TROUBLE ON BOARD THE JOSEPHINE.
Almost every one on board of the Josephine had a letter, and some had
two or three. Paul had one from Grace, dated at Paris, in which she
expressed a hope that, as she was to travel a few months with her
father, she might see him in some of her wanderings. The young captain
hoped so too, and he read the letter a second time. Probably he read it
a third time after he went to his state-room, and a fourth before he
retired; for boys of his age are apt to be enthusiastic in this
direction.
Professor Stoute sat in the cabin. He had been all over Antwerp, and had
walked a larger part of the distance than a man of his obesity could
well endure in a warm day. Though he was very tired, he was very
good-natured; indeed, thus far, nothing had ever occurred to disturb his
equanimity. He was exceedingly popular with the boys, and if he had
fallen overboard, every one of them would have jumped in after him. No
one ever thought of disobeying him, and consequently he never had any
trouble.
While he sat there fanning himself with a newspaper, Mr. Hamblin came
out of his state-room with the huge envelope he had received in his
hand. The learned gentleman looked perplexed; in fact, he always wore
an anxious expression, as though he were in constant fear that somebody
would infringe upon his dignity, or that some of the boys did not
believe he was the wisest man since the days of Solomon. He always
walked just so; he always sat just so; he always moved just so. He never
was guilty of using a doubtful expression. He was stern, rigid, and
precise, and from the beginning all the boys had disliked him; but since
he had behaved so unreasonably in the squall, they could hardly endure
him.
The lean professor walked up to the fat professor, and took a stand
before him. He had removed the letter from the formidable envelope, and
held it unfolded in his hand. He looked at the letter, and then at Mr.
Stoute. The fat professor laughed, but the lean professor frowned. The
jolly one knew just what the precise one wanted, but he waited patiently
for the exordium.
"Mr. Stoute, may I trouble you?" he began, after he had put himself in
proper position.
"Certainly, sir," replied the fat gentleman.
"If this letter had been written in Greek or Latin, I could have read
it," continued Mr. Hamblin, glancing at the sheet.
"Precisely so; if it had been written in Greek or Latin I could not read
it," laughed Mr. Stoute.
"My French, as I have had occasion to acknowledge to you with deep
humiliation, has been neglected for more important studies. This letter
appears to have been written by some distinguished person, but
unfortunately he has chosen to indite it in French."
"In a word, you wish me to read it to you."
"That is what I was about to request of you. May I ask you to retire
with me to our state-room?" continued Professor Hamblin, glancing at the
officers who were reading their letters in the cabin.
"Excuse me, Mr. Hamblin; you forget that I carry round with me two
hundred and odd pounds of flesh, besides bone and muscle, and that I
have been on my feet three hours. I think, sir, if I knew this vessel
was going to the bottom of the Scheldt this instant, I should go down
with her rather than move. Have me excused, I pray you, and have
compassion on mine infirmities," laughed Mr. Stoute.
Mr. Hamblin was vexed, but he gave the letter to his associate, who
turned the sheet and glanced at the signature.
"Ah!" exclaimed he, looking at Mr. Hamblin.
"What is it? Do me the favor to read it," replied the learned gentleman,
impatiently.
"It is from Monsieur Charles Rogier, the president of the council, and
minister of foreign affairs," added Professor Stoute. "He is the man who
organized the revolution of 1830, and the greatest man in Belgium, King
Leopold excepted."
"Is it possible!" ejaculated Mr. Hamblin, struggling to keep down the
smile in which his vanity sought to manifest itself. "What does he say?"
"He says that just as he was leaving Antwerp for Brussels, he heard that
the very learned and distinguished Professor Hamblin was on board of a
vessel at anchor in the river."
"Does he say that?" asked the learned gentleman, who, knowing that Mr.
Stoute had a horrid vein of humor running through his fat frame, had,
perhaps, a suspicion that he was making fun at his expense.
"That is precisely what it says."
"How should Mr. Rogier know me?" queried Mr. Hamblin.
"I was about to read his explanation on that point: he says he heard of
you through a friend who was in London a few weeks since. He wished to
see you and extend to you a welcome to the kingdom of Belgium; but the
command of his royal master required him to leave Antwerp by the next
train; and he was deprived of the pleasure of extending to you in person
the expression of his distinguished consideration. He hopes when you
visit Brussels you will do him the honor to call upon him at the Palais
de la Nation, Rue de la Soie."
"Humph!" ejaculated the learned professor, prolonging the interjection,
and trying to suppress the smile which had a sad tendency to overwhelm
his dignity.
"You are fortunate, Mr. Hamblin," added Mr. Stoute; "of course he will
present you to King Leopold."
"Possibly," replied the Greek _savant_, stroking his chin, and frowning,
to counteract the sinister influence of the smile he could not wholly
overcome.
Mr. Hamblin took the letter and read the signature. It was certainly
"Charles Rogier," with a flourish extensive enough for any great man.
From the letter he glanced at the fat professor, who, being always
good-natured, was so now. He could not get rid of a lingering suspicion
that his undignified associate was imposing upon him. It was a great
misfortune that his own knowledge of French was so limited, and if it
had not been so late, he would have gone on board of the ship to ask
Professor Badois to translate the epistle to him.
Instead of doing this, he went to the record book of the Josephine, and
ascertained that Duncan was marked among the highest in French. Now
Duncan was a very polite and respectful student, and Mr. Hamblin had a
greater regard for him than for most of his companions. Finding this
promising young man on deck, he invited him to the sacred precincts of
the professor's state-room. Duncan was even more polite and obliging
than usual. At the request of his present host, who did not offer any
explanations, he wrote out a translation of the important letter. Mr.
Hamblin thanked him, and he retired.
There was no material difference between the translations of Mr. Stoute
and Duncan, and the learned professor congratulated himself upon the
distinction he had attained. His fame as a _savant_ had preceded him
across the ocean. The king's chief minister courted his acquaintance.
This was the homage which greatness paid to learning, and Mr. Hamblin
was willing to believe that it was a deserved tribute. He soon worked
himself into a flutter of excitement, in anticipation of being taken by
the hand by the king's chief minister, and he slept but little during
the night, so absorbed was he in the contemplation of the distinguished
honor which awaited him.
"Professor Hamblin is going to court," said Duncan to his old friend
the captain, when they met on deck after supper.
"To court whom?" laughed Paul.
"He has had an invitation to go to court to see the big bugs. I
translated a letter for him from the minister of foreign affairs; and I
suppose he's about the biggest toad in the Belgian puddle," added
Duncan. "You won't be able to touch him with a ten-foot pole after
that."
"We shall get along very well with him, if we only do our duty," said
Paul.
"The fellows are not very fond of him; and if he puts on any more airs,
they won't be able to stand it."
"Why, what's the matter, Duncan? asked Paul, anxiously, for generally
everything had gone on so well on board of the Josephine, that he
dreaded any trouble.
"O, nothing, nothing!" laughed Duncan; "only the fellows don't like
him."
"Ben, there's something up," said Paul, earnestly. "If the fellows think
anything at all of me, they won't make any trouble. If I don't complain
of Mr. Hamblin, they needn't."
"I don't find any fault with him myself," protested Ben. "I don't like
him, but I have always got along very well with him."
"What did you mean by mentioning this matter to me, Ben?" asked Paul.
"Nothing; only I shouldn't be surprised if the fellows were to haze the
venerable patriarch a little in a quiet way. They are all down upon
him."
"I am sorry for that. I hope all the fellows will do their duty, and
not get into any scrapes, replied Paul, very seriously.
"I am sorry, but I can't say that I blame them much."
"I shall blame them if they commit any act of disrespect," said the
captain, decidedly. "I hope you will say what you can forward to keep
the fellows from doing anything that would hurt Mr. Hamblin's feelings."
"What can I do? The old fossil doesn't treat the students like
gentlemen; and if he behaves so, what can you expect of the fellows? He
is cross, crabbed, and tyrannical."
"Have they just found it out?"
"No, but they were willing to bear it rather than make any trouble on
board. After what he did last Saturday, they are not disposed to be so
patient; and I can't blame them much."
"What happened last Saturday was between Mr. Hamblin and me, and the
students needn't trouble themselves about that."
"But the fellows all like you first rate, even the worst ones we have on
board; and there are some pretty hard boys here," laughed Duncan.
"If they like me, they will not get up a row."
"I will take care that all of them know just how you feel," said Duncan,
concluding to end the conversation at this point, for the subject of
these remarks had just come on deck.
The learned gentleman appeared to carry his head even higher, and to be
more dignified, stiff, and reserved, than usual. With an invitation in
his pocket to visit the greatest statesman in Belgium, he felt like a
very exalted personage; for not even Mr. Lowington had been so highly
favored. Mr. Hamblin was puffed up and swelled out by the honor the
great man had done him, and as he walked up and down the deck, the
students might have known by his air, if they had not been told of the
fact, that greatness had suddenly been thrust upon him.
It presently occurred to him that the principal had not been informed of
the distinguished consideration in which the government of Belgium
regarded the Josephine's senior instructor. It was important that he
should know it, for the fact would certainly elevate him in the
estimation of the principal, and cause him to regret that in the recent
difficulty he had not more fully sustained his notable professor.
Besides, he wished to make some arrangements which would permit him to
visit the Palais de la Nation, and to dine with the minister, if he
should be invited, as he had no doubt he should be.
With as much sternness on his wrinkled face as he could assume, he
walked forward to demand a boat of Captain Kendall. As he was passing in
the waist, a coil of signal line dropped down from the gaff above,
square upon the top of his hat, forcing it far down upon his head. Mr.
Hamblin immediately threw himself into an undignified passion. When he
had with some difficulty extricated his head from the linings of his
hat, he looked up to see who had been guilty of this act of flagrant
disrespect.
"I beg your pardon, Mr. Hamblin," shouted Grimme, a seaman, whose legs
were twined around the end of the gaff, while he was in the act of
passing a signal halyard through an eye.
The captain had received orders from the principal to have the Josephine
ready for the visit of a distinguished person on the following day, and
Mr. Cleats was preparing to dress the rigging.
"You scoundrel!" roared Mr. Hamblin, gazing up at the unfortunate youth
who had been the cause of his misfortune.
"Did it hurt you, sir?" asked Paul, stepping up to the professor.
"Was that done by your order, Mr. Kendall?" demanded the irate _savant_.
"No, sir; it was not," replied Paul, blushing with indignation at such
an insinuation.
"It is very singular that the rope should fall just at the moment I was
passing," added Mr. Hamblin, sourly, as he straightened out his crumpled
tile.
"I am sorry it occurred, sir," said Paul, who uttered no more than the
literal truth.
Mr. Hamblin glanced around the deck at the students who were collected
there. They did not seem to be sorry; on the contrary, there was a look
of diabolical satisfaction in the expression of most of them, and not a
few were actually laughing.
"I demand the immediate punishment of the offender," said Mr. Hamblin,
irritated by this manifestation on the part of the students.
By this time Grimme had descended from his perilous perch, having
completed the reeving of the halyard. Without a moment's delay, he
hastened to the spot where the angry man stood, and touched his cap with
the utmost deference.
"I beg your pardon, Mr. Hamblin. I hope you will excuse me," said
Grimme, who really wore a very troubled look.
"You did it on purpose, you scoundrel!" growled the professor, savagely;
for he could not fail to see the ill-suppressed chuckling of the
students in the waist.
"No, sir! I did not, sir!" protested Grimme. "I had the end in my mouth,
and was just going to drop the coil when I saw you."
"And you did drop it when you saw me."
"I did not mean to drop it then. I was going to wait till you had
passed; but my foot slipped, and, in catching hold of the gaff with my
hand, I let go the coil. If I hadn't dropped it, I should have fallen
myself," replied Grimme, who seemed determined to make the explanation
strong enough to meet the emergency.
"I don't believe a word of it! You meant to insult me!" exclaimed Mr.
Hamblin, still goaded on to intemperate speech by the ill-concealed
jeers of the students. "Mr. Kendall, it is your duty to punish that
insolent fellow."
"I will inquire into the matter, sir. If it appears that he did the act
on purpose, he shall certainly be punished," replied Paul, who, after
his conversation with Duncan, could not help suspecting that this was
the first step in the hazing process to which his friend had alluded.
"Inquire into it!" sneered Mr. Hamblin, with deep disgust. "I complain
of the boy: that is enough."
Paul did not think so; but he made no reply to the angry man, though he
ordered the alleged culprit to the mainmast, which is the locality of
the high court on shipboard.
"Mr. Kendall, I desire to have the gig, for the purpose of visiting the
ship."
"The gig, sir!" exclaimed Paul, to whom the professors were not in the
habit of designating which boat they would have.
"I said the gig, sir," repeated Mr. Hamblin, loftily.
"I beg your pardon, sir; but the gig is the captain's boat," replied
Paul, with deference.
"The captain's boat!" puffed the professor.
"Mr. Lowington directed me to use the first cutter for the professors,"
added Paul.
"Am I to understand that you again refuse me a boat?"
"No, sir; by no means," said the captain, ready to weep with vexation at
these disagreeable incidents.
He turned from Mr. Hamblin, and directed the first lieutenant to pipe
away the first cutters; and in a few moments the boat was ready. The
fourth lieutenant was sent in charge of the cutter. The professor went
over the side into the boat; and as he made no objections, the officers
concluded that he did not know the difference between the gig and the
first cutter. At certain stages of the tide, there is a three-mile
current in the Scheldt, with strong eddies, formed by the sweep of the
river. By a miscalculation of the coxswain, the cutter fell astern of
the ship, and had to pull up to her, which prolonged the passage
somewhat, thereby increasing the ill nature and impatience of Mr.
Hamblin.
"In bows!" said the coxswain, as the boat approached the ship; and the
two bowmen tossed their oars and boated them, taking position in the
bow-grating, with the boat-hooks in their hands.
"Way enough!" added the coxswain; and the rest of the crew tossed their
oars.
At the gangway of the ship stairs had been rigged, at the foot of which
there was a platform, for the convenience of those boarding or leaving
the ship by the boats. The bowmen fastened their boat-hooks upon the
platform, in readiness to haul the boat alongside, so that the passenger
could step out without inconvenience. But the current was strong, and
some delay ensued.
"There! let me get out!" exclaimed Mr. Hamblin, rising in the boat, and
walking between the oarsmen to the bow.
"Steady, sir!" said Humphreys, the officer, as he took the arm of the
professor, to prevent him from falling.
"Pull the boat up, so I can step out!" said Mr. Hamblin, impatiently, to
the bowmen.
They were hauling her up closer to the platform, against the strong
current, which, being in a direction contrary to the wind, made
considerable sea, causing the boat to roll and jerk uneasily. When she
was within a couple of feet of the platform, the professor attempted to
step out.
"Steady, sir!" said Morgan, one of the bowmen, as Mr. Hamblin was about
to take the step; but at that instant the boat receded from the
platform, and the learned gentleman, with one foot on the plank and the
other on the bow of the boat, made a very long straddle, toppled over
into the water, and disappeared in the eddies.
"My boat-hook broke!" protested Morgan, holding up the implement, from
which the iron had drawn out; and after what had occurred on board of
the consort, he probably deemed it necessary to make an immediate
defence.
"Man overboard!" shouted several students in the ship; and immediately
there was an immense commotion on board of her.
Mr. Hamblin rose to the surface an instant later, and shouted for help.
The accident was observed from the Josephine, and the gig piped away in
double quick time.
"Up oars! Let fall! Give way!" shouted Robinson, in the first cutter, as
she drifted away from the gangway of the ship, without waiting for the
orders to be repeated by the coxswain.
A few vigorous strokes of the oars brought the cutter to the spot where
the professor was struggling with the dirty current. The bowmen seized
him by the collar, and the crew, after no little labor, owing to the
excitement of the unfortunate gentleman, succeeded in getting him into
the boat. He was placed in the stern sheets, and Robinson afforded him
such assistance as the circumstances would permit.
The gig, with Paul and Pelham on board, was darting through the current
towards the first cutter. It was too late to be of any service; but it
continued on its way, and the captain manifested his interest and
sympathy as well as he could. Mr. Hamblin pressed the water from his
hair, wiped his face with his wet handkerchief, and otherwise
endeavored to remove the effects of his involuntary bath. He seemed to
be, thus far, no worse for the disaster; but he directed Robinson to
return directly to the Josephine, for obvious reasons.
The two boats came alongside together; and this time the professor,
notwithstanding the discomfort of his condition, made no undue haste to
leave the cutter before she was properly secured.
"I am very sorry indeed for your misfortune, sir," said Paul, politely,
when he met Mr. Hamblin on deck.
"Perhaps you are!" replied he, rushing down the cabin stairs, bestowing
hardly a glance upon the sympathizing commander.
He went to his state-room, and made an entire change of his clothing.
The weather was warm, and he suffered no serious consequences.
"You are a very unfortunate person, Mr. Hamblin," said his associate
instructor, when the _savant_, clean and dry, emerged from the
state-room.
"It was done on purpose, Mr. Stoute," replied he, solemnly, with
compressed lips.
"O, no! It couldn't be!" protested the fat professor. "You are simply
unfortunate. First, a coil of rope falls on your head, and then you fall
overboard. You should be careful."
"Has that student been punished for throwing the rope upon me?"
"No, sir. I stood by during the investigation at the mainmast. It could
not be proved that the act was done on purpose; and, for my part, I did
not believe it was."
"I am very confident it was. I can read the expression on the faces of
the boys; and I am certain there is a conspiracy among them to knock out
my brains or drown me in the river."
"Boys will be boys, and they are very prone to look at the ludicrous
aspect of an accident," added the stout professor. "I should not give a
serious interpretation to any little signs of mirth I happened to see."
"Mr. Stoute, you allow yourself to be hoodwinked, deceived, overwhelmed,
by these artful boys. You should maintain more dignity in your
intercourse with them."
"There is a true and a false dignity, Mr. Hamblin. I shall endeavor to
avoid the one, and cling to the other," replied Mr. Stoute, warmly, but
good-naturedly.
"You are aware that I asked for the gig before I started for the ship?"
continued Mr. Hamblin, impressively.
"I am; and I was also aware that the first cutter had been appropriated
to the use of the instructors."
"I demanded the gig. It was refused. What did that mean?"
"It meant just what the captain said--that the principal required him to
furnish the first cutter for our use."
"That is not what it meant," persisted Mr. Hamblin. "The crew of the
first cutter had been instructed to tip me into the river. When I called
for the gig, it deranged the plan. I am only sorry that I did not refuse
to take the cutter, and insist upon having the gig; but I do not wish to
make trouble."
"But why did you ask for the gig?"
"Because I saw Morgan, who, I knew, belonged in the cutter, laughing
when the rope fell on my head. He would as lief drown me as not."
"I think you misjudge the boys."
"I am surprised that one who has been a teacher as long as you have does
not understand boys any better," replied Mr. Hamblin, coldly. "I am
satisfied that Kendall is at the bottom of all this mischief."
"I am very sure he is not," said Mr. Stoute, decidedly.
"The crew of the cutter had been prepared for their work."
It was surprising that two men who had been among boys so long took such
opposite views of them; but the difference of opinion was more in the
men than in the boys.
These events were the staple of conversation on deck and in the steerage
among the crew; and some of the better boys heard certain indefinite
remarks about "the first step" and "the second step," used by "our
fellows;" but no real friend of law and order discovered anything which
threw any new light upon the two misfortunes that had overtaken the
senior professor, though there was a suspicion that these were the first
and second steps hinted at by the doubtful ones.