When I got out under the break of the poop, I found all quiet, with the
port watch on duty, for Mr Flinders, the first-mate, was in charge, he
having relieved the second-mate, with whom the captain had remained
until he left the deck at midnight; and, an Tom Bullover and Hiram
Bangs, my only friends amongst the crew, had gone below with Mr
Steenbock and the rest of the starboard hands, there was nobody whom I
could speak to and tell all that I had seen.
I felt very lonesome in consequence; and, although I was not a bit
sleepy, having managed to get a good four hours' rest before I was
awakened by Captain Snaggs coming stumbling down the companion way, as
well as by the noise made by the sea smashing into the cabin at the same
time, yet I was tired enough still not to be averse to stowing myself
away under the lee of the long-boat. I took the precaution, however, to
cuddle up in a piece of old tarpaulin that was lying about, so that the
first-mate should not see me from the poop, and set me on at once to
some task or other below, in his usual malicious way--Mr Flinders, like
Captain Snaggs, never seeming to be happy unless he was tormenting
somebody, and setting them on some work for which there wasn't the least
necessity!
The moon was now shining brightly and lots of stars twinkling in the
heaven, which was clear of clouds, the bracing nor'-westerly wind having
blown them all away; and the _Denver City_ was bounding along with all
plain sail set before the breeze, that was right astern, rolling now and
again with a stiff lurch to port and then to starboard, and diving her
nose down one moment with her stern lifting, only to rise again
buoyantly the next instant and shake the spray off her jib-boom as she
pointed it upwards, trying to poke a hole in the sky!
What with the whistling of the wind through the cordage, and the wash of
the waves as they raced over each other and broke with a seething
`whish' into masses of foam, and the motion of the ship gently rocking
to and fro like a pendulum as she lurched this way and that with
rhythmical regularity, my eyes presently began to close. So, cuddling
myself up in the tarpaulin, for the air fresh from the north felt rather
chilly, I dropped off into a sound nap, not waking again until one of
the men forward struck `six bells,' just when the day was beginning to
dawn. This was in spite of my being `not a bit sleepy,' as I said.
I roused up with a start, not; knowing where I was at first; but it was
not long before the fact was made patent to me that I was aboard ship,
and a cabin boy as well to boot--a sort of `Handy Billy,' for every one
to send on errands and odd jobs--the slave of the cuddy and fo'c's'le
alike!
Before he had imbibed so much rum, and just prior to his going on the
poop that time when he startled us all so much in the fo'c's'le by his
hail for Tom Bullover and the rest of the starboard hands to come aft
and relieve the port watch, Captain Snaggs, as I afterwards learnt, had
spoken to the steward, telling him that he was to take over poor Sam
Jedfoot's duties for awhile, until the men selected a new cook from
amongst themselves. Jones was told to commence work in the galley the
next evening, with especial injunctions to be up early enough to light
the fire under the coppers, so that the crew could have their hot coffee
at `eight bells,' when the watches were changed--this indulgence being
always allowed now in all decent merchant vessels; for Captain Snaggs,
if he did haze and bully the hands under him, took care to get on their
weather side by looking after their grub, a point they recollected, it
may be remembered, when he appealed to them in reference to his
treatment of poor Sam.
Now, Morris Jones did not relish the job; but, as the first-mate had
been present when the captain gave his orders, albeit Mr Flinders was
rather limp at the time, from the physicking he, like the skipper, had
had from the jalap in the stew, the steward knew that he would recollect
all about it, even if the rum should have made the captain forget. So,
much against his inclination, he turned out of his bunk at daybreak to
see to lighting the galley fire; when, whom should he chance to come
right up against on his way forward but me, just as I had wriggled
myself out of the tarpaulin and sat up on the deck, rubbing my
half-opened eyes.
Jones was delighted at the opportunity for `passing on' the obnoxious
duty.
"Here, you young swab!" he cried, giving me a kick to waken me up more
thoroughly, and then catching hold of me by the scruff of the neck and
pulling me up on my feet, "stir your stumps a bit and just you come
forrud along o' me. I'm blessed if I'm going to do cook an' stooard's
work single-handed, an' you lazy rascallion a caulkin' all over the
ship! First I finds yer snug down snoozin' in the cabin, an' now here,
with the sun ready to scorch yer eyes out. Why, yer ought ter be right
down 'shamed o' yerself. I'm blessed if I ever see sich a b'y for
coilin' hisself away an' caulkin' all hours of the day and night!"
Jones was fond of hearing himself talk, as well as pleased to have some
one he was able to bully in turn as the skipper bullied him; and so, he
kept jawing and grumbling away all the while we were getting up to the
galley, although that did not take very long--not by any means so long
as his tongue was and the stream of words that flowed from it when he
had once begun, as if he would really never end!
"Now, you young beggar," said he, opening the half-door of the cook's
caboose and shoving me inside, "let us see how soon you can light a fire
an' make the water in the coppers boil. I'll fill 'em for you while
you're putting the sticks in; so heave ahead, an' I'll fetch a bucket or
two from the scuttle butt!"
He spoke of this as if he were conferring a favour on me, instead of
only doing his own work; but I didn't answer him, going on to make a
good fire with some wood and shavings, which Sam used to get from the
carpenter and kept handy in the corner of the galley, ready to hand when
wanted. I knew by this time, from practical experience, that words on
board ship, where cabin boys are concerned at all events, generally lead
to `more kicks than ha'pence,' as the saying goes!
Soon, I had a good blaze up, and the steward on his part filling the
coppers, they were both shortly at boiling-point; when, going aft to his
pantry, Jones fetched out a pound of coffee, which he chucked into the
starboard copper, which held about four gallons, and was not quite
filled to the brim. He evidently had determined to propitiate the crew
at the start by giving them good coffee for once and plenty of it; as
there were only eighteen hands in the fo'c's'le, now that Sam had gone,
besides himself and me--leaving out the captain and mates, who belonged
to the cabin, and of course did not count in, but who made our total
complement in the ship twenty-three souls all told.
Jones, too, dowsed into the copper a tidy lot of molasses, to sweeten
the coffee; and so, when it was presently served out promptly at `eight
bells,' he won golden opinions in this his first essay at cooking, the
men all declaring it prime stuff. I think, though, I ought to have had
some of the credit of it, having lighted the fire and seen to everything
save chucking in the coffee and molasses, which anybody else could have
done quite so well as the steward!
Jones kept me too busy in the galley to allow me time to speak to Tom
Bullover and Hiram Bangs, when they turned out to relieve the port
watch; but, later on, when the decks had been washed down, and the sun
was getting well up in the eastern horizon, flooding the ocean with the
rosy light of morning, I had an opportunity of telling my friend the
carpenter of what I had seen in the cabin.
Much to my disgust, however, he laughed at my account of Sam Jedfoot's
ghost having appeared, declaring that I had been dreaming and imagined
it all.
"No, Charley, I wouldn't believe it if you went down on your bended
knees an' swore it, not save I seed Sam with my own eyes, an' even then
I'd have a doubt," said Tom, grinning in the most exasperating way.
"Why, look there, now, at the skipper on the poop, as right as
ninepence! If he'd been in the state you say, an' were so orfully
frightened, an' had seed Sam's sperrit, as you wants to make me swallow,
do you think he'd look so perky this mornin'?"