Tom and I, continued Shireen, weren't the only pets on board the
_Venom_. There was a monkey though, and a very large one he was. When
he stood up he was as big as a second-class boy. The sailors had
dressed him as a marine, and given him a wooden gun, and taught him to
shake hands and salute. His name was Joe; but I'm sure he wasn't happy,
I often saw tears in his eyes, or thought I did. Perhaps he had been
taken from his home, far away in the beautiful forests of Africa, and
had left a wife and children behind him.
We had a mongoose too--a sly old grey creature that the men petted. But
Tom never took to him, and used sometimes to whack him when nobody was
looking.
We had a large chameleon just like Chammy,--and I wonder where Chammy
is--our ship's chameleon lived in an old coffee-pot that was turned down
on its side like a kennel in the corner of the doctor's cabin. He was
chained to this just like a doggie, and used to catch little cockroaches
and hammer-legged flies for himself all day.
In another part of the doctor's cabin was a lizard four feet long, that
looked terribly fierce and dangerous, he was also secured with a chain.
In a hatbox, in the doctor's cabin, lived a beautiful bronze-winged
pigeon, who purred like a cat. Tom said he must be awfully good to eat,
but he wouldn't venture into the cabin for anything, owing to the dragon
that was chained in the corner.
We had in the wardroom a grey parrot with a red tail that he was very
proud of. And all the week through the parrot was allowed to go on deck
if he liked, but not on Sundays, because once when he came to church in
the middle of the service he set everybody laughing by calling the
parson "Old Boots."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The sailors now began to teach me tricks, and seeing that it pleased
them very much, I tried to learn my lessons as quickly as possible.
On fine evenings then at smoking time, the men would call me forward,
and a ring would be formed near to the winch and between the bows.
Jumping backwards and forwards over a stick, or over a man's clasped
hands, was nothing. Heigho! my dear children, this happened twenty
years ago, although I remember it as if it were but yesterday. Well, I
was supple and strong, and lithe of limb in those dear days, being
little more than a kitten, and a man could hardly hold a stick so high
that I couldn't spring over it.
As soon as I was fairly well accomplished at this work, a piece of iron
wire, bent in a half hoop, was used instead of the stick, and every
night the sailor who was teaching me brought the two ends of the wire
nearer and nearer, until at last it was a whole hoop and nothing else.
Next he covered the hoop half over with paper, leaving just a hole, but
I was determined not to be beaten, and through I went.
One evening, to my surprise, the hoop was all covered with thin paper;
nevertheless, when the man spoke kindly to me, and asked me to leap,
through I went, and my education in leaping was supposed to be complete.
This man was afterwards called aft to the quarter-deck, and there, to
the delight and amusement of the officers, and the envy of the mongoose,
who couldn't jump a bit, I went through the whole performance, and was
applauded sky-high.
"Pussy," said my master laughing, as he took me and fondled me in his
arms, "I never knew before that you were a play actor."
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There were no rats on board the _Venom_, so Tom and I had an idle time
of it. When Tom first came on board ship in Australia, there had been a
large number of these nasty creatures in the vessel. They used to eat
everything, and sometimes they got into the men's hammocks for warmth,
and slept with them all throughout the watch-in. Put Tom cleared the
ship by degrees.
"That must have been fine fun," said Warlock; "but it must have been
dull times for Tom and you--no rats, no sport."
"But," added wise, wee Warlock, with a sigh, "it will be as bad in this
country, Tabby, before long."
"_Yes_," said Tabby.
"What I would propose if I were in Parliament," said Warlock, "would be
this. We have a close season for birds, and even for seals, so we ought
to have a close season for rats also."
"Bravo! Bravo! tse, tse, tse!" cried Dick.
"Then if we had a close season for rats, though the farmers might
grumble a bit, Tabby and I would have sport, and it is everybody for
himself in this world. But, dear Mother Shireen, we are interrupting
the easy flow of your narrative. Pray go on."
Yes, Warlock, and I think if you wait for sport till a close season for
rats becomes the law of the land, you'll be pretty old and stiff before
you get it. But on board the saucy _Venom_, although Tom and I scorned
to catch cockroaches like the big ape and the mongoose, we had fine fun
at night fishing.
"Fishing?" cried Tabby. "Why, whatever did you catch, Mother Shireen?
Sharks?"
No, my dear, nor whales either, though a shark once nearly caught me.
No, we caught flying fish, Tom and I.
"Tse, tse, tse!" from Dick.
I observe that Dick is much surprised. Perhaps he thinks I am becoming
foolish in my old age. Not a bit of it, Dick. Tom taught me how to
catch the flying fish, and I soon became a very apt pupil indeed. And
easy work it was. You see, flying fish instead of being chased by
dolphins, though they sometimes may be, or by sharks either, are
generally out in shoals, looking for their own food, and they fly,
Warlock, just for the fun of the thing.
"For sport like?" said Warlock.
Yes, Warlock, for sport.
Well, they always will fly to a light, and so all Tom and I had to do
was to sit on the top of the bulwarks and look down. The starlight,
flashing in our eyes, soon attracted the attention of the fish, and they
jumped over our heads, and danced a jig on the deck behind us.
Then Tom and I went and had a very nice little supper, and there was
always more than we could eat, so the men on watch had some too.
"Well, that is good," said Tabby. "I've tried my hand at trout fishing,
but I never heard of flying-fish catching like that before."
"Trout fishing," said Shireen, "is what I should call mere bottom
fishing."
"Yes, and you do go to the bottom too, with a plump."
Shireen laughed.
"It may be all very well for short-haired Tabbies like you, my dear,"
she remarked. "But, la! to get my jacket wet would entirely spoil it;
besides, you know, I'm not so young as you. If I got wet I should be
laid up with the rheumatics for a month to a dead certainty. Heigho! it
might be a _dead_ certainty too, though that, children, is only my
little joke. But tell us Tabby, how you got on fishing."