As the ship moved away from the wharf, and was towed by the steam-tug
into the stream, M. T. Pate stood upon the deck, humming a stanza of
Byron's celebrated adieu to his native land, when he heard a strain of
music as if coming from the clouds. From the foretop, in clear and
mellifluous tones, was heard the following melody:
Farewell! farewell! but ever,
When wand'ring o'er the sea,
Though worlds of water sever,
This heart shall turn to thee.
Though thy sweet smile be hidden
Unto my soul so dear;
Though I be then forbidden
Thine angel voice to hear;
Though stern fate bid me wander
Away from thee afar,
Yet hope will turn the fonder
Unto its one bright star.
The bird that on the bough, love,
So sweetly sang of late,
Hath often been ere now, love,
Thus driven from his mate;
But still he wakes his song, love,
Returning there anew;
And thus, oh, thus, ere long, love,
Will I return to you.
"A sweet little cherub sits up aloft to cheer us with his soothing
symphony," said Professor to Toney.
"It is Tom Seddon," said Toney, glancing upward. "Just now he climbed up
the rigging, inserted his person through the lubber's hole, and seated
himself in the foretop."
"Where he is laudably exercising his lungs for the entertainment of the
company below," said the Professor.
"Poor Tom is not thinking of the company below," said Toney. "His
thoughts are far away."
"With Ida?" said the Professor. "Yet one of the company below seems to
be wonderfully excited by his music. Did you ever hear such a clatter of
hoofs?"
"You refer to the young gentleman on the top of the cook's galley, who
is occupied with certain saltatory movements which appear to be an
awkward imitation of dancing?" said Toney.
"Who is he?" asked the Professor.
"Sam Perch," said Toney.
"The verdant youth who is sometimes called the Long Green Boy?" said the
Professor.
"The same," said Toney.
"This extraordinary lad seems to possess the chameleon-like faculty of
occasionally changing his color," said the Professor.
"How so?" said Toney.
"He has ceased to be green for the present, and has become exceedingly
_blue_."
"Is punning allowable?" said Toney.
"That depends entirely on circumstances," said the Professor. "If on dry
land a man makes a pun in your presence, knock him down if you are
able."
"And at sea?" said Toney.
"Pun away as much as you please. In Neptune's dominions the area of
liberty is ample, and freedom of speech is seldom interfered with."
"Do you recognize that solemn personage standing at the bow and gazing
so intently over the broad waters?" said Toney.
"It is Moses," said the Professor. "He hopes soon to get a glimpse of
the land of promise."
"I heard him tell Hercules just now that he only wanted four bushels of
gold-dust,--two for himself and two for his father. He said that he
expected to fill his two sacks in about a week after he reached the
mines, and should then immediately start for home."
"His absence will be of short duration," said the Professor. "But who is
Hercules?"
"The big fellow to whom Botts has just administered a potation from the
black bottle which he now holds in his hand," said Toney.
"The giant smacks his lips in approval at the quality of the contents,"
said the Professor.
"I certainly recognize that nose," said Toney, pointing to an individual
whose face was covered with an impenetrable thicket of black beard,
leaving only two twinkling eyes and his nasal protuberance visible.
"That extraordinary nose belongs to William Wiggins," said the
Professor.
"To Rosebud?"
"No longer Rosebud," said the Professor. "As soon as he came on board
the sailors called him Old Grizzly. He will be known by no other name at
sea, for when the jolly tars are in the nominative case, the designation
they give a man always clings to him. Hereafter we may as well cease to
call him Wiggins, and speak of him as Old Grizzly."
"He must have been at enmity with the barbers for the last four weeks,"
said Toney.
"When he determined to seek his fortune in the auriferous regions of the
far West, he made a solemn vow not to allow a razor to come in contact
with his countenance until he had dug two barrels of gold, which he said
was enough for any one man. So his beard must continue to grow longer
until he gets his two barrels of gold."
"It will be long enough before he gets the gold," said Toney.
"Pun away boldly," said the Professor; "we are now on the water. But
come, let us go below, and look after our goods and chattels."
During the night the ship anchored in the bay; and next morning the
pilot was sent off, and she stood out to sea.
Coming on deck at an early hour in the morning, Toney and the Professor
were watching the silvery spray darting off from the bow, when they
heard a singular sound, as if proceeding from some huge sea-monster
seized with a fit of the colic. Looking along the bulwarks, they beheld
poor Hercules, with outstretched neck and dilated eyes, pouring out
libations to the inexorable god of the seas. And soon, with pallid
cheeks, M. T. Pate appeared, followed by the Long Green Boy, Old
Grizzly, and Moses, who, with many others, silently glided to the side
of the giant, who, as he stood thrusting out his head and neck with
certain indescribable jerks, and towering above his companions, engaged
in similar exercises, resembled some tall and bulky Shanghai rooster,
with all his numerous progeny around him, grievously afflicted with that
terrible visitation of the poultry-yard which hen-wives denominate the
gapes.
The Professor was a benevolent little fellow, with a high opinion of his
medical skill; so he proceeded to the cabin, and brought forth a bottle
containing a beverage much more potent than that in which Adam was
accustomed to drink the health of Eve when in the garden of Eden. He
first applied to Hercules; and holding the neck of the bottle in close
proximity to his lips, earnestly exhorted him to try the infallible
remedy of absorption, assuring him that it was a sovereign cure for his
ailment in particular, as well as for nearly every other ill in this
sublunary state of existence. But Hercules, grinning "horribly a ghastly
grin," turned quickly away, and gave expression to his abhorrence of the
proposition in loud and boisterous sounds, which seemed to come from the
very bottom of a soul intimately acquainted with sorrow.
The kind-hearted Professor then proceeded to the Long Green Boy, who was
rapidly projecting out and drawing back his head in a horizontal
direction, and giving utterance to a succession of sounds which
resembled a small hurricane of hiccoughs. The verdant youth cast a look
of disgust at the sparkling fluid, and waving his hand impatiently,
turned away, and continued in the awkward but faithful performance of
his part in the exercises of the morning. Moses gave the Professor a
look of indignation, while Old Grizzly so far forgot himself as to
advise the benevolent little fellow, in the emphatic phraseology usually
employed by the sons of Belial, to locate himself in a certain remote
quarter of the universe not proper to be mentioned to "ears polite."
The Professor then entreated M. T. Pate to imbibe from the bottle
containing his catholicon. But poor Pate was busily engaged in the
performance of sundry remarkable and difficult evolutions; thrusting out
and drawing in his head with unexampled vigor.
"He is trying to swallow his own head," said Toney, taking the Professor
aside and pointing to Pate.
"And actually seems to entertain the most sanguine hopes of succeeding
in his hazardous undertaking," said the Professor.
"What undertaking?" asked Tom Seddon, who just then came on deck.
"He is seeking to swallow his own cocoanut," said the Professor.
"Who?" asked Tom.
"M. T. Pate," said the Professor. "Look at him! I am apprehensive that
he will succeed."
"You could not induce any of them to imbibe?" said Toney.
"No," said the Professor; "they are teetotalers, and Hercules is the
President of the association. Come, let me introduce you to the
amphibious animals who inhabit the forecastle."
The Professor and his two friends walked forward, and saw seated on the
anchor an old sea-monster, with a very short pipe in his mouth. His
original name was Timothy; but several reefs had been taken in it by his
shipmates, and it had been finally tucked up into Tim.
Tom Seddon, like most young lovers who have just parted from the objects
of their affections, had a tender heart, and, pitying the old sailor
reduced to the necessity of endangering the end of his nose when he
performed the important ceremony of fumigation, handed him a pipe with a
long stem.
Old Tim examined this valuable present with a cool glance of criticism;
and then proceeded to break the stem.
"Don't," said Tom. "What are you doing?"
"Too much timber!" said the old tar, laconically. And he broke off the
stem within an inch of the bowl, which he filled with chips from a plug
of tobacco; putting on top a live coal procured from the cook's galley.
"That beats thunder!" said Tom.
"Let him alone," said the Professor. "If he wants to give his proboscis
the benefit of an auto da fe, it is his own business."
"Look at him!" said Tom.
"His nasal protuberance enveloped in vapor looks like an altar
abundantly supplied with incense," said the Professor. "But who are
those dusky gentlemen with whom Toney seems to be so intimate?"
"This one is from the island of Madeira," said Toney.
"Si, senor," said the sailor.
"His name is Pedro," said Toney.
"Which being interpreted is Peter," said the Professor.
"Pete," said Old Tim, with a puff at his pipe.
"Probably that is a corruption of the text," said the Professor,
suggestively.
"And here is a Sardinian whose name is Pablo," said Toney.
"Which when translated is Paul," said the Professor.
"Jupiter!" exclaimed Tom Seddon, jumping back.
"It is Jupiter's brother," said the Professor, as a huge head appeared
over the bow, followed by an immense body, which had been down in the
forechains. "Neptune is coming on board to give you a fraternal hug."
"Old Nick!" said Tim, with another puff at his short pipe.
"Old Nick?" said the Professor. "I was not aware that he was an aquatic
animal. I had always understood that he delighted to dwell in another
element."
"Who is that lad running down the rigging?" said Tom to Timothy.
"Young Nick," said the salt, with another puff at his pipe.
"Old Nick and Young Nick!" said the Professor. "Undoubtedly these are
nicknames bestowed on them for euphony."
"What port is that?" asked Tim, taking the pipe from his mouth.
"It lies on the south side of the Anonymous Islands," said the
Professor.
"I have been there," said Old Nick. "Sailed with Captain Morrell in the
ship Tartar. Good port. Rum cheap and tobacco plenty."
"I have no doubt of it," said the Professor, as he arose from his seat
on a coil of rope, and, at the sound of the steward's bell summoning
them to breakfast, walked with Toney and Tom to the cabin.