning.
"Sure an' ye can answer me if you loike, for ye ar'n't dumb, me bhoy,
an' ye can spake English fast enough. Now. I'll ax ye for the last
toime--whare d'ye spring from?"
"Spring from?" I repeated after him, more puzzled than ever and awed by
his manner, he spoke so sharply, in spite of his jovial face and
twinkling eyes. "I jumped from that plank," pointing to the gangway by
which I came on board as I said this.
This response of mine seemed, somehow, to put him into all the greater
rage--I'm sure I can't tell why.
"Bad cess t'ye for an omahdawn! Sure, an' it isn't springin'--joompin'
I mane," he thundered in a voice that made me spring and jump both.
"Where d'ye hail from, me joker? That's what I want to know. An' ye'd
betther look sharp an' till me!"
"Hail from?" I echoed, completely bewildered by this time; for, being
unused to sailor's talk, as I've previously mentioned, I could not make
head or tail of his language, which his strong Irish brogue, equally
strange to me then, made all the more difficult to be understood. I
could see, of course, that he wanted to learn something of me; but what
that something was I was unable to guess, although all the time anxious
to oblige him to the best of my ability. He was so impatient, however,
that he would hardly give me time to speak or inquire what he wanted,
besides which, he frightened me by the way in which he roared out his
unintelligible questions. So, unable to comprehend his meaning, I
remained silent, staring at him helplessly as before.
Strange to say, though, my answer, or rather failure to answer this last
interrogatory of his--for I had only repeated his own words--instead of
further exasperating him as I feared, trembling the while down to my
very boots, appeared to have the unexpected effect of appeasing his
sudden outburst of passion, which now disappeared as quickly as it had
broken out over my unoffending head.
"Be jabers, the gossoon's a born nat'ral!" he said sympathetically in a
sort of stage whisper to the stevedores, although in loud enough tones
for me to hear; and then, looking at me more kindly, and speaking in a
gentler key than he had yet adopted, he added, accentuating every word
separately and distinctly, with a racier Milesian accent than ever:
"Arrah, sure, an' I didn't mane to be rough on ye, laddie; but, till me
now, whar' d'ye come from, what's y'r name, an' what for are ye doin'
here?"
This was plain language, such as I could understand; and, seeing that he
must be some one in authority, despite his tarred clothes and somewhat
unpolished exterior, I hastened to answer his string of questions,
doffing my cap respectfully as I did so.
"My name is Allan Graham," I said on his motioning to those working the
crane to stop a bit while I spoke, "and I came up early this morning
from the country to sail in the Silver Queen. The brokers in Leadenhall
Street, Messrs. Splice and Mainbrace, to whom I went first, told me to
go on down to the docks and join the ship at once, sending a clerk to
show me the way, which he did, pointing out this vessel to me and
leaving me after saying that I was to go on board by the `gangway,' as
he called the plank I walked up by--that is why I am here!"
I uttered these last words somewhat sturdily and in a dignified tone,
plucking up courage as I proceeded; for, I began to get rather nettled
at the man's suspicions about me, his questions apparently having that
look and bearing.
"Och, by the powers!" he ejaculated, taking no notice of my dignified
demeanour; "yis, an' that's it, is it? Sure, an' will ye till me now,
are ye goin' as a cabin passinger or what, avic?"
"I'm going in the Silver Queen as a first-class apprentice," I answered
with greater dignity than ever, glancing down proudly at the smart blue
suit I wore, with its shining gilt buttons ornamented with an anchor in
relief, which mother and sister Nellie had so much admired the day
before, when I had donned it for the first time, besides inspecting me
critically that very morning previous to my leaving home, to see that I
looked all right--poor mother! dear Nell!
"Whe-e-e-up!" whistled my questioner between his teeth, a broad grin
overspreading his yet broader face. "Alannah macree, me poor gossoon!
it's pitying ye I am, by me sowl, from the bottom av me heart. Ye're
loike a young bear wid all y'r throubles an' thrials forenenst ye. Aye,
yez have, as sure's me name's Tim Rooney, me darlint!"
"Why do you say so, sir?" I asked--more, however, out of curiosity than
alarm, for I thought he was only trying to "take a rise out of me," as
the saying goes. "Why should you pity me?"
"An' is it axin' why, yez are?" said he, his broad smile expanding into
a chuckle and the chuckle growing to a laugh. "Sure, an' ye'll larn
afore ye're much ouldher, that the joker who goes to say for fun moight
jist as well go to the ould jintleman's place down below in the
thropical raygions for divarshun, plaize the pigs!"
His genial manner, and the merry twinkle in his eyes, which reminded me
of father's when he made some comical remark, utterly contradicted his
disparaging comments on a sailor's life, and I joined in the hearty "ho,
ho, ho!" with which he concluded his statement.
"Why, then, did you go to sea, Mr Rooney," I asked, putting him into a
quandary with this home-thrust; "that is, if it is such a bad place as
you make out?"
"Bedad, sorry o' me knows!" he replied, shoving his battered cheese-
cutter cap further off his brows and scratching his head reflectively.
"Sure, an' it's bin a poozzle to me, sorr, iver since I furst wint afore
the mast."
"But--" I went on, wishing to pursue my inquiries, when he interrupted
me before I was able to proceed any further.
"Whisht! Be aisy now, me darlint," he whispered, with an expressive
wink; and, turning round sharply on the stevedores, who, taking
advantage of his talking to me, had struck work and were indulging in a
similar friendly chat, he began briskly to call them to task for their
idleness, raising his voice to the same stentorian pitch that had
startled me just now on our first introduction.
"What the mischief are ye standin' star-gazin' there for, ye lazy swabs,
chatterin' an' grinnin' away loike a parcel av monkeys?" he cried,
waving his arms about as if he were going to knock some of them down.
"If I had my way wid ye, an' had got ye aboord a man-o'-war along o' me,
it's `four bag' I'd give ivery man Jack o' ye. Hoist away an' be blowed
to ye, or I'll stop y'r pay, by the howly pokher I will!"
At this, the men, who seemed to understand very well that my friend of
the woollen jersey and canvas overalls's hard voice and words did not
really mean the terrible threats they conveyed, although the speaker
intended to be obeyed, started again briskly shipping the cargo and
lowering it down into the hold, grinning the while one to another as if
expressing the opinion that their taskmaster's bark was worse than his
bite.
"I must kape 'em stirrin' their stoomps, or ilse, sure, the spalpeens
'ud strike worrk the minnit me back's toorned," said he on resuming his
talk with me, as if in explanation of this little interlude. "Yez aid
y'r name's Grame, didn't ye? I once knew a Grame belongin' to Cork, an'
he wor a pig jobber. S'pose now, he warn't y'r ould father, loike?"
"Certainly not!" cried I, indignantly. "My father is a clergyman and a
gentleman and an Englishman, and lives down in the country. Our name,
too, is Graham and not Grame, as you pronounce it."
"'Pon me conshinsh, I axes y'r pardin, sorr. Sure, an' I didn't mane no
harrm," said my friend, apologising in the most handsome way for the
unintentional insult; and, putting out a brawny hairy paw like that of
Esau's, he gave a grip to my poor little mite of a hand that made each
knuckle crack, as he introduced himself in rough and hearty sailor
fashion. "Me name's Tim Rooney, as I tould you afore, Misther Gray-
ham--sure, an' it's fond I am ov bacon, avic, an' ham, too, by the same
token! I'd have ye to know, as ye're a foorst-class apprentice--which
kills me enthirely wid the laffin' sure!--that I'm the bosun av the
Silver Quane; an' as we're agoin' to be shipmets togither, I hopes
things'll be moighty plisint atwane us, sure."
"I'm sure I hope so, too," I replied eagerly, thinking him an awfully
jolly fellow, and very unlike the man I imagined him to be at first; and
we then shook hands again to cement the compact of eternal friendship,
although I took care this time that my demonstrative boatswain should
not give me so forcible a squeeze with his huge fist as before,
observing as I looked round the vessel and up at her towering masts
overhead: "What a splendid ship!"
"Aye, she's all that, ivery inch of her from truck to kelson," he
answered equally enthusiastically; "an' so's our foorst mate, a sailor
all over from the sole av his fut to the crown av his hid."
"And the captain," I inquired, "what sort of a man is he?"
"Arrah, now you're axin' questions," he rejoined with a sly look from
his roguish eyes. "D'ye happen to know what's inside av an egg, now,
whither it's a chicken, sure, or ownly the yoke an' white, till ye
bhrake the shill?"
"No," said I laughing. "But, we don't find chickens generally in our
eggs at home."
"Wait till ye thry one on shipboord," he retorted. "Still, ye can't
deny now that ye don't know for sure what's insoide the shill till ye
bhrake it, an' say for yoursilf--eh?"
"No," I assented to this reasoning; "but, I don't see what that's got to
do with the captain."
"Don't ye, honey?" replied he with another expressive wink. "Wait till
ye can say for yourself, that's all."
"Oh!" I exclaimed, understanding now that he was shrewd enough not to
commit himself to any opinion on the point; so, I did not pursue the
inquiry any further.
"Sure, ye'll excuse me, Misther Gray-ham," he said presently, after
another word or two on irrelevant matters; "but I must stop yarnin' now,
as I expexes the foorst mate aboord ivery minnit, an' he'll be
groomblin' like a badger wid a sore tail if those lazy lubbers ain't
hove all the cargy in. We've got to warp out o' dock this arternoon,
an' the tide'll make about `six bells'!"
"When is that?" I asked, to know the meaning of this nautical term,
which I guessed referred to the time of day, as my friend the boatswain
turned round again towards the stevedores, hurrying them on and making
them work with a will.
"Thray o'clock. Sure, I forgot ye didn't savvy our sailor's lingo at
all, at all," he explained to me between the interval of his orders to
the men, shouted out in the same high key as at first. "An', be the
same token, as it's now jist toorned two bells, or one o'clock, savin'
your prisince, I've got no toime to lose, me bhoy. Jist d'ye go oop
that ladder there, an' wait out av harum's way till I've done me job an'
can come for ye."
He pointed as he spoke to the steps or stairway leading from the main-
deck, where I had been standing alongside of him, to the poop.
I at once obeyed him; and, ascending with alacrity the poop ladder, was
able to see from that elevated position the capital way in which he
urged on and encouraged the men, until, as if by magic, the heavy boxes
and lumbering crates that had but a short time before almost covered the
jetty beside the ship, were all hoisted inboard and lowered down into
her hold.
Here, below, another gang of stevedores, not less busy than those above,
took charge of the stowage of the cargo, slamming the chests and crates
about, and so ramming and jamming them between the decks by the aid of
jack-screws, that they were soon packed together in one homogeneous
mass--so tightly squeezed that not even a cockroach could have crawled
in between them, not a single crack or cranny being left vacant.
"Thare now! Sure, an' that job's done wid anyhow for this v'yge, plaize
the pigs, ma bouchal!" exclaimed the boatswain with a jolly laugh, after
seeing the main-hatchway covered and battened down, and a tarpaulin
spread over it to make all snug, gazing round with an air of proud
satisfaction, as he slowly made his way up the poop ladder again and
came up to where I was standing by the rail looking over. "Don't ye
think we've made pretty sharp work of it at the last, sorr, eh?"
"I'm sure you have, Mr Rooney," I replied enthusiastically. For, I
could not help admiring the way in which he had got the stevedores to
work so steadily and speedily in getting in the cargo and clearing the
ship's deck, so that it was now trim and orderly in place of being
littered over with lumber as previously--the active boatswain helping
one here, encouraging another there, and making all laugh occasionally
with some racy joke, that seemed to lighten their labour greatly and
cause them to set to their task with redoubled vigour.--"It's wonderful
how you managed them."
"Arrah, sure it's a way I've got wid me, honey," said he with a wink.
Still, I could see he was pleased with my remark all the same, from the
smile of contentment that overspread his face as he added: "Bless ye
though, me darlint, sure an' it's ownly blarney arter all!"
"And what is that?" I asked.
"Faix, ya moost go owver to old Oireland to larn, me bhoy," he answered
with a laugh. "Wait till ye kiss the blarney stone, an' thin ye'll
know!"
"I suppose it's what father calls the _suaviter in modo_," said I,
laughing also, he put on such a droll look. "And I think, Mr Rooney,
you possess the _fortiter in re_, too, from the way you can speak
sometimes."
"Bedad, I don't ondercumstubble," he replied, taking off his cap and
scratching his head reflectively, rather taken aback by my Latin
quotation; "though if that haythen lingo manes soft sawder, by the
powers I've got lashins av it! Howsomedevers, youngster, we naydn't
argify the p'int; but if the foorst mate were ownly aboord, d'ye know
what I'd loike to do?"
"What?" I inquired.
"Why, trate them dock loompers to grog all round. They've worruked
loike blue nayghurs; specially that l'adin' man av theirs, that chap
there, see him, wid the big nose on his face? I'd loike to pipe all
hands down in the cabin to splice the main-brace, if ownly the foorst
mate were aboord," he repeated in a regretful tone. Adding, however,
the next moment more briskly: "An', by the blissid piper that played
before Moses, there he is!"