CAPTAIN JACK.
"It has been our lot to sail with many captains, not one
of whom is fit to be a patch on your back."--_Letter of
the Ship's Company of H. M. S. S. Royalist to Captain W.
T. Bate._
All this time the albatross kept dropping down and down like a stone,
till Jack was quite out of breath, and they fell or flew, whichever
you like to call it, straight through one of the great chasms which he
had thought were lakes, and he looked down, as he sat on the bird's
back, to see what the world is like when you hang a good way above it
at sunrise.
It was a very beautiful sight; the sheep and lambs were still fast
asleep on the green hills, and the sea-birds were asleep in long rows
upon the ledges of the cliffs, with their heads under their wings.
"Are those young fairies awake yet?" asked the albatross.
"As sound asleep as ever," answered Jack; "but, Albatross, is not that
the sea which lies under us? You are a sea-bird, I know, but I am not
a sea boy, and I cannot live in the water."
"Yes, that is the sea," answered the albatross. "Don't you observe
that it is covered with ships?"
"I see boats and vessels," answered Jack, "and all their sails are
set, but they cannot sail, because there is no wind."
"The wind never does blow in this great bay," said the bird; "and
those ships would all lie there becalmed till they dropped to pieces
if one of them was not wanted now and then to go up the wonderful
river."
"But how did they come there?" asked Jack.
"Some of them had captains who ill-used their cabin-boys, some were
pirate ships, and others were going out on evil errands. The
consequence was, that when they chanced to sail within this great bay
they got becalmed; the fairies came and picked all the sailors out and
threw them into the water; they then took away the flags and pennons
to make their best coats of, threw the ship-biscuits and other
provisions to the fishes, and set all the sails. Many ships which are
supposed by men to have foundered lie becalmed in this quiet sea. Look
at those five grand ones with high prows; they are moored close
together; they were part of the Spanish Armada: and those open boats
with blue sails belonged to the Romans; they sailed with Caesar when he
invaded Britain."
By this time the albatross was hovering about among the vessels,
making choice of one to take Jack and the fairies up the wonderful
river.
"It must not be a large one," she said, "for the river in some places
is very shallow."
Jack would have liked very much to have a fine three-master, all to
himself; but then he considered that he did not know anything about
sails and rigging; he thought it would be just as well to be
contented with whatever the albatross might choose, so he let her set
him down in a beautiful little open boat, with a great carved
figure-head to it. There he seated himself in great state, and the
albatross perched herself on the next bench, and faced him.
"You remember my name?" asked the albatross.
"Oh yes," said Jack; but he was not attending,--he was thinking what a
fine thing it was to have such a curious boat all to himself.
"That's well," answered the bird; "then, in the next place, are those
fairies awake yet?"
"No, they are not," said Jack; and he took them out of his pockets,
and laid them down in a row before the albatross.
"They are certainly asleep," said the bird. "Put them away again, and
take great care of them. Mind you don't lose any of them, for I really
don't know what will happen if you do. Now I have one thing more to
say to you, and that is, are you hungry?"
"Rather," said Jack.
"Then," replied the albatross, "as soon as you feel _very_ hungry, lie
down in the bottom of the boat and go to sleep. You will dream that
you see before you a roasted fowl, some new potatoes, and an
apple-pie. Mind you don't eat too much in your dream, or you will be
sorry for it when you wake. That is all. Good-by! I must go."
Jack put his arms round the neck of the bird, and hugged her; then she
spread her magnificent wings and sailed slowly away. At first he felt
very lonely, but in a few minutes he forgot that, because the little
boat began to swim so fast.
She was not sailing, for she had no sail, and he was not rowing, for
he had no oars; so I am obliged to call her motion swimming, because I
don't know of a better word. In less than a quarter of an hour they
passed close under the bows of a splendid three-decker, a seventy-gun
ship. The gannets who live in those parts had taken possession of
her, and she was so covered with nests that you could not have walked
one step on her deck without treading on them. The father birds were
aloft in the rigging, or swimming in the warm, green sea, and they
made such a clamor when they saw Jack that they nearly woke the
fairies,--nearly, but not quite, for the little things turned round in
Jack's pockets, and sneezed, and began to snore again.
Then the boat swam past a fine brig. Some sea fairies had just flung
her cargo overboard, and were playing at leap-frog on deck. These were
not at all like Jack's own fairies; they were about the same height
and size as himself, and they had brown faces, and red flannel shirts
and red caps on. A large fleet of the pearly nautilus was collected
close under the vessel's lee. The little creatures were feasting on
what the sea fairies had thrown overboard, and Jack's boat, in its
eagerness to get on, went plunging through them so roughly that
several were capsized. Upon this the brown sea fairies looked over,
and called out angrily, "Boat ahoy!" and the boat stopped.
"Tell that boat of yours to mind what she is about," said the fairy
sea-captain to Jack.
Jack touched his hat, and said, "Yes, sir," and then called out to his
boat, "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, running down these little
live fishing-vessels so carelessly. Go at a more gentle pace."
So it swam more slowly; and Jack, being by this time hungry, curled
himself up in the bottom of the boat, and fell asleep.
He dreamt directly about a fowl and some potatoes, and he ate a wing,
and then he ate a merry-thought, and then somebody said to him that he
had better not eat any more, but he did,--he ate another wing; and
presently an apple-pie came, and he ate some of that, and then he ate
some more, and then he immediately woke.
"Now that bird told me not to eat too much," said Jack, "and yet I
have done it. I never felt so full in my life;" and for more than
half an hour he scarcely noticed anything.
At last he lifted up his head, and saw straight before him two great
brown cliffs, and between them flowed in the wonderful river. Other
rivers flow out, but this river flowed in, and took with it far into
the land dolphins, sword-fish, mullet, sun-fish, and many other
strange creatures; and that is one reason why it was called the magic
river, or the wonderful river.
At first it was rather wide, and Jack was alarmed to see what
multitudes of soldiers stood on either side to guard the banks, and
prevent any person from landing.
He wondered how he should get the fairies on shore. However, in about
an hour the river became much narrower, and then Jack saw that the
guards were not real soldiers, but rose-colored flamingoes. There they
stood, in long regiments, among the reeds, and never stirred. They are
the only foot-soldiers the fairies have in their pay; they are very
fierce, and never allow anything but a fairy ship to come up the
river.
They guarded the banks for miles and miles, many thousands of them,
standing a little way into the water among the flags and rushes; but
at last there were no more reeds and no soldier guards, for the stream
became narrower, and flowed between such steep rocks that no one could
possibly have climbed them.