ON DECK.
As soon as Rollo and Jane found themselves thus established in their
state rooms, they began to examine the furniture and fixtures around
them with great curiosity. They were particularly interested in
observing the precautions which had been taken in securing every thing
which the state rooms contained, from the danger of being thrown about
by the motion of the ship. The wash basin was made of marble, and was
firmly set in its place, so as to be absolutely immovable. There was a
hole in the bottom of it, with a plug in it, so that, by drawing out the
plug, the water could be let off into a pipe which conveyed it away.
There was a small chain attached to this plug, by means of which it
could be drawn up when any one wished to let the water off. The pitcher
was made broad and flat at the bottom, and very heavy, so that it could
not be easily upset; and then there was a socket for it in the lower
part of the wash stand, which confined it effectually, and prevented
its sliding about when the ship was rolling in a heavy sea.
The tumbler was secured in a more curious manner still. It was placed in
a brass ring, which projected from the wall in a corner over the wash
stand, and which was made just large enough to receive it. The soap dish
and the brush tray were also placed in sockets cut to receive them in
the marble slab, which formed the upper part of the wash stand. The
looking glass was round, and was screwed to the wall by means of a stem
and a ball or socket joint, in such a manner that it could be set in any
position required, according to the height of the observer, and yet it
could not by any possibility fall from its place. There were very few
pegs or pins for hanging clothes upon, because, when clothes are thus
hung, they are found to swing back and forth whenever the ship is
rolling in a heavy sea, in a manner that is very tiresome and
disagreeable for sick passengers to see. Nor were there many shelves
about the state room; for if there had been, the passengers would be
likely to put various articles upon them when the sea was smooth; and
then, when the ship came to pitch and roll in gales of wind, the things
would all slide off upon the floor. So instead of shelves there were
pockets made of canvas or duck, several together, one above another.
These pockets formed very convenient receptacles for such loose articles
as the passengers might have in their state rooms, and were, of course,
perfectly secure.
There were _two_ shelves, it is true, in Jennie's state room,--one over
each of the two wash stands,--but they were protected by a ledge about
the edges of them, which would effectually prevent such things as might
be placed upon them from sliding off.
By the time that Rollo and Jane had examined these things, a porter came
into the state room, bringing their trunk upon his shoulder. Maria told
the children that they had better open the trunk and take out all that
they would be likely to require while on board, and then stow the trunk
itself away under the lower berth, in one of the state rooms.
"Because," said she, "as soon as we get out upon the heavy seas we shall
all be sick, and then we shall not wish to move to do the least thing."
"When will that be?" asked Jane.
"I don't know," replied Maria. "Sometimes we have it smooth for a good
many days, and then there comes a head wind and makes it rough, and all
the passengers get sick and very wretched."
"I don't think that I shall be sick," said Rollo.
"You can't tell," said Maria. "Nobody can tell any thing about it
beforehand."
In obedience to Maria's directions, Rollo opened the trunk and took out
from it all the clothing, both for day and night, which he thought that
he and Jennie would require during the voyage. The night dresses he put
under the pillows in the berths. The cloaks, and coats, and shawls which
might be required on deck in the day he placed on the couches. Those
which belonged to him he put in his state room, and those that belonged
to Jennie in hers. While engaged in these operations, he pulled up from
one of the lower corners of his trunk a small leather purse or bag full
of money.
"What shall I do with this?" he asked, holding it up to Maria.
"What is it?" asked Maria.
"Money," said Rollo.
"How much is there?" said Maria.
"I don't know," replied Rollo. "Uncle George put it in here. He said I
ought to have _some_ money to carry with me, in case of accidents. I
don't suppose it is much."
"You had better count it, then," said Maria, "so as to ascertain how
much it is. You and Jane may count it together."
So Rollo and Jane sat down upon the couch, and Rollo poured out the
money into Jennie's lap. It was all gold. Maria said that the coins were
sovereigns and half sovereigns. The large ones were sovereigns, and the
small ones were half sovereigns. Rollo proposed that he should count the
sovereigns, and that Jennie might count the half sovereigns. It proved,
when the counting was completed, that there were thirty sovereigns and
twenty half sovereigns.
"That makes forty sovereigns in all," said Maria. "That is a great deal
of money."
"How much is it?" asked Rollo.
"Why, in American money," said Maria, "it makes about two hundred
dollars."
"Two hundred dollars!" repeated Rollo, with astonishment. "What could
uncle George think I could want of all this money?"
"It was in case of accidents," said Maria. "For example, suppose this
ship should be cast away on the coast of Nova Scotia, and all the
passengers and baggage be saved, what could you do there without any
money."
"Why, I should think that somebody there would take care of us," replied
Rollo.
"Yes," said Maria, "I suppose they would; but it is a great deal better
to have money of your own. Besides, suppose that when you get to
Liverpool, for some reason or other, your father should not be there.
Then, having plenty of money, you could go to a hotel and stay there
till your father comes. Or you could ask some one of the passengers who
is going to London to let you go with him, and you could tell him that
you had plenty of money to pay the expenses."
"Yes," said Rollo, "though I don't think there is any doubt that my
father will be in Liverpool when we arrive."
"I hope he will be, I am sure," said Maria. "But now, put up the money
again in the purse, tie it up securely, and replace it in the trunk.
Then you must keep the trunk locked all the time, and keep the key in
your pocket."
Rollo felt quite proud of being intrusted with so much money; so he
replaced the bag in the trunk with great care, and locked it safely.
"Now," said Maria, "this is your home while you are on board this ship.
When you choose, you can come here and be alone; and you can lie down
and rest here whenever you are tired. At other times you can ramble
about the ship, in all proper places."
"How shall I know what the proper places are?" asked Rollo.
"Why, you will see where the other passengers go," replied Maria; "and
wherever you see them go, you can go yourself. That is as good a rule as
you can have."
"Well," said Rollo. "And now, Jane, let us go up on deck and see what we
can see."
Jane was pleased with this proposal; so she followed Rollo to the deck.
Maria said that she would come by and by, but for the present she wished
to go and see her brother. She said that she had a brother on board who
was quite out of health. He was going to Europe in hopes that the voyage
would restore him. At present, however, he was very unwell, and was
confined to his berth, and she must go and see him.
So Rollo and Jane went to see if they could find their way up on deck
alone. Rollo went before, and Jane followed. They ascended the steep
stairs where they had gone up at first, and then walked aft upon the
deck until they came to the settees where they had been sitting before
the luncheon. They sat down upon one of these settees, where they had a
fine view, not only of the wide expanse of sea on every hand, but also
of the whole extent of the decks of the ship. They remained here nearly
two hours, observing what was going on around them, and they saw a
great many things that interested them very much indeed.
The first thing that attracted their attention was the sound of a bell,
which struck four strokes very distinctly, and in a very peculiar
manner, near where the helmsman stood in steering the ship. This bell
has already been mentioned. It hung directly before the helmsman's
window, and it had a short rope attached to the clapper of it. The
helmsman, or _the man at the wheel_, as he is sometimes called, from the
fact that he steers the ship by means of a wheel, with handles all
around the periphery of it, had opened his window just after Rollo and
Jane had taken their seats, and had pulled this clapper so as to strike
four strokes upon the bell, the strokes being in pairs, thus:--
Ding--ding! Ding--ding!
In a minute afterward, Rollo and Jane heard the sound repeated in
precisely the same manner from another bell, that seemed to be far in
the forward part of the ship.
Ding--ding! Ding--ding!
"I wonder what that means?" said Rollo.
"I expect it means that it is four o'clock," said Jane.
"I should not think it could be so late as four o'clock," said Rollo.
"I have a great mind to go and ask the helmsman what it means," he
added, after a moment's pause.
"No," said Jane, "you must not go."
It is difficult to say precisely why Jane did not wish to have Rollo go
and ask the helmsman about the bell, but she had an instinctive feeling
that it was better not to do it. So Rollo sat still. His attention was
very soon turned away from the bell by Jane's calling out to him to see
some sailors go up the rigging. There were regular _shrouds_, as they
are called, that is, ladders formed of ropes, which led up on each side
of the masts part way to where the sailors seemed to wish to go. Above
the top of the shrouds there were only single ropes, and Rollo wondered
what the sailors would do when they came to these. They found no
difficulty, however, for when they reached the top of the shrouds they
continued to mount by the ropes with very little apparent effort. They
would take hold of two of the ropes that were a little distance apart
with their hands, and then, curling their legs round them in a peculiar
manner below, they would mount up very easily. They thus reached the
_yard_, as it is called, which is a long, round beam, extending along
the upper edge of the sail, and, spreading themselves out upon it in a
row, they proceeded to do the work required upon the sail, leaning over
upon the yard above, and standing upon a rope, which was stretched for
the purpose along the whole length of it below.
"I wonder if _I_ could climb up there," said Rollo. "Do you suppose they
would let me try?"
"No, indeed!" said Jane, very earnestly; "you must not try, by any
means."
"I believe that I _could_ climb up there," said Rollo; "that is, if the
vessel would stop rocking to and fro, and hold still."
Presently, however, a boy, who appeared to be about eighteen or nineteen
years of age, and who was upon another mast, accomplished a feat which
even Rollo himself admitted that he should not dare to undertake. It
seemed that he had some operation to perform upon a part of the rigging
down some fifteen feet from where he was; so, with a rope hung over his
shoulder, he came down hand over hand, by a single rope or cable called
a _stay_, until he reached the place where the work was to be performed.
Here he stopped, and, clinging to the rope that he had come down upon
with his legs and one hand, he contrived with the other hand to fasten
one end of the short rope which he had brought with him to the stay, and
then, carrying the other end across, he fastened it to another cable
which was near. He then seated himself upon this cross rope as upon a
seat, and clinging to his place by his legs, he had his hands free for
his work. When he had finished his work he untied the cross rope, and
then went up the cable hand over hand a he had come down.
[Illustration]
"I am sure I could not do that," said Rollo. "And I should not think
that any body but a monkey could do it, or a spider."
In fact, the lines of rigging, as seen from the place where Rollo and
Jane were seated, looked so fine, and the men appeared so small, that
the whole spectacle naturally reminded one of a gigantic spider's web,
with black spiders of curious forms ascending and descending upon them,
so easily and adroitly did the men pass to and fro and up and down,
attaching new lines to new points, and then running off with them, as a
spider would do with her thread, wherever they were required. But after
all, in respect to the power of running about among lines and rigging,
the spider is superior to man. She can not only run up and down far more
easily and readily wherever she wishes to go, but she can make new
attachments with a touch, and make them strong enough to bear her own
weight and all other strains that come upon them; while the sailor, as
Rollo and Jane observed on this occasion, was obliged in his fastenings
to wind his ropes round and round, and tie them into complicated knots,
and then secure the ends with "spun yarn."
While Rollo and Jane were watching the sailors, they saw them unfurl one
after another of the sails, and spread them to the wind; for the wind
was now fair, and it was fresh enough to assist the engines considerably
in propelling the ship through the water. Still, as the ship was going
the same way with the wind, the breeze was scarcely felt upon the deck.
The air was mild and balmy, and the surface of the sea was comparatively
smooth, so that the voyage was beginning very prosperously. Rollo looked
all around the horizon, but he could see no land in any direction. There
was not even a ship in sight; nothing but one wide and boundless waste
of waters.
"I should think that there would be some other ships going to England
to-day," he said, "besides ours."
Jane did not know what to think on such a subject, and so she did not
reply.
"Let us watch for whales," said Rollo. "Perhaps we shall see a whale.
You watch the water all along on that side, and I will on this side; and
if you see any whale spout, tell me."
So they both kept watch for some time, but neither of them saw any
spouting. Jane gave one alarm, having seen some large, black-looking
monsters rise to the surface not far from them on one side of the ship.
She called out eagerly to Rollo to look. He did so, but he said that
they were not whales; they were porpoises. He had seen porpoises often
before, in bays and harbors.
Just then the bell near the helmsman's window struck again, though in a
manner a little different from before; for after the two pairs of
strokes which had been heard before there came a single stroke, making
five in all, thus:--
Ding--ding! Ding--ding! Ding.
Immediately afterward the sound was repeated in the forward part of the
ship, as it had been before.
Ding--ding! Ding--ding! Ding,
"I wonder what that means," said Rollo.
Just then an officer of the ship, in his walk up and down the deck,
passed near to where Rollo was sitting, and Rollo instinctively
determined to ask him.
"Will you please tell me, sir, what that striking means?"
"It's five bells," said the man; and so walked on.
[Illustration]