Our situation, now, was everything that could be desired for the
execution of the delicate manoeuvre that I contemplated, and only a few
minutes elapsed from the time of my stationing myself in the
fore-rigging when the critical moment arrived for us to attempt it. I
accordingly signed to Forbes to put the helm down; which he instantly
did, lashing it fast; when he and I sprang simultaneously to the weather
main-braces, to assist Sir Edgar and Joe in backing the main-topsail.
This proved to be a tough drag for four men; but we managed to get the
yards round far enough to lay the sail aback, when I once more darted
forward into the fore-rigging to superintend the remainder of the work;
Forbes returning to his station at the wheel, while Sir Edgar and Joe
stood by the warp, in readiness to pay it out quickly, and to throw the
life-buoys over clear of the rail.
Everything now depended upon the strength and skill of San Domingo.
The wreck, when I reached my post of observation in the rigging, was on
our weather-bow, not more than twice our own length from us; and the
barque, with her way already somewhat retarded by the backing of the
main-topsail and the putting down of the helm, was slowly forging up to
it, with her bows inclining toward the exact spot where the nine men
were still huddled together in the main rigging, anxiously watching our
approach and wondering what we were about to do. They saw that San
Domingo was preparing to heave them a rope's-end; but that did not very
greatly enlighten them until Joe and Sir Edgar each raised a life-buoy
to the rail, and prepared to throw it overboard. Then they got an
inkling of our intent; and a feeble shout went up from among them.
Slowly, and more slowly still, the barque continued to forge ahead; and
I began to fear that, in my anxiety to avoid an actual collision with
the wreck, I had backed my topsail a second or two too soon, and that we
should not, after all, get near enough to her to accomplish the rescue.
Still, we had not wholly lost our way; and foot by foot--or rather, inch
by inch--we continued to creep nearer and nearer to the wreck, until the
negro, on the end of his spar, was soaring and swooping wildly within
some fifty feet of the group of half-drowned men; and then our way
stopped. This was the moment that San Domingo had been waiting for.
Watching his opportunity, he seized upon the instant when the wreck and
ourselves were both sunk in the trough of a sea, and therefore
comparatively sheltered from the wind, when, with a single powerful
swing of the coil round his head, he sent it whizzing straight and fair
in among the group who were anxiously waiting for it.
"Get as far aft as you can, and then haul away upon the line!" I
shouted.
One of them waved his hand to signify that he understood what I wanted;
and then they all took hold of the line, and, with it grasped firmly in
their hands, made their way cautiously in toward the hull, we watching
their movements, meanwhile, in a state of the most intense anxiety and
suspense. For now that we were within a biscuit-toss of them the
appalling precariousness and peril of their situation became fully
apparent to us; more completely so, indeed, than it probably was to the
unfortunate fellows themselves. For, huddled together as they were in
the rigging, they were sheltered to some extent by the hull of the brig,
and were thus unable to clearly see and measure the stupendous
proportions of the vast roaring mountains of foam-capped water that came
hissing and swooping down upon them from to windward, each huge comber
seemingly sentient with a full determination to overwhelm and engulf the
already stricken and helpless fabric that lay prone and waterlogged at
their mercy; while we, from the superior elevation of our buoyant deck,
could look over and beyond the nearly submerged hull, and watch with
breathless anxiety the swoop of every giant wave as it surged down upon
the wreck and buried her in a blinding smother of seething, milk-white
foam. But, beaten down, inert, and waterlogged as was the brig, her
cargo was evidently of such a character as to impart a considerable
measure of buoyancy to her; for though every sea that broke over her
completely buried her for the moment, she invariably reappeared on the
hinder slope of the baffled comber, apparently little or none the worse
for her momentary submergence. Her triumphant survival, indeed, of
these continuous and overwhelming onslaughts soon convinced me that her
crew had little to fear from the prospect of her speedy foundering;
their danger lay not in any such probability, but consisted in the
likelihood of their being torn from their precarious hold in the rigging
by every sea that swept and raged over them.
This danger was, of course, greatly increased when the men began to move
inward toward the hull, thus more fully exposing themselves to the fury
of every surge that swept over it. And of this fact we soon had a most
painful and melancholy illustration; for as the group, after waiting for
two or three minutes for a favourable opportunity, essayed to scramble
out of the rigging, and make their way aft along the brig's upturned
side to her quarter--where they would be clear of the gear and rigging
when they took to the water--a small and comparatively innocuous sea
broke over the hull, which, harmless as it was compared with most of its
predecessors, had still enough of weight and spite in it to sweep one of
the poor fellows from his precarious foothold into the seething, hissing
swirl to leeward. The man tossed his arms over his head, with a wild
shriek for help, as the smother carried him along in its suffocating
embrace, and Joe promptly made a spring for a spare _life-buoy_ that we
had provided for such an emergency; but before it could be thrown the
unfortunate wretch was hurled over the brig's mainyard as it lifted out
of the water, and the next instant he disappeared beneath the foot of
the main-topsail, the wide spaces of which immediately shut down upon
and buried him as the roll of the hull once more submerged her spars.
We never saw the poor fellow again, and there is no doubt that, caught
and entangled beneath the cloths of the topsail, he was drowned there.
Meanwhile, we were drifting rapidly away to leeward, and the full length
of our warps was almost paid out; it was therefore imperative that the
men on the wreck should act quickly. I shouted to them to this effect,
and, awaking from the momentary stupefaction produced by the painfully
sudden loss of their comrade, the remaining eight men made a dash for
the brig's quarter, and succeeded in reaching it just as the vessel was
uphove upon the crest of another tremendous sea. We saw them slip the
string of life-buoys over their heads, and the next instant they were
buried in the vast volume of water that broke, roaring and hissing, over
the fabric that they stood upon. To our anxious minds it seemed an
endless time before they reappeared; but at length we saw the string of
life-buoys floating in the midst of the lacework of foam, some ten
fathoms to leeward of the wreck, well clear of the heaving spars and
snake-like coils of loose and unrove gear, eight out of the nine buoys
having each a man in it.
"Hurrah!" I shouted, swinging myself on deck out of the rigging. "We
have them! Haul away gently upon the line, and let us get them
alongside."
As I spoke I saw that San Domingo was laying in from the jib-boom end,
he having, like myself, seen that we had got hold of the men; and
presently he ranged up alongside me and, following my example,
industriously set to work to throw the coils of braces, halliards,
clewlines, and so on off the pins, and bend the ends of them into
bowlines in readiness for hauling the rescued men up the side.
The task of getting the poor fellows safely inboard was soon
accomplished, when, administering to each man a pannikin of scalding hot
coffee that had meanwhile been prepared in the galley, I sent them below
into the forecastle with instructions to strip, rub each other well
down, and turn in until a good meal could be prepared for them; when,
the rescued crew being thus temporarily disposed of, we filled upon the
ship and resumed our voyage.
A good substantial meal of beef, potatoes, and ship's bread, backed up
with a few hours' sleep, and a shift into dry clothes, sufficed to set
the rescued men upon their pins again, little or nothing the worse for
the hardship and exposure they had so recently undergone; and that same
evening I obtained from the mate of the brig, a man named Cooper, the
particulars of their adventure.
From this man's story it appeared that the brig, a vessel of one hundred
and seventy-four tons register, named the _Golden Gate_, hailed from San
Francisco, from which port she had sailed in search of a cargo of
sandal-wood. The quest had been successful, a full cargo had been
obtained, and all had gone well with the craft up to the afternoon of
the preceding day, when her crew, like us, had found themselves
becalmed. Unlike myself, however, the skipper of the _Golden Gate_--who
proved to be the man who had unfortunately been swept away and lost
during the process of rescue--had obstinately refused to believe that
the threatening aspect of the weather meant anything worse than a sharp
thunderstorm, and had declined to accede to the suggestion of his mate
that sail should be shortened, averring that all the wind they were
likely to get they would need to help them out of the region of the
equatorial calms. The result had been that when the hurricane burst
upon them the ship was hove over upon her beam-ends, with her sails flat
upon the water, in which position she had gradually filled, her cargo
only preventing the waterlogged hull from sinking under the feet of her
crew. Fortunately for all hands, they had entertained sufficiently
serious doubts of their skipper's judgment to determine them to remain
on deck and see the matter out; hence, when the brig went over, they
were in a measure prepared for the catastrophe, and lost no time in
clambering on to the vessel's upturned side. From this position the
sea, breaking heavily over the hull, soon drove them into the rigging,
where they had remained, constantly drenched with spray and frequently
submerged beneath the vast volumes of water that poured over the wreck,
until rescued by us.
In exchange for his story I briefly informed the rescued mate that I had
sailed from Sydney, in ballast, for the Canton river, intending to cut a
cargo of sandal-wood on the way; but that the bulk of my crew, a gang of
desperadoes from the gold-diggings, had frustrated my purpose by
attempting to take my ship away from me, and that I had therefore been
compelled to leave them on an island; and further, that when I sighted
the _Golden Gate_, we were on our way to the Sandwich Islands, hoping to
there obtain men enough to navigate the barque to China. I said that,
if he and his men wished it, I would still go on to Honolulu, and land
them there, from whence they would doubtless soon find an opportunity to
return to San Francisco; or, if they preferred it, I would ship them
all, at the current rate of wages, for the voyage to China, and, if they
gave me satisfaction, thence home to England. He said he would lay my
offer before the men, and acquaint me with their decision forthwith; and
at once retired to the forecastle. Whereupon I at once called Joe and
San Domingo to me, and laid the strictest injunctions upon them both
that under no circumstances whatever were they to make the slightest
allusion to the treasure in the hold; hinting pretty strongly that, if
they did, their own share of it would probably fall very far short of
what it would be should the secret be well kept. The caution I believed
to be quite needless, so far as Joe was concerned; but its necessity, as
regarded the negro, was made quite apparent by his remark when I had
finished speaking--
"Golly, sar; it just as well you tole me dat in time, odderwise I dead
sure to hab said someting about it de fust time I had a chance. But now
dat you has warned me, sar, you may depend abs'lutely upon my
discresshun. I wants all de dollars I can git; and I doan' feel
inclined to share dem wid men dat has had no hand in de saving of dem."
The mate soon returned to the deck with the decision of his crew. He
informed me that the men were quite unanimous in their desire to leave
the ship at Honolulu, and make the best of their way back to San
Francisco with as little delay as possible, if such an arrangement would
accord with my convenience; but that, in the mean time, they would
gladly turn to and assist me to work the ship so far, without pay, in
acknowledgment of my having saved their lives.
The weather, meanwhile, was fast moderating; so much so that during the
second dog-watch we took a good drag upon the topsail halliards, and set
the foresail and mizzen; the wind gradually hauling round further from
the northward and breaking us off until we headed north-east by compass.
The mercury was rising almost as rapidly as it had fallen, and there
was every prospect of a fine night. Cooper, the late mate of the
_Golden Gate_, offered to do duty as second mate, while the cook of the
craft expressed his desire to continue the functions of his office; the
remainder of the men declared their readiness to go to work forthwith;
and that night, accordingly, we once more kept two watches, each
consisting of an officer and four men, while I, who had been on deck
almost continuously for thirty hours, turned in and, with a mind
intensely relieved by the acquisition of so much valuable help, slept
like a log until seven o'clock the next morning.
I awoke of my own accord, and had no sooner opened my eyes than I knew,
without any need of telling, exactly how we were situated. The ship was
rolling, with a long, steady, even swing, from side to side, with an
occasional heave and settlement of her quarter as the swell took her;
the canvas was alternately flapping out with rifle-like reports, and
thundering against her masts as she rolled; the bulkheads were creaking
and groaning; the cabin-doors were rattling upon their hooks; the
wheel-chains were clanking as the rudder kicked to the wash and swirl
under the counter; and there was a gurgling, dripping wash of water
along the bends, without any seething sound in it, that told me, apart
from the other noises of the ship, that we were again becalmed. The sun
was streaming brilliantly in through the porthole of my cabin, flooding
the little apartment with warmth and golden light; and the swishing and
scrubbing sounds overhead told me that the hands were busy at the job of
washing decks. It was a welcome, joyous sound, as evidence of the fact
that we once more had a crew on board us; and I thrust my feet into my
slippers and went on deck to get my morning bath with a feeling of
gaiety and blithesomeness that taught me, for the first time, how heavy
had been the load of anxiety that I had lately borne, and that had
slipped from my shoulders with the arrival of the _Golden Gates_ crew on
board.
It was a glorious morning, with a clear, brilliantly blue, cloudless sky
overhead, out of which the sun, though only an hour high, already blazed
with an ardour that gave promise of a scorching day; the sea was
oil-smooth, with a glittering sheen like that of quicksilver in the wake
of the sun, while away to the westward of us it flashed and gleamed in
hues of the softest, purest, opalescent blue to the side of the ship
with the running of the swell. There was not a breath of wind, nor the
remotest sign of any; so I ordered the lighter canvas and the courses to
be hauled down and clewed up, to save them from thrashing themselves to
rags; and, having revelled in the luxury of a shower-bath of cool,
sparkling brine from the hose, left the ship under the topsails and
fore-topmast staysail, and went below to dress for breakfast.
The calm that had now fallen upon us lasted unbroken for five full days,
during which we sweltered, day and night, in the melting heat of the
tropics, with the blazing sun right overhead every day at noon, and a
waning moon soaring into the heavens later and still later each night to
render the hours of darkness magical with the witchery of her beauty and
mystery. And during the whole of this time we never shifted our
position by so much as a single mile a day. At length, however, on the
sixth day, a few cat's-paws came playing at intervals over the surface
of the glass-smooth water, momentarily ruffling it into little
evanescent patches of tender blue, and causing a transient ripple to
play over the stagnant cloths of our canvas. As the day wore on the
cat's-paws increased in frequency, in area, and in strength; and shortly
before sundown a gentle, dainty little air of wind came stealing softly
up from the eastward, to woo which we joyfully spread every rag of
canvas we could show to it: and oh! how ineffably pleasant and
delightful was the sound of the first faint liquid tinkling ripple that
broke from our cutwater, and gushed gently past the bends in a stream of
tiny bursting air-bells, as the beautifully moulded hull yielded to the
faint impulse of the soft breathing and began to move under it with the
languorous motion of a sleeping swan! Then, as the soft, warm,
star-spangled darkness of the tropics closed down upon us and wrapped us
within its impalpable folds, the breeze gathered strength and weight by
imperceptible degrees, until the scarcely audible tinkle under the bows
merged into the sound of a knife shearing through a tautly stretched
silken web, with a musical fountain-like plashing at the cutwater and a
crisp, gushing curl of the glassy wave under the lee bow as it broke and
hurried past into our wake in a lacework of creamy swirling froth,
gemmed with countless glittering foam-bubbles; while the log told us
that the ship was slipping her way through the small wrinklings of the
brine at a speed of fully six knots in the hour.
By-and-by the moon--her orb now reduced to less than half its full
dimensions--stole ghostlike above the horizon; and by her wan light we
saw that a host of soft, fleecy clouds--shaped like the smoke belched
from the mouth of a cannon upon a windless day--were mustering their
squadrons in the eastern quarter; and we knew them for the welcome
trade-cloud, the sure indication that the breeze we now had would be a
lasting one.
And so it proved; for the fleecy masses soared upward until they
overspread the whole of the visible sky; and as they soared so the
breeze hardened, until at length, by the time that the middle watch drew
toward its close, the saucy _Esmeralda_, with the wind well over her
starboard quarter, and everything packed upon her, from the royal
studding-sails down, was storming through it at a pace nearer to sixteen
than to fifteen knots in the hour, while the wild weird melody of a
hundred harps singing through the taut mazes of her rigging aloft
mingled with the roar of the wind out of the great spaces of her
straining canvas, and the deep, continuous thunder of the bow wave,
raising a concert of such mad, soul-stirring harmony as causes the
sailor's heart to leap and bound within him in ecstatic exultation to
the swift, buoyant leaps and plunges of the good ship beneath him.
This truly royal breeze continued to blow with scarcely diminished
strength, enabling us to reel off our fifteen knots per hour for hours
at a time, while our speed seldom sank below twelve; the result of which
was that a little before midnight of the fifth day from its first
reaching us we glided into the roadstead of Honolulu, and came to an
anchor.
On the following morning, immediately after breakfast, I went ashore,
taking with me my passengers and Cooper, the mate of the _Golden Gate_;
and while Sir Edgar with his party made their way to the best hotel in
the place, preparatory to the planning of an expedition which would
permit of their seeing as much as possible of the beauties of the island
during our stay there, Cooper and I sought out our respective consuls.
Neither of them were difficult to find; and while I partook of a second
breakfast with our hospitable British representative, I learnt from
him--after telling him as much of my story as I deemed needful--that an
Aberdeen ship had unfortunately driven ashore and gone to pieces there
only a fortnight previously, and that her crew were then awaiting an
opportunity to work their way home, the master and chief mate having
already left for England _via_ San Francisco, in a steamer. Upon
further inquiry I found that there were thirteen of the crew in all,
namely, the second mate, steward, cook, and ten seamen. This suited me
exactly; for, although there were more men than I really needed, we had
accommodation for an even greater number in the _Esmeralda's_ roomy
forecastle and deck-house. Moreover, I had had all that I wanted of
such an unpleasant experience as that of being short-handed. I
therefore determined to ship them all, if they were willing, and
recompense myself for my recent hardships by enjoying the luxury of a
fully manned ship. The men were easily found--were indeed on the
lookout for me, having learned early in the morning that an English
barque had arrived in the roadstead some time during the night--and upon
interviewing them I learned that they were, one and all, most anxious to
make a start for home. They were as quiet, sober, and steady-looking a
crew as I could possibly desire to meet with, or have under me; I
therefore shipped the whole of them, on the spot, and directed them to
hold themselves in readiness to join the ship as soon as they should
receive instructions from me to that effect.
Meanwhile, Cooper had had an interview with his consul, the result of
which was an arrangement that the crew of the _Golden Gate_ should land
forthwith, as there were several American vessels in the port, and,
consequently, ample facilities for despatching the men home. As a
consequence of this the Americans left the _Esmeralda_ that same
afternoon, while the new crew went on board and took up their quarters
on the following morning.
The luncheon hour had arrived by the time that all these arrangements
were completed, and I therefore hastened away to Sir Edgar's hotel for
the double purpose of satisfying a certain inward craving that had
already begun to make itself felt, and of acquainting the baronet with
the character of the business upon which I had been engaged during the
morning. The several members of the party were, naturally enough, much
pleased to learn that there was to be no undue detention among the
lovely Sandwich Islands; but, on the other hand, they expressed so
earnest a desire to see something of Oahu, now that they were actually
upon it, that I cheerfully consented to delay my departure until the
evening of the third day. A tour of the island was thereupon arranged,
in which I was very cordially invited to join, and a most delightful
excursion was the result; but as this is not a guide-book, and nothing
out of the ordinary way occurred during its progress, I will not inflict
the details of it upon the indulgent reader. Upon our return to the
ship we found that Forbes, following my instructions, had re-watered
her, and laid in a generous supply of fruit, pigs, poultry, and other
necessaries; our crew were all on board, and there was nothing to detain
us longer in this Pacific paradise; we therefore got our anchor
forthwith, and stood out of the roadstead in the crimson wake of the
setting sun just as that luminary sank magnificently beneath the
horizon, painting the whole western sky with the flaming hues of his
dying effulgence.
There is but little more to tell, for the rescue of the _Golden Gates_
crew proved to be the last adventure that befell us on this
extraordinarily eventful voyage. We made a very rapid run across to the
China coast, and were detained but a short time in the Canton river,
freights happening to be rather high and tonnage somewhat scarce--for a
wonder--about the time of our arrival; I therefore met with no
difficulty in obtaining a freight, with quick despatch, and within three
weeks of our arrival we were once more at sea, this time Homeward-Bound!
I must not forget to mention, by the way, that almost my first act,
upon arriving at Hong Kong, was to write home two somewhat lengthy
letters--one to my mother, acquainting her with the successful result of
my quest, together with a full and detailed narrative of my adventures
since leaving Sydney; and the other to my old and trusty friend, Mr
Richards, acquainting him also with my success, and requesting him to
undertake certain rather delicate negotiations for me, as well as to
make certain preparations against the time of the _Esmeralda's_ arrival
in the English Channel. Our homeward passage was as prosperous as it
was uneventful. We were no sooner clear of our moorings than we caught
a favourable breeze that followed us all the way until we had rounded
the Cape of Good Hope and had caught the south-east trades, which in
their turn carried us right up to, and indeed a few miles to the north
of, the Line. Here we met with the usual light baffling airs, with
plenty of rain and perhaps rather more than the average allowance of
thunder and lightning. But this weather lasted only a trifle over
forty-eight hours, when a small easterly air came to our rescue and
fanned us along to the northward until we finally fell in with the
north-east trades, the beneficent influence of which carried us as far
north as the parallel of twenty-eight degrees. Here again kind Fortune
favoured us; for when at length the trade-winds failed us, the wind
gradually hauled round from the southward, and thence from the westward
and north-west, hardening all the time, until at length it blew quite a
fresh gale, which sent us bowling and staggering away to the northward
and eastward under single-reefed topsails with topgallant sails over
them, reeling off our fourteen knots hour after hour, and enabling us to
hold our own for a whole day with one of the West Indian mail-boats,
homeward-bound, much, no doubt, to the chagrin and astonishment of her
officers. The breeze continued to freshen, however, and the sea to
rise, necessitating first the handing of our topgallant sails, and, a
little later on, the further reefing down of our topsails, when the
great steamer gradually drew away from us, and by next morning was out
of sight. This slant lasted us for four days, when the wind gradually
softened into a moderate sailing breeze, veering all the time until it
finally worked round from the southward once more, bringing with it
mild, genial, sunshiny weather, that carried us right up the Channel to
Portland Roads, which we entered on a lovely summer evening, nine
months, almost to a day, from the date upon which we had quitted it, at
the commencement of the voyage.
I was of course careful to have the ship's number and burgee
conspicuously displayed as we entered the roadstead, and I also observed
the precaution of standing far enough over towards the Weymouth side of
the bay to permit of the flags being distinctly made out before bringing
the ship to an anchor; the result of which was that, before the canvas
was well clewed up, a small steam launch emerged from Weymouth Harbour,
and in due time deposited my dear mother and my very good friend Mr
Richards upon the _Esmeralda's_ deck.
Of the joyous meeting that ensued--of my dear mother's smiles and tears
and caresses and ejaculations of gratitude at my safe return--and of Mr
Richards' hearty congratulations at my successful achievement--I will
say nothing; the picture may very well be left to the vivid imagination
of the reader. I need only state that, after the first bustle and
excitement of the meeting had passed over, Mr Richards drew me
carefully aside and remarked--
"It is all right, my dear boy; everything is arranged. I have put the
whole affair into the hands of Tom White--a man whom I would trust with
my very life--and he will come off to you with half a dozen `lerrets'
and a strong gang of thoroughly reliable men at two o'clock to-morrow
morning. Hand over your cases of treasure to him without hesitation,
and he will take care of them for you. He knows exactly how to manage
the business, trust him, for he was a smuggler in his youth, when
smuggling was still a paying business, as were his forbears for
generations before him; so it is in the man's blood, you see."
And as Mr Richards had said, so it proved. The night was, luckily,
_very_ dark, and therefore exactly suited to our purpose; and promptly
at two o'clock, the man White, with his fleet of "lerrets," came gliding
noiselessly alongside out of the darkness, and in less than half an hour
every ounce of the treasure was out of the ship, with nobody a bit the
wiser. The next morning a man came alongside offering crabs for sale,
and before leaving the ship, he slipped a crumpled, dirty piece of
note-paper, smelling strongly of fish, into my hand; upon opening which
I, with some difficulty, deciphered the following communication:--
"Deer Sur the boxis be awl rite yours to command T. White."
Is there anything else to tell? Well, yes; there is just one further
item of information that may interest some at least of my readers. I
remember remarking, in the course of my narrative, that toward the
latter part of my acquaintance with Miss Merrivale--dating particularly
from the capture and recapture of the ship at the treasure island--that
very charming young lady's demeanour toward me underwent a certain
subtle, indefinable, puzzling, but exceedingly agreeable change; and
after we had left China and were on our homeward voyage--when, in short,
I had leisure to give a proper amount of thought and attention to so
important a matter--I determined to ascertain what it meant.
Now, this is not a love story, so I will not enter into the particulars
of how I first of all fell to questioning myself as to _why_ this change
of manner should have proved so agreeable to me; nor will I describe the
mental process by which I quickly arrived at the conclusion that it was
because Agnes Merrivale was, beyond all question, the sweetest and most
lovable, as well as the most charming and lovely woman it had ever been
my good fortune to encounter. Nor will I attempt to describe the
devious methods and the complicated stratagems by which--having arrived
at this conclusion--I painfully sought to obtain some slight inkling or
clue to the sweet girl's sentiments toward myself. Let it suffice to
say that they were all signally, _miserably_, unsuccessful. _You_, my
dear reader, would of course have managed infinitely better; I am well
aware of that. But remember, if you please, that I was only a plain,
unpolished sailor; a man who, maybe, could handle a ship fairly well,
take care of her in a gale of wind, and navigate her successfully from
port to port, but who had until now had no experience of women and their
ways. Moreover, I would have cut off my right hand rather than have
said or done anything to offend one of the sex worthy the name of woman.
So, for the first time in my life, I was fairly nonplussed and unhappy;
knowing full well what I wanted, but not knowing what steps I ought to
take in order to insure to myself a fair chance of obtaining it. Such a
state of mind, however, is not likely to be long tolerated by a sailor;
my good sense came to my aid, and whispered that if my love loved me, I
had only to give her the opportunity to say so, and all would be well.
So one night--how well I remember it! it was pitch-dark, and we were
just clear of the Straits of Sunda, rolling merrily along before a fresh
easterly breeze under every rag that we could pack upon the ship--I got
the dear girl to myself for a while upon the poop, and told her in
simple, sailorly language exactly what were my feelings and hopes. We
were promenading the poop together, arm in arm, while I spoke, and she
heard me to the end without a word. Then she stopped, and placing both
her hands in mine, said, with an unmistakable quiver of emotion in her
voice--
"Thank you, Jack, for the most priceless gift a man can offer a woman--
the gift of a loyal, loving heart. I accept it gratefully, dear, and
will do my best to make you happy; for I believe I have loved you from
the very first, my darling."