The time was short before we were to start on our long journey, but
Uncle Dick was determined to make the best of it, and he steadily went
on with what he called my education, as well as fitting me out with
proper necessaries for my voyage.
These last were very few and simple.
"For you see, Nat," he said, smiling, "we must not encumber ourselves
with anything unnecessary. You must bid good-bye to collars and cuffs,
and be content with flannels, one to wear and one for your knapsack; and
this you will have to wash and dry whenever you get a chance. We'll
take some socks, but after a time we shall have to be content with
nothing but good boots. We must not have an ounce of luggage that we
can do without."
It was a delicious time of adventure to me as I went about with Uncle
Dick buying the necessaries for our trip, and very proud I felt of my
flannels and stout drill breeches and Norfolk jackets, with belt to hold
cartridges, and a strong sheathed knife.
Every day I had a long practice with my gun with what uncle said were
satisfactory results; and matters had been going on like this for about
a fortnight when my uncle said one day:
"Now, Nat, we must have a bit more education, my boy. We shall very
often be left to our own resources, and travel from island to island in
a boat, which we shall have to manage; so come along and let me see if I
cannot make a sailor of you before we start."
In order to do this he took me down to Gravesend, where, in spite of its
being a rough day, he engaged a sailing-boat.
"Bit too rough for that, mister, isn't it?" said a rough-looking sailor
who stood by with his hands in his pockets.
"It is rough, my man," said my uncle quietly. "Jump in, Nat."
I felt afraid, but I would not show it, and jumped into the boat, which
was pushed off, and my uncle at once proceeded to hoist the lug-sail.
"That's right, Nat," he said encouragingly. "I saw that you felt a bit
nervous, for your cheeks were white; but that is the way: bravely meet a
terror and it shrinks to half its size. I can remember feeling as timid
as could be on entering an open boat and pulling off in a choppy sea;
but now I know the danger, and how to meet it, I feel as calm and
comfortable as you will after a trip or two. Now then, lay hold of that
rope and give a pull when I cry `haul', and we'll soon have a little
sail upon her."
I did as he bade me, and, pulling at the rope, the sail was hoisted part
of the way with the effect that it ballooned out in an instant, and the
boat went sidewise.
"Mind, uncle," I shouted; "the boat's going over;" and I clung to the
other side.
"No, it isn't, Nat," he said coolly. "We could heel over twice as much
as that without danger. I'll show you. Take another pull here."
"No, no, uncle," I cried, "I'm satisfied; I believe you."
"Take hold of the rope and haul," he shouted; and I obeyed him, with the
boat heeling over so terribly that I felt sure that the water would rush
over the side.
He laughed as he made fast the rope, and bade me go to the rudder, for I
had taken tight hold of the side of the boat.
There was something so quick and decided about Uncle Dick's way of
ordering anyone that I never thought of disobeying him, and I crept to
the rudder, while he took his place beside me as the boat danced up and
down upon what I, who had never seen the open sea, thought frightful
waves.
"Now, Nat," he said, "you see this rope I have here."
"Yes, uncle."
"This is the sheet, as it is called, of the sail, and it runs through
that block to make it easier for me to give or take as I want. Now, my
boy, here is your first lesson in managing a sailing-boat whether the
wind is rough, or as gentle as a breath. Never fasten your sheet, but
hold it loose in your hand."
"Why, uncle?" I said, as it seemed to me that it would have saved all
the trouble of holding it if it had been tied to the side.
"That's why," he said, as just then the wind increased, so that I clung
once more to the side, for the sail was blown so hard that the boat
would have gone over enough for the water to rush in if Uncle Dick had
not let the rope run swiftly through his hands, making the sail quite
loose, and the boat became upright once more.
"I brought you out on a roughish day, Nat," he continued, "so as to give
you a good lesson. Look here, Nat,--if an unskilful rider mounted a
spirited horse he would most likely be thrown; and if a person who does
not know how to manage a sailing-boat goes out in one on a windy day,
the chances are that the boat is capsized, fills, and goes to the
bottom. Now, if I had not had hold of the sheet then, and eased off the
sail--let it go, as a sailor would call it,--we should have been
capsized, and then--"
"What then, uncle?" I said, feeling very nervous indeed.
"We should have gone to the bottom, my boy, and been drowned, for I
don't think I could have swum ashore from here in my clothes and taken
you as well."
"Then--then, hadn't we much better go ashore at once, uncle?" I said,
looking at him nervously.
"Yes, Nat, I'll take you ashore at once if you feel afraid; but before
doing so I will tell you that I brought you out here to give you a
severe lesson in what boat-sailing with me is likely to be; and I tell
you besides, Nat, that I know well how to manage a boat. You have had
enough of it, I see, and we will go back."
He made a motion to take the tiller out of my hands, for I was steering
as he told me to steer, but I pushed his hand back.
"I thought you were frightened, Nat," he said; and then there was a
pause, for I wanted to speak, but the words would not come. At last,
though, they did.
"I am frightened, uncle, very much frightened; and this going up and
down makes me feel sick."
"All right, then, Nat, we'll go back," he said kindly; but he was
watching me all the while.
"No," I gasped, "we won't, and--and," I cried, setting my teeth fast, "I
won't be sick."
"But it is dangerous, Nat, my boy," he said; "and we are going straight
away into rougher water. Let us go back."
"No," I said, "you brought me out to try me, uncle, and I won't be a
coward, not if I die."
He turned his head away for a few minutes, and seemed to be looking at
the distant shore, and all the while the little boat rushed through the
water at a tremendous rate, the sail bellying out and the gunwale down
dangerously near the waves as we seemed to cut our way along.
The feeling of sickness that had troubled me before now seemed to go
off, as if my determination had had something to do with it; and in
spite of the sensation of dread I could not help liking my position, and
the way in which we mastered the waves, as it were, going head on to one
that seemed as if it would leap into the boat, but only for us to rise
up its slope and then plunge down to meet another, while the danger I
had feared minute after minute floated away astern.
When my uncle turned his head he said quietly:
"Nat, my boy, it was dangerous work to come out here with me; but, my
boy, it is far more dangerous work to go out on that long voyage with me
amongst savages, perhaps; to sail on unknown seas, and to meet perils
that we can not prepare to encounter. Do you not think, my boy, you
have chosen badly? Come, Nat, speak out. I will not call you a coward,
for it would only be natural for you to refuse to go. Come, speak to me
frankly. What do you say?"
"Was it dangerous to come out to-day, uncle, in this little boat?"
"Decidedly, my boy. You heard what that old boatman said."
"Yes, uncle. Then why did you come?"
He stared at me for a moment or two, and then said quietly to me,
leaning forward so that he could look straight into my eyes.
"To give you a lesson, my boy."
"But you knew you could manage the boat, uncle?"
"Yes, my boy. I have had a good deal of experience in boat-sailing on
the great American rivers, and on the sea."
"And you would not mind coming out at a time like this, uncle?"
"No, my boy, certainly not. I have been out years ago with the Yarmouth
boatmen in very rough seas indeed."
There was a pause for a time, and then he said again, "Well, Nat, will
you give up?"
"No, uncle," I said excitedly, "I don't feel half so frightened. I
couldn't help it then."
"You'd have been a strange boy, Nat, if you had helped it," he said
laughing; "and I am very glad we came. Now, let me tell you that we are
in a very small boat in water quite rough enough to be very dangerous;
but knowing what I do, possessing, as I do, the knowledge which is
power, Nat, there is not the least danger whatever, and you may rest
perfectly assured that we will get back quite safe."
"Then I've been terribly cowardly, and afraid for nothing, uncle," I
said, as I felt horribly ashamed.
"Yes, my boy, but that is generally the case," he said smiling. "You
were afraid because you were ignorant. Once you know well what you are
about, you feel ashamed of your old cowardice."
"But it's very shocking to be like that, uncle," I said.
"Not at all, my boy. It is the result of ignorance. The more ignorant
and uncultivated people are, the greater cowards they seem. They are
superstitious, and believe in ghosts and goblins and imps and fairies;
and as for savages in far-off regions, they are sometimes the greatest
cowards under the sun."
"I feel very much ashamed of myself, uncle," I said, and the tears stood
in my eyes.
He looked at me very kindly as I spoke.
"I wish I was not so ignorant."
"For my part, Nat," he said, "I feel very proud of you, my boy; and let
me tell you that you have no cause to be ashamed at all. Now take hold
of the sheet here, and give and take as I tell you. Don't be afraid to
let it slip through your hands fast if there is a heavy squall. I'll
steer. The sea is heavier out in this long reach. Tell me when you'd
like to put back."
"I don't want to go back, uncle," I said; "let's go on."
He nodded, and away we dashed, scudding along and riding over the waves,
while he showed me how he steered, and why he did this and that; how, by
a little pressure on the tiller, he could check our speed, and even turn
the little vessel so that we were facing where the wind blew from, and
now the sail flapped angrily; but we made no progress at all, only were
tossed about on the waves.
I told him that I thought we could only go along with the wind straight
behind us, but he showed me how we could sail with the wind on either
side, and sometimes with it almost facing us, by what he called tacking,
which I found meant that, if the wind came from straight before us, say
at a certain point in front, we could get there at last by zigzagging
through the water, now half a mile to the left, now half a mile to the
right, a common way of progressing which brought us nearer and nearer
every time.
"The sea is rougher than I thought," he said, "for I suppose we may call
it sea out here, Nat, this being the estuary of the Thames, so I think
I'll make that do for to-day."
"Don't go back for me, uncle," I said, as a wave broke over the bow of
the boat, splashing us from top to toe.
"I am going back for both our sakes, Nat, for we shall soon be wet
through. It is a day for india-rubber coats; but this has been a
glorious sail, and a splendid lesson for you, Nat."
"Yes, uncle," I said, "and I feel hardly frightened a bit now."
"No, my boy, it has given you far more confidence than you had before.
It is live and learn, Nat; you believe more in me and I believe more in
you."
He gave me one of his nods as he said this, and then took the rope from
my hand.
"Now, Nat, steer us home, my boy; I'll tell you what to do. By and by
you and I will have a native boat, perhaps, with a matting sail, to
manage, sailing about near the equator."
"But is it rough out there, uncle, amongst the islands?" I said.
"Very, at times, my boy; but with a light, well-built boat like this I
should not be afraid to go anywhere. See how like a duck she is in
shape, and how easily she rides over the waves. I should like to have
one exactly the same build but twice as large, and with the fore part
and poop decked over or covered in with canvas; and I don't know but
what it would be wise to take out such a boat."
Then he went on giving me explanations about the sail, and which was a
lug-sail, what was meant by fore-and-aft rig, and a dozen other things,
showing me the while too how to steer.
The result was that, drenched with spray, but all in a glow with
excitement, we got safely back, and for my part feeling that I had had a
lesson indeed, and ready to put out any time with my uncle in far
rougher seas.