ALEXANDRIA.
TEN days' hard work and the _Wild Wave's_ equipment was nearly complete.
The riggers were to put the finishing touch to their work that evening,
and the carpenters to finish all below, and were to begin in the morning
scraping and cleaning the decks, and there then remained only the
painting to be done. The captain's usual hour for coming on board was
eleven o'clock, but the men were just knocking off for dinner when he
arrived.
"Well, Mr. Timmins, when do you think we can be ready to take cargo on
board?"
"Well, sir, it will take them three days to get the decks planed. They
are in a beastly state, you see. She must have had a dirty lot on board
her on her last voyage, and she has picked up six months' dirt in the
docks. Nothing short of planing will get them fit to be seen. Then the
painters will take another four days, I should say, perhaps five, as the
bulwarks and all the paint on deck must be done."
"That makes eight days' work, Mr. Timmins. I suppose we cannot set the
painters at work until the carpenters are done?"
The mate shook his head. "Decidedly not, if the paint is to be worth
looking at, sir. It would be throwing money and time away to begin to
paint as long as the chips and dust are flying about."
"If we were to get the painting on deck done directly the carpenters
knock off we might do the outside while we are taking the cargo in?"
"Yes, we might do that," the mate assented; "though even then if it is
anything like a dusty cargo the paint wouldn't show up as smooth and
clean as one would like to see it."
"Well, we can't help that," the captain said. "I have just come from the
office, and they have had an offer for a freight, part to Alexandria and
part to Smyrna; but they wanted to begin to load at once. I said that
was out of the question, but that I thought I could begin to take it on
board next Monday."
"Well, it will be quick work, sir. However, if you can get them to put a
good strong gang of carpenters on board they might get the deck finished
off by Wednesday evening. Anyhow, we might have the painters on board
on Thursday morning, and if they are sharp they should finish by the
time they knock off on Saturday."
[Illustration: "WE ARE DESPERATE MEN AND WELL ARMED"]
"Yes. Two coats will be sufficient," the captain said; "at any rate in
most places. They might send a man or two to-morrow to put a coat at
once on at the gangways and other places where it is worst."
"Do you know what the cargo is, captain?"
"Mixed cargo; some railway iron for Egypt, the rest hardware and dry
goods of one sort and another, but beyond that I did not hear any
particulars."
"Well, captain, I think we can say that we shall be ready to take it on
board on Monday. Will you get them at the office to write to the two
mates to tell them to be here the first thing in the morning?
"I think you are in luck, youngster," Mr. Timmins went on as the captain
left the ship to see that a strong gang of carpenters were set to work.
"A trip up the Mediterranean will be a capital breaking in for you. You
will hardly be out of sight of land all the way, and Alexandria and
Smyrna are two ports well worth seeing. We don't very often get a jaunt
up the Mediterranean now; those rascally steamers get all the work."
When the riggers had once left the ship Jack had nothing more to do, and
Mr. Timmins told him that it would be no use his coming again until
Monday morning.
"You will be useful then," he said, "helping to check off the cargo as
it comes on board. You had better bring your chest down and take up your
quarters here. I shall get the cook in on Monday, and I expect we shall
all stop on board. Of course when work is over you can always go back
home when you are disposed."
To Mrs. Robson's delight, therefore, Jack was able to spend the next few
days at home, and also to assure her that his first voyage was to be a
short one only.
All was in readiness on Monday morning. The second and third mates came
on board early; the crew were not to join until the evening before
sailing, as the work of loading was done by stevedores. The second and
third mates were both young men. They had spoken to Jack on board the
bawley, and had shaken hands with him when they left Leigh with warm
expressions of gratitude, and they both greeted him most cordially as
soon as they met him on the deck of the _Wild Wave_. Jack therefore
commenced his career as a sailor under altogether exceptionally pleasant
conditions. The captain and two of the mates were under very deep
obligations to him, and Mr. Timmins had already conceived a very
favourable opinion of him from his willingness to turn his hand to
anything, and from his quickness and handiness.
For the next three days work went on from morning until night. Jack was
stationed at one of the hatchways with the second mate checking off
every box, bale, and package as it went down. The boatswain and crew
came on board on the Tuesday, as there was the work of bending the sails
and getting all in readiness for the start to be got through. Jack had
not returned home on Monday or Tuesday night, but on Wednesday he went
home to say good-bye, for the vessel was to go out of dock at noon on
Thursday.
Before leaving home he donned for the first time his neat uniform, which
had only come a few days before. Lily was delighted with his appearance,
and his mother felt no little pride as she looked at him, and, sad as
she was at the prospect of his long absence, was thoroughly convinced
that the choice he had made was a wise one. Mrs. Godstone and her
daughter had been down twice to call upon Mrs. Robson since her arrival
at Dulwich, and on the previous Saturday Jack and his mother had gone
there to dine, Captain and Mrs. Murchison being the only other guests.
After a tearful good-bye Jack started from home. On his arrival on board
he found two other lads, one a year older than himself and one as much
younger. Jim Tucker, the elder, had already made two or three voyages in
Mr. Godstone's ships. Arthur Hill was going to sea for the first time.
Jack knew that two other midshipmen were sailing in the _Wild Wave_, and
found them arranging their things in the little cabin, with three bunks,
allotted to them.
"Hallo! You are Robson, I suppose?" Jim Tucker began as he entered. "You
have got a lot of gear here in the cabin, and you must stow it away in a
smaller space than it takes up at present or we shall never fit in."
"I have not begun to stow it away yet," Jack said. "I was waiting to see
how much you had both got, and which berth you were going to choose,
before I began to settle at all."
"Yes, that is all right enough," Tucker answered. "Well, as I am the
senior, I will take this berth under the port."
"I suppose I am next," Jack said. "I will take the top one opposite."
This being settled the lads proceeded to put things straight and stow
away their portmanteaus.
As soon as they had done this they went on deck. The vessel was already
warping out of the dock, and as soon as she was through the gates a
steam-tug seized her and took her down the river. It was eight o'clock,
and the sun was just setting, when the hawser attached to the tug was
thrown off. Some of the sails had already been hoisted, for the wind was
northerly. The rest were now shaken out and sheeted home, and under a
cloud of white canvas--for the _Wild Wave_ had been fitted with an
entirely new suit of sails--the vessel proceeded on her way. The
officers were divided into two watches. The first and third mates and
Arthur Hill were in one watch, the second mate and the other two lads in
the other.
After the constant work on board the smack Jack found it strange as he
came down the river to be walking up and down the deck with nothing to
do. The _Wild Wave_ passed through a fleet of bawleys trawling off Hole
Haven; he knew every one of them by sight, but the _Bessy_ was not among
them.
Meals had been irregular that day with the officers, for there was much
to be seen after in coiling down ropes, washing the decks, and in
getting everything neatly in ship-shape. As they passed the Middle Sunk
the second mate touched Jack on the shoulder.
"That's her," he said; "at least all that remains of her," and he
pointed to some black timbers just appearing above the surface of the
water.
"Yes; that's her," Jack said. "I heard from my uncle that they blew her
up three weeks ago."
"Rather a different scene from what it was that day," the mate, whose
name was Hoare, said. "I thought it was all up with us, and even when we
saw you coming we hardly believed that you could get near enough to take
us off; and now it is as smooth as glass."
"It was a lucky day for me, sir, that was," Jack said. "I had then
nothing to look forward to, beyond sailing a bawley; now I have got the
life I always wanted to follow, and every prospect of getting on."
"That you have, my lad," Hoare agreed. "It was a rare bit of luck for
you that you made us out, no doubt, and a rare bit of luck for us too."
The voyage began well. The wind continued light and in the right quarter
all the first week. Jack and his companions were not idle, and always
went aloft with the watch when there was occasion to make any change
with the sails. This was at first a trial for Arthur Hill; but Jim
Tucker was an old hand at it, and Jack, who had often had to make his
way up the _Bessy's_ mast when she was rolling heavily, was soon quite
at home on the yards of the _Wild Wave_. For two hours every morning the
three boys worked at navigation, Mr. Hoare acting as instructor.
So smooth was the sea and so slight the motion that Jack could hardly
believe that he was sailing down through the Bay of Biscay, of which he
had heard so much; and he was quite surprised when, on the fifth day
after sailing, Mr. Hoare pointed to land on the port bow, and told him
that was Portugal.
"We have had capital luck, so far," the officer said. "If the wind does
but hold till we once get fairly round Cape St. Vincent, it may change
as soon as it likes into any quarter except the east, and we are not
very likely to get that at this time of the year."
"I should not mind a change of wind a bit, sir," Jack said; "it would
bring us something to do."
"Ah, yes; after being accustomed to go about every five minutes or so on
the Thames, I understand you finding this monotonous, Jack. When you
have had a little more of the sea, you won't mind how much you get of
fine weather and favouring winds. As for storms, I don't care if I never
see another. They are very grand to read of in books, and when you have
got a stout ship and plenty of sea room there is no need to be afraid;
but when you are wet through for a week at a spell, and the galley-fires
can't be kept going, there is very little comfort in it."
The wind changed next day to the west, and by evening was blowing hard.
A good deal of the canvas was taken off, and the ship edged further away
from land; but after blowing strongly the wind abated again, and the
next day the _Wild Wave_ passed Cape St. Vincent and headed for the
Straits of Gibraltar. As the wind still held from the west they made a
rapid run, and in ten days after passing St. Vincent dropped anchor in
the harbour of Alexandria.
The next day the captain said to Jim Tucker, "You three lads can go
ashore after dinner to-day. There is nothing particular for you to do on
board, and it is well to get a view of these foreign towns while you
can. When you once get to be mates you will not have much chance to do
so, for then you will have to be looking after the loading and unloading
of the cargo. Come off before gun-fire. There are about as cut-throat a
lot of thieves in Alexandria as in any port on the Mediterranean, and
that is saying a good deal."
"It is quite possible that there will be trouble here before long," Mr.
Hoare remarked at dinner.
"I saw something in the paper about it," Mr. Alston, the third mate,
said; "but I did not trouble to read through the accounts. What is it
all about?"
"There has been a sort of peaceable revolution," Mr. Hoare said. "The
colonels of the regiments in Cairo, headed by a general named Arabi
Pasha, mutinied, and the viceroy had to give way to them."
"What did they mutiny about?" the third mate asked.
"Well, in the first place they wanted privileges for the army, and in
the second place they wanted a lot of Europeans who hold berths to be
dismissed, and the government to be entirely in the hands of natives. It
is a sort of national movement, with the army at the head of it; and the
viceroy, although still nominally the ruler of Egypt, is in fact little
more than a cipher in the hands of Arabi and the colonels. They say the
French are at the bottom of it, and it is likely enough. They have
always been jealous of our influence in Egypt. However, I do not
suppose we shall interfere in the matter, unless they break regularly
out and ill-treat Europeans, and threaten to seize the canal or
something of that sort."
After dinner the three boys landed together in a boat. Half a dozen
natives pressed round them directly they stepped ashore, and offered to
act as guides; but these offers they refused, for, as Jim Tucker said,
"We have only got to walk about, and we are certain to find ourselves
somewhere. It will be time enough talking about taking a guide when it
is time for us to make down to the port again. This is a long street,
let us follow it. It must lead somewhere."
Staring into the funny little shops, and at the varying crowds, composed
of people of all the nationalities of the Mediterranean, mingled with a
swarm of scantily-clad natives, and women wrapped up in dark blue cotton
cloths, the lads made their way along.
"What an awful place for flies!" Arthur Hill said, after brushing two or
three off his cheek. "Just look at that child! Why, there are a dozen
round its eyes, and it doesn't seem to mind them in the least; and there
is another just the same!"
"I expect the coating of dirt is so thick that they do not feel it," Jim
Tucker said. "Poor little beggars, most of them look as if they had not
had a wash for the last month. The women are ugly enough, what you can
see of them, and that is not much. What a rascally set the Europeans
look! The Egyptians are gentlemen by the side of them. I fancy from what
I have heard they are the sweepings of the European ports--Greeks,
Italians, Maltese, and French. When a fellow makes it too hot at home
for the place to hold him, he comes over here--
"Ah! this is more like a town," he broke off as they entered the great
square. "My goodness! how hot the sun does blaze down here. I say, here
is a refreshment place. Sorbette--Ices. It is lucky that they put the
English. Come on, you fellows, an ice would be just the thing now."
As they came out they were accosted by an Egyptian driver. "Take a
carriage, gentlemen? Drive to Sweet-water Canal. See the gardens."
"What do you say, Jack?" Tucker asked. "I suppose we may as well go
there as anywhere else."
"Well, we will go there later, Tucker. One does get shade in the narrow
streets; but there would be no fun in driving with this sun blazing down
on us. By five o'clock, when the sun gets a bit lower, it will be
pleasant enough. I vote we go into the narrow streets, where we shall
get shade, and see the natives in their own quarters."
The others agreed, and turning out of the square they were soon in the
lanes.
"This is not half as amusing as the Indian towns," Tucker said. "Last
voyage I went to Calcutta, and it is jolly in the natives' town there,
seeing the natives squatting in their little shops, tinkering and
tailoring, and all sorts of things. And such a crowd of them in the
streets! This is a poor place in comparison, and most of the shops you
see have European names over them. However, one gets the shade; that is
something."