wings on 'em, and they are flying all 'round."
Then little Jacob was very much excited, and he wanted to leave the rest
of his breakfast and go out. All of a sudden he found that he wasn't
hungry. But Captain Solomon was there, and he smiled at little Jacob's
eagerness.
"Better finish your breakfast, Jacob," he said. "The flying fish won't
go away--not before you get through."
"Thank you, sir," said little Jacob. "I'm all through. I don't feel
hungry for any more."
"All right," said Captain Solomon. "But if you and Sol get hungry you
can go to the cook. I have an idea that he will have something for you."
Little Jacob was already half way up the cabin steps. "Thank you, sir,"
he said; but there was some doubt whether he had heard. Captain Solomon
smiled again and got up and followed him.
Little Sol was in his favorite place on the bowsprit, and little Jacob
was going there as fast as he could. He settled himself in his place
and began to look around.
"Where, Sol?" he asked. "Where are the--oh!"
[Illustration]
For, just ahead of the ship, a school of fish suddenly leaped out of the
water, and went flying about fifteen or twenty feet above the water for
a hundred feet or more. And they kept coming. Little Jacob could hear
the humming of their long fins, but he couldn't see their fins, they
went so fast. Little Sol had thought they were wings; and it was as
nearly right to call them wings as to call them fins.
"Oo--o, Sol!" cried little Jacob. "_Aren't_ they pretty? And aren't they
small? And don't they fly fast?"
"M--m," said little Sol.
"Look at these over there!" cried little Jacob, again. "See! They are
flying faster than the ship is going. They are beating us!"
Little Jacob was pointing to some fish that were flying in the same
direction that the _Industry_ was sailing. They went ahead of her and
dropped into the water.
"H'mph!" said little Sol. "There isn't much wind, anyway. If there was,
I'll bet they wouldn't beat us." There really was a good deal of wind.
"But aren't they pretty colors, Sol?" said little Jacob. "They're all
colors of blue and silvery. I can't see them very plainly, they go so
fast. I wish I could see them plainer."
Captain Solomon was standing near enough to hear what little Jacob said.
"If you'll come inboard, Jacob," said Captain Solomon, "you can see
them. We're catching them."
[Illustration: "THE SAILORS WERE HAVING A GOOD TIME"]
And little Jacob turned his head, and then he scrambled in. Now and then
some of the flying fish flew right across the deck of the _Industry_.
And some of them came down on the deck, and some struck against the
masts and ropes; and the sailors were standing all about, looking
excited, as if they were playing a game. They had their caps in their
hands, and when the fish flew across the deck, they tried to catch
them in their caps. And some they caught and some they didn't; but the
sailors were having a good time, and they laughed and shouted at their
play.
And a sailor who had just caught a fish in his cap brought it to little
Jacob.
"Now you can see it plainer," said Captain Solomon.
Little Jacob looked and he saw a fish that was less than a foot long,
and the color on its back was a deep, ocean blue, and the fins were a
darker blue, and it was all silvery underneath. And it had long fins
coming out of its shoulders, almost as long as the fish, and they looked
very strong and almost like a swallow's wings.
By and by little Jacob looked up at Captain Solomon. "Why do the men
want to catch so many of them?" he asked. "Because it's fun?"
"Well, no," said Captain Solomon. "It is great fun. I've done it myself,
in my day. But these fish are very good to eat. Any kind of fresh meat
is a good thing, when you know there's nothing better than salted meat
to fall back on. You'll see how good they are, at dinner."
Little Jacob sighed. "Oh," he said. "Thank you for showing me."
And he was rather sober as he went back to his place on the bowsprit to
watch. But when dinner time came, he ate some of the flying fish and
thought they were very nice, indeed.
And that's all.
THE LOG-BOOK STORY
Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and
beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great
ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep
hill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go
down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way.
And because ships had come there for a great many years and all the
sailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with the
ships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the
sidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago.
The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's and they owned the
ships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing from
that wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed their
office to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston.
Once, in the long ago, the brig _Industry_ had sailed from Boston for a
far country, and little Jacob and little Sol had gone on that voyage.
Little Jacob and little Sol were very much interested in the things that
they saw every day and in the things that were done every day on the
ship by the sailors and by the mates and by Captain Solomon. But those
things that happened the same sort of way, every day, interested little
Jacob more than they did little Sol. Little Sol liked to see them a few
times, until he knew just what to expect, and then he liked to be out on
the bowsprit, seeing the things that he didn't expect; or he liked to be
doing things. And the things that he did were the sort of things that
nobody else expected. So the things that little Sol did were an
amusement to the sailors and to the mates; and sometimes they were an
amusement to Captain Solomon and sometimes they weren't. When they
didn't amuse Captain Solomon they didn't usually amuse little Sol,
either.
Every captain of a ship keeps a sort of diary, or journal, of the voyage
that ship is making. This diary is usually called the ship's log. And
every day he writes in it what happened that day; the courses the ship
sailed and the number of miles she sailed on each course; the sails that
were set and the direction and strength of the wind; and the state of
the weather and the exact part of the ocean she was in and the time that
she was there.
The exact part of the ocean that the ship is in is usually found by
looking at the sun, just at noon, through a little three-cornered thing,
called a sextant, that is small enough for the captain or the mate to
hold in his hands; and by seeing what time it is, by a sort of clock,
when the sun is the very highest. Then the captain goes down into the
cabin and does some arithmetic out of a book, using the things that his
sextant had told him, and he finds just exactly where the ship was at
noon of that day. Then he pricks the position of the ship on a chart,
which is a map of the ocean, so that he can see how well she is going on
her course.
Sometimes it is cloudy at noon, so that he can't look at the sun then,
but it clears up after dark. Then the captain looks through his sextant
at the moon, or at some bright star, and finds his position that way.
And sometimes it is cloudy for several days together, so that he can't
take an observation with his sextant in all that time. Captains don't
like it very well when it is cloudy for several days together, for then
they have nothing to tell them just where the ship is, but what is
called "dead reckoning."
[Illustration]
Captain Solomon usually had the speed at which the ship was sailing
measured several times every day. When he wanted that done, he called a
sailor to "heave the log;" and the sailor came and took up a real log,
or board, fastened to the end of a long rope, while one of the mates
held an hour glass. But there wasn't sand enough in the glass to run for
an hour, but it would run for half a minute. And when the mate gave the
word, the sailor dropped the log over the stern of the ship and the mate
turned the glass. And the sailor held the reel with the rope on it, so
that the rope would run off freely, and he counted, aloud, the knots in
the rope as it ran out. For the rope had knots of colored leather in it,
and the knots were just far enough apart so that the number of knots
that ran out in half a minute would show the number of sea miles that
the ship was sailing in an hour. And when the sand in the glass had all
run out, the mate gave the word again, and the sailor stopped the rope
from running out. So Captain Solomon knew about how many miles the
_Industry_ had sailed on each course, and he could put it down in his
book.
That wasn't a very good way to tell where the ship was, by adding up all
the courses she had sailed and getting her speed on each course, and
adding all these to the last place that they knew about, but, when
Captain Solomon couldn't get an observation with his sextant, it was the
only way there was. That isn't the way they tell, now-a-days, how many
miles a ship has sailed, for there is a better way that gives, more
exactly than the old-fashioned "log," the number of miles. But they
still have to add up all the courses and the miles sailed on each course
to find a ship's place, when they can't take an observation. That is
what is called "dead reckoning," and it isn't a very good way at its
best.
[Illustration: "LITTLE JACOB LIKED TO WATCH CAPTAIN SOLOMON"]
Little Jacob liked to watch Captain Solomon writing up the log for the
day. He always wrote it just after dinner. And when he had finished
dinner, he would get out the book and clear a place on the table to put
it; and then he took a quill pen in his great fist and wrote, very
slowly, and with flourishes. And when he had it done he always passed
the book over to little Jacob.
"There, Jacob," he said, with a smile. "That please you?"
"Oh, yes, sir," answered little Jacob. "Thank you, sir." And he began to
read.
One day, when they had been out of Boston about three weeks, little
Jacob watched Captain Solomon write up the log, and, when he got it, he
thought he would turn back to some days that he knew about and read what
Captain Solomon had said about them. And so he did.
October 2, 1796. 8 days out. Comes in fresh gales & Flying clouds.
Middle & latter part much the same, with all proper sail spread.
Imploy'd varnishing Deck and scraping Foreyard. Saw a Brig and two
Ships standing to the N. & W. A school of porpoises about the ship
a good part of the Morning, of which the Crew harpooned a good
number and got them on deck. I fear they are too many for us to
acct. for before they go Bad.
Course ESE 186 miles. Wind fresh from S. & W. Observatn, Lat. 34 20
N. Long. 53 32 W.
That didn't seem to little Jacob to be enough to say about the
porpoises. He sighed and turned to another day.
October 5, 1796. 11 days out. Comes in Fresh breezes and a rough
sea fr. S. & E. Spoke Brig Transit of Workington fr.--S. Salvador
for Hamburg. Middle & latter part moderate with clear skies and
beautiful weather. Ran into some weed and running threw it off and
on all day.
Courses ESE 98 m. Wind strong fr. N. & E.,
moderating to gentle airs.
SSE. 54 m. Observatn.,
---- Lat. 30 22 N.
152
Long. 47 30 W.
And it seemed to little Jacob that it was a shame to say no more than
that about that strange Seaweed Sea and the curious things that were to
be found in it. But it was Captain Solomon's log and not little Jacob's.
He turned to another day, to see what there was about the flying fish.
October 11, 1796. 17 days out of Boston. Comes in with good fresh
Trades and flying clouds. Middle & latter part much the same. Saw a
ship standing on our course. Not near enough to speak her. At
daylight passed the ship abt. 5 miles to windward. All proper sail
spread.
Great numbers of Flying Fish (Sea Swallows) all about the ship,
and the men imploy'd in catching them. It gave the men much
pleasure and a deal of sport and the Fish very good eating.
Course SSE 203 miles. Wind NE. strong, Trades. Observatn., Lat. 18
10 N. Long. 37 32 W.
Chronometer loses _too much_.
Took Spica and Aquila at 7 p. m., Long. 35 30 W.
Little Jacob didn't know what Spica and Aquila were, and he asked
Captain Solomon.
"They are stars, Jacob, and rather bright ones," said Captain Solomon.
"My chronometer--my clock, you know--was losing a good deal, and I
looked through my sextant at them to find out where we really were."
"Oh," said little Jacob; but he didn't understand very well, and Captain
Solomon saw that he didn't. It wasn't strange that he didn't
understand.
Little Jacob sat looking at the log book and he didn't say anything for
a long time.
Captain Solomon smiled. "Well, Jacob," he said, at last, "what are you
thinking about? I guess you were thinking that you wished that you had
the log to write up. Then you could say more about the things that were
interesting. Weren't you?"
Little Jacob got very red. "Oh, no, sir," he said. "That is, I--well,
you see, the things that are new and interesting to me--well, I s'pose
you have seen them so many times that it doesn't seem worth while to you
to say much about them."
"That is a part of the reason," answered Captain Solomon. "The other
part is that it doesn't seem necessary. Anything that concerns the ship
is put down. We don't have time--nor we don't have the wish--to put down
anything else."
"Of course," said little Jacob, "it isn't necessary."
"I'll tell you what I'll do, Jacob," said Captain Solomon. "I'll let you
write up the log, and then you can write as much as you like about
anything that interests you."
Little Jacob got very red again. "_Oh!_" he cried, getting up in his
excitement. "Will you let me do that? _Thank_ you. I thank you very
much. But--but how shall I put down all those numbers that show how the
ship goes?"
"I'll give you the numbers, as you call them," said Captain Solomon,
"and I'll look over the log every day, to see that you put them down
right."
"I'll put them down just exactly the way you tell me to," said little
Jacob. "And I thank you very much. And I--I write pretty well."
And little Jacob ran to find little Sol and to tell him about how he was
going to write the log of the voyage, after that. And he did write it,
numbers and all, and it was a very interesting and well written log. For
little Jacob could write very well indeed; rather better than Captain
Solomon. Captain Solomon knew that when he said that little Jacob could
write it.
And that's all.
THE SHARK STORY
Once upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and
beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great
ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep
hill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go
down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way.
And because ships had come there for a great many years, and all the
sailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with the
ships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the
sidewalk were much worn. That was a great many years ago.
The wharf was Captain Jonathan's and Captain Jacob's, and they owned the
ships that sailed from it; and, after their ships had been sailing from
that wharf in the little city for a good many years, they changed their
office to Boston. After that, their ships sailed from a wharf in Boston.
Once the brig _Industry_ had sailed for a far country. Little Jacob and
little Sol had gone on that voyage, and they always raced through their
breakfast so that they could get out on deck and see what there was to
see. Little Sol generally beat and went on deck first, but sometimes
little Jacob was first. The reason that little Sol generally beat was
that little Jacob had been brought up not to hurry through his meals,
but to wait for the older people; and he had to wait, anyway, because he
couldn't get the second part until his father and his mother, and any
company they had, had finished the first part. Then the first part was
carried out and the second part was brought in; and little Jacob had to
sit quietly in his chair with his hands folded in his lap until it came
in. But little Sol didn't bother much about those things.
One morning little Jacob and little Sol had raced through breakfast, as
they always did, and they had finished at exactly the same time, because
little Jacob hurried. Then they both tried to go on deck at the same
time. They managed to go up the cabin steps together, but they couldn't
get through the door together without squeezing very tightly. And, in
that squeezing, little Jacob caught his jacket on the lock of the door
so that the jacket tore. But little Jacob didn't know it, and he kept on
pushing, and at last he and little Sol went bouncing out and fell
sprawling on the deck.
Captain Solomon was sitting in the cabin, and he laughed to see them go
sprawling out, but he thought that he guessed the little boys had done
enough of that racing business. For somebody would have to mend little
Jacob's jacket and, besides, there was danger that little Jacob would
forget his manners, and that would never do. Little Jacob had beautiful
manners. So Captain Solomon made up his mind that Sol would have to
wait until little Jacob finished his breakfast, after that, and then
they should go up the cabin steps like little gentlemen and not push and
crowd and tear their jackets. And that would be a good thing for little
Sol, too, but he wouldn't like it at first. Captain Solomon didn't care
whether he liked it or not.
The little boys didn't know what Captain Solomon was thinking about, and
they laughed and picked themselves up and looked around. And they didn't
see anything but water all about, and the bright sunshine, and one or
two little hilly clouds, and all the many sails of the _Industry_. For
they were still in the trade winds where it is generally good weather.
And they saw the mate, and he was standing at the stern and looking
down into the water behind the ship.
"Let's see what Mr. Steele is looking at," said little Sol.
"All right," said little Jacob, "let's."
So the two little boys walked to the stern and leaned on the rail and
looked down at the water. But first little Jacob said "Good morning" to
the mate.
"Good morning, Jacob," said the mate. "Now, what do you see there?"
"I know," cried little Sol. "It's a shark."
"Oh, is it?" cried little Jacob. He was very much interested and
excited. "Where is it, Sol?"
Little Sol pointed. "Right there," he said. "You can see his back fin,
just as plain."
And little Jacob looked again, and he saw all the little swirls and
bubbles and foam that made the wake of the ship, and right in the middle
of it all he saw a great three-cornered thing sticking up out of the
water. It was dark colored, and it followed after the ship as if it were
fastened to it.
"Is that his back fin?" asked little Jacob, "that three-cornered thing?
I don't see the rest of him."
"If you look hard," said Mr. Steele, "you'll make him out. He's clear
enough to me."
[Illustration: "'RIGHT THERE,' HE SAID, 'YOU CAN SEE HIS BACK FIN.'"]
Little Jacob looked hard and at last he saw the shark himself; but there
were so many bubbles and swirls, and the shark was colored so exactly
like the water, as he looked down into it, that it wasn't easy to see
him. Both the little boys watched him for some time without saying
anything.
At last little Jacob sighed. "He's pretty big," he said. "Why do you
suppose he follows the ship that way? It's just as if we were towing
him."
"Well," said the mate, "I never had a chance to ask any shark that
question--and get an answer--but I think it's to get what the cook
throws overboard." The mate turned and looked forward. "I see the cook
now, with a bucket of scraps. You watch Mr. Shark."
Little Jacob and little Sol both looked and they saw the cook walking
from the galley with his bucket. The galley is the kitchen of the ship.
And he emptied the bucket over the side. Then the two little boys
looked quickly at the shark again, to see what he would do.
They saw the shark leave his place at the stern of the _Industry_ as the
things came floating by, and they saw him turn over on his side and eat
one or two of the things. He took them into his mouth slowly, as though
he had plenty of time; or it seemed as if he ate them slowly. Really, he
didn't. They lost sight of him, for he stayed at that place until every
scrap was gone.
Little Jacob smiled. "He doesn't have to race through his breakfast," he
said, "does he, Sol? Did you see that his underneath parts were white? I
wonder why that is. I s'pose it's because anything that looks down looks
into darkness, and anything that looks up looks into lightness. Is that
why, Mr. Steele?"
"So that the fish wouldn't see him coming?" asked Mr. Steele. "Well,
Jacob, to tell you the truth, I never thought much about it. And I don't
really know how a shark would look from underneath, in the water. The
pearl divers in India could tell you. But I guess that comes as near to
the reason as any other--near enough, anyway. I've no doubt that his
coloring makes him very hard to see, in the water."
"I would like to see the pearl divers," said little Jacob, "but I s'pose
I can't. And I'm rather glad the shark is gone."
"Huh!" said little Sol. "He isn't gone. He only stopped a minute. He'll
be back. Won't he, Mr. Steele?"
Mr. Steele smiled. "There he comes, now."
[Illustration]
And the boys looked and they saw the three-cornered fin cutting through
the water at a great rate. The shark caught up with the ship easily and
took his old place, just astern.
The shark stayed with the _Industry_ all of that day, and little Jacob
watched him once in a while. He thought the shark was kind of horrible
and he wished that he would go away. But he didn't, that day or that
night, or the next. And Captain Solomon didn't like it, either.
So, when Captain Solomon saw him on the third morning, he spoke to the
mate.
"Better get rid of that fellow, Mr. Steele," he said. "Got a shark
hook?"
"Yes, sir," answered the mate. "But I'm afraid it isn't big enough for
him."
But Captain Solomon told him to try it, anyway. And he called some of
the sailors and told them to rig a tackle on the end of the mainyard.
That was so that it would be easy to haul the shark in, when they hooked
him. And he went down and got the shark hook. It was a great, enormous
fishhook and it had about a yard of chain hitched to it, because if it
was rope that went in the shark's mouth, he might bite it off. And a
large rope ran through the blocks of the tackle, and the sailors hitched
the end of that rope to the end of the chain. A lot of sailors took hold
of the other end of the rope, and they stood with the rope in their
hands ready to run away with it, just as they did when they were
hoisting a yard with a sail.
Then the cook came with a big chunk of fat salt pork, and he put it on
the hook so that the point of the hook was all covered. And the mate
looked at it, to see if it was done right, and he saw that it was.
"Slack away on the line," he called to the sailors.
And they let out the rope, until the mate thought that there was enough
let out, and then he threw the hook, that was baited with the salt pork,
overboard, and it trailed out astern.
The shark saw the pork and he left his place at the stern and went over
to see about it. First he seemed to smell of it and make up his mind
that it was good to eat. Then he turned lazily over upon his side,
showing his whitish belly, and opened his mouth and swallowed the pork,
with the hook inside it, and nearly all of the chain. Little Jacob was
watching him, and he saw that the shark's mouth was not at the end of
his nose, as most fishes' mouths are, but it was quite a way back from
his snout, on the under side. And he saw his teeth quite clearly. There
were a great many of them, and they seemed to be in rows. Little Jacob
didn't have time to count the rows, but he thought that the teeth looked
very cruel. The shark's mouth was big enough to take in a man whole. And
then the mate, who still had his hand on the rope, jerked it with all
his might.
What happened then was never quite clear to little Jacob. He heard the
sailors running away with their end of the rope and shouting a chanty
and stamping their feet. And he saw the water alongside the ship being
all foamed up by an enormous monster that seemed large enough for a
whale. Then some water came up from the ocean and hit him in the face,
so that he couldn't see for a few minutes and his jacket was all wet
through. But the noise kept on.