OUTWARD BOUND
Rube awakened before dawn without being called, but with a momentary
feeling of terror lest he should have overslept himself. The sound of
a neighbouring church clock striking five reassured him, and hurriedly
dressing he made his way downstairs, paid his modest bill to the sleepy
landlord, who was peering out into the grey of the early morning, and
rapidly passed along the wharves in the direction of the ship which had
been pointed out to him the previous afternoon. Arriving alongside,
he was surprised to see how little bustle and apparent preparation
for seafaring was in evidence. Several men were slouching about the
decks, and one energetic individual was bellowing occasional orders
in an exceedingly loud voice, but beyond that the vessel might, for
all he could see, have been going to stay where she was indefinitely.
Presently, however, he noticed a little group coming with swaying steps
up the wharf, and soon they were alongside, several of them evidently
suffering from their potations of the previous evening. Then the tall
patriarchal figure of the Captain appeared, stepped on board, and
instantly the ship wakened into life.
All unaware of what was expected of him, Rube stood on deck just
where he had first stepped over the side, his few belongings in his
grip-sack lying by him, until a short, thick-set man, with a face
like unpolished mahogany, came up to him and said: ‘Naow, wut yew
doin’ here--hain’t shipped as passenger, hev ye? Them yewr duds? Get
’em below and be mighty smart abaout it, ’less you want consid’ble
trouble.’ Mechanically he obeyed the man’s actions more than his words,
which were, indeed, more than half of them almost unintelligible to
him. Going forward in the direction indicated by his interlocutor,
and finding his way below, he entered a large apartment wrapped in
the densest gloom, and it was not until somebody (who, he could not
see) struck a light, that he was able to discern its outlines, to
see all around it bunks, some occupied by bundles of clothing and
miscellaneous objects, and others by sleeping men. The atmosphere of
this dark den was foul in the extreme--so much so, in fact, that he
felt choking--and, without losing any time, he pushed his belongings
into the nearest corner that presented itself and hastened on deck.
The next hour passed with him like a fevered dream. What he was doing
or why he was doing it he knew not at all; for is there any creature
more helpless and ignorant than a grown-up man who, for the first time
in his life, takes part in the work of a ship putting out to sea? The
very language is unintelligible. Everything is so new, so strange,
and when presently to these mysteries is added the curious staggering
motion of the ship, the neophyte’s plight is a most unhappy one. But
it may be doubted whether of all the much-advertised remedies for
sea-sickness there are any so effectual as being kept at work, allowed
no respite, no moment to brood over the physical inconveniences that
assail the candidate for sea honours. The remedy is a terrible one, it
is true, but that it is effectual is equally true, and so Rube found
it. But when he was ordered aloft to loose a sail he gazed piteously up
the rigging and mentally commended himself to the care of God. For as
the ship was just feeling the inroll of the wide sea, and putting on
a most disconcerting motion, it appeared to him perfectly impossible
that he should be able to get up aloft and down again alive. Added to
this was the fact that he had not the remotest conception of what he
was intended to do. But a stalwart Portuguese standing near him when
the order was given murmured, ‘Kem along, Greenie; I shows you haow,’
and, gratefully willing, in spite of his wretched bodily condition,
he clumsily clambered up the rigging after his mentor, followed by a
perfect hurricane of opprobrium from the officer on deck, who felt
justly angered at his most reprehensible want of smartness. He gained
the foretopsail yard, and then, despite all his earnest endeavours to
learn from the Portuguese what he was supposed to do, was so overcome
with nausea that he could do nothing but hold on, just hanging there, a
limp, swaying body, unconscious of everything around and about him in
the utter misery of his inner man.
Perhaps it is as well that we draw a veil over the proceedings of the
next few days. To follow a novice like Rube through such an ordeal as
he was now undergoing, while it might certainly be interesting, could
not fail, if faithfully reported, to be very distressing to anybody
possessing a scintilla of sympathy. Let it, then, suffice to say that
on the third morning at daybreak Rube, while sitting between the main
stays keeping the look-out, began to realise that an interest in his
surroundings was rapidly beginning. Also, for the first time since he
had left home, he found himself thinking of how matters might be going
on at the farm, and then, as he pictured father and mother coming down
to the morning meal and offering up a prayer for the absent one, his
heart melted, familiar words of prayer formed upon his lips, he bowed
his head and sought the ante-chamber of the King. And, for the first
time since he had received the news that had wrought so tremendous a
change in his life, he coupled with his prayers the name of Priscilla,
that she might be blessed and helped wherever she might be, and that
her path in life might be made infinitely smoother for her than she
had, innocently enough, made his for him.
While engaged in this sacred reverie he allowed his head to droop
upon his hand, and became for the time utterly unconscious of his
surroundings.
And so it came to pass that the second mate, whose watch it happened
to be at the time, making his periodical prowl round the deck to see
that all was in order, peered up at the look-out place and saw, as he
thought, the watchman asleep. His next move was to procure a bucket of
water, which he launched with accurate aim at Rube’s crouching form.
Rube started upright, gasping and full of bewilderment at this strange
thing that had befallen him. But he was not left long in doubt, for
almost immediately came a storm of profanity, interspersed with grim
warnings as to the kind and quantity of evil that would befall him if
ever again he went to sleep on his look-out. At the first opportunity
Rube essayed to reply, and point out that he was not asleep, not
knowing, poor fellow, that no excuses of the kind are ever accepted on
board ship. His few stammered words only brought the bucket flying at
his head, and being, after all, a sensible young fellow, he took this
rough hint to mean that the only possible course for him to pursue,
under present conditions at any rate, was to take all that might be
tendered to him, making no reply unless ordered.
But the _Xiphias_ was not at all a bad ship. We may go farther, and
say she was a good ship, because Captain Hampden, stern grey Quaker
that he was, discountenanced all ill-usage of the crew that was not,
to his mind, absolutely necessary. And as he, being part owner, had
provided his crew with a plentiful supply of fairly good food, another
great source of misery on board ship was removed from them. But still
the life for a time seemed very hard to our hero, and would have
been much harder but for his magnificent physique and his splendid
patience. Moreover, he now found much comfort and a grand outlet for
his long pent-up affections in ministering to the many needs of his
hapless shipmates. For they, like himself, were drawn largely from
inland dwelling people, and several of them were much more helpless
than he. They had come to sea all unwittingly, without the slightest
foreknowledge of what awaited them, just as he had, and therefore, of
necessity, it would be some considerable time before they could settle
down to the stolid endurance which is absolutely necessary for all
those who go down to the sea in sailing ships.
A week elapsed, during which all hands were gradually being shaken down
into their several grooves. Every man on board had been allotted his
post in the boats or as a shipkeeper against the day of battle with the
monarchs of the deep. The various green hands had now some of their
greenness mellowed, and were learning, or had learned, to get aloft
and do something else beside hold on tightly when they got there. But
this was the smallest part--the mere rudiments, as it were--of their
education. Sailors on board whaling ships are, of course, required to
be fairly smart aloft, fairly smart at the ordinary avocations of a
sailor; but the principal object of their life is that they shall be
smart boatmen, and herein they differ entirely from any other merchant
seafarers whatever. And this was soon made evident to them, for at
the first opportunity, the weather being fine enough to admit of
boats being lowered with a crew of absolutely incompetent men without
danger of those valuable vessels being damaged, all hands, except four
retained to handle the ship under the charge of the captain, were sent
away to practise boatmanship.
This was a severe trial, and all the green hands suffered much. But
even here Rube’s patience and muscular development stood him in good
stead--saved him, in fact, from the energetic attentions lavishly
bestowed by the officer and harpooner of his boat upon the other
occupants. It must be confessed that he felt many misgivings upon
being so near that great heaving blue surface as he was in the frail
whaleboat. Different (and so much harder) as his life had already
been on board the ship from all his previous experiences, it was ease
and comfort as compared with this apparent tempting of fortune in a
mere cockleshell. However, given sufficient energy on the part of the
teachers, a modicum of courage and sufficient docility on the part of
the taught, men can speedily accommodate themselves to any alteration
in their habits of life, no matter how great it may be, and so, after
three days of tremendously hard training, Captain Hampden expressed
himself satisfied that his newly-gathered crew of clodhoppers might
safely be taken into battle with the great sperm whale, and have
a reasonable chance of emerging therefrom victorious. The weather
had, mercifully to those new-comers, been fairly fine for the time
of year--late autumn--although the wind had hung persistently from
the S.E., thus hindering their progress greatly; but one morning at
daybreak, the sky lowering threateningly, they were suddenly attacked
by a severe gale from the N.E. Amid the hoarse cries of the officers
and the blundering but hearty efforts of the crew, sail was shortened
to the two close-reefed topsails and foresail, and the old _Xiphias_
fled southward at a great rate for her. Then it was that Reuben, being
sent aloft upon some errand of fastening a loose end, was suddenly
seized with an attack of giddiness and fell, an inert mass, into the
sea. In a wonderfully short space of time the vessel was rounded to
and a boat lowered and manned, not by her own crew, but by picked men
capable of handling her as she _should_ be handled. So smart were their
efforts that in less than ten minutes they came up with the helpless
form of Rube as he lay unconscious upon the surface. He was seized and
hauled into the boat, brought on board, and immediately subjected to
the orthodox operations for restoring life to the apparently drowned.
Long and carefully they toiled to bring him back to life, and at last
succeeded in doing so, but when he opened his eyes upon the world
again all the details of his previous life seemed as if they had
been completely obliterated. Dismissed to the forecastle, he groped
forward like a man suddenly awakened from a long dream, and to all the
inquiries of his shipmates he turned a blank face, an uncomprehending
demeanour.
But his grand bodily powers enabled him to return to his duties almost
immediately, and from thenceforward, strangely enough, he seemed to
assimilate all that was taught him with wonderful ease--in fact, as
the hard-bitten officer to whose watch he belonged said: ‘Thet big
hayseed o’ mine seems as if ’e was a born sailorman.’ So fast did he
learn that his watchmates became absurdly jealous of him--a waste of
attention on their part, since of it he took not the slightest notice
whatever--seemed, indeed, really incapable of doing so.
Captain Hampden became interested in this peculiar development, and
occasionally condescended to ply him with questions as to his previous
experience, but all in vain. Nothing could be got out of him, and,
baffled, the good old skipper had to content himself by saying to his
chief officer: ‘Wall, at any rate, we seem to hev gut hold of a mighty
good man.’ And gradually his quiet perseverance in well doing, the
impossibility of making him angry, and the readiness with which he
would always help to the utmost of his power any of his shipmates that
were in trouble, won him a high place in the hearts of all on board;
even the Portuguese (never very friendly to men of northern breed)
could not withhold from him some uncouth tributes of affection.
And so the ship made her way slowly down to the Line, failing, however,
to the disgust of the officers, to raise a whale for the first month
after her departure from port. But the time was well spent, for all
hands, by dint of incessant practice, were now in a high state of
efficiency, only requiring their baptism of fire, if it may be called
so--their initiation into the art and mystery of whale-fighting--to
make them as good a crew as any whaling skipper could desire to
have under his command. All bullying, hazing, and what we should
call brutality, had ceased. The ship was quite as peaceful as any
‘limejuicer,’ and it was easy to see from the contented faces and
pleasant remarks of the officers how well satisfied they were with
the progress made by the men under their command in the direction of
becoming decent sailormen.