As Bo'sun Strake reached the deck, he came suddenly upon the first
lieutenant, and touched his hat.
"Where have you been, my man?"
"Down below, sir."
"I said where have you been, my man?" said the lieutenant, sternly.
"Young gentlemen's quarters, sir."
"What was going on there?"
The bo'sun hesitated, but the lieutenant's eyes fixed him, and he said,
unwillingly--
"A fight, sir."
"Humph! The new midshipman--Mr Belton?"
"Yes, sir."
"Got well thrashed, I suppose?"
"No, sir; not he," cried the bo'sun, eagerly.
"Who was it with?"
"Tall young gent, sir, as brought us off in the boat yesterday."
"That will do."
"Hope he won't mast-head the dear boy for this," muttered Barney, as he
went aft, found the captain's servant, and asked to see his master.
In a few minutes he was summoned, and found Captain Belton writing.
"Well, Strake; what is it?"
"I had a message, your honour, to take to the young gentlemen's berth."
"Yes; to Mr Belton. Is he here?"
"No, your honour; he's there."
"Well, is he coming?"
"If you say he's to come, sir, he'll come; but he don't look fit."
"Why? Fighting?"
"Yes, sir."
"And been beaten?"
"Beaten, your honour? Well, beggin' your pardon, sir, I'm surprised at
you. My boy Panny-mar give it to his man pretty tidy last night, but
he's nothing to that young gent below yonder."
"Indeed!" said the captain, frowning.
"Yes, sir, indeed. He do look lovely."
"Who has my son been fighting with?"
"Young gent as was in charge of the boat as brought Sir Thomas and us
aboard, sir."
"That will do, Strake."
The bo'sun touched his forehead, and backed out of the cabin.
"So soon!" muttered Captain Belton; and, taking his hat, he went on deck
to encounter the first lieutenant directly.
"I find that my son has been fighting in the midshipmen's mess, Mr
Bracy," he said. "Please bear in mind that he is Mr Belton, a
midshipman in his Majesty's service, and that I wish that no favour
should be shown to him on account of his being nearly related to me."
"Trust me for that, Captain Belton," said the lieutenant. "If I made
any exception at all, it would be to bear a little more severely upon
him."
"And in this case?"
"Well, sir, in this case, from what I understand, he has incapacitated
our senior midshipman for duty."
"I am sorry," said the captain.
"I am glad," said the first lieutenant.
"Eh?"
"Cut his comb, sir. Good, gentlemanly-looking fellow, who understands
his duty, but a sad bully, I fear."
"Oh! And you will punish--er--them both?"
"Punish, sir?" said the lieutenant; "oh dear, no. I don't mean to hear
anything about it, sir. But I congratulate you upon the stuff of which
your son is made."
"Thank you, Mr Bracy," said the captain, as they touched their hats to
each other most ceremoniously, and the captain went back to his cabin.
For the next week all was confusion on deck, alow and aloft. The
captain stayed at the hotel ashore so as to be handy, and the first
lieutenant ruled supreme.
The riggers were still busy, and the crew hard at work getting in
stores, water, and provisions, including fresh meat and vegetables.
Coops and pens were stowed forward, and chaos was the order of the day.
Syd became thoroughly well accustomed to the middies' berth, for he was
obliged to keep down all day, mostly in company with Terry, but they
kept apart as much as possible, and Syd was old enough to feel that it
was a very hollow truce between them.
But as soon as it was dark he was up on deck, where it was not long
before he found out that he was the object of attention of the men, who
were not slow to show their admiration for the young fellow who had so
soon displayed his mettle by thrashing the bully of the mess.
The bo'sun was to answer for a good deal of this, and so it was, that go
where he would there was a smile for him, and an eagerness on the part
of the crew to answer questions or perform any little bit of service.
This was all very pleasant, and life on board began to look less black,
although it really was life in the dark.
"But, never mind, Roy," he would say, in allusion to his nocturnal life;
"keeps people from seeing what a face I've got. Don't look so bad
to-day, does it?"
"Bad? no. It's all right."
"Oh, is it? I suppose it about matches Terry's, and his is a pretty
sight."
During his week Syd was always expecting to be summoned by his father or
the first lieutenant, but he encountered neither; they seemed to have
forgotten his existence. So he read below a great deal of light,
cheerful, edifying matter upon navigation--good yawning stuff, with
plenty of geometry in it and mathematical calculations, seeing little of
his messmates, who were on the whole pretty busy.
At night, though, he began to acquire a little practical seamanship,
calling upon the bo'sun, a most willing teacher, to impart all he could
take in, in these brief lessons, about the masts, yards, sails, stays,
and ropes. He went aloft, and being eager and quick, picked up a vast
amount of information of a useful kind, Barney knowing nothing that was
not of utility.
"Never had no time for being polished, Master Syd," he would say, "but
lor me, what a treat it is to get back among the hemp and canvas! I
never used to think when I was splicing a graft on a tree that I should
come to splicing 'board ship again. When are you coming on deck again
in the day-time?"
"Not till I look decent, Barney."
"Beg pardon, sir."
"Bo'sun, then."
"Thankye, sir."
The week had passed, and the next day the ship was clear of its dockyard
artisans. Shipwrights, riggers, and the rest of them had gone, and
leaving the painting to be done by his crew during calms, the captain
received his orders, the frigate was unmoored, and Syd watched from one
of the little windows the receding waves, becoming more and more
conscious of the fact that there was wind at work and tide in motion.
The time went on, and he knew that there was the land on one side and a
verdant island on the other, but somehow he did not admire them, and
when Roylance came to him in high glee to call him to dinner, with the
announcement that there were roast chickens and roast leg of pork as a
wind-up before coming down to biscuit and salt junk, Syd said he would
not come.
"But chickens, man--chickens roast."
"Don't care for roast chickens," said Syd.
"Roast pork then, and sage and onions."
"Oh, I say, don't!" cried Syd, with a shudder.
"Well, I must go, or I shan't get a morsel," cried Roylance, and he
hurried away.
"How horrible!" thought the boy. "I do believe I'm going to be
sea-sick, just like any other stupid person who goes a voyage for the
first time."
Before evening the frigate had passed high chalk bluffs on the left, and
on the right a wide bay, with soft yellow sandy shore. Then there was
chalk to right and the open channel to left; then long ranges of
limestone cliffs, dotted with sea-birds, and then evening and the land
growing distant, the waves rising and falling, and as he went to his
hammock that night Syd uttered a groan.
"What's the matter, lad?" cried Roylance, who was below.
"Bad," said Syd, laconically.
"Nonsense! make a bold fight of it."
"Fight?" cried Syd; "why Baby Jenks could thrash me now. How long shall
I be ill?"
"Well, if it gets rough, as it promises to, I dare say you'll have a
week of it."
"A week?" groaned Syd.