THE
GOLDEN HARPOON;
OR,
LOST AMONG THE FLOES
A STORY OF THE WHALING GROUNDS.
BY ROGER STARBUCK.
NEW YORK:
BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS,
98 WILLIAM STREET.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1865, by
BEADLE AND COMPANY,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. THE GOLDEN HARPOON. 9
II. THE RESULT. 19
III. A “STOVE” BOAT. 24
IV. IN CONFINEMENT. 33
V. THE BARRICADE. 39
VI. A SLIGHT CHANGE. 46
VII. ADRIFT. 52
VIII. THE CHASE. 60
IX. THE DISAPPEARANCE. 71
X. AN UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER--CONCLUSION. 86
THE GOLDEN HARPOON.
CHAPTER I.
THE GOLDEN HARPOON.
On the morning of the 25th day of April, 18--, the whale-ship
Montpelier, of New London, anchored in one of the many bays that open
along the coast of Kamschatka, where it is washed by the waters of
the Sea of Ochotsk.
As soon as every thing was made snug alow and aloft, the skipper
rubbed his hands with complacency, and a satisfied expression was
seen to cross even the face of Mr. Briggs, the first mate, who was
the ship’s grumbler.
“Good quarters,” remarked the captain.
“Ay, ay, sir,” responded Briggs, “the tide is easy here and I don’t
think a gale would hurt us much--we are so shut in by the cliffs.
But,” he suddenly added, turning his glance toward a large field of
ice, about a league from the shore, “I don’t like the looks of yonder
floe. It may come upon us and give us a jam.”
“It will drift past us,” replied the captain; “the current tends to
the north’ard.”
“I’m not so sure of _that_,” said the mate, as he snatched a glass
from the mizzen fife-rail, and directed it toward the ice. “Them
undercurrents up this way sometimes plays the very smash. But if I
ain’t much mistaken, I see a bear moving along the floe.”
As he spoke, he passed the glass to his companion, who immediately
lifted it to his eye.
“Do you see the animal, captain?”
“Ay, ay, there it is, sure enough; a _brown_ bear, I believe.”
“Uncle!” exclaimed a gentle voice at this instant, and a light hand
fell upon the captain’s shoulder. “How wild! how picturesque! What
place _is_ this?”
The speaker was a girl of seventeen, with large brown eyes, a
_petite_ but well-rounded figure, and a countenance truly lovely
in its purity and expression. From her neck, by a strip of blue
ribbon, was suspended a golden harpoon of delicate workmanship, and
about four inches in length. It was the gift of the captain--her
only living relative--who had presented it to her on the day that he
complied with her request to accompany him on his present voyage.
And why did she wish to go to sea?
Firstly, because the bold and handsome Harry Marline had shipped in
the Montpelier as boat-steerer and harpooner’s aid. Secondly, because
she was much attached to her relative, who, having no children of his
own, always had treated his niece with the indulgent fondness of a
father.
You might have known this, had you seen the smile that crossed his
face as he turned and gazed with admiration upon the crimsoned cheek,
and the expressive eyes of the young girl.
“Good-morning, Alice,” he said. “I am glad to see you stirring so
early. How did you pass the night?”
“Very well, thank you,” she replied, raising herself upon the tips of
her toes, and presenting her lips for a kiss, which was immediately
granted. “Very well, indeed; but you have not answered my question.
What place is this?”
“It has no particular name that I ever heard of,” replied the
captain. “But, you have been long enough at sea, now, Alice, to
perceive that I’ve chosen a good place for an anchorage--”
“If it wasn’t for the ice,” interrupted Briggs.
“An excellent place,” continued the captain, paying no attention to
the words of his companion, “a position well sheltered, where the
craft can lie while we fill her with oil--secure from every danger--”
“Except that of ice,” doggedly persisted the mate.
“Secure from _every_ danger,” repeated the captain, turning sharply
toward his first officer.
“Oh! I am so glad!” cried Alice, clapping her white hands with an
enthusiasm natural to a girl of seventeen. “It is such a wild,
beautiful place. And, on pleasant days, I can bring my sewing on
deck. It will be very nice sitting here and looking up now and then
at those great towering cliffs that rise so far above the tops of our
mast-heads.”
“Until the ice comes,” said Briggs.
“Why, Mr. Briggs, what do you mean?” said Alice, turning toward the
first officer with an expression of alarm upon her face; “this is the
third time I’ve heard you speak about the ice. Is there really danger
to be apprehended from it?”
“Ay, ay, Miss Alice, plenty of it,” bluntly responded the mate, “and
unless--”
“You must not mind him, niece,” interrupted the captain. “He fancies
there is danger from that floe that you see off the quarter; but, you
may believe me, when I tell you, that it will have drifted past us
before night.”
“There are undercurrents that’ll bring it upon us before the
morning,” persisted Briggs. “This isn’t the first time I’ve sailed in
these waters.”
“Oh, uncle!” said the young girl, placing both hands upon the
captain’s shoulder; “the mate is an old sailer of this sea, while
this is the first time that _you_ have ventured in this quarter. I
think you had better take his advice.”
“Fiddlestick!” exclaimed the captain; “what does a girl know about
seafaring matters?”
“Ay, ay, sir, she’s a girl, but she’s got an uncommon wise head for
all that. Mark ye, Captain Howard,” he added, feeling so highly
gratified by the favorable remark of the skipper’s niece, that he was
disposed to be complimentary--“mark ye, I’ve seen women enough in my
day, but I’ve never seen one as had a longer head than Miss Alice!”
The maid blushed, and bit her lips to conceal a smile, while Briggs,
believing that his words had pleased her, but fearing that she might
think he had merely been trying to flatter, pursued the subject in a
manner so earnest, that his sincerity could not be doubted.
“Ay, ay, sir--a long head has this young girl, and I don’t mean to
flatter her when I say it. She’s about the first woman I ever saw
with such a head. To look at her, it’s true, you mightn’t think that
she was blessed in that way. But, my eyes! neither would you think
that a horse’s head was so long as a flour barrel!”
“You had better stick to currents and icebergs, Mr. Briggs, and leave
the complimenting of girls to those who understand the art better
than you do,” said the captain, a little resentfully. “Young ladies,
as a general rule, do not care to be told that they have long heads?”
“Indeed, uncle,” cried Alice, in a voice that faltered with the
efforts she made to restrain her laughter, “indeed, uncle, I feel
much obliged to the mate for the compliment he has paid me.”
“Oh, well,” said her uncle, dryly, “there is no accounting for
tastes--especially for those of women. If Briggs’ remark pleased you,
I have no more to say.”
“He was sincere, dear uncle, and you know that sincerity _always_
pleases me.”
“Even when you are told that you have a long head?”
“That was a figurative expression on the part of Mr. Briggs.”
“Ay, ay, that’s it,” broke forth the mate, “figgerin’ is the word.
I’m poor at figgers myself, but my eyes do me instead, for they have
good sight and are good at measuring. And that’s why I can calculate
almost to the minute when that ice-floe, which is now about a league
from us, will be upon us, jamming our timbers.”
“It will never reach us,” replied the captain, in a decided voice;
“you can even perceive that it is moving north’ard now, and--”
He paused suddenly and turned his gaze toward the ice, upon which the
eyes of the mate had suddenly seemed fixed with steady intensity.
“Ay, there it is again,” shouted the first officer, as a column
of vapor shot upward from the center of the floe. “There
blows!--there--there blows! The ice is alive with whales, captain
Howard!”
“Clear away the boats, there!” shouted the latter.
These words were addressed to the sailors lounging about the
windlass, some of them smoking, and others engaged in patching
threadbare coats and jackets.
“Lively--lively, men!” yelled the captain, as the “tailors” paused to
thrust the garments upon which they had been working, into the many
little “cubby-holes” about the windlass, and the smokers proceeded
to knock the ashes from their pipes. “Call all hands!”
This command was promptly obeyed, and a dozen men who had been lying
asleep upon chests in the forecastle came bounding through the open
scuttle.
By this time the decks of the Montpelier presented a scene of bustle
and excitement, such as always takes place on board a vessel of her
class when whales have been sighted, and preparations are being made
to lower away. The men rushed to the falls; the harpooners sprung
into their respective boats to prepare the line-tubs and their craft;
while the captain and his officers hurried the movements of their
crews with frantic gesticulations and excited voices.
In the midst of the uproar stood Alice Howard, watching with dilating
eyes and blushing cheeks the movements of Harry Marline, who belonged
to the mate’s boat, and who, more than once, while arranging his
irons, contrived to direct a quick but smiling glance toward the
spot where she stood. She had been so long an inmate of her uncle’s
vessel, that--but for the presence of her lover--the scene passing
before her eyes would have excited but little interest in her bosom.
The hoarse shouts of the captain and the many expletives that
even her presence did not prevent the mate from uttering, jarred
unpleasantly upon her spirit, and more than once she pressed her
little hands against her ears to shut out the hard words that saluted
them.
At last, however, the necessary preparations were completed, and the
captain then gave the order to lower away. As the four boats dropped
simultaneously into the water, he advanced to the side of his niece,
and grasped her hand.
“Good-by, Alice. When we return, I hope we will bring whales
alongside. Take good care of yourself while I am absent. There are
plenty of books in the cabin to amuse you, I trust.”
“Oh yes, I shall get along very well. But _do_ be careful, dear
uncle, and don’t have any of your boats stoven, or any of your men
hurt.”
“Ay, ay, good-by!” and with a parting kiss the captain sprung into
his boat and issued the command to “give way!”
The light vessels darted with arrowy swiftness from the ship’s side,
and, a moment afterward, the bow of each was heading for the floe.
Alice then ran to the bulwarks, and stood watching the boats with a
vague feeling of uneasiness that she had never before experienced.
The voices of the officers as they shouted encouragement to their
crews, and the dull sound of the oars as they were worked in the
row-locks, fell unpleasantly on her ears. She strove to recall the
feelings of pleasurable excitement that she had been wont to indulge
upon similar occasions; but, the effort was made in vain, and tears
of vexation rose to her eyes, because she was unable to subdue her
melancholy.
In the mean time the four boats continued to recede rapidly from the
ship, and presently the young girl perceived that they were upon the
outer edge of the ice-field. A few minutes later their crews had
worked them so far among the bergs that they were out of sight.
Alice was then on the point of moving in the direction of the
companion-way, when she felt a hand upon her arm. Turning, she beheld
a face and figure, the singular appearance of which we shall at once
describe.
The face, which was that of a man about forty years of age, was
very large and square, with enormous ears, round, twinkling blue
eyes, a flat nose, and a pair of lips that kept moving from side to
side, producing a ludicrous effect upon the whole countenance. An
old-fashioned pigtail, carefully tied near its extremity, and well
greased with whale oil, hung from the back of the head, keeping time
with the movements of the wearer, and giving to the huge glazed
sou’wester that crowned his skull, the appearance of a very unnatural
animal, with a black shell and a long tail. Passing on, we come to
the figure, which was not unlike that of a cask, while the arms were
of enormous length. The legs, on the contrary, were very short. The
dress of this person, besides the sou’wester alluded to, consisted of
a Guernsey frock--so profusely ornamented with patches of different
sizes and hues, as to remind the spectator of “Joseph’s coat of many
colors”--and pants of canvas-duck, very coarse, but scrupulously
clean, with the bottoms flowing loosely around a pair of neat,
well-fitting pumps.
“Good-morning, John Stump,” said Alice, as the sailor lifted his
sou’wester and bowed, scraping his right foot as he did so.
“_Jack_ Stump, if it please your pretty lips, miss--for I always feel
as though I was turned wrong side out when anybody calls me John.
Jack’s the name that I’ve always gone by, ever since I was as big as
a turtle.”
“Oh, very well--Jack Stump it shall be, then. You have something
particular to say to me, Jack,” she added, as the seaman suddenly
placed his forefinger upon the side of his flat nose, while his great
blue eyes began to roll in his head.
“Ay, ay,” he said, at last, in a low voice, “I’ve been a-trying to
get out, what I wanted to say to you, sweet lass but your beauty
choked the words in my throat, as a stick of candy put in the mouth
of a baby stops its squalling. Such beauty as yours, miss--”
“That will do, Jack,” interrupted Alice, with a gratified smile, for
she was too truthful to pretend that the compliment did not please
her; “that will do, and I am much obliged to you. But you have
aroused my curiosity, and I would thank you to come to the point at
once.”
“Here it goes, then,” said Stump, speaking in a voice of mysterious
confidence, “here it goes, sure enough, which is, that I’m a friend
to you and the captain, and I wish that everybody in the ship was the
same.”
“Why! how is this, Jack? My father’s crew are all friendly to us, are
they not?”
“Good grub!” said Stump, in a deep voice, “is the first consideration
in a whaler. Good officers the second, and good luck the third. Them
are the three things that wins men’s hearts--them are the things that
have won mine. But there are some beings that has the shape of men,
and yet they ain’t men for all that;--amphibious animals like, that
has more of the shark than human natur’ in their corporosities, and
believe me, Miss Alice, there are such creatur’s in this bark. Just
turn your pretty eyes forward, young lady--sly like, as you women
know so well how to do--and look at them five blue-skinned devils
standin’ there by the windlass a-whispering and talking together.
D’ye see ’em?”
“I do,” replied Alice. “Four New Zealanders and the Portuguese
steward; but what of that?”
Stump seized the end of his pigtail with his left fingers, and
bringing it over his shoulder, placed his right hand upon it.
“It’s an honest pigtail--Miss Howard, and I always swear by it on
occasions of this kind, when a Bible isn’t handy. And now,” he added,
in a solemn voice, “here goes my oath, which is that them fellows
forward are a-plotting and hatching to do harm--though what harm
exactly I can’t tell, but I think it’s as well to be prepared!”
“Why Jack! how you talk. What ground can you have for these strange
suspicions? My father, with all his officers and the greater part of
the crew, away, too,” added the young girl, with a shudder.
“Ay, ay,” responded the shipkeeper, allowing his pigtail to drop
to its original position, “and that’s why we must be on our guard.
Them devils forward were all laid up with the rheumatiz a while
ago, so that they couldn’t go in the boats, and now look at ’em,
a-standin’ up as well and hearty as you and I. That’s suspicious to
begin with. Then again I overheard one of ’em talking about freeing
that quarrelsome mutineer, Tom Lark, who, you know, the skipper
put in irons a week ago--because he refused duty--and shut up in
the run. They said something about his understanding navigation;
and I couldn’t hear any more because they saw that I was near them
a-listening and they closed their mouths all of a sudden.”
“What shall we do? What _can_ we do?” cried Alice, in considerable
alarm.
“That’s a hard question to answer, seeing as I’m all alone without
any man to help me. But you may be sartain that Jack Stump will stick
to you and do what he can. You had better go below now, and lock
the door of your room while I dodge around and find out something
about the plans of the rascals. Of one thing, hows’ever, you may be
assured, and it is that the plotters can’t do anything just now,
seeing as the wind has gone down and there isn’t a breath of air
stirring, and--ay, ay, Miss Alice, a beautiful morning!” he suddenly
added, in a louder tone. “I’ve sailed the sea in every kind of a
craft for thirty years, and never knew a finer mornin’ than this!
What do you think of that?”
Alice opened her blue eyes upon the speaker, surprised by this abrupt
change in the thread of his discourse. But in a few moments she
understood the cause, for a light footstep suddenly saluted her ear,
and she divined that a third person had passed behind them and taken
his position near the rail, not far from the spot they occupied.
With woman’s ready tact, she refrained from turning her head even to
get a glimpse of the intruder, and proceeded at once to reply to her
companion’s remark.
“I am surprised to hear you say so. The weather is not as a general
thing very clear in the Ochotsk sea, I believe.”
“Not a bit of it, Miss Alice. There ain’t many heavy gales here at
this season of the year, it’s true, but there’s plenty of fogs. If I
hadn’t such a good paunch in me,” added Jack, placing his hand upon
that protuberant portion of his body, “I should have died with the
rheumatiz long ago. But this has presarved my soul as a good purse
presarves the money in it. Just give a sly look at that blue devil,
will you--a-listening with all his ears,” continued the speaker,
partially turning his head under the pretense of shaking his pigtail.
Alice moved closer to the rail, and directing her glances toward the
water, contrived to obtain a good view from beneath the corners of
her eyes of the individual who stood upon the other side of her.
He was a tall New Zealander, with a sinewy face, high cheek-bones,
and that peculiarly fierce eagle gleam of the eye, natural to the
people of his race. There was a ring in each ear, another hanging
pendent from his nostrils, and his countenance was disfigured in many
places by “tattoo” marks of yellow and blue. On the present occasion
his thin lips wore a peculiarly sinister expression, that excited
much uneasiness in the bosom of Alice, notwithstanding that she had
been accustomed during the voyage to see the wild natives of the
Pacific shores. The islander, however, seemed perfectly unconscious
of the presence of those who were so stealthily watching him, but
with his face thrust forward over the rail, and his chin supported
by his hands, he remained as motionless as a statue, gazing steadily
toward the floe that glittered in the distance.
“Do you see any thing of the boats, Driko?” inquired Stump, quitting
his original position and placing himself between Alice and the
native.
“De boat me no see. Dey too far in ’e ice. No comee back to bark
nebber more.”
“And why not, I’d like to know. You must not make such a foolish
speech as that again, ‘Blueskin.’ You frighten Miss Howard!” and
seizing his pigtail, he gave the savage a light blow across the nose
with it, as he spoke.
“Takee care!” gritted the native, starting upright with glittering
eyes and placing a hand upon his sheath-knife, “takee care, you
Stump. No strikee me too much with ‘piggle-tail,’ or me makee you
Stump no more.”
“And boil me afterwards in the try-pot, I suppose, seein’ as that’s
one of your ‘pow-wow’ customs!”
“Hi! hi! hi!” gritted the New Zealander, while a malicious smile
flashed across his dark face. “Me like plenty Stump to eat. Good for
boil more better dan whale--dis Stump so fat make very much good!”
“Ay, ay, too good for such a lean, ravenous, blue-skinned rascal
as you are, to digest. But how about those boats. Why do you think
they’ll never come back?”
“Nebber come back to bark--no nebber more!” exclaimed the savage,
with a sinister laugh; and turning upon his heel, with the air of one
not caring to be questioned further, he made his way to the forward
part of the vessel and joined his four shipmates.
“You had better go below, Alice,” said Stump, “and that will look
as though you don’t suspect that anything is wrong. Trust to me to
ferret out the rascals’ plans.”
“But they may murder you!” shudderingly murmured the young girl.
“Put your hand there!” exclaimed Stump, straightening himself, and
indicating his left breast.
“Oh! I know your heart is all right. But--”
“Put your hand there,” persisted Stump again, pointing toward his
heart.
This time Alice obeyed, and she felt the stock of a revolver that was
concealed beneath the Guernsey frock.
“You are armed!”
“Ay, ay!” exclaimed Stump, “two hearts, like two heads, are better
than one. An iron heart for the blueskins---- ’em, and Stump’s own
heart for Alice Howard, at your sarvice!”
And making his best bow, the speaker turned and rolled off like a
cask of oil, in the direction of the windlass.
Alice then moved to the companion-way and descended into the cabin.