CLOSE QUARTERS.
The malcontents in the ship were, apparently, the most zealous seamen
on board. Certainly no one would have suspected them of organizing any
mischief, they looked so innocent and so determined to do their duty
promptly. Howe, Wilton, Little, and others had done their work
thoroughly and secretly. They had arranged at least a dozen different
tricks for making confusion among the crew. To each one of the
discontented a part had been assigned, which he was to perform in such
a way as to conceal his own agency.
Captain Shuffles was planking the quarter-deck with the commodore.
Everybody could see that he was not entirely at his ease. His position
was a novel one to him, and he was oppressed by its responsibilities,
especially since the crew had behaved so badly at the first drill. He
could not help knowing that a portion of the crew were opposed to him,
and would do anything they could to annoy him. The situation was a
difficult one; for, at the commencement of his term of office, he did
not wish to have any of the seamen punished for neglect or
disobedience, even if he could discover the guilty ones.
Mr. Lowington was not on deck. He had purposely gone below, for he
wished the new captain to act on his own responsibility, and overcome
the difficulty alone. This was in accordance with his previous course,
when, even in a gale of wind, he permitted the young officers to handle
the ship without any dictation. Though the action adopted by the boys
was not always in accordance with his own judgment, he never interfered
unless an obvious and dangerous blunder was made. His policy had worked
well thus far, and he was disposed to continue it. In the present
instance, he was no better informed than the captain in regard to the
real cause of the difficulty. He believed it was merely the effect of a
fun-loving spirit on the part of the crew; a mere disposition to haze
the new officers a little, and perhaps prove what they were made of. He
hoped the new officers would satisfy them, and, if necessary, send a
dozen or twenty of the mischief-makers to the mainmast for punishment.
"All hands, up anchor, ahoy!" piped the boatswain, after he had
received the order from the captain, through the proper officers.
Those whose stations were at the cable and capstan sprang to their
places with unwonted alacrity.
"Bring to, forward!" added the first lieutenant, giving the order to
attach the messenger. "Ship and swifter the capstan bars!"
As it was not intended to get the ship actually under way, only a
portion of the work indicated by the orders was really executed. The
form of hooking on the messenger was gone through with, as also were
the various preparations for catting and fishing the anchor. The
capstan bars were inserted in the pigeon-holes.
"Heave round!" shouted the first lieutenant; and the order was repeated
by the second lieutenant, whose station is on the forecastle.
Everything appeared to be progressing with proper order and regularity,
and Captain Shuffles hoped the warning words of the principal had
produced an impression upon the minds of the mischief-makers. But
appearances are very deceptive. While the hands were walking around the
capstan, four of the bars suddenly came out of the pigeon-holes at the
same instant, and a dozen of the seamen were thrown, apparently with
great violence, upon the deck. The bars, confined at one end by the
swifter, swung round and cracked the shins of others, and a scene of
confusion ensued, which set at nought all ideas of discipline.
No one was badly hurt, but every one was excited. Those who were not
concerned in the plot caught the spirit of mischief from the others,
and, with but few exceptions, the crew joined in the sport. The seaman
who originated the trouble had simply neglected to insert the pins
which confine the capstan bars within the pigeon-holes, or had left the
bars with the heads against the pins. As nearly all joined in the
frolic, there were none to inform against others, and it was simply
impossible for Leavitt, the second lieutenant, or Ellis, the first
master,--under whose eye this breach of discipline had occurred,--to
determine who the ringleaders were.
Shuffles and the commodore were intensely annoyed at this scene, and
immediately went forward. By this time, those who had been thrown upon
the deck, which included nearly all at the capstan, had picked
themselves up. The Knights looked even more innocent than those whom
they had dragged into the scrape, and the high officers from the
quarter-deck were no wiser than the lieutenant and master. In the midst
of the confusion, Howe and Wilton had removed the pins from the bars,
which still remained in the drumhead of the capstan.
"Mr. Leavitt, how did this happen?" demanded Captain Shuffles.
"Half the bars dropped out of the capstan all at once, and the hands
were thrown down," replied the lieutenant, who was hardly less annoyed
than the captain.
"Were the bars pinned in?"
"I supposed they were, sir."
Captain Shuffles walked up to the capstan. Not a single pin was
inserted.
"Let your midshipman see that the bars are properly pinned and
swiftered next time," said the commander, as he walked aft to resume
his place on the quarter-deck.
"Unship the bars!" said Leavitt; and they were restored to the rack,
leaving everything as it was before the drill began.
The crew were piped to muster, and the order to weigh anchor repeated.
The capstan bars were shipped, and this time, the midshipman whose
station was on the forecastle satisfied himself that they were securely
pinned, and so reported to the second lieutenant. As the rogues had
made no provision for this state of things, they were thrown upon their
own resources for the means of defeating the operation a second time.
Commodore Kendall had placed himself in position to watch the movement,
and the officers in charge had pinned their eyes wide open, fully
resolved that the authors of the trouble should not escape a second
time.
Directly abaft the capstan was the fore-hatch, over which lay the path
of those who walked around at the bars. Ordinarily the hatch was closed
when the capstan was used; but, on the present occasion, a plank had
been placed across the aperture, to avoid the necessity of putting on
the hatch, and thus excluding the air from the kitchen, where the cooks
were baking their daily batch of bread.
"Heave round!" said the first lieutenant.
"Heave round!" repeated the second lieutenant; and the hands at the
capstan began their circular march.
By some means not observed by the vigilant officers, the plank over the
fore-hatch slowly travelled along until one end of it barely caught on
the combing of the hatch. Half a dozen seamen had given it a kick with
their heels as they passed over it, and it was soon in condition to
drop into the steerage below. Little stepped upon it, and down it went.
Releasing his hold of the bar, he dropped upon the steps below, and
disappeared. Sheffield followed him, and then Ibbotson. The hands at
the other side of the capstan took care that the party should keep
moving. A few well-disposed boys, when they came to the hatch,--which
was not more than four feet wide,--leaped across it, as any of them
might have done, if they had not been infected with the spirit of
mischief.
"Avast heaving!" shouted the second lieutenant.
At this instant one of the lambs was on the combing of the hatch, and
he must either go over or hang by the bar; so he pushed along, and his
movement brought another into a similar position. Seeing how the case
was, the rogues kept the capstan going, in spite of the commands of the
officers, until two thirds of the gang had dropped into the steerage.
It was finally suspended by the efforts of the excited officers, who
took hold of the bars with their own hands, and counteracted the
efforts of the rogues.
The young rascals in the steerage pretended to be hurt more seriously
than they were, though some of them had struck the steps or the floor
below with force enough to make them feel a little sore. They began to
limp, and to rub their shins and shoulders, their heads and arms, very
vigorously, as though they believed that friction was a sovereign
remedy for aching bones.
"Why didn't you stop, Hunter, when I ordered you to do so?" demanded
Leavitt, indignantly.
"I couldn't, sir," replied the lamb, speaking only the simple truth.
"Yes, you could! I will report you for disobedience."
"I was right over the hatch, and I had either to go down or jump over:
I couldn't stop there."
"And you did the same thing, Hyde," added the officer.
"I couldn't help it, sir," replied he. "When Hunter got over, he
dragged me so far that I couldn't stop."
"Why didn't you let go, then?" demanded Leavitt, angrily.
"I was afraid the next bar would hit me in the head."
Both of these boys were ordinarily models of propriety, and they had
not, for an instant, intended to do anything out of order. The real
culprits were all at the foot of the stairs, rubbing their limbs and
making the most terrible contortions, as though their legs, arms, and
heads were actually broken. The officers had all seen Hunter and Hyde
pushing along the bars after the order had been given to stop. They
seemed to be guilty, and they were required to report at the mainmast
to the first lieutenant, for discipline. The second lieutenant then
went down the fore-hatch, where the appalling spectacle of a crowd of
sufferers was presented to his view.
"Are you hurt, Little?" he asked, turning to the most prominent victim
of the catastrophe.
"Yes, sir," groaned Little, twisting his back-bone almost into a hard
knot, and trying to reach the seat of his injury with both hands at the
same time.
"How happened you to fall through?" inquired Leavitt, more gently than
he had spoken on deck, for the sight of all this misery evidently
affected him.
"I don't know, sir," answered Little, with one of his most violent
contortions. "I was looking up at the fore-yard arm, and--ugh!--the
first thing I knew, I was--O, dear!--I was down here, with
that--ugh!--with that plank on top of me."
"Are you much hurt?"
"I don't know. It aches first rate," cried Little, with a deep,
explosive sigh.
"Well, go aft, and report to the surgeon."
"I don't want to go to the surgeon. He mauls me about to death. I shall
be better soon."
"On deck, all who are able to do so!" added Leavitt. "Bennington, you
will ask Dr. Winstock to attend to those who are hurt, and report to
the first lieutenant."
But it did not appear that any one was so much injured as to require
the services of the surgeon, for the whole party went on deck at the
order. Little still writhed and twisted. Howe rubbed his knee, and
Spencer nursed his elbow. Commodore Kendall, who had witnessed the
whole affair, did not see how it was possible for them to tumble down
the hatchway without injuring themselves, and he was willing to believe
that the appearance was not deceitful. He had kept his eyes fixed upon
the crew as they walked round the capstan, but he was unable to
determine whether the mishap was the result of accident or intention.
Again the captain came forward; but after consulting with Paul, he
returned to the quarter-deck without making any comments. The two lambs
had reported to the first lieutenant, and the matter had gone to
Captain Shuffles, who directed the culprits to be sent to the
principal. They went into the steerage, and knocking at the door of the
main cabin, Mr. Lowington came out, and heard their statement. They
were ordered to their mess-rooms to await an investigation.
The hatchway was closed, and the order to man the capstan was given a
third time. The injured seamen had in a measure recovered the use of
their limbs, and though they still limped and squirmed, they took their
places in the line. Either their will or their ingenuity to do mischief
failed them, the third time, for the form of heaving up the anchor to a
short stay was regularly accomplished. The commodore and all the
officers in the forward part of the ship watched the operation with the
keenest scrutiny, and when it was successfully finished, they hoped the
end of all the mishaps had come.
"Pawl the capstan! Unship the bars! Stations for loosing sail!"
continued the first lieutenant. "Lay aloft, sail-loosers!"
The nimble young tars, whose places were aloft, sprang up the rigging.
"Man the boom-tricing lines!"
But the boom-tricing lines appeared to be in a snarl, and it was some
time before they were ready for use, being manipulated by some of the
mischief-makers.
"Trice up!" shouted Goodwin, the executive officer.
Up went the inner ends of the studding-sail booms.
"Lay out!" added Goodwin.
"Lay out!" repeated the midshipmen in the tops; and the seamen ran out
on the foot-ropes to their several stations for loosing sail.
At the same time, the forecastle hands were loosing the fore-topmast
staysail, jib, and flying jib, and the after-guard, or quarter-deck
hands, were clearing away the spanker.
"Loose!" said the executive officer; and the hands removed the gaskets,
stoppers, and other ropes, used to confine the sails when furled.
"Stand by--let fall!" was the next order.
At this command all the square sails should have dropped from the yards
at the same instant, but as a matter of fact, not half of them did
drop. Sheets, buntlines, bowlines, lifts, reef-pendants, and halyards
were fearfully snarled up. Some of the seamen on the yards were pulling
one way, and some another; some declared the snarl was in one place,
others in another place. The rogues had realized an undoubted success
in the work they had undertaken. Vainly the midshipmen in the tops
tried to bring order out of confusion. Those who were actually laboring
to untangle the ropes only increased the snarl.
The condition of affairs was duly reported to the captain, who had
become very impatient at the long delay. The masters were then sent
aloft to help the midshipmen unravel the snarl, but they succeeded no
better. It was evident enough to all the officers that this confusion
could not have been created without an intention to do it. An accident
might have happened on the main or the mizzen-mast, but not on every
yard on all three of the masts.
"What are you about?" asked Perth, who had been sent into the main-top,
as he met Howe.
"We have come to the conclusion that Bob Shuffles can't handle this
ship," whispered the ringleader of the mischief, with a significant
wink.
"You are getting us into a scrape."
"Well, we all are in the same boat."
"Don't carry it too far," suggested Master Perth.
"Carry what too far?" demanded Robinson, the midshipman in the top, who
had heard a word or two of the confidential talk--enough to give him an
idea of what was in the wind.
"Dry up, old fellow," said Perth, with some confusion, as Howe, who had
come down from the yard to cast off a line, sprang back to his place.
"What did you mean by that remark of yours?" inquired the midshipman.
"I told Howe not to carry the end of the buntline too far. It was wound
three times around the topsail sheet."
"Was that what you meant?" asked Robinson, suspiciously.
"Don't you see that buntline?" replied Perth. "It is fouled in the
sheet, and he was pulling it through farther, so as to snarl it up
still worse."
"All right," replied the inferior, who, however, was far from being
satisfied with the explanation.
"All right!" retorted Perth, smartly. "Is that the way you address your
superior officer. One would think I was responsible to you for my words
and actions."
"I didn't mean that," added Robinson.
"What did you mean?"
"I only said all right to your explanation."
"You did--did you?" said Perth, severely. "Then you called me to an
account, and now you acquit me!"
"I beg your pardon. Whatever I said, I did not mean anything
disrespectful," pleaded Robinson.
"Is this the kind of discipline among the officers? If it is, I don't
wonder that the crew get snarled up. I don't like to blow on a fellow,
but I'm tempted to send you to the mainmast."
"I didn't mean anything."
Master Perth turned from his abashed inferior, ascended the main
rigging, and with a few sharp orders, compelled the topmen to unsnarl
the ropes. He was afraid the midshipman would report what he had said
to the captain, and he had attempted to intimidate him into silence by
threatening him with a similar fate.
"On deck!" hailed Perth from the top. "All ready in the main-top, sir,"
he added, when the third lieutenant answered his hail from the waist.
After a delay of half an hour, a like report came down from the fore
and mizzen-tops. The masters returned to their stations on deck, and
everything was in readiness to continue the manoeuvre. Captain Shuffles
was in earnest conversation with Commodore Kendall. A more unsatisfactory
state of things could not exist than that which prevailed on board of
the Young America. The conduct of the crew amounted almost to mutiny.
Those who had maliciously made the mischief, and those who had been
engaged in it from a love of fun, had succeeded in confounding those
who meant to do their duty. It was impossible to tell who were guilty
and who were innocent; for three quarters, at least, of the crew seemed
to be concerned in the confusion.
"It is clear enough that they are hazing me," said Captain Shuffles,
sadly. "I don't know that I have done anything to set the fellows
against me."
"Certainly not," replied Paul, warmly. "You have only done your duty. I
have no doubt those fellows who ran away in the Josephine are at the
bottom of it. If I am not very much mistaken, I saw Howe, on the
main-topsail yard, tangling up the buntlines and sheets."
"I have heard that these fellows intended to get even with me," added
Shuffles, with a smile, as though he had not much fear of them.
"I should keep the crew at work until they did their duty. I would keep
them at it night and day, till they can get the ship under way without
any confusion," added Paul, earnestly.
"I intend to do that, but I do not like to be hard upon them."
"There is no danger of your being too hard."
"Whether I am hard or not, I'm going to have the work done in
ship-shape style, if we drill till morning. All hands, furl sails,"
said he to the first lieutenant.
The boatswain's call sounded through the ship. The necessary orders
were given in detail, and after considerable confusion, the sails were
all furled, and the ship restored to its original condition.
"Pipe to muster," continued the captain.
Under this order all the officers assembled on the quarter-deck.
Captain Shuffles addressed them in the mild tones in which he usually
spoke, as though he was not seriously disturbed by the ill conduct of
the crew. Assigning a lieutenant, a master, and a midshipman to each
mast, he directed them to set each sail separately, without regard to
others. They were to set the topsails first, then the other sails up to
the royals. Other officers were directed to drill the seamen stationed
at the head sails and the spanker.
During this conference Howe and his associates were congratulating
themselves upon the success of their vicious schemes, and encouraging
each other to persevere if another drill was ordered. They were curious
to know what the captain was doing with the officers on the
quarter-deck; but they concluded that it was only a meeting to "howl"
over the miserable discipline of the ship. But their wonderings were
soon set at rest by the boatswain's call of "All hands, make sail,
ahoy!"
They sprang to their stations as zealously as though they had no
thought but for the honor of the ship. They soon discovered that a new
order of proceeding had been introduced. The masters and midshipmen
perched themselves in the rigging, where they could see the movements
of every seaman. The adult forward officers--Peaks, the boatswain,
Bitts, the carpenter, and Leech, the sailmaker--also went aloft, and
stationed themselves on the topmast-stays, so that, besides the
lieutenants on deck, the commodore, and the past officers, there were
three pairs of sharp eyes aloft to inspect the operations on each sail.
Howe and his associates were not a little disconcerted at this array of
inspectors, and still more so when the order was given to loose only
the topsails. Peaks, on the main topmast-stay, caught Howe in the very
act of passing the gasket through the bight of the buntline. The
veteran tar came down upon him with such a torrent of sea slang, that
he did not attempt to repeat the act. The topsails were then set as
smartly and as regularly as ever before. After the inspectors had seen
all the sails set and furled in detail, the topsails, top-gallant
sails, and courses, with the jib and spanker, were set as usual, when
the vessel got under way.
By the time the routine in detail had been practised two or three
times, the officers began to know where to look for the
mischief-makers. Peaks had exposed the ringleader, and the conspirators
were finally beaten at their own game. But Captain Shuffles was not
satisfied; and when the crew were dismissed from muster, he hastened to
the main cabin to consult with the principal.
The conspirators, at close quarters, had lost the day, and discipline
was triumphant.