AN UNEXPECTED PASSENGER.
During the first day's voyage the sea was quite rough, and the wind
freshened towards evening. The Duncan rolled considerably, so that
the ladies did not appear on deck, but very wisely remained in their
cabins. The next day the wind changed a point, and the captain set the
main-, fore-, and foretop-sails, thus causing less perception of the
rolling and pitching motion.
Lady Helena and Mary Grant were able before daybreak to join Lord
Glenarvan, the major, and the captain, on deck. The sunrise was
magnificent. The orb of day, like a gilded metal disk, rose from the
ocean, as from an immense and silvery basin. The ship glided in the
midst of a splendid iridescence, and you would truly have thought that
her sails expanded under the influence of the sun's rays, whilst even
the crew of the yacht silently admired this reappearance of the orb of
day.
"What a magnificent spectacle!" said Lady Helena, at last. "This is
the beginning of a beautiful day. May the wind not prove contrary, but
favor the progress of the Duncan!"
"No better weather could be desired, my dear Helena," replied Lord
Glenarvan; "we have no reason to complain of the commencement of the
voyage."
"Will it be a long one, my dear Edward?"
"That is for the captain to answer," said he. "Are we progressing well?
Are you satisfied with your vessel, captain?"
"Very well indeed," was the answer. "She is a marvelous craft, and a
sailor likes to feel her under his feet. Never were hull and engine
more in unison. See how smooth her wake is, and how easily she rides
the waves. We are moving at the rate of seventeen knots an hour. If
this continues, we shall cross the line in ten days, and in five weeks
shall double Cape Horn."
"You hear, Mary," said Lady Helena: "in five weeks!"
"Yes," replied the young girl, "I hear; and my heart beat quickly at
the words of the captain."
"And how do you bear this voyage, Miss Mary?" inquired Lord Glenarvan.
"Very well, my lord; I do not experience very many discomforts.
Besides, I shall soon be accustomed to it."
"And young Robert?"
[Sidenote: COMPLIMENTS AND CONGRATULATIONS.]
"Oh, Robert!" replied Captain Mangles: "when he is not engaged with the
engine he is perched at mast-head. I tell you he is a boy who mocks
sea-sickness. Only look at him!"
At a gesture of the captain, all eyes were turned towards the mainmast,
and every one could perceive Robert, suspended by the stays of the
foretop-gallant sail, a hundred feet aloft. Mary could not restrain a
motion of fear.
"Oh, be easy, miss!" said Captain Mangles. "I will answer for him, and
promise you I will present, in a short time, a famous sailor to Captain
Grant; for we shall find that worthy captain."
"May Heaven hear you, sir!" replied the young girl.
"My dear child," said Lord Glenarvan, "there is in all this something
providential, which ought to give us hope. We are not merely going, we
are led; we are not seeking blindly, we are guided. And then see all
these brave people enrolled in the service of so good a cause. Not only
shall we succeed in our enterprise, but it will be accomplished without
difficulty. I have promised Lady Helena a pleasure voyage; and, if I am
not mistaken, I shall keep my word."
"Edward," said Lady Glenarvan, "you are the best of men."
"Not so; but I have the best of crews, on the best of ships. Do you not
wonder at our Duncan, Miss Mary?"
"On the contrary, my lord," answered the young girl, "I don't so much
wonder as admire; for I am well acquainted with ships."
"Ah! indeed!"
"When a mere child, I played on my father's ships. He ought to have
made a sailor of me. If it were necessary, perhaps I should not now be
embarrassed in taking a reef or twisting a gasket."
"What is that you're saying, miss?" exclaimed the captain.
"If you talk so," continued Lord Glenarvan, "you will make a great
friend of Captain John; for he thinks nothing in the world can equal
the life of a sailor. He sees no other, even for a woman. Is it not so,
John?"
"Undoubtedly, your lordship," replied the young captain; "and yet, I
confess, Miss Grant is better in her place on deck, than taking a reef
in the top-sail. But still I am very much flattered to hear her speak
so."
"And especially when she admires the Duncan!" added Glenarvan.
"Right, my lord; for she deserves it."
"Upon my word," said Lady Helena, "since you are so proud of your
yacht, you make me anxious to examine her to the very hold, and see how
our brave sailors are quartered between-decks."
"Admirably," replied the captain; "they are quite at home there."
"Indeed they are, my dear Helena," said Lord Glenarvan. "This yacht
is a part of our old Caledonia,--a detached portion of the county of
Dumbarton, traveling by special favor, so that we have not left our
country. The Duncan is Malcolm Castle, and the ocean is Loch Lomond."
"Well, then, my dear Edward, do the honors of the castle," said Lady
Helena.
"I am at your disposal, madam," answered her husband; "but first let me
inform Olbinett."
The steward of the yacht was an excellent manager, a Scotchman, who
deserved to have been a Frenchman from his self-importance, and,
moreover, fulfilled his duties with zeal and intelligence. He was at
once ready for his master's commands.
"Olbinett, we are going to make a tour of the vessel before breakfast,"
said Glenarvan, as if a journey to Tarbet or Loch Katrine was in
question. "I hope we shall find the table ready on our return."
Olbinett bowed gravely.
[Illustration: This man, tall, lank, and shriveled, might have been
forty years old. He resembled a long, broad-headed nail, for his head
was large and thick, his forehead high, his nose prominent, his mouth
wide, and his chin blunt.]
"Do you accompany us, major?" asked Lady Helena.
"If you order it," replied MacNabb.
"Oh!" said Lord Glenarvan, "the major is absorbed in the smoke of his
cigar; we must not disturb him, for I assure you he is an inveterate
smoker, Miss Mary; he smokes all the time, even in his sleep."
The major made a sign of assent, and the passengers descended
between-decks.
MacNabb remained alone, talking to himself, according to his custom,
but never contradicting himself. Enveloped in a dense cloud of smoke,
he stood motionless, gazing back at the wake of the yacht. After a few
moments of contemplation, he turned and found himself face to face with
a new character. If _anything_ could have surprised him, it must have
been this meeting, for the passenger was absolutely unknown to him.
[Sidenote: A TELESCOPIC APPARITION.]
This man, tall, lank, and shriveled, might have been forty years old.
He resembled a long, broad-headed nail, for his head was large and
thick, his forehead high, his nose prominent, his mouth wide, and
his chin blunt. As for his eyes, they were hidden behind enormous
eye-glasses, and his look seemed to have that indecision peculiar
to nyctalops. His countenance indicated an intelligent and lively
person, while it had not the crabbed air of those stern people who from
principle never laugh, and whose stupidity is hidden beneath a serious
guise. The nonchalance and amiable freedom of this unknown nonentity
clearly proved that he knew how to take men and things at their best
advantage. Even without his speaking you felt that he was a talker; but
he was abstracted, after the manner of those who do not see what they
are looking at or hear what they are listening to. He wore a traveling
cap, stout yellow buskins and leather gaiters, pantaloons of maroon
velvet, and a jacket of the same material, whose innumerable pockets
seemed stuffed with note-books, memoranda, scraps, portfolios, and a
thousand articles as inconvenient as they were useless, not to speak
of a telescope which he carried in a sling.
The curiosity of this unknown being was a singular contrast to the
calmness of the major. He walked around MacNabb, and gazed at him
questioningly, whilst the latter did not trouble himself whence the
stranger came, whither he was going, or why he was on board the Duncan.
When this enigmatical character saw his approaches mocked by the
indifference of the major, he seized his telescope, which at its full
length measured four feet; and motionless, with legs straddled, like a
sign-post on a highway, he pointed his instrument to the line where sky
and water met. After a few moments of examination, he lowered it, and
resting it on the deck, leaned upon it as upon a cane. But immediately
the joints of the instrument closed, and the newly discovered
passenger, whose point of support suddenly failed, was stretched at the
foot of the mainmast.
[Illustration]
Any one else in the major's place would at least have smiled, but he
did not even wink. The unknown then assumed his rôle.
"Steward!" he cried, with an accent that betokened a foreigner.
He waited. No one appeared.
"Steward!" he repeated, in a louder tone.
Mr. Olbinett was passing just then on his way to the kitchen under the
forecastle. What was his astonishment to hear himself thus addressed by
this tall individual, who was utterly unknown to him!
"Where did this person come from?" said he to himself. "A friend of
Lord Glenarvan? It is impossible."
However, he came on deck, and approached the stranger.
"Are you the steward of the vessel?" the latter asked him.
"Yes, sir," replied Olbinett; "but I have not the honor----"
"I am the passenger of cabin number six."
"Number six?" repeated the steward.
"Certainly; and your name is----?"
"Olbinett."
"Well, Olbinett, my friend," answered the stranger of cabin number six,
"I must think of dinner, and acutely, too. For thirty-six hours I have
eaten nothing, or, rather, have slept, which is pardonable in a man
come all the way from Paris to Glasgow. What hour do you dine, if you
please?"
"At nine o'clock," answered Olbinett, mechanically.
The stranger attempted to consult his watch; but this took some time,
for he did not find it till he came to his ninth pocket.
[Sidenote: CONFUSION WORSE CONFOUNDED.]
"Well," said he, "it is not yet eight o'clock; therefore, Olbinett, a
biscuit and a glass of sherry for the present; for I am fainting with
hunger."
Olbinett listened without understanding. Moreover, the unknown kept
talking, and passed from one subject to another with extreme volubility.
"Well," said he, "has not the captain risen yet? And the mate? What is
he doing? Is he asleep, too? Fortunately, the weather is beautiful, the
wind favorable, and the ship goes on quite by herself----"
Just as he said this, Captain Mangles appeared at the companion-way.
"Here is the captain," said Olbinett.
"Ah, I am delighted," cried the stranger, "delighted to make your
acquaintance, Captain Burton!"
If any one was ever astounded, John Mangles certainly was, not less at
hearing himself called "Captain Burton," than at seeing this stranger
on board his vessel.
The latter continued, with more animation:
"Permit me to shake hands with you, and if I did not do so day before
yesterday, it was that no one might be embarrassed at the moment of
departure. But to-day, captain, I am truly happy to meet you."
Captain Mangles opened his eyes in measureless astonishment, looking
first at Olbinett, and then at the new comer.
"Now," continued the latter, "the introduction is over, and we are old
friends. Let us have a talk; and tell me, are you satisfied with the
Scotia?"
"What do you mean by the Scotia?" asked the captain, at last.
"Why, the Scotia that carries us: a good ship, whose commander, the
brave Captain Burton, I have heard praised no less for his physical
than his moral qualities. Are you the father of the great African
traveler of that name? If so, my compliments!"
"Sir," replied Captain Mangles, "not only am I not the father of the
traveler Burton, but I am not even Captain Burton."
"Ah!" said the unknown, "it is the mate of the Scotia then, Mr.
Burdness, whom I am addressing at this moment?"
"Mr. Burdness?" replied Captain Mangles, who began to suspect the
truth. But was he talking to a fool, or a rogue? This was a question in
his mind, and he was about to explain himself intelligibly, when Lord
Glenarvan, his wife, and Miss Grant came on deck.
The stranger perceived them, and cried,--
"Ah! passengers! passengers! excellent! I hope, Mr. Burdness, you are
going to introduce me----"
And advancing with perfect ease, without waiting for the captain,--
"Madam" said he to Miss Grant, "Miss" to Lady Helena, "Sir" he added,
addressing Lord Glenarvan.
"Lord Glenarvan," said Captain Mangles.
"My lord," continued the unknown, "I beg your pardon for introducing
myself, but at sea we must relax a little from etiquette. I hope we
shall soon be acquainted, and that, in the society of these ladies, the
passage of the Scotia will seem as short to us as agreeable."
Lady Helena and Miss Grant could not find a word to answer. They were
completely bewildered by the presence of this intruder.
"Sir," said Glenarvan, at length, "whom have I the honor of addressing?"
"Jacques Eliacim François Marie Paganel, secretary of the Geographical
Society of Paris; corresponding member of the societies of Berlin,
Bombay, Darmstadt, Leipsic, London, St. Petersburg, Vienna, and New
York; honorary member of the Royal Geographical and Ethnographical
Institute of the East Indies, who, after passing twenty years of his
life in studying geography, designs now to enter upon a roving life,
and is directing his course to India to continue there the labors of
the great travelers."