IN WHICH PHIL STANDS HIS WATCH, AND TAKES HIS TRICK AT THE WHEEL.
Jack Sanderson was an old sailor. I had noticed, when I first came on
board of the bark, that he was very drunk. But he had a kind heart, and
was a person of great natural ability. If he had let liquor alone, he
might have been the master of a vessel. He was much interested in my
story, and gave me such good advice as the circumstances required. He
counselled me to obey the officers in all things, to be respectful, and
to perform every duty with care and attention. I had already resolved
to do all this, but I was strengthened by the advice of the old salt.
"I'm afraid the captain won't discharge you when we get to Palermo,"
said Jack.
"Then I shall discharge myself," I replied, decidedly.
"That's easy to say, my hearty, but not always easy to do. You signed
the shipping papers."
"The captain told me that was a mere form, and that he would let me go
when the bark arrived at Palermo."
"Perhaps he will let you go, and then again perhaps he won't. You can't
always tell the night beforehand how the wind's going to blow. You've
walked right into a scrape, and all you can do is to make the best of
it."
"I intend to do that; and I think the best thing I can do will be to
leave when we reach Palermo."
"There goes one bell, and we must turn in, for we shall be tumbled out
at midnight," added Jack.
My bunk was next above that of my new friend. I knelt, as I always did,
before my bed, and prayed for strength and grace. I had been in the
habit of uttering my prayer audibly, and in a low tone. I did so on the
present occasion. The rest of the port watch had all turned in, and
most of them appeared to be snoring.
"So you say your prayers, Phil," said Jack Sanderson, as I climbed into
my berth.
[Illustration: PHIL PRAYED FOR STRENGTH AND GRACE.]
"Yes, sir; I always do that, and I do not feel like neglecting it here."
"That's right, my lad. I don't do so myself, but I like to see others
do it; I wish I could. I always feel safer in a vessel when somebody
prays."
"If you think it is right to do so, I hope you will do it yourself."
"I don't think I could now. I was brought up to do so; but I've drank
liquor enough to float this bark from New York to Palermo, and that's
knocked all the good out of me."
"I would stop drinking liquor."
"Stop! But I'm an old sailor."
"Have you any liquor on board?"
"Not a drop."
"Then you will drink none on this cruise."
"Not a thimbleful."
"If you can get along without it for three or four weeks at sea, why
can you not do without it when you go ashore?"
"You are green, my lad. By the time you can take your trick at the
wheel, and parcel a stay, you will know all about it. But batten down
your peepers, and go to sleep, Phil."
It was not so easy for me to go to sleep after the excitement of the
evening, and I wasted half of my watch below in thinking over the
events of the day. Certainly I had enough to reflect upon, enough to
regret, and enough to dread in the future. I was completely in the
power of my enemy. I could only submit, and suffer. It was possible
that Captain Farraday, after he was sober, would save me from absolute
abuse; but I did not expect anything from him. I went to sleep at last,
because I could think of nothing to mitigate my hard lot.
"All the port watch!" rang through the forecastle before I was ready to
hear the call, for I had not slept two hours.
However, I was one of the first to hear the summons, because I had no
drunken debauch to sleep off. I turned out instantly, and shook Jack
Sanderson till he came out of his drunken stupor. He leaped briskly
from his bunk, and we were the first to report ourselves on deck.
The chief mate had not yet appeared, and I wondered whether he had
discovered the loss of a part of his specie. I expected a tremendous
storm when he ascertained that his ill-gotten gold had disappeared. He
could not unlock his trunk without the use of the pick-lock; but, as
he had found no difficulty in opening mine, I did not think he would
in opening his own. The only thing that troubled me was the insecurity
of the hiding-place I had chosen for my treasure. I was looking for a
better place, and I hoped the storm would not come till I had found it.
The bark was still under all sail, with the wind from the south-west. I
noticed a change in the sails, and that the vessel rolled now, instead
of pitching. Either the wind had changed, or the course of the bark had
been altered; I could not tell which. I liked the motion of the vessel;
and, as she sped over the waves, I could have enjoyed the scene if I
had not been in the power of an enemy. While I was looking at the sails
and the sea, the chief mate came on deck. By this time the starboard
watch had roused their sleepy shipmates, and the whole port watch were
at their stations.
"Phil Farringford!" called the mate.
"Here, sir," I replied, stepping up to the quarter-deck; and I observed
that Jack Sanderson followed me as far as it was proper for him to go.
"You are an able seaman, Phil; take your trick at the wheel."
"Ay, ay, sir," I replied, using the language I had heard others use
when ordered by an officer to do anything.
"Beg your pardon, sir; but Phil does not pretend to be an able seaman,"
interposed my salt friend.
"Who spoke to you?" growled the mate. "Go forward, and when I want
anything of you I'll call for you."
"I only wanted to say, sir--"
"Shut up!"
Jack went forward, followed by a shower of oaths from the mate.
"Relieve the helm, Phil," repeated Waterford.
"Ay, ay, sir."
I went to the wheel.
"You are down on the shipping papers as an able seaman, and you ought
to be able to take your trick at the wheel."
"I will do the best I can, sir," I replied.
"You will steer the bark, or take the consequences," said the mate,
as if satisfied that he had put me in a position where I must make
a failure, and call down upon my head the wrath and contempt of my
shipmates.
There were but two able and three ordinary seaman in the port watch.
The others, like myself, were green hands, who had never stood at a
wheel. The five seamen, therefore, would be obliged to do all the
steering; and of course it put more of this duty upon them than the
other watch had, in which there were three able and three ordinary
seamen. Five men would have to do the work which properly belonged to
six; and these men, in the common course of life on shipboard, would
hate and annoy, to the best of their ability, the one who imposed this
extra labor upon them.
I had never steered at a wheel, but I was perfectly at home at the
helm of a yacht. I knew the compass, and understood when a sail was
drawing properly. Perhaps it was presumptuous in me, but I made up my
mind, when ordered to do it, that I could steer the bark. She was going
free, with the wind a little abaft the beam, and this made it easy for
a beginner. While I stood listening to the mate, I noticed that the
helmsman steered very "small;" indeed, the bark seemed to take care of
herself.
"South-east," said Ned Bilger, whom I relieved at the helm.
"South-east," I repeated, as I had heard the wheelman say when the
course was given to him.
I placed myself on the weather side of the wheel, and grasped the
spokes with a firm hand. Fixing my gaze upon the compass in the
binnacle, I determined to make a success of my first attempt to steer.
I was a mechanic, and I fully comprehended the working of the machinery
of the compass. All I had to do was to keep the point south-east on
the notch; or, in other words, to keep south-east in range with the
bowsprit. I was cool and self-possessed, for I felt that I could do all
that was required of me.
Waterford walked forward, as I took the helm, to look after the men.
Doubtless he expected the bark would come up into the wind in a moment,
and that he should have an opportunity to lay me out. I soon found that
the vessel carried a weather helm; or, if left to herself, would throw
her head tip into the wind. As the compass appeared to turn, though in
reality it was the bark that varied, I met her with the helm. I steered
small, thus avoiding the usual mistake of inexperienced helmsmen; and
I found that a single spoke brought the compass back to its proper
position. In five minutes I felt entirely at home; but I thanked my
stars that the bark did not happen to be close-hauled, for, between
laying a course and keeping all the sails drawing, I should have been
badly bothered.
As soon as I understood the wheel, I rather liked the work. I was so
interested in my occupation that I ceased to gape, and felt very much
like an old sailor. The mate, who was evidently waiting for me to make
a blunder, said nothing more to me. He occasionally walked aft and
glanced at the compass; but I was very careful not to let the bark
vary a hair from her course. As the mate said nothing, I imitated his
example. It is not proper for any one to talk to the man at the wheel,
and Waterford showed that he was a good officer by holding his tongue.
I kept up a tremendous thinking; and, among other things, I tried to
explain why, if the bark was bound up the Mediterranean, her course was
to the south-east. I knew about the variation of the compass; but, as
it was less than a point to the westward, it did not account for the
present course. My theory was, that the vessel ought to be headed about
east, in order to reach the Straits of Gibraltar. But I did not venture
to express any opinion on this subject to the captain or the mate.
Waterford planked the deck, and I fancied that he was not at all
pleased to find that I could steer the bark. While I congratulated
myself that I was able to do so, I knew there were a hundred other
things I could not do, and therefore his revenge was only deferred for
a few hours. At four bells, Dick Baxter, one of the able seamen of our
watch, came aft and relieved me.
"What do you mean, Phil?" demanded Jack Sanderson, when I went forward.
"You said you wasn't a seaman."
"I never steered a square-rigged vessel before in my life," I replied.
"I have been at the helm of a yacht."
"You steered like an old sailor, my hearty, and kept her as steady as a
judge on the bench."
"I am going to do the best I can. I know something about a vessel, but
I have a great deal to learn."
"I'll learn you, my lad."
"Thank you. I shall be very grateful to you."
I spent the remaining two hours of my watch on deck in learning the
names and uses of the various ropes of the running rigging. I studied
on halyards, sheets, buntlines, and clew-garnets, and I thought I made
good progress. But the next day I was introduced to a cringle, and
found myself at fault.