VOYAGE IN THE SMACK--GALE SPRINGS UP--WASHED OVERBOARD--SAVED ON A
SPAR--DREADFUL FEARS FOR MY WIFE'S SAFETY--THE KIND-HEARTED FISHERMAN--
FIND THE SMACK--ACCOUNT OF HER ESCAPE--JOURNEY ON LAND--COACH UPSET--
AGAIN PRESERVED--REACH HOME--OLD JERRY AGAIN--HIS ADVENTURE WITH THE
BEARS.
I was walking the deck one night, while my wife was below, and thinking
of the events of my past life, when the recollection of my rash oath
came across me like a thunder-clap in summer, when just before the whole
sky overhead has appeared of the purest blue. "Is my dreadful fate
still to pursue me?" I thought. "Rather than she should be torn from
me, let me perish with her." The weather was fine, the wind was light
and fair, and there was not the slightest cause for any apprehension of
danger. Had I been by myself, such an idea would not, I believe, have
crossed my mind; but now that I had so precious a being under my charge,
I was timid as a mother with her first-born child. At last I went
below, and the night passed away in quietness. The next morning was
bright and lovely as ever an early summer has had to exhibit, and I felt
ashamed of my thoughts of the previous evening, as if I had been
ungrateful for the blessings I had received, and mistrustful of God's
merciful providence. Still the ideas I had entertained came back again
during the forenoon, and haunted me at times throughout the day. Had I
been able to speak to my wife on the subject, I doubt not I should have
relieved my mind; but I was afraid of frightening her and making her
nervous, so I kept them to myself. As the evening drew on, dark clouds
were seen banking up on the horizon. I watched them with an anxiety I
had never before experienced at sea, for I had never before been on the
ocean with a freight I prized so much. They continued rapidly to
increase, and before night closed in had formed a thick canopy overhead,
while dark heaving seas came rolling in towards us across the full width
of the German Ocean, and the increasing breeze moaned and whistled in
our rigging. The smack heeled over to the force of the wind till her
lee-bulwarks were under water, but still the master was unwilling to
shorten sail. We were on a lee shore, and he was anxious to haul off
sufficiently to make his passage good for the Firth of Forth. We might
even then have run back for the Moray Firth, where, as the wind was from
the southward of east, we should have got under the lee of the land; but
then we might have been detained there, very certainly for many days and
perhaps for several weeks, so he resolved, at all hazards, to keep the
sea. Under a close-reefed mainsail and storm-jib, the little vessel
continued her course, looking bravely up to the increasing gale. Still,
at times she plunged heavily into the seas, and it often seemed, as I
stood on her deck, as if she would never rise again above them. I sat,
while I could, by my wife in the cabin, to try and comfort and protect
her; but I could not help rushing on deck every now and then to
ascertain how matters were proceeding. The report, however, I had to
give when I returned below was anything but encouraging. I had no idea
of deceiving people, as some persons do, when danger is threatening. I
am certain that the more a person can contemplate the possibility of
danger, the better able they will be to encounter it when it comes, if
they have employed the meantime in reflection and in considering the
best means to meet it.
We were off the Scotch coast, somewhere between Stonehaven and Montrose,
I fancy, when the gale came down upon us with greater force than ever,
and the old master thought if he could get the try-sail on the vessel,
as we had by this time gained a considerable offing, that he should be
able to heave her to and weather it out till it blew over. As he was
about to shift the sails the wind lulled a little, and once more he
hoped that he should be able to hold on his course. He forgot that all
this time, though he was certainly getting more to the southward, the
vessel was also drifting nearer and nearer inshore. At last the gale,
as if it had rested merely to gain strength, breezed up again with
greater fury than ever. I was below at the time. "We must get the
try-sail on her, my lads," I heard the old man sing out. Securing my
wife to a sofa in the cabin, I sprang on deck to lend a hand, for I knew
that all the strength that could be obtained would be required, and that
every moment of delay added to our danger. Many as were the gales I had
been in, I had never beheld a more terrific-looking scene than that by
which I now found myself surrounded. Vivid flashes of lightning every
now and then revealed the dark wall-like waves which rose up with their
crests of foam on every side around us, and threatened to engulf the
little craft struggling helplessly among them. Still no one stopped a
moment to think of all this--the work to be done was to get the mainsail
off her and to set the try-sail. I thought at the time that we were
much nearer inshore than the old master fancied. The try-sail was
almost set, and we were hauling out the sheet, when I heard the old man
sing out, "Hold on, my lads! hold on! Here comes a sea which will give
her a shake." On it came. I was to leeward. I felt myself torn from
the rope to which I held, and my feet lifted off the deck. The wild
waves surrounded me. There was a tumult in my ears. With horror and
agony I discovered that the sea had carried me overboard. I shrieked
out instinctively for help, though I knew that none could be afforded.
In vain I struggled to regain the vessel.
My real condition presented itself with terrific clearness to my mind.
For my own life I cared not, but I thought of my wife--of her agony and
despair when she discovered that I was lost. I would have given worlds
to have got once more on board that little sea-tossed bark. I was
always a good swimmer. Even amid those tossing waves I found that I
could keep my head above water. Still the unequal struggle could not
have lasted long, when at the moment I was losing the dim outline of the
little vessel in the darkness, I found myself thrown against some
floating object. A hope that I might possibly preserve my life sprung
up in my bosom. I grasped the object, and found that it was part of the
mast and top of a large vessel. I clambered upon it and held fast while
I recovered my breath. Though it was violently tossed about by the
seas, which threatened every moment to sweep me off from it, still I
held on. My first thought was to endeavour to discover how far off was
the smack, on board which was all I prized in life. I could nowhere see
her. I have heard of people's hair turning white in a single night from
grief--I felt that mine might have done so from the agony of mind I
endured. Would the smack weather out the gale? or would my dear wife
survive the shock when she discovered that I had been so suddenly torn
from her? "I have often been punished, and justly, but this is the most
severe punishment of all," I thought to myself. A voice whispered in my
ear, "Curse God, and die,"--the same voice which had whispered the same
words into the ear of the Patriarch Job many ages ago, and has been
whispering the like into the ears of thousands of human beings ever
since. "Oh God, have mercy on me and support me!" I ejaculated, and
the tempter fled from me.
Scarcely able to breathe from the dense masses of spray surrounding me,
and from the waves which kept continually washing over me, I still clung
on to the wreck. I fancied that the shattered mast was being floated
onward. I do not remember now what reason I had for supposing so. It
contributed, at all events, to keep up my hope of being ultimately
rescued. How slowly and painfully the hours passed by! Often I thought
that, from very exhaustion and cold, I must be swept from my hold. At
length, as I was looking upwards at the sky to try and discover any
break in the clouds which might afford me an indication that the gale
was abating, I beheld the first faint streaks of dawn appearing in the
eastward. The clouds seemed to lift like a thick curtain to let in the
light of day. I looked round towards the land; I could distinguish its
dim outline through the darkness which still hung over it. This
convinced me that the mast must have drifted much nearer than when I
first got hold of it. This fact, however, tended to increase my anxiety
for the fate of the smack. What if she has been driven on the rocks,
and, as would probably be the case, all on board have perished! "Oh,
why, why was not I allowed to remain with my dear wife, to perish with
her, or to be the means of saving her!" I exclaimed, in the agony of my
spirit. The intensity of my feelings almost overcame me. As daylight
increased, I saw that the summer gale had considerably lessened, and
every minute the wind seemed to be going down. I could now clearly make
out the shore, the yellow sands, with their fringe of dark rocks, over
which the surf was breaking with almost unabated fury. "What chance of
escaping with my life will there be, if I am drifted in among those wild
rocks?" I thought to myself. Now there could be no doubt that I was
drifting, and rapidly too, towards the shore. With an anxious, piercing
gaze, I looked round to the southward to see if I could discover any
signs of the smack, half dreading to find her driven in among the rocks,
yet still praying and hoping that she might be riding safely at anchor
behind some sheltering reef, or within some little harbour on the coast.
Not a sign of her could I discover. I looked seaward. Two or three
sails were seen, rising and falling in the offing, but too far off to
allow me to hope that she could be one of them. On drove the mast; its
course was altered, and it was evidently drifting along shore to the
southward. I judged that I was not more than three or four hundred
fathoms from the breakers. I discovered that by climbing a little
further on the mast, I could stand upright without its turning over with
me. Finding this, I untied a silk handkerchief I had about my neck, and
waved it around my head. I continued waving, hoping that some one would
see my signal. I waited anxiously, looking along the shore. At so
early an hour few people were out. At last the head of a man appeared
above a sand-hill. I waved more vehemently, and shouted, forgetting
that my voice could not be heard above the roar of the breakers. Soon I
saw him standing on the top of the hill, and looking through a spy-glass
at me, and then he waved his hand in return, and, pointing to the
southward, ran on. Directly afterwards I saw two or three other people
running in the same direction, carrying oars over their shoulders, and a
boat-hook. I guessed that they were making for some little harbour or
sandy cove, where their boats were drawn up. I prayed that they might
come to my aid quickly, for every instant the wreck of the mast drove
nearer and nearer to the rocks. Still I cannot say that I felt much
doubt about being saved after having already been so mercifully
preserved during the night from dangers so terrific. Yet it appeared an
age before I saw a boat darting out from an opening in the rocks.
Putting her head to the seas, she dashed up towards me. She had not
come a minute too soon.
"Stand by, mon! stand by to leap aboard!" I heard a voice sing out, as
the bow of the boat came up close to where I was hanging on.
I did not require a second order; at the same time, my limbs were so
stiff and benumbed that I could scarcely have obeyed, had not two of the
men in the bow of the boat caught me by the collar, and hauled me on
board.
"Noo, round wi' her, laddies! round wi' her! we'll hear a' aboot it by
and by," cried the man at the helm.
The boat was at the time scarcely half-a-dozen fathoms from the surf,
and any sea rolling in, and breaking sooner than usual, might have
rolled her over and over and drowned all hands. With hearty tugs the
men who had so bravely rescued me pulled the boat round and out to sea,
while the mast was directly afterwards carried among the surf, and
hurled round and round, till it was cast in fragments on the rocks. I
shuddered when I saw what my fate might have been. There was little
time to exchange many words with the fishermen before the boat was
pulled into a little sandy cove, and they all, springing out, ran her up
high and dry on the beach.
"You maun be weet, laddie," said the old master of the boat, helping me
out of her with the aid of two of the other men. "Come up to my hoose,
and we'll put dry duds on ye, and then you'll tell us how ye came to be
floating on that bit of wreck there. She maun hae been a large ship ye
belonged to, I'm thinking, and ye were the only one saved? it's sad to
think of it."
Under some circumstances I should have been amused by the eagerness of
the old man to hear the account I had to give, at the same time that his
kind heart prompted him not to fatigue me by asking questions. I was
still more anxious to know if he could give me any account of the smack.
As we were going up to the cottage I described her exactly, but he
shook his head.
"We were up late last night, looking along the shore on account of the
gale, and we were not out so early this morning as usual," was the
reply.
Having satisfied the curiosity of my host with an account of my own
adventure, I entreated that, as soon as my clothes were dried, I might
be allowed to proceed to the southward along the coast, to try and gain
tidings of the smack. My hopes revived within me when the fisherman
told me that we were not far from the mouth of the Firth of Tay, and
that perhaps the smack might have been driven in there.
"Still ye should know that there is a danger there which has proved
fatal to many a tall ship," said the old man. "It is called the
Inchcape Rock. There's a bell made fast to it, which, whenever a gale
is blowing, tolls by the tossing of the seas as they drive against it.
You've heard tell, maybe, of the pirate, who, in the wantonness of his
wickedness, carried the bell away, and who, although another was placed
in its stead, was lost, with all his companions, on that very rock.
Heaven finds out sinners of high and low degree, at some time or other,
however they may endeavour to escape its vengeance."
I thought to myself, "True, indeed, is that. How often have I been
found out and punished for my one great sin!"
Ill and weak as I was, I insisted, as I had had some food on starting,
to proceed along the coast to try and obtain tidings of the smack. If
she had not foundered, she must have been cast on shore or taken shelter
in some harbour at the mouth of the Tay.
"No, no," said the old man; "young blood fancies that it can do
anything, but I tell ye that ye have no strength to go on now without
rest. I'll send my laddies along the coast, both north and south, and
they will make inquiries and bring back any tidings they can obtain; you
will have news of the vessel more speedily in that way than any other."
Still I insisted on putting on my own clothes and setting off; but when
I attempted to get up, I found that I could scarcely walk across the
room, much less could I hope to trudge over the links, and rough rocks
and sand which lined the shore along which I wished to proceed. I was
obliged, therefore, to consent to go to bed, and to try and sleep. At
first I thought that would be impossible, but my old sailor habits
triumphed over the anxiety I felt, and the rest I so much needed came to
me.
In less than four hours I awoke. I found myself alone; so I sprang up
and put on my clothes, resolved that nothing should stop me from
proceeding on my journey. I felt far stronger than I could have
expected.
"Stay till my laddies come in, and hear what account they have to give
ye," said the kind-hearted old fisherman, making me sit down once more
in the porch in front of his cottage.
The roof was the bow of a small boat, which made a good shelter from the
sun, and the supporting-posts the jawbones of a whale which had been
stranded on the shore.
That I might have something to distract my mind he gave me a stick that
I might fashion it to support my steps as I walked along. When I had
cut it to the required length I sprang up, saying I would go on some
little way, at all events, begging his son to follow me; when we saw the
young man approaching the cottage from the north, I ran forward to meet
him.
"Have you heard anything of the smack?" I inquired, in breathless
haste.
"No; not a sign of her. There was a big ship lost with all hands--not a
soul escaped--in the early part of the night; but often when the big
ship goes down the small one swims; ye ken that, mon," was the answer.
Although he had been out for some hours, he insisted on accompanying me
when he found that I had resolved on proceeding, till we should fall in
with his brothers. The old man gave me his blessing, and the old wife
and the rest of the family parted most kindly with me--they were all so
much interested in the account I had given them of myself. As to
receiving any remuneration, they would not hear of it.
We toiled on over the links; sometimes I thought that my knees would
have given way under me. At last the old weather-beaten tower of
Broughty Castle appeared in sight, the ancient guardian to the entrance
of the Tay. "We'll just sit down here till the ferry-boat is ready to
cross," said my companion, throwing himself on the grass bank under the
crumbling walls. "Maybe my brother will be coming over just now, and he
will tell us what he has learned."
I suggested that the smack might have run up to Dundee, but he said that
was not in the least likely. If she had come in there she would have
brought up off Broughty itself. We made inquiries, before sitting down,
of some fishermen who had been on the shore all the morning, and
certainly no vessel, they said, answering the description of the smack
had come in. At any other time my eye would have dwelt with pleasure on
the scenery which is presented by the beautiful estuary of the Tay, but
now I could only think of the object of my search. I was leaning back
on the grass, hoping to recover strength to proceed, when my companion
jumped up and ran down toward the water's edge.
"What news, Sandy! what news do ye bring?"
"The vessel is safe," was the answer. "Thank Heaven for its mercy!" I
ejaculated; and springing up and running towards the young fisherman,
"Tell me, lad, tell me, how is my wife!"
"The puir young leddy was taken very bad--very bad indeed, when she
found that you had gone overboard, and all on board thought that she
could not live. No one could give her any comfort, for no one thought
you could have escaped. The rest on board, indeed, had soon to think of
themselves. The vessel drove past the Inchcape Rock, and all heard the
tolling of the bell, and believed that they were going to strike on it.
"While others were bemoaning their fate, and crying out for mercy, and
expecting to be drowned, she sat up and seemed to have forgotten the
cause of her own grief.
"`Ah,' she said with a smile, `what makes you miserable, gives me joy.
You fear death. I look forward to it as a happiness, because I shall
soon be joined to him who has been torn from me.'
"Ay, sir, the bell tolled louder and louder, and each toll that it gave
made her heart beat quicker with joy, while it drove the life-blood away
from the hearts of those who feared death as the greatest of evils. On
drifted the vessel--darkness was around them--still that solemn bell
kept tolling and tolling, but yet the expected shock was not felt. The
bell tolled on, but the sounds grew fainter and fainter, and the master
told them that they had no longer cause to fear, and might thank Heaven
for their preservation, for that he knew where they were, and could take
them into a port in safety. Well, but of your wife, I know that you
will want to hear."
"Yes! yes!" I exclaimed, "tell me how is she--where is she!" We wore
all the time the young fisherman was speaking hurrying down towards the
ferry-boat.
"That is just what I was about to tell ye," he answered, with the
deliberate way in which the inhabitants of that part of Scotland of his
rank generally speak. "The young leddy, they told me, no sooner heard
that the vessel was in safety, than she gave way to a sorrow which it
was pitiful to witness. They tried to comfort her, but she was not to
be comforted. She had gone off into a sort of trance when the vessel
brought up this morning under Saint Ann's Head.
"The master was thinking about putting to sea when I got on board. He
and all the people were very much surprised to hear that you had
escaped; but the difficulty seemed to be to break the news to your wife.
The master promised not to sail till you appeared, and I promised to
come and hurry you on."
"Thank ye, thank ye, my kind friend!" I exclaimed, shaking him by the
hand. "But my wife--tell me about my wife. How did she bear the sudden
reaction?"
"It did her all the good in the world," he answered cheerfully. "The
old master, who is a canny man, went down into the cabin and began to
talk of the wonderful things which had occurred to his knowledge at
sea--how people had been kept alive floating on a spar for a couple of
days, and how others had swam a dozen miles or more, or been washed from
the deck of one vessel right aboard another, and fallen overboard, and
been picked up floating on a grating, or an oar, by a vessel coming up
astern hours afterwards.
"Suddenly the young lady lifted herself up, showing, that though she had
appeared to be asleep, she had been listening to every word that had
been said.
"`Captain,' said she, `in mercy tell me whether you believe that my
husband's life has been preserved by any of the means you speak of. Do
not deceive me. Do not keep me in doubt.'
"`Not for all the world would I deceive you, young leddy,' said the
master; `I will tell you what I believe to be the truth, that your
husband got floated on shore last night, and that he is not a great way
off, to prove to you that what I say is true.'
"Oh, did not she cry out with joy and thankfulness, and then the old
master told me what he had said, and charged me to come on here as fast
as I could to bring you on board."
My two young friends insisted on accompanying me all the way back to the
vessel, about three miles along the southern shores of the Firth, and
thankful indeed was I for their support. It showed me how an old man
must feel when his strength is failing him, and he has a long journey to
perform. It taught me always to have more compassion for advancing age
than I had before been inclined to feel.
I cannot describe the unspeakable joy it was to my wife and me to meet
each other again, after the dreadful anxiety we had both of us
experienced, and the dangers we had gone through. I was unwilling to
trust her again on the treacherous ocean, even for the short passage
round to Leith; but she entreated me not to be so mistrustful of
Providence, who had been so merciful to us, and urged me to continue the
voyage. I felt at the time that she was right, and that, instead of
considering myself as under a curse, I ought to acknowledge that each
time I had been shipwrecked, I had received a special mark of God's
favour, for my life had been preserved, while so many others of my
fellow-creatures had lost theirs. Instead, therefore, of taking her on
shore, and going on to Saint Andrews, as I had at first proposed doing,
I agreed to remain on board the smack. I could not sufficiently thank
the two young fishermen for the labour and trouble they had taken for my
sake. They laughed when I talked about it.
"Hoot! it's just nothing. We ken by your looks that you would do the
same for us, so say no more about it, mon," was the answer they both
gave. I hope they were right in the favourable opinion they had formed
of me.
In the afternoon, the weather having completely moderated, we sailed.
What a contrast did the next night afford to the previous one! The
stars came out, and the moon shone forth, playing brightly on the
tranquil waters, just rippled over with a light breeze, which sent us
along smoothly on our course. Margaret sat on the deck with me,
watching the scene with a delighted eye and thankful heart. Our
conversation was far too solemn for repetition.
"Oh, Willand, never let us again doubt God's mercy and kindness towards
us. At this hour last night how stormy and dark was the ocean; how full
of anguish and misery were our hearts; how utterly hopeless did
everything appear; not a gleam burst forth to give us consolation! We
were violently torn from each other, it seemed, never to be united again
on earth, neither of us knowing what had become of the other; and now
see how the face of nature smiles! Once more we are united, and all our
prospects appear bright and happy."
Thus we talked on, and, thankful for the present, did not dream that
storms of adversity might yet be in store for us, yet not sent without a
gracious and merciful object to try and improve our hearts.
We reached Leith in safety, and as neither of us had before been in
Edinburgh, we spent some days there to view that beautiful and
interesting city. Such it was even in those days; but though it has
lost somewhat in picturesque effect, it has since then been greatly
improved.
It may seem strange that a sailor should be afraid of trusting himself
at sea; but reason as I might, I could not bring myself to take my wife
to the south by water. I therefore prepared to convey her to London by
coach, and from thence to Portsmouth. The expense was very great; but I
promised her that I would toil hard in whatever occupation I undertook
to make it up, and at last she acceded to my wishes. We calculated that
we should be about a week or ten days getting to London, for those were
times when even the coaches on the great northern road went very
leisurely along, and it was not for some time after that they were
superseded by the fast London and Edinburgh mail. Times have indeed
changed with all of us.
We left Edinburgh one morning at daybreak, and proceeded south to
Berwick, where we stopped. Our next stage was York. There we rested
the greater part of the day, for my wife seemed very much fatigued, and
when I saw how fine the weather continued, I began to repent that I had
not gone, as she wished, by sea. I had placed her inside, while I went
on the top of the coach. I observed that our fat old coachman, who,
although it was summer weather, was muffled up in a greatcoat, with a
red comforter up to his eyes, whenever we stopped to change horses went
into the bar of the roadside inn and took a pretty stiff glass of brandy
and water to keep out the damp, as he told his passengers. At last four
rather frisky horses were brought out and harnessed to the coach.
"Steady now, Mr Currycomb; we have some ugly hills to go up and down,"
remarked one of the passengers who had watched his drinking proceedings
with some little anxiety.
"Oh, never fear me, sir," answered the old man, in a thick, husky voice.
"I've driven this road, man and boy, for the last fifty years, and I
should think I know how to take a coach along it without anybody telling
me how to do it, do you see. If I thinks it's best to trot down a hill,
why I'll do it, and no one shall tell me not. That's what I've got to
say."
I have frequently met the same sort of obstinate characters among
seamen, the very men who manage to get their ships cast away; but I
fancied that they were not to be found among those who live among the
civilising influences of the shore.
For some time we went on pretty well, though now and then the overloaded
coach going down a hill rocked to and fro pretty violently. When we
stopped the next time, a gentleman who had gone in the inside, because
there was no place on the outside, said that he had never been
accustomed to travel inside, and that it made him very ill, and asked if
any gentleman would be willing to change places with him, and that, as
he had already paid his fare, it would not put anybody who would so
oblige him to further cost.
I at once said, that as my wife was inside, I should be very happy to be
the means of accommodating him, so he mounted on the top of the coach,
and I joined Margaret inside. Away we went once more rattling along
over the road. The gentleman, I found, whose seat I had got had no idea
that the coachman was the worse for liquor, but fancied that the rocking
of the coach, which I had observed so palpably from the outside, was
only the usual motion, and that he would be free from it outside.
Suddenly I felt that we were going on much faster than usual.
"What is the matter?" exclaimed Margaret, as clouds of dust arose on
each hand, and we saw people starting aside and looking anxiously after
us as we were whirled along. "Oh, the horses have run away!"
We heard the passengers hallooing and shouting to the coachman to stop
his horses, to pull up; but he either did not heed them or could not
obey them. On we dashed at a furious rate. We saw by the appearance of
some small, red-brick houses, scattered here and there, that we were
approaching a town. I placed myself by Margaret's side, and held her
tightly down.
On we whirled. Round went the huge vehicle with a swing. There was a
terrific crash. We felt the coach dragged some little way; groans and
shrieks and cries arose around us. The coach stopped. The traces had
been cut, and the horses galloped off. I looked with intense anxiety at
my wife's countenance. She was pale, but she assured me that she was
unhurt. I had held her firmly, so as to break the shock when the coach
went over.
People came to help us out, and my wife was conducted into a house close
at hand, to which the owner invited us. But dreadful indeed was the
scene which met my eyes as I glanced round over the wreck of the coach.
The gentleman who had just changed places with me was lying dead on the
pavement, with three or four other passengers; the old coachman lay a
corpse, mangled horribly by the heels of the horses, over which he had
been thrown, and not one of the passengers had escaped some severe
injury; while the poor guard had his arm broken, and his horn doubled up
under him.
I went into the house, and sat down. "Wife," said I, "you are right;
God watches over us at sea as well as on land, and accidents may occur
on shore as well as on the ocean. Why He has thought fit to preserve
us, while others have been allowed to perish, I know not; I can only
take the cup of blessing and be thankful. I will never again attempt to
escape out of His hand by endeavouring to avoid a possible danger."
The gentleman and his wife were very much interested in the account
Margaret and I gave of ourselves, and invited us to remain a whole day
with them, that she might recover from her fatigue. It is one of the
pleasantest things in life to thus receive unexpected kindness from
strangers, who can have no thought or hope of recompense. It is
satisfactory at the time, and makes one think better of the common human
nature which unites us to our fellow-beings. I told our new friend of
all the shipwrecks I had suffered.
"Ah! there are as many on shore, depend upon it, as on the ocean," he
answered. "On shore they are the worst, because they occur generally
through our own folly and ignorance and vice. How many a young man has
started fairly in life, and yet before many years have passed he has
made a complete shipwreck of all the bright promises on which his
friends trusted, with himself alone to blame, because he refused to
consult or to be guided by the only sure chart and compass which could
guide him aright! For what purpose did the wise King of Israel--the
wisest of the kings of the earth--write his proverbs, do you think? Not
for his own satisfaction or amusement, but because he felt it a sacred
duty he owed to posterity to give the result of his own meditations, of
his observations, and of his own bitter experience. Yet how few men,
comparatively, go to that book of books for counsel, for guidance, and
direction? Where can be found more ample directions for getting on in
life, as the phrase is, for making money, for becoming great in this
world even, than the Book of Solomon affords?"
I agreed with my kind and thoughtful host, and promised to study that
work more than I had ever before done. I ought to have said that I
would begin and study it--for, alas! how completely had I before
neglected it.
After this extraordinary incident, I believe that had I been near a
port, I should have again embarked for London; but as it was, we agreed
to continue our journey by land. We reached London in safety.
We did not stay there long. The bustle and noise, and seeming
confusion, after the complete quiet of our Shetland life, was so
wearying, that, having seen some of the chief lions of that great city,
we were glad to set off by the coach for Portsmouth.
Aunt Bretta was delighted to receive us, and my jovial, kind-hearted
uncle welcomed us most cordially. I thought Aunt Bretta would never
have ceased asking questions about dear old Shetland. A stranger would
have supposed from her expressions about it, that there did not exist a
more delightful spot on earth.
Margaret, however, was never weary of replying to all the inquiries
made. I never saw two people suit each other so well as my aunt and
wife,--the one so hearty, full of life and spirits, and brimming over
with the milk of human kindness,--the other so tranquil, so sensible,
and sweet-tempered.
My uncle and I also got on capitally together. I admired his jovial,
frank, hearty, and kind disposition, his thorough uprightness and hatred
of deceit, while he found in me enough good qualities to like, and was
pleased because I admired him and was able to talk with him frankly and
openly on all subjects. That is, I believe, the great secret of
friendship. Mutual esteem and perfect confidence is the only foundation
on which it can be built up and made perfect. Both parties to the bond
must feel that they appreciate each other's motives and objects, and
that every allowance will be made for what they say, and the best
possible construction put on their words. When two people meet between
whom such qualifications exist, their friendship is lasting.
My uncle told me, that as he knew I should not wish to be idle, he had
obtained a situation for me, which he thought I should like, as suitable
to my former habits.
"It is in a private dockyard, where, if you are steady and attentive you
will, I am certain, obtain a still more lucrative employment," he
remarked; "had it been war time I should have tried to obtain an
appointment in the Royal Dockyard, because you would then have had
protection from the pressgang; but now you need have no fear of that."
Two days after that, war again broke out with France! It was arranged
to our mutual satisfaction that Margaret and I should permanently take
up our abode with our relatives. They had a couple of spare rooms,
which they had at times let to lodgers, so that we in no way incommoded
them.
Never was there a more happy family party. We were not over-refined; we
did not set up for people of that sort, it must be remembered, or call
ourselves gentlemen and ladies. Nor did our guests. They were,
however, always well-behaved, civil people, who would on no account have
committed any real solecism in good manners.
Old Jerry Vincent used to look in, as before, very frequently, with a
budget of his funny stories, to which other neighbours gladly came to
listen. There was invariably much laughter, and no small amount of tea
and tobacco consumed, not to speak occasionally of some more potent
compound; but my uncle took good care that none of his guests should
pass the limits of sobriety, though he had at times some little
difficulty in keeping old Jerry in order. I should remark that old
Jerry was an exception to the general character of our guests, who were
as a rule of a much higher rank in the social scale. I remember
especially one of the old man's stories which is worth recording.
"You must know, mates," said he, "once upon a time I belonged to a brig
of war on the Newfoundland station. It isn't just the place, in my
opinion, that a man would wish to spend his life in. Too much frost and
fog, and wind and rain, to be pleasant. But bad as it was, I thought
there was a worse place to be in, and that was aboard my own ship. We
never know when we are well off. I don't think I was right, do ye see;
but rather, I am very well convinced, that I was a fool. Young men
sometimes don't find that out till it's too late. Howsomedever, I found
another fool as big as myself, which is never very difficult when you
look for him, and he and I agreed to run from the ship. Now, before I
go on with my story, I'll just ask one or two of you young men, have any
of you ever seen the biggest fool in the world? Well, I thought not;
you can't say that you have, and, what's more, you never will. If you
think that you have got hold of him, you may be sure that you'll fall in
with a bigger before long somewhere else. That is my philosophy, and I
am not far wrong, depend on it.
"Well, where was I? Oh, I know. My mate's name--t'other fool, I mean--
was Abraham Coxe. The ship had put into Saint John's, Newfoundland. He
and I belonged to the same boat's crew. Soon after we got there we were
sent on shore to water. After some time, as the rest of our party were
rolling the casks down to the beach, we managed to slip away, and made a
run of it for a mile or more, till we could stow ourselves snug inside
the walls of an old cottage. As soon as it was dark we came out, and
set off as hard as we could go right into the country. We thought some
one was following us, but we were wrong. The officers knew better than
we did what sort of a place we had got into, and calculated that we
shouldn't be long before wishing ourselves back again.
"At night we reached a cottage, where the good people treated us kindly,
for, do ye see, we spun them a long yarn, which hadn't a word of truth
in it, about our being sent away up there to look after a shipmate who
had lost his senses. So, after we had eaten and drunken and taken a
good snooze, we set off again towards the mountains, for we had a notion
that we should find our way somehow or other into America. We expected
to fall in with another village, but we were mistaken, and by
dinner-time we began to feel very peckish. There was no use standing
still, so we walked on and on till we got further up among the
mountains, and as the sun was hid by clouds, and there was no wind, we
very soon lost our way.
"Now, do ye see, to lose your way with a full stomach is not altogether
pleasant, but to lose it on an empty one, and not to know where a dinner
is to be found, is worse any day than to get three dozen. That's got
quickly over, and you know the worst. We had no baccy neither, and the
air up there sharpened our teeth till we were ready to bite our tongues
out.
"`Well, mate,' says I to Abraham Coxe, `I wish that I were safe aboard
again. I don't by no manner of means like these short commons.'
"`Wait a bit till we have been knocking about for two or three days
more, and then cry out, my bo',' says he, for he was a regular Job's
comforter, that he was.
"Well, evening was coming on, and as we couldn't find our way out of the
mountains, nor get any food either, we thought that we might as well
look out for a warm berth to sleep in at night. At last we saw a small
hole in a rock, which looked like the mouth of a cave.
"`There will be a comfortable bed-place inside that place, mate,' says
I, as I poked my head into the hole, while Abraham stood outside. It
was almost dark inside, but still there was light enough to make out
that, there was a good big place further in. I was going along on my
hands and knees, when what should I see but several animals like biggish
pigs crawling about. I was wondering what they were, when I heard
Abraham Coxe sing out.
"`Quick, Jerry, quick, get out of the cave, for there is a great big
bear coming along the valley, and she's close aboard of us!'
"It was all very well for Coxe to say, get out of the cave; but that was
more than I could do in a hurry without turning round, when I might have
had all the young bears attacking my rump, saving your presence, ladies.
Coxe also didn't stop to help me, but scampered off as hard as his legs
could carry him. I was going to make the best of my way after him, when
I saw a big white bear not three fathoms off, evidently steering for the
very place itself.
"There was no use trying to get out, for to a certainty the brute would
have grappled me in a moment; so I drew back, thinking to remain
concealed. Just then I remembered the beasts I had seen inside, and I
guessed that they were the bear's cubs, and that I had taken possession
of her abode. It was not a pleasant idea, certainly, but there was no
help for it. In another minute the great big she-bear came snuffing up
to the hole where I lay. I thought that it was all up with me, and
expected every moment to be made into a supper for the bear and her
cubs. The little beasts were all the time licking my heels just to have
a taste, I thought, of what was to come. The bear began to growl, I
fancied because she found me inside; but I believe it was just her way
of talking to her cubs. Thinks I to myself, I'll have a fight for it;
so I doubled my fists, intending to give her a good lick on the eye
before she ate me, when, just as I thought that she was going to make a
grab at me, she slewed round and began to back into the cave stern
foremost.
"`Ho! ho!' says I to myself, `if you goes to make a stern-board, old
gal, I'll rake you before you shows your broadside to me again;' so on
that I whips out my long knife, which I had tucked away in my belt, with
a lanyard round my neck, and drove it with all my force right into her.
The more she backed, and the louder she growled, the harder and faster I
drove in the knife. Still she came backing and backing, and I didn't
like the prospect at all. I thought to myself, `If she drives me up
against the end of the cave, she'll squeeze all the breath out of my
body, to a certainty.'
"At last, however, when she got to the narrowest part of the hole, she
sank down from loss of blood. I thought she would perhaps begin to move
on again, but she didn't. After she had given a few growls, which grew
fainter and fainter, I made sure she was dead.
"As I was pretty nigh famished, thinks I to myself, `I'll have some
steaks out of you, old gal, at all events;' so I cut three or four fine
steaks out of her rump (saving your pardon, Mrs Kelson, and ladies
all), and precious juicy and nice to look at they were; but how to dress
them was the job. At first I thought that I should have to eat them
raw, as I had often done salt beef; but on hunting about on a higher
part of the cave, I found a quantity of dry sticks and leaves which had
served the bears for a bed, I suppose. Piling up some of them, I struck
a light, and made a fire to dress the steaks, while the young cubs kept
rubbing against me, and couldn't make out whether I was their mother or
their daddy I believe. I gave them each a bit of steak, which they
seemed to think not bad sucking.
"You see I was inside the cave, though there was just room to look out
over the body of the dead bear, but scarcely space enough for me to have
squeezed myself out if I had wished it. I didn't just then wish to go
out, for I was very comfortable; I had a dry roof over my head, and
company too, and plenty to eat; only I should have liked a glass of grog
to wash down the food.
"Well, as I was eating the bear's steak, I thought to myself, `It would
have been better for Abraham Coxe if he had stuck to his old shipmate
instead of running away at sight of danger.'
"I had just finished supper, and was thinking of turning in for the
night, when I heard a loud growl at the mouth of the cave. I made sure
that it was the she-bear come to life again, for I was getting drowsy,
and I began to think what she would say to me for having stolen her
steaks. However, at last I got up and looked out, and there I saw a
great big he-bear walking about in front of the cave, and I have no
doubt scolding his wife for not getting out of his way to let him in.
At last he began to back astern, but he couldn't make her move.
"`Growl away, my bo',' says I. `If you keep on at that game, I'll make
steaks of you before long.'
"I sat as quiet as possible, picking my teeth with the point of my
knife, for the steaks were rather tough, you may guess. The little
bears, playful like, were running about round me, while the old bear was
grumbling away outside, thinking maybe that his wife had taken a drop
too much, and couldn't get up. All of a sudden I heard a great
hullabaloo, and several shots were fired, and down came the old bear as
dead as a door nail in front of the cave.
"Among other voices, I recognised that of Abraham Coxe. `My poor mate
is killed, and eaten by the bears,' says he; `but I may as well have his
knife, and his baccy-box and buttons, if they ain't eaten too.'
"`No, I ain't eaten nor dead either, you cowardly rascal, and I hope a
better man nor you may have my traps when I do go,' I sings out, for I
was in a towering rage at being deserted.
"At first the people were going to run away, thinking it was my ghost
that was speaking; but when I sang out again, and told them that I was a
living man, some of them took courage, and came and dragged the two old
bears out of the way. At last I crawled out, followed by the young
cubs, to the great astonishment of all who saw us. To make a long story
short, this was the way how the people had come to my rescue. When Coxe
ran away, not knowing where he went, he ran right into the village,
which was all the time close to us. When the villagers heard what had
happened, they all came out to have a shot at the bears, not expecting
to find me alive. They seemed very glad I had escaped, and carried me
back in triumph to the village. As it was through our means they got
two bears and a number of cubs, they treated us very kindly, and pressed
us to stay with them. When, however, we found that we should never
reach America by going over the mountains, and as we had no fancy to
spend a winter in this outlandish sort of a place, seeing that the
summer wasn't very pleasant, we judged it best to go back to our ship
and give ourselves up. We got three dozen a-piece, which I can only say
we richly deserved, and neither of us ever attempted to desert again.
`Let well alone,' I used to say. `If I do get away, I shall only find
myself before long on board another ship, and worse off than before,
probably.'"
Jerry's advice was very sound. Many a man deserts to obtain an
uncertain good, and finds, when too late, that he has secured a certain
ill.
Those truly were pleasant evenings at our quiet little house. I wish
that I could recollect all old Jerry's stories I may perhaps call to
mind a few more another day, for I think that they are well worthy of
repetition.