"You talk to me, uncle, as if you thought that I was a regular coward
and afraid of the sea."
"Then you shouldn't make me, sir. Who was it said afraid? Why, you
have been out with me for days together, knocking about, in pretty good
rough weather too."
"Yes, uncle, but that was all within sight of land."
"What's that got to do with it? It's often much rougher close in shore,
especially on a rocky coast, than it is out on the main."
"I wish I hadn't spoken," cried Rodd passionately.
"So do I, sir."
"I couldn't help thinking I might turn very sick for days, and get
laughed at by the crew and called a swab."
"Oh," said Uncle Paul, laughing, "you talked as if you were afraid of
the sea, and all the time, you conceited young puppy, you mean that you
are afraid of the men."
"Well, yes, uncle, I suppose that that really is it."
"Humph! Then why didn't you say so, and not talk as if you, the first
of my crew that I reckoned upon, were going to mutiny and give it all
up?"
"Give it up, uncle?" cried the boy. "Why, you know that I am longing to
go."
"Ah, well, that sounds more like it, Pickle," said Uncle Paul, looking
sideways at the boy through his half-closed eyes. "Then I suppose it is
all a false alarm."
"Of course it is, uncle," cried Rodd.
"Well, we may as well make sure, you know, because once we are started
it won't be long before we are out of sight of land, and there'll be no
turning back."
"Well, I don't want to turn back, uncle."
"Then you shouldn't have talked as if you thought you might. Are you
afraid now?"
"Not a bit, uncle. I am ready to start to-morrow morning."
"Ah, well, you won't, my boy, for there's everything to do first."
"Everything to do?"
"Of course. It's not like taking a few bottles and pill-boxes and a net
or two to go up on the moor. Why, there's our ship to find first, and
then to get her fitted with our nets and sounding-lines and dredges and
all sorts of odds and ends, with reserves and provisions for all that we
lose. Then there's to collect a crew."
"Oh, there'll be plenty of fellows down by the Barbican or hanging about
down there who will jump at going."
"Don't you be so precious sanguine, my fine fellow. This will be all so
fresh that the men won't be so ready as you expect. The first thing a
seaman will ask will be, `Where are we bound? What port?'"
"Well, uncle; tell them."
"Tell them what I don't know myself unless I say Port Nowhere on the
High Seas! It will be all a matter of chance, Pickle, where we go and
what we do, and I may as well say it now, if any one gets asking you
what we are going to do, your answer is included in just these few
words--We are going to explore."
Rodd nodded in a short business-like way.
"All right, uncle; I'll remember," he cried promptly. "Then you are
going to hire a ship and engage a crew?"
"Well," said Uncle Paul thoughtfully, "we are landsmen--I mean landsman
and a boy--but we may as well begin to be nautical at once and call
things by the sea-going terms. No, my boy, I am not going to engage a
ship--too big."
"Why, you won't go all that way in a lugger, uncle?"
"Bah! Rubbish!" cried Uncle Paul shortly. "Here, give me hold of that
glass."
He took the telescope, drew out the slide to a mark upon the tube which
indicated the focus which suited his eye, and then as he began slowly
sweeping the portions of the harbour which were within reach he went on
talking.
"Isn't there anything between a lugger and a ship, sir? You know well
enough if you talk to a sailor about a ship he'd suppose you meant a
full-rigged three-masted vessel."
"Yes, of course, uncle. And a barque is a three-master with a mizzen
fore-and-aft rigged."
"That's better, my lad. But what do you mean by fore-and-aft rigged?"
"Well, like a schooner, uncle."
"Good boy! Go up one, as you used to say at school. Well, what do you
think of a large schooner for a good handy vessel that can be well
managed by a moderate crew?"
"Oh, I should think it would be splendid, uncle; and she'd sail very
fast."
"That depends on her build and the way she is sailed, my boy. But
that's what I am thinking of having, Pickle."
"But with a good crew, uncle."
"Yes; I want the best schooner and the best crew that are to be had, my
boy."
"But it will cost a lot of money, uncle."
"Yes, Pickle; but I am proud to say that the Government has not been
mean in that respect, and if what they have granted me is not enough, I
shall put as many hundreds as are required out of my own pocket to make
up the deficiency, so that in all probability I shan't have a penny to
leave you, Pickle, when I die."
"When you die!" cried the boy scornfully. "Who wants you to die? And
who wants you to leave me any money? I say, Uncle Paul, who's talking
nonsense now?"
"How dare you, sir!"
"Then you shouldn't say such things, uncle. Talking about dying! There
will be plenty of time to talk about that in a hundred years."
"Well, that's a very generous allowance, Pickle, and if we get such a
schooner as I want, with a clever crew, and you work hard with me, why,
we ought to make a good many discoveries by that time. A hundred years
hence," continued Uncle Paul thoughtfully, as he apparently brought his
telescope to bear upon a sloop of war whose white sails began to be
tinged with orange as the sun sank low; but all the time he was peering
out through the corners of his eyes to note the effect of his words upon
his nephew. "But let me see--a hundred years' time. Why, how much
older will you be then, Pickle?"
"Why, just the same as you would, uncle; a hundred years older than I am
now. Pooh! You are making fun of me. But I say, uncle, be serious.
How are you going to manage to get your schooner?"
"Set to work, and lose no time, my boy. But I am rather puzzled at the
present moment, and I am afraid--"
Uncle Paul lowered the glass as he spoke, and turned his eyes
thoughtfully upon his nephew, who had uttered a low peculiar sound.
"Of being sea-sick, uncle?" Uncle Paul smiled.
"I suppose that's what you call retaliation, young gentleman. Well, no,
sir, I'm not afraid of that--at least, not much. I remember the first
time I crossed the Channel that I was very ill, and every time I have
been at sea since I have always felt that it would be unwise to boast;
but I think both you and I can make our voyage without being troubled in
that way. But we won't boast, Pickle, for, as they say, we will not
holloa till we are out of the wood. Let me see; isn't there an old
proverb something about a man not boasting till he taketh off his
armour?"
"I think so, uncle, but I cannot recollect the words."
"Well, I don't want any armour, my boy, but I do want a well-found
schooner--a new one if I can get it; if not, one that will stand a
thorough examination; and I don't know that such a boat's to be got just
now it's wanted. There are plenty of ramshackle old things lying about
here, but I want everything spick-and-span ready for the extra fitting
out I shall give her. Copper-fastened, quick-sailing, roomy, and with
good cabin accommodation so that we can have a big workshop for the men
who help us, and a sort of study and museum for ourselves. Now, Pickle,
where shall we have to go to find such a craft? Portsmouth--London?
What about Southampton?"
"Southampton. Yes. Some fine yacht, uncle."
"No, boy. She'd be all mast and sails. Do well for a coaster, but I
want an ocean-going craft, one that will bear some knocking about. A
cargo boat whose hold one could partition off for stores. Now then?"
There was silence for about a minute, and then Uncle Paul spoke again.
"There, out with it, boy, at once. Don't waste time. Say you don't
know."
"But I think I do know, uncle," cried the boy.
"Eh? What? Where? Tchah! Not you!"
"But what about one of those boats the French prisoners escaped in?"
cried Rodd eagerly.
"Eh? What? One of those trim orange boats that go on the Mediterranean
Trade, that they build at Salcombe?"
"Yes, uncle. Don't you remember that one we were looking at a few
months ago, that came in here after the storm, to get a new jibboom?"
"Why, of course I do, Pickle!" cried Uncle Paul eagerly. "Think of
that, now! Why, I might have been fumbling about with a hammer for
months and not found what I wanted, and here are you, you impudent young
rascal, proving that you are not quite so stupid as I thought, for you
hit the right nail on the head at once."