"Well, dash my wig," exclaimed the skipper, his face the picture of
blank astonishment, "that beats the record! Why, the man's fast asleep,
in spite of all your handling of him! How in the name of all that's
wonderful did you manage to work that miracle, youngster?"
"Oh, easily enough!" laughed Dick. "Everything is easy, you know, sir,
when you understand how to do it. I learned how to do that, and a great
many other very useful things, under one of the cleverest men in London,
a man who would be famous but for the fact that he prefers to work in
the obscurity of the East-End, and let the poor enjoy the benefit of his
wonderful skill, instead of becoming a fashionable Harley Street
practitioner. With your permission, sir, I will look after our friend
Tom, here; and I guarantee to have him up and about again, as well as
ever, before we reach the latitude of the Cape."
"You do?" ejaculated the skipper. "Then by George, sir, you shall have
the opportunity. But, look here, why didn't you tell me that you were a
doctor, when you came and asked me to allow you to work your passage out
to South Africa?"
"Well, you see," answered Dick, "I was rather down on my luck just then;
I--or rather, my mother--had learned, only a few days before, that she
had been robbed of all her money; and it was imperative that I should at
once go out into the world and earn more for her, hence my anxiety to go
to South Africa. But I was so badly off that I couldn't even afford to
pay my fare out there; I therefore determined to work my passage. And,
as I considered that the fact of my being a doctor would be no
recommendation to you, I decided not to mention it."
"Ah!" remarked the skipper; "that is just where you made a big mistake;
your services as a medical man would have been far more valuable to me
than as an ordinary seaman. Besides, you can do better work than mere
pulling and hauling and dipping your hands into the tar bucket. You are
a gentleman in manner and speech, and will look like one when you get
into another suit of clothes. Now, I tell you what it is; I am not
going to waste you by allowing you to remain in the forecastle any
longer, so just turn to and get the tar stains off your hands, shift
into a white shirt and a shore-going suit of clothes, and come aft into
the cuddy as ship's surgeon. There is, very fortunately, a vacant cabin
that you can have; and you may earn the rest of your passage by looking
after the health of the passengers and crew--there are three or four
ladies who are pretty nearly dead with seasickness, and if you can
relieve 'em they'll bless me for discovering you."
"Oh yes," answered Dick cheerfully, "I have no doubt I can relieve them
all right! But there is one thing with regard to this arrangement that
perhaps you have not thought of, Captain. Perhaps your passengers will
not approve of your bringing me aft out of the forecastle to associate
with them upon terms of equality."
"Don't you trouble your head about that, my son," returned the skipper.
"That is my affair. But I'm quite sure that they won't object when I
tell 'em the facts of the case. Besides, they've already noticed you
while you've been at the wheel, and have remarked what a well-spoken,
gentlemanly young fellow you are. No, no; that'll be all right, never
fear. Now, if you've finished with this poor chap for a while, you had
better cut away and make yourself fit for the cuddy, and then shift aft,
bag and baggage."
"Very well, sir, I will, and many thanks to you for the promotion,"
answered Dick. "But we cannot leave Tom here on the table, comfortable
as he is. Therefore, with your permission, sir, I will call in a couple
of hands, who, with Joe and myself, will be able to put him into the
spare bunk, where he will be out of everybody's way, and where I can
attend to him quite conveniently."
To this proposal the worthy skipper at once consented; and half an hour
later Dick, having discarded his working clothes for a suit of blue
serge, and otherwise made himself presentable, moved aft and established
himself in the spare cabin which Captain Roberts placed at his disposal,
the skipper having meanwhile ensured a cordial reception for him from
the passengers by telling them such particulars of Dick's history as he
was acquainted with, and also describing, with much picturesque detail,
the masterly manner in which the lad had patched up the injured seaman.
Dick had no reason to complain of the manner in which the passengers
received him among them; on the contrary, his reception was cordial in
the extreme, especially by the women, to whose sense of romance the
lad's story, as told by the skipper, appealed very strongly. The
introduction took place just as the passengers--or at least those of
them who were not too ill--were about to sit down to tiffin, and Dick
was assigned a place at the long table halfway between the head and the
foot, where Captain Roberts and Mr Sutcliffe respectively presided; but
the young man declined to sit down until he had visited and relieved his
new patients, consisting of five ladies and three men.
His method of dealing with these unfortunates was simplicity itself.
Relying wholly upon the wonderful power of hypnotism with which his
friend Humphreys had endowed him, he prepared for each patient a draught
consisting of sugar and water only, slightly flavoured with an aromatic
bitter; and, as he presented this, he got the patient under his
influence in the instantaneous manner which Humphreys had taught him, at
the same time saying, in a quietly confident tone of voice:
"Now, I want you to drink this, please. It is an absolutely unfailing
and instantaneous remedy for the distressing complaint from which you
are suffering, and the moment that you have swallowed it every trace of
discomfort will disappear, to return no more. You will feel so
thoroughly well that very probably you will wish to rise and dress; but
I do not advise that. On the contrary, I recommend you to remain where
you are until you have had a few hours' refreshing sleep, after which
you can get up to dinner. That is right,"--as the patient swallowed the
draught. "Now you feel quite all right, don't you? Yes. You will feel
very sleepy presently; just let yourself go; and when you awake you will
find yourself as well as you ever were in your life."
And, incredible though it may appear, that is precisely what happened.
What was perhaps at least equally remarkable was that, although these
good people had all suffered more or less from seasickness every day
since leaving Gravesend, from that moment they were entirely free from
it for the remainder of the voyage.
Among the passengers who were thus suddenly and completely cured was a
Mr Philip Grosvenor, who, having been crossed in love, and, moreover,
possessing far more money than he knew what to do with, while he had no
disposition to dissipate it on the racecourse or at the gambling tables,
was going out to South Africa to shoot big game; and this young man--he
was only a month or two over twenty-six years of age--at once struck up
a warm friendship with Dick, originating, possibly, in a feeling of
gratitude for his prompt relief from those sufferings which had hitherto
made his life a burden to him, from the moment when the South Foreland
light had sunk beneath the horizon astern of the _Concordia_.
He made his first advances after dinner on the evening of the day which
had witnessed his cure. As Dick had foretold, he fell asleep
immediately after swallowing the draught which the young medico had
administered, had awakened, feeling absolutely well, just in time to
rise and dress for dinner, had partaken of a very hearty meal, and
thereafter had made his way up on the poop to gaze upon the stirring
spectacle of the ship battling with and gallantly holding her own
against the raging wind and sea--and possibly also to revel in his new-
found immunity from the horrors of _mal de mer_. Here he had found
Dick, a born sailor, walking the heaving and plunging deck and chatting
animatedly with Mr Sutcliffe, who, honest man, felt somewhat at a loss
to determine precisely the manner of his behaviour toward the youngster
whom he had so recently patronised and ordered about, but who was now
translated aft to the quarterdeck upon an equal footing with himself.
Dick had just about succeeded in putting to flight the worthy chief
mate's feeling of awkwardness and embarrassment when Grosvenor appeared
and joined the pair, whereupon Sutcliffe, who was rather shy with the
passengers, sheered off, upon the pretence of attending to his duty, and
left the two together.
"By Jove, Doctor, but this is a grand sight, isn't it?" exclaimed Dick's
recent patient. "Never saw the like of it before, and shouldn't be in
form to see it now, but for you. 'Pon my word, you know, you are a
wonder--a perfect wonder! Give me your arm and let's walk about a bit,
shall we? That's right. D'you know I don't think I ever felt more fit
in my life than I do at this moment; and to reflect that only this
morning I was--ugh! Tell you what it is, Doctor, you should patent that
prescription of yours, have it made up, and sell it at five shillings
the bottle. You would soon make your fortune. And I'll write a
testimonial for you. `Took one dose and never needed another!' eh? No,
hang it all, that wouldn't do, either, rather too ambiguous, eh? sort of
double meaning in that kind of statement--what? But, joking apart, old
man, I'd very strongly advise you to patent the thing and advertise it
extensively. I'm certain that there's money in it."
"Possibly," agreed Dick, who had no intention of taking this young man
into his confidence to the extent of explaining the actual character of
the draught. "Unfortunately, however, to do as you suggest needs the
preliminary expenditure of a good deal of money, which is a singularly
scarce commodity with me. No, I am afraid that plan of yours will
scarcely do; it is true that I am particularly anxious to make my
fortune, and that, too, without a moment's loss of time, but I am afraid
I shall have to hit upon some other way of doing it."
"Ah! Well, what is your plan, if it is a fair question? Excuse me, old
chap, I'm not asking out of mere vulgar, impertinent curiosity, but at
the dinner table to-night somebody mentioned that you are working your
passage out to South Africa. What do you propose to do when you arrive
there?"
"Heaven only knows; certainly I do not," answered Dick with a lugubrious
smile. "When I step ashore on the wharf at Port Natal I shall not know
in what direction to turn my steps, or where to look for a meal or a
night's lodging. Also the whole of my available capital will consist in
the wages which I shall take up when Captain Roberts gives me my
discharge, amounting, probably, to a couple of shillings."
"What?" ejaculated Grosvenor incredulously. "Oh, I say, my dear chap,
you are not in earnest, surely?"
"Indeed I am, then, in deadly earnest," answered Dick. "But I am not
worrying. I am strong and more than willing to work, and I mean to take
the very first job that comes to hand, let it be what it will. I
believe that if a chap is willing to work he can always get something to
do, though it may not be precisely the kind of work that he would like.
And when once I have secured the means of providing myself with board
and lodging I shall be able to look round for something better."
"Yes--yes, of course you will," responded Grosvenor, a little dubiously.
"I say, old chap," he continued admiringly, "you are a `gritty' beggar,
and no mistake! I wonder if you would mind telling me your story?"
"No, not at all," answered Dick; "there is nothing in it that I need be
ashamed of." And forthwith he proceeded to give his new-found friend a
brief yet clear account of the circumstances which had resulted in his
being reduced to his present plight.
"By Jove, Maitland, I admire you!" exclaimed Grosvenor when Dick had
come to the end of his story. "There is not one man in a hundred who,
under similar circumstances, would have tackled the situation with the
indomitable pluck and whole-hearted belief in himself that you have
shown; and I feel sure that such courage will meet with its just reward.
You are the kind of fellow that always comes out on top, simply because
you will not allow yourself to be kept down. Now, look here, I am going
to make a proposition to you--and, understand me, it is on purely
selfish grounds that I am going to make it. I am going out to South
Africa because I want to forget a--well, a very bitter disappointment
that I have recently sustained, and the particulars of which I will
perhaps tell you some day if you fall in with my proposition, as I hope
you will. The way in which I propose to conquer this disappointment of
mine is to go in for a life of adventure--exploration of the interior,
big-game shooting, and that sort of thing, you understand. I have heard
some most thrilling stories of the wonderful things and people that are
to be found in the interior of Africa, and, while many of them are
doubtless lies, there is evidence enough of a perfectly reliable
character to prove that there is at least a certain amount of truth in
others; and it is my purpose to ascertain at firsthand the exact measure
of that truth. Take, for example, the contention of certain
antiquarians that the ruins of Ophir must exist somewhere upon the east
coast. I have read pretty nearly everything that has been written upon
that subject, and I am convinced of the soundness of the contention, as
I am also of the contention that Zimbabwe is not ancient Ophir. Then,
again, there is the statement of the existence of a mysterious white
race in the far interior, which persistently crops up at intervals. It
would be interesting in the extreme to be able to settle that matter
beyond a doubt, wouldn't it? Very well, then; my idea is to attempt to
find ancient Ophir, and also the mysterious white race, if possible.
"Of course I know that what I propose is scarcely in the nature of a
picnic; it no doubt means a good deal of hardship, privation, and
danger; in fact, my friends without exception pronounced me a fool for
thinking of engaging in such an undertaking, while at least half of them
confidently prophesy that if I make the attempt I shall never return.
Well, that is as may be; plenty of better fellows than I have gone under
in such excursions, but, on the other hand, as big duffers as I am have
done great things and turned up again all right, so there is no
particular reason that I can see why I should not do the same. And so
far as money is concerned I have more than enough to enable me to equip
the expedition in such a manner as to ensure the minimum of discomfort
with the maximum of everything necessary to success. The only item that
I have had any doubt as to my ability to obtain is--a suitable
companion; for of course in my maddest moments I have never been ass
enough to contemplate going into so big a thing single-handed. But the
precise kind of man that I want was not to be found either among my
friends or elsewhere at home, so I came away without him, trusting that
I should be lucky enough to pick him up somewhere on the way; and, by
Jove, Maitland, the event has justified my trust; for I have found in
you exactly the kind of man I have had in my mind all along--or, rather,
somebody better, for in addition to your other qualifications you have
very considerable skill as a physician and surgeon, which is what I
never hoped to secure, even in my most sanguine moments."
"Do you wish me to infer, then, that you are proposing to take me as a
hired assistant--or what?" demanded Dick.
"Well, yes--and no," answered Grosvenor, with a somewhat embarrassed
laugh. "As a hired assistant, certainly, because the services of a
fellow like yourself would be of incalculable value to me, especially
when the inevitable sickness comes along. But I want particularly to
secure you because--well, to be perfectly plain and blunt, because I
have taken a great fancy to you, and because I recognise in you exactly
the qualities that would make of you not only an invaluable assistant
but also a perfectly ideal partner, friend, and companion. Therefore,
in your capacity as medical attendant to the expedition I propose to
offer you a regular fixed salary of, let us say, two guineas a day, or,
taking one month with another, sixty-five pounds a month--the first six
months to be paid in advance--and, in your capacity of partner, all the
ivory, skins, and other matters which we may accumulate during the
progress of the expedition, except what I may desire to appropriate as
trophies wherewith to adorn the ancestral halls."
Dick laughed. "Thank you very much," he said, "but I couldn't possibly
accede to your terms; they are altogether too glaringly unfair. The
salaried part I don't at all object to, because of course if you desire
to include a medical man in your retinue you must pay him a fair salary,
and two guineas a day is not too much, in my opinion. But when you come
to talk about my share of the spoils, in my capacity of your partner, it
becomes a different matter altogether, since I cannot contribute a
farthing to the expenses of the expedition, therefore I cannot by any
process of reasoning be entitled to any share of its possible profits.
No; if you care to engage me as doctor, at the salary that you have
named, I will accept the post with pleasure and my most hearty thanks,
because the pay will suffice to keep the dear old Mater going; and when
we return to civilisation--if we ever do--I shall be able to set about
the task in earnest of `making my fortune.'"
"But, look here my dear fellow," remonstrated Grosvenor, "it is just
nonsense in you--if you will excuse my saying so--to refuse the second
part of my proposal, for this reason. I am not undertaking this
expedition as a speculation, or with any idea of making it pay. I have
already a much larger income than I know what to do with, and for that
and other reasons money does not come into the question at all. Like
other fellows who go hunting, I shall naturally desire to have a few
trophies to exhibit as tokens of my prowess; but, beyond those, I shall
have no use at all for ivory, skins, horns, and such other matters as we
may acquire; therefore you may as well have them as anyone else,
especially as you are avowedly out fortune-hunting. Besides, two
guineas a day is an altogether inadequate rate of remuneration for a
young fellow of your exceptional ability--why, before you had been
practising a month you would be earning four or five times that amount,
and you will be sacrificing that possibility for an indefinite period if
you elect to join forces with me. Therefore I contend that if any
profits of any kind accrue to the expedition, you are justly entitled to
them, and I shall not be content unless you consent to take them; indeed
if you refuse I shall be obliged to withdraw my offer altogether, much
as I shall regret having to do so."
Under those circumstances there was of course nothing more to be said;
and finally Dick agreed to Grosvenor's proposal in its entirety, the
more readily that, after all, when he came to reflect upon it, there was
much truth in what Grosvenor had said with regard to the possible loss
which Dick might sustain by attaching himself to the expedition and
burying himself in the wilds for a more or less indefinite period.
As time went on there could be no doubt as to the fact that Grosvenor
was genuinely pleased with the arrangement by which he had secured Dick
as his companion in the projected expedition, nor did he make any secret
of the fact that he regarded the terms of the agreement as eminently
satisfactory from his own point of view; while Dick, for his part, felt
that he had done not at all badly in securing a post at a salary of
sixty-five pounds a month, to be enjoyed the moment that he set foot on
shore. Moreover, that salary was a sure thing for at least six months,
and since Grosvenor insisted upon paying in advance for that period Dick
would be in a position to remit quite a nice little sum home to his
mother, immediately upon his arrival on South African soil. Both
parties to the agreement were thus equally satisfied, and thenceforward
devoted much of their time to elaborating their plans, in order that no
time should be lost upon their arrival.
Grosvenor, with the confidence of the inexperienced, was quite prepared
unhesitatingly to plunge into the very heart of darkest Africa with no
other companions than Dick, and a few Kafir or Hottentot "boys" as
servants; but Dick, although the younger of the two, had discretion
enough to understand that this would be a very unwise thing to do, and
that it would be altogether more prudent in every way to secure the
services of some white man, well acquainted with the country, and the
ways and language of the natives, to act as a sort of general overseer
and factotum, and this view Grosvenor at length somewhat unwillingly
accepted.
Meanwhile, Tom, the injured man, made the most extraordinarily rapid
progress toward recovery, under Dick's skilled treatment, much to the
enhancement of that young gentleman's reputation; and some appreciable
time before the period that Dick had named he was out again and on duty,
very little the worse for his accident save that his right cheek bore a
scar which he would carry with him to his grave.
At length a day arrived when Captain Roberts, having worked out his
observations for the determination of the ship's latitude and longitude,
made the welcome announcement that, if the wind held and all went well,
the passengers, by this time thoroughly weary of the--to most of them--
changeless monotony of sea and sky, might hope to feast their eyes upon
the glowing picture of a South African landscape within the ensuing
twenty-four hours; and at once everybody became cheerfully busy upon the
task of packing up in preparation for the joyous moment when they might
exchange the eternal movement of the rocking deck for terra firma, and
rejoice once more in the sight of trees and grass and flowers, of busy
streets, and of the much-talked-of beauties of suburban Berea. Dick
Maitland's possessions were so few that they needed very little packing
to prepare them for transit from ship to shore, and when he had finished
he adjourned to Grosvenor's cabin to assist that gentleman, who, since
dispensing with the services of a valet, seemed quite incapable of
replacing his possessions in the receptacles from which he had taken
them upon the beginning of the voyage. The remainder of the day was
passed in the animated discussion of future plans and arrangements,
while one effect of the imminent termination of the long ocean voyage
was the sudden development of an amazing access of cordiality between
people who had hitherto manifested but little interest in each other,
accompanied by pressing invitations to "come and stay a few days at my
place whenever you happen to be in the neighbourhood". Also a few of
the more enthusiastic occupants of the cuddy remained on deck until
midnight, in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Bluff light before
turning in, only to retire to their cabins, discontented and grumbling,
because at eight bells the gleam still obstinately refused to appear on
the horizon over the port bow, where Mr Sutcliffe, the chief mate, had
been anxiously watching for it.
But full compensation came to the disappointed ones when, awakened on
the following morning about six o'clock by the voice of the mate issuing
certain sharp orders from the poop, followed by the flinging down of
ropes upon the deck and the cheery "yo ho's" of the sailors, as they
threw their weight upon various portions of the ship's running gear, the
said disappointed ones leaped from their bunks and hastened out on deck
clad only in pyjamas and overcoats; for they found the ship hove-to on
the starboard tack with her head to the eastward, while stretching away
astern of them, from the starboard to the port quarter, was the
dominating eminence of the Bluff, bush-clad from base to crest, crowned
with its lighthouse and signal staff--from the latter of which was
fluttering the answering pennant, acknowledging the deciphering of the
_Concordia's_ number--with the long breakwater jutting out into the sea
from its foot, while, nearer at hand, there stretched across the scene
the low outline of the Point, also bush-crowned, with the roofs of a few
houses and a flagstaff or two showing above the verdure, the sandy
beach, with the eternal surf thundering upon it in long lines of rainbow
spray, reaching for mile after mile athwart the ship's stern, and for
background the far-stretching ridge of the bush-clad, villa-studded
range of the Berea, the windows of its houses already ablaze with the
ardent beams of the newly risen sun. The prospect is a charming one at
any time, but never more so perhaps than when it is suddenly presented,
fresh, green, and beautiful, in the clear atmosphere and the light of
early morning, to the vision of those whose eyes, after seventy days of
gazing upon sky and sea, are yearning to behold once more the beauties
of the solid earth.
For a full hour the ship remained hove-to with her head to seaward,
during which an early breakfast was served to the occupants of the
cuddy; then, upon the appearance of the tug coming out over the bar, the
_Concordia_ wore round and headed inshore, the light sails were rapidly
clewed up or hauled down, the towline was got ready for passing, and in
a moment everything was bustle and apparent confusion upon the ship's
decks, barefooted seamen rushing hither and thither, flinging down coils
of rope on deck, casting off halyards and sheets, and dragging
vociferously upon clew-garnets, clewlines, downhauls, and the other
complicated paraphernalia of a ship's furniture, with the captain
shouting orders from the poop, and the mate in charge of a gang of men
on the forecastle getting the anchor a-cockbill ready for letting go,
and preparing for the arrival of the tug alongside. Then up came the
little steamer, rolling and pitching heavily upon the long ground swell,
sweeping round in a long curve that brought her all but alongside the
wallowing ship; a brief interchange of hails between her bridge and the
_Concordia's_ poop, the sudden snaking out of a whirling heaving-line
from the forecastle of the latter, followed by the thin but tremendously
strong steel towing hawser; and as the few remaining sheets of the
ship's canvas shrivelled in to the masts and yards the tug passed ahead,
the towrope rose dripping out of the water, tautened to the semblance of
a metal rod, and away went the two craft, heading for the middle of the
space of water that divided the two breakwaters. Half an hour later the
_Concordia_ came to an anchor in the spacious but shallow inner harbour
opposite the railway station, and the long voyage was at an end.
But the eager passengers were not yet at liberty to go on shore.
Although the _Concordia_ carried a clean bill of health, certain
formalities had yet to be gone through; the medical officer had still to
satisfy himself that there was no sickness of any infectious kind on
board before pratique was granted. And, as the medical officer happened
to be a thoroughly conscientious man, the determination of this fact
consumed a full hour. But at length the tedious examination came to an
end, the ship was pronounced perfectly healthy, and the boats which had
been hovering round her were permitted to come alongside. Then ensued a
few minutes of strenuous bargaining between passengers and boatmen, at
the end of which time Dick and Grosvenor, having said goodbye to the
captain and officers--Dick also included the crew in his farewell--found
themselves being pulled across the few yards of water which intervened
between ship and shore, and presently they stood upon the sun-blistered
wharf fighting their way through an odoriferous crowd of shouting,
laughing, gesticulating, and more than half-naked Kafir rickshaw-men who
clamoured for the honour of dragging them the mile or so that separated
the Point from Durban. But the Custom House officers had first to be
placated, and Grosvenor disgustedly found himself obliged to disburse a
goodly sum as duty upon his firearms and ammunition before he was
permitted to retain possession of them. At length, however, the Customs
barrier was successfully negotiated; and then Dick in one rickshaw,
Grosvenor in another, and their baggage in a third, the two friends
proceeded in triumph along the bush-bordered road, over the level
crossing of the railway, and so up Smith Street to the Royal Hotel,
where they purposed to put up for a day or two, and where, upon their
arrival, they joined their fellow passengers at a hilarious second
breakfast in accordance with an arrangement made at the cabin table a
few hours earlier.