The Flying Bo'sun Part 7

Swanson crawled over to the bench as if in terrible pain, muttering: "I will get this Irish dog, and when I do, look out, I will kill him."

The other members of the watch below were too busy dressing to pay much attention to the fight, but one could see that they were proud of Riley's work.

"Ha, ha, an' it's kill me you would, me fine bucko, an' sure you might if I had no eyes in me head. You dirty baste. Let me finish him, sir."

"Riley," said I, severely, "get up on deck, and relieve the man on the lookout, or I will place you both in irons."

Riley went on duty very reluctantly, saying, "Begorra, sir, and it's sorry you'll be for not letting me finish him."

"Swanson," I said, "you will be all right in the morning. You have a few bad b.u.mps on your head, but a hard and tough man like you should not mind that."

I left him grumbling and whining and swearing vengeance, saying to himself: "By Jiminy, I get even mit dem all."

On the forecastle head Riley was pacing up and down, evidently very happy and pleased with the night's work. He was humming an old ditty, and sometimes breaking out singing:

"Blow you winds while sails are spreading, Carry me cheerily o'er the sea.

I'll go back, de dom, de dido, To my sweetheart in the old countree."

In the cabin the Captain was looking through the nautical almanack to find a star that was crossing our meridian.

"You know," speaking to me, "we must not allow sharks nor anything else to interfere with the progress of the s.h.i.+p. I want to cross the Equator about in 150 west. I believe that I shall have to keep her a little to the westward now. Ah, here I have it, the star Draconis, it crosses our meridian at 1 hr. 15 min. Just give me your lat.i.tude by dead reckoning."

"Here you are, sir," handing him the lat.i.tude. "With this moderate breeze she has made 110 miles since noon today."

"It looks," said he, "as if she were going to beat her last trip to the Equator. But, of course, there's the doldrums. One can never tell.

Sometimes a s.h.i.+p will run through and into the southeast trades, and escape the doldrums. But that seldom happens to me."

The next few days were spent sewing sails, the crew rattling her down, cleaning bra.s.s-work and chipping iron rust from the anchor chain. A s.h.i.+p is like a farm, there is always work to be done, and a sailor must never be idle. It is the mate's duty to find work to keep them going. A mate's ability is usually measured by the amount of work that he gets out of the crew, especially when she sails into her home port.

There the owners come aboard, and if they do not wring their hands, and tear their hair, and sometimes tramp on their hats or caps, the mate is indeed to be complimented. They will sometimes walk up to you and say:

"Well, you had a fine voyage, I see," looking around at the masts, and yards, and paint-work. "Do you smoke? Here is a very fine cigar, three for a dollar." (More often it is three for ten cents.)

I remember the old barque "Jinney Thompson." We were three weeks overdue. When we finally arrived the owner was there on the dock and fired every man aboard her. It seems that every day for three weeks he had never failed to make his appearance at the wharf. On this day while the tug-boat was docking us there he stood, white with rage.

"Get off my s.h.i.+p, you d.a.m.ned pirates, every man, woman and child of you!

To think that I should have lost one hundred and fifty dollars on this trip. Get off, d.a.m.n you, get off!"

CHAPTER VII

IN WHICH THE CAPTAIN WOUNDS HIS HAND

"No, sir, he won't stay down there," said the cook. "He caught a flying-fish the other night; it lit on the deck forward. Since then he just sits in the main rigging watching. When I get near him he runs up aloft."

"I must tell the mate," said the Captain, "to move the flour into the spare room. Those d.a.m.ned rats will eat us out yet. Why don't you tie Toby with the stores?"

"I can't, sir, he won't let me near enough."

This conversation was going on in the cabin while I was trying to read Henry George. I went to sleep wondering how a single tax could be applied to city property. I was not asleep long before I was awakened by loud tapping on my door. "Come in," said I. The door opened. There stood the Captain, pale and excited.

"Would you mind tying up this hand for me? I stuck a marline spike through here," pointing to the fleshy part between the thumb and fore-finger of the right hand.

"Just one minute, sir, I'll get some hot water."

Fortunately there was hot water in the galley.

"There you are, sir, put your hand in the bucket. No, it is not too hot.

There, see, I hold my hand in it."

Satisfied that there was no danger of cooking it, he pulled the rag off, and thrust his hand into the bucket. I noticed that there was no blood to speak of. I said, "Captain, did the spike go through your hand?"

"h.e.l.l, yes, man, about three inches."

I suggested many remedies, such as was.h.i.+ng it with saline solution and bandaging with oak.u.m and so on. But he would have none of them, and insisted on having the rag tied around, a.s.suring me that it would be well in a day or so. He kept on deck most of the first watch, but was evidently in great pain.

"I think that we are running into the doldrums from the look of those clouds to the eastward," said he.

"We have one thing in our favor," I replied; "we should have a three-knot current to the southward according to the pilot chart."

"You should not rely on what those fellows in Was.h.i.+ngton put onto paper.

If you do you will never get anywhere."

At five o'clock in the morning it was raining. There is no place in the world where it rains as it does around the Equator; it seems as if the celestial sluice-gates had gotten beyond control. We were becalmed, and in the doldrums, with not a breath of air. Usually this lasts for five or six days.

During this time every one on board is very busy, catching water, filling barrels, was.h.i.+ng clothes, and working s.h.i.+p. The latter work is hard on the crew, for you are always tr.i.m.m.i.n.g s.h.i.+p for every puff of wind that comes along. Pity the weak-kneed mate in the doldrums. There are times when you tack and wear, and boxhaul s.h.i.+p every fifteen minutes. The crew resent this kind of work, and while doing it they curse and swear, and will do the opposite to what they are told.

Here is where the old-school mate comes in. Obey orders. He sees that they do obey. Lazy sailors breed discontent, and discipline must be stern. If a member of the crew happens to be idle, he must by no means appear to be. He must at least act very seriously, and look to windward, as if beckoning for a breeze. There is an old saying among sailing-s.h.i.+p-men:

"When the wind is fair the money comes in over the stern, When the wind is ahead the money comes in over the bow."

so a sailor must never show that the unfavorable weather is making pay for him. He must never whistle a tune, nor sing a song, but he is privileged at all times during a calm to whistle as if he were calling a dog, for if you don't get wind with the dog-whistling, you are not to blame. I have seen captains standing for hours whistling for wind. Pity the man who would smile or crack a joke on so serious an occasion. One captain I was with, after whistling off and on all day without avail, threw three of his hats overboard, one after the other, crying in rage, "There, now, d.a.m.n you, give us a gale."

The wise mate knows his place in trying times like these. He never goes aft, thereby avoiding serious discussions. He always makes it his business to be very busy in the forepart of the s.h.i.+p. The worst time for him is meal-time. It is not uncommon to finish eating without a word being spoken. The cook is not exempt. Should the captain count more than ten raisins in the bread-pudding, look out for a squall!

At breakfast I ate alone. The Captain was walking around in his room.

"How is your hand, sir?" I inquired.

"It is very painful. I have just been was.h.i.+ng it with a little carbolic acid I found in a drawer."

"I have taken off staysails, topsails and inner and outer jib, sir."

He did not answer, but shut his door with a slam. I was worried about his condition, but was helpless to do anything for him. He was the stubborn type, with tight lips, and projecting cheek-bones. He believed that what he could not do for himself no other could do for him. I think that this applied only to strangers. As captain of a s.h.i.+p you are always dealing with new faces, and never have much confidence in any one. For instance if, in taking the alt.i.tude of the sun or a star, his reckoning should differ from yours by a mile or so, you would always be wrong. The same with longitude by chronometer in time.