Wind south-south-west. The North Foreland had been rounded; the
countless craft, of all sizes and rigs, generally to be found off the
mouth of the Thames, had been cleared, and the _Good Intent_, with
studding-sails alow and aloft, was standing across the German Ocean.
Jim and I soon found our sea-legs, and were as well able to go aloft to
reef topsails as the older hands. We were already well up to the
ordinary duties of seamen, and could take our place at the helm with any
of them.
"Mr Gray was not mistaken about thee, laddie," said the captain to me
one day as I came aft to the wheel. "Go on as thou hast begun; obey
God, and thou wilt prosper."
I was much pleased with this praise, for the old man was not given to
throwing words away. While I steered he stood by telling me not only
what to do then, but how to act under various circumstances. At other
times he made me come into the cabin and gave me lessons in navigation
to fit me to become a mate and master. Jim, being unable to read, and
showing no aptitude for learning, had not the same advantages. We both
of us lived forward with the men, some of whom were a little jealous of
the favour I received, and not only played me tricks, ordered me to do
all sorts of disagreeable jobs, and gave me a taste of the rope's-end on
the sly, but tried hard to set Jim against me. They soon, however,
found out that they were not likely to succeed, for though Jim did not
mind how they treated him, he was always ready to stick up for me.
The forecastle of the _Good Intent_ was thus not a paradise to either of
us. The greater number of the men were, however, well-disposed, and it
was only when they were on deck that the others dared to behave as I
have described, while, as we would not complain, the mate knew nothing
of what was going forward below. I remember thinking to myself, "If
these sort of things can be done on board a ship, with a
well-disciplined crew and a good captain and mate, how hard must be the
lot of the unhappy boys serving in a craft where the captain, officers,
and men are alike brutal!" Jim was always ready to oblige, and I did my
best to win over my enemies by trying to show that I did not mind how
they treated me, and I soon succeeded.
We were, I should have said, bound out to Bergen, on the coast of
Norway, for a cargo of hides, tallow, salt fish, and spars, which we
were to carry to London. The weather had hitherto been fine, a great
advantage to Jim and me, as we had time to learn our duties and to get
accustomed to going aloft before our nerves and muscles were put to any
severe test.
But though the sea was smooth, the breeze, which had at first carried us
briskly along, shifted to the northward, so that we made but slow
progress. Now we stood on one tack, now on the other, the wind each
time heading us. At last the grumblers began to declare that we should
never make our port.
"The old craft has got a run of ill-luck, there's something worse
a-going to happen," said Sam Norris, one of my chief persecutors, as
during his watch below he sat with his arms folded on his chest in the
fore-peak. "I seed a black cat come aboard the night afore we left the
docks, and no one knows that she ever went ashore again."
Some of the men looked uncomfortable at Sam's statement, but others
laughed.
"What harm could the black cat do, if she did come aboard?" I inquired.
"Probably she came to look for rats, and having killed all she could
find, slipped ashore again unseen by any one."
"I didn't say a she-cat. It looked like a big tom-cat; but who knows
that it was really a cat at all?" said Sam.
"If it wasn't a tom-cat, what was it?" asked Bob Stout, a chum of Sam's.
"Just what neither you nor I would like to meet if we had to go down
into the hold alone," said Sam, in a mysterious tone.
Just then the watch below was summoned on deck to shorten sail. Not a
bit too soon either, and we were quickly swarming aloft and out on the
yards.
To reef sails in smooth water is easy enough, but when the ship is
pitching into the fast-rising seas and heeling over to the gale, with
the wind whistling through the rigging, blocks rattling, ropes lashing
about, the hard canvas trying to escape from one's grip, and blatters of
rain and sleet and hail in one's face, it is no pleasant matter. We had
taken two reefs in the topsails, and even then the brig had as much
canvas on her as she could stand up to, and we had all come down on
deck, with the exception of Jim, who had been on the foreyard, when the
mate, seeing a rope foul, ordered him to clear it. Jim performed his
duty, but instead of coming down as he ought to have done, remained
seated on the foreyard, holding on by the lift to get accustomed to the
violent motion, in which he seemed to take a pleasure. The mate, not
observing this, came aft to speak to the captain, who shortly
afterwards, finding that the brig was falling off from the wind, which
had before been baffling, having shifted ahead, ordered her to be put
about.
"Down with the helm," cried the captain.
I saw the men hauling at the braces, when, looking up, I caught sight of
Jim at the yardarm. I shrieked out with terror, expecting that the next
instant, as the yardarm swung round, he would be dashed to pieces on the
deck, or hove off into the raging sea. The kind-hearted mate,
recollecting him, came rushing forward, also believing that his
destruction was certain, unless he could be caught as he fell. My heart
beat, and my eyes were fixed on my friend as if they would start out of
my head I wildly stretched out my hands, yet I felt that I could do
nothing to save him, when he made a desperate spring, and catching hold
of the backstay, came gliding down by it on deck as if nothing
particular had happened, scarcely conscious, indeed, of the fearful
danger he had escaped. The mate rated him in stronger language than he
generally used for his carelessness, winding up by asking:
"Where do you think you would have been, boy, if you hadn't have jumped
when you did or had missed your aim?"
"Praise God for His great mercy to thee, laddie, and may thou never
forget it all the days of thy life," said the old captain, who had
beckoned Jim aft to speak to him.
Jim, touching his hat, answered, "Ay, ay, sir!" but he was, perhaps,
less aware of the danger he had been in than any one on board.
The gale increased; several heavy seas struck the old brig, making her
quiver from stem to stern, and at last one heavier than the rest
breaking on board, carried the starboard bulwarks forward clean away.
Some of the men were below; Jim and I and others were aft, and the rest,
though half-drowned, managed to secure themselves. To avoid the risk of
another sea striking her in the same fashion, the brig was hove-to under
a close-reefed fore-topsail. As we had plenty of sea room, and the brig
was tight as a bottle, so the mate affirmed, there was no danger; still,
I for one heartily wished that the weather would moderate. I had gone
aft, being sent by the cook to obtain the ingredients of a plum-pudding
for the cabin dinner. Not thinking of danger, on my return I ran along
on the lee side of the deck, but before I reached the caboose I saw a
mountain sea rolling up with a terrific roar, and I heard a voice from
aft shout, "Hold on for your lives!" Letting go the basin and dish I
had in my hands, I grasped frantically at the nearest object I could
meet with. It was a handspike sticking in the windlass, but it proved a
treacherous holdfast, for, to my horror, out it came at the instant that
the foaming sea broke on board, and away I was carried amid the whirl of
waters right out through the shattered bulwarks. All hope of escape
abandoned me. In that dreadful moment it seemed that every incident in
my life came back to my memory; but Mary was the chief object of my
thoughts. I knew that I was being carried off into the hungry ocean,
and, as I supposed, there was no human aid at hand to save me, when the
brig gave a violent lee lurch, and before I was borne away from her side
I felt myself seized by the collar of my jacket, and dragged by a
powerful arm, breathless and stunned with the roar of waters in my ears,
into the galley.
The cook, who had retreated within it when the sea struck the brig, had
caught sight of me, and at the risk of his life had darted out, as a cat
springs on her prey, and saved me. I quickly recovered my senses, but
was not prepared for the torrent of abuse which my preserver, Bob
Fritters, poured out on me for having come along on the lee instead of
the weather side of the deck.
Two or three of the watch who had been aft and fancied that I had been
carried overboard, when they found that I was safe, instead of
expressing any satisfaction, joined the cook in rating me for my folly.
Feeling as I suppose a half-drowned rat might do, I was glad to make my
escape below, where, with the assistance of Jim, I shifted into dry
clothes, while he hurried on deck to obtain a fresh supply of materials
for the captain's pudding. Shortly after this the gale abated, and the
brig was again put on her course.
I had been sent aloft one morning soon after daybreak to loose the
fore-royal, when I saw right ahead a range of blue mountains, rising
above the mist which still hung over the ocean. I knew that it must be
the coast of Norway, for which we were bound.
"Land! Land!" I shouted, pointing in the direction I saw the
mountains, which I guessed were not visible from the deck.
The mate soon came aloft to judge for himself. "You are right, Peter,"
he said. "We have made a good landfall, for if I mistake not we are
just abreast of the entrance to the Bay of Jeltefiord, at the farther
end of which stands Bergen, the town we are bound for."
The mate was right. The breeze freshening we stood on, and in the
course of the morning we ran between lofty and rugged rocks for several
miles, through the narrow Straits of Carmesundt into the bay--or fiord
rather--till we came to an anchor off the picturesque old town of
Bergen. It was a thriving, bustling place; the inhabitants, people from
all the northern nations of Europe, mostly engaged in mercantile
pursuits.
We soon discharged our cargo and began taking on board a very
miscellaneous one, including a considerable quantity of spars to form
the masts and yards of small vessels. The day seemed to me wonderfully
long, indeed there was scarcely any night. Of course, we had plenty of
hard work, as we were engaged for a large part of the twenty-four hours
in hoisting in cargo. I should have thought all hands would have been
too tired to think of carrying on any tricks, but it seemed that two or
three of them had conceived a spite against Jim because he would not
turn against me.
One of our best men, Ned Andrews, who did duty as second mate, had
brought for his own use a small cask of sugar, as only molasses and
pea-coffee were served out forward. One morning, as I was employed aft
under the captain's directions, Andrews came up and complained that on
opening his cask he found it stuffed full of dirty clouts and the sugar
gone. I never saw the captain so indignant.
"A thief on board my brig!" he exclaimed; "verily, I'll make an example
of him, whoever he is."
Calling the mate, he ordered him forthwith to examine all the men's
chests, supposing that the thief must have stowed the sugar in his own.
"Go, Peter, and help him," he added, "for I am sure that thou, my son,
art not the guilty one."
I followed the mate into the fore-peak. Having first demanded the keys
from the owners of those which were locked, he examined chest after
chest, making me hold up the lids while he turned out the contents or
plunged his hands to the bottom. No sugar was found in any of them. He
then came to my chest, which I knew was not locked, and the idea came
into my head that the stolen property would be there. I showed some
anxiety, I suspect, as I lifted up the lid. The mate put in his hands
with a careless air, as if he had no idea of the sort. Greatly to my
relief he found nothing. There was but one chest to be examined. It
was Jim's.
Scarcely had I opened it when the mate, throwing off a jacket spread
over the top, uttered an exclamation of surprise. There exposed to view
was a large wooden bowl, procured the day before by the steward for
washing up glasses and cups, and supposed to have fallen overboard, cram
full of sugar.
"Bring it along aft," cried the mate. "I did not think that of Pulley."
"And I don't think it now, sir," I answered, in a confident tone, as I
obeyed his order.
"What's this? Where was it found?" inquired the captain, as we reached
the quarter-deck.
The mate told him.
"I'll swear Jim never put it there, sir; not he!" I exclaimed.
"Swear not at all, my son, albeit thou mayest be right," said the
captain. "Send James Pulley aft."
Jim quickly came.
"Hast thou, James Pulley, been guilty of stealing thy shipmate's sugar?"
asked the captain.
"No, sir, please you, I never took it, and never put it where they say
it was found," answered Jim, boldly.
"Appearances are sadly against thee, James Pulley," observed the
captain, with more sorrow than anger in his tone. "This matter must be
investigated."
"I am sure that Jim speaks the truth, sir," I exclaimed, unable to
contain myself. "Somebody else stole the sugar and put it in his
chest."
The crew had gathered aft, and two or three looked thunder-clouds at me
as I spoke.
"Thine assertion needs proof," observed the captain. "Was thy cask of
sugar open, Andrews?"
"No, sir, tightly headed up," answered Andrews.
"Then it must have been forced open by some iron instrument," said the
captain. "Bring it aft here."
The empty keg was brought.
"I thought so," remarked the captain. "An axe was used to prise it
open. Did any one see an axe in the hands of James Pulley?"
There was no reply for some time. At last, Ben Grimes, one of the men
who had always been most hostile to Jim and me, said, "I thinks I seed
Jim Pulley going along the deck with what looked mighty like the handle
of an axe sticking out from under his jacket."
"The evidence is much against thee, James Pulley," said the captain. "I
must, as in duty bound, report this affair to Mr Gray on our return,
and it will, of course, prevent him from bestowing any further favours
on you."
"I didn't do it. I'd sooner have had my right hand cut off than have
done it," cried Jim. "Let me go ashore, sir, and I'll try to gain my
daily bread as I best can. I can't bear to stay aboard here to be
called a thief; though Peter Trawl knows I didn't take the sugar; he'd
never believe that of me; and the mate doesn't, and Andrews himself
doesn't."
"I am sorry for thee, lad. Thou must prove thine innocence," said the
captain, turning away.
Poor Jim was very unhappy. Though both he and I were convinced that one
of the men for spite had put the sugar in his chest, we could not fix on
the guilty person. I did my best to comfort him. He talked of running
from the ship, but I persuaded him not to think more of doing so foolish
a thing.
"Stay, and your innocence will appear in due time," I said.
As we went about the deck we heard Grimes and others whispering, "Birds
of a feather flock together."
They bullied Jim and me worse than ever, and took every occasion to call
him a young thief, and other bad names besides. They saw how it vexed
him, and that made them abuse him worse than before. The day after this
we sailed. Poor Jim declared that if he could not clear himself he
would never show his face in Portsmouth. I was sure that Andrews and
the other good men did not believe him to be guilty, but they could not
prove his innocence; and, as he said, the others would take care to
blabber about him, and, worst of all, Mr Gray would think him a thief.
An easterly breeze carried us clear of the harbour, but the wind then
shifted to the southward, and then to the south-west, being very light,
so that after three days we had not lost sight of the coast of Norway.
There seemed every probability of our having a long passage. Some of
the men said it was all owing to the black cat, and Grimes declared that
we must expect ill-luck with such a psalm-singing Methodist old skipper
as we had. Even Andrews prognosticated evil, but his idea was that it
would be brought about by an old woman he had seen on shore, said by
everyone to be a powerful witch. As, however, according to Andrews, she
had the power of raising storms, and we had only to complain of calms
and baffling winds, I could not see that she had had any influence over
us.
At last we got so far to the westward that we lost sight of the coast of
Norway, but had not made good a mile to the southward--we had rather
indeed drifted to the northward. Meantime, the captain hearing from the
mate how the men were grumbling, called all hands aft.
"Lads, I want ye to listen to me," he said. "Some of ye fancy that we
are having these calms and baffling winds on one account, and some on
another, but this I know, that He who rules the seas does not allow any
other beings to interfere with His plans. Ye have heard, maybe,
however, of the prophet Jonah. Once upon a time, Jonah, when ordered by
God to go to a certain place and perform a certain duty, disobeyed his
Master, and trying to escape from Him took passage on board a ship,
fancying that he could get out of God's sight. Did he succeed? No!
God had His eye on Jonah, and caused a hurricane which well-nigh sent
the ship to the bottom. Not till Jonah was hove overboard did the
tempest cease. Now, lads, just understand there are some aboard this
brig who are disobeying Him and offending Him just as much as Jonah did,
and it's not for me to say that He does not allow these calms, so
unusual in this latitude, to prevail in consequence. That's all I've
got to say, lads, but ye'll just think over it; and now go forward."
Whether or not the men did think over it, or exactly understood what the
old man meant, I cannot say, but the next morning the carpenter came aft
to the captain and said that he had had a dream which made him remember
that the evening before Andrews's sugar was found to have been stolen,
Ben Grimes had borrowed an axe from him, on examining which afterwards
he discovered that a small piece had been broken off on one side, and
that Grimes acknowledged he had done it by striking a nail in a piece of
wood he was chopping up. On hearing this the captain again summoned all
hands aft, and ordered Andrews to bring his sugar cask. There in the
head was found a piece of iron which exactly fitted the notch in the axe
which the carpenter produced.
"Now, lads, say who stole Andrews's sugar and concealed it in Pulley's
chest?" asked the skipper.
"Grimes! Grimes! No doubt about it!" shouted all the men, with the
exception of the individual mentioned and one other.
"You are right, lads, and Pulley is innocent," said the skipper.
"As the babe unborn," answered the men, and they all, except Grimes and
his chum, following my example, gave Jim a hearty shake of the hand.
I thought that he would have blubbered outright with pleasure. Though I
was sure that Jim had never touched the sugar, I was thankful that the
captain and the rest were convinced of his innocence.
Before noon that day a dark bank of clouds was seen coming up from the
southward. In a short time several black masses broke away from the
main body, and came careering across the sky.
"Away aloft and shorten sail," cried the skipper. "Be smart, lads!"
We hurried up the rigging, for there was no time to be lost.
"Two reefs in the fore-topsail! Furl the main-topsail! Let fly
topgallant sheets!"
These orders came in quick succession. The captain, aided by the mate,
was meantime lowering the mainsail. He at first, I believe, intended to
heave the brig to, but, before the canvas was reduced the gale struck
her--over she heeled--the topgallant sails, with their masts, were
carried away just as Jim and I were about mounting the rigging, he the
fore and I the main, to furl them; the mainsail, only half lowered,
flying out, nearly knocked the mate overboard. I had got down on the
weather side of the main-topsail yard to assist the hands on it, when
the straining canvas broke loose from our grasp, and at the same instant
the topgallant rigging, striking the two men on the lee yardarm, hurled
them off into the foaming ocean.
To lower a boat was impossible; we had not strength sufficient as it was
to clear away the topgallant masts, and to hand the topsails. A grating
and some spars were hove to them by the mate, who then, axe in hand,
sprang aloft to assist us. None too soon, for we could do nothing but
cling on to the yard till the topgallant rigging was cleared away. The
men on the foreyard were more successful, and I saw Jim gallantly using
his knife in a fashion which at length cleared away the wreck and
enabled them to secure the sail. The mate succeeded also in his object,
and we were expecting them to assist us in attempting to furl the
main-topsail, when the captain, seeing that we were not likely to
succeed, calling us down, ordered the helm to be put up and the yards
squared away, and off we ran before the fast-increasing gale, leaving,
we feared, our two shipmates, the carpenter and Grimes, to perish
miserably.