Afloat at Last Part 4

"Look out there!" would shout one, nearly strangling me with the bight of a line circling in the air round my unfortunate head. "By your leave!" would cry another, jamming me, most certainly without my consent, against the bulwarks, and making me feel as flat as a pancake all over. So, first pushed this way and then driven that, and mauled about generally, I got forced away by degrees from the forward part of the deck, where I had taken up a position in the thick of the fray, back again to my original starting-point, the p.o.o.p; and here, now, ensconcing myself by the taffrail at the extreme end of the vessel, I thought there was no danger of anyone asking me to get out of the way or move on any further, unless they shoved me overboard altogether.

CHAPTER FOUR.

DOWN THE RIVER.

I remained for some time very quiet on the p.o.o.p, for Mr Mackay was too busy giving his orders, first as we worked out of dock and, afterwards, in directing the steersman, when we were under way, to notice me; and seeing him so occupied, of course I did not like to speak to him.

I did not like to talk to Adams either for he was equally busy, besides which I did not know him then; and the same obstacle prevented my entering into conversation with the fat man in the oilskin, although I felt sure he could tell me a lot I wanted to know, I having a thousand questions simmering in my mind with reference to the s.h.i.+p and her belongings, and all that was going on around me on board the Silver Queen, in and on the river, and on either sh.o.r.e.

Still, I had plenty to interest me, even without speaking, my thoughts being almost too full, indeed, for words; for, the varied and ever- varying panorama through which we were moving was very new and strange to one like myself who had never been on board a vessel of any sort before, never sailed down the river Thames, never before seen in all its glory that marvellous waterway of all nations.

I was in ecstasies every moment at the world of wonders in which I now found myself;--the forests of masts rising over the acres of s.h.i.+pping in the East and West India docks away on our right, looking like the trunks of innumerable trees huddled together, and stretching for miles and miles as far as the eye could see; the deafening din of the hammermen and riveters, hammering and riveting the frames of a myriad iron hulls of vessels building in the various s.h.i.+pwright yards along the river bank from Blackwall to Purfleet; the shriek of steam whistles in every key from pa.s.sing steamers that seemed as if they would come into collision with us each moment, they sheered by so dangerously near; the constant succession of wharfs and warehouses, and endless rows of streets and terraces on both sides of the stream; the thousands of houses joined on to other houses, and buildings piled on buildings, forming one endless ma.s.s of ma.s.sive bricks and mortar, with the river stealing through it like a silver thread, that reached back, behind, up the stream to where, in the dim perspective, the dome of Saint Paul's, rising proudly above a circlet of other church spires, stood out in relief against the bright background of the crimson sky glowing with the reflection of the setting sun just sinking in the west,--all making me wonder where the people came from who lived and toiled in the vast city, whose outskirts only I saw before me, seemingly boundless though my gaze might be.

All this flashed across me; but most wonderful of all to me was the thought that my dream of months past was at length realised; and that here I was actually on board a real s.h.i.+p, going towards the sea as fast as the staunch little Arrow tug could tow us down the river, aided by a good tide running under us three knots the hour at least.

It was almost incredible; and, unable to contain myself any longer I felt I must speak to somebody at all hazards.

My choice of this "somebody," however, was a very limited one, for Mr Mackay and the mysterious man in the oilskin coat, and Adams, the steersman, the only persons on the p.o.o.p besides myself, were all too busy to talk to me; albeit the former good-naturedly gave me an occasional kindly glance, as if he wished me to understand that his silence was not owing to any unfriendliness, or intended to make me "keep my distance," as I might otherwise have thought.

As for Mr Saunders, the second mate, he had dived down the companion way into the cuddy below as soon as we had got out into the river and were in tow of the tug; and was probably now engaged in finis.h.i.+ng his interrupted dinner, as his services were no longer required on deck.

Matthews, the biggest of the three young fellows who had come up with him to help unmoor the s.h.i.+p and warp out of dock, had also followed his example in the most praiseworthy fas.h.i.+on.

Jerrold, the other youth, in company with the lanky boy of my own size were still hovering about, though neither had spoken to me; and the two were just now having a chat together by the door of the after-deckhouse, which Mr Mackay had pointed out to me as set apart for the accommodation of us "middies," or apprentices, although I had not yet had an opportunity of inspecting its interior arrangements.

But, strange to say, the noisy gangs of men, who had been only a short time before bustling about the deck below, rus.h.i.+ng from the forecastle aft and then back again, and pulling and hauling and shoving everywhere, so effectively as to push me to the other end of the s.h.i.+p and almost overboard, seemed to have disappeared in almost as unaccountable a fas.h.i.+on as the man in the oilskin had made his appearance.

Beyond this latter gentleman, therefore, and Mr Mackay, and Adams the steersman--to whom I was going to speak once only Mr Mackay shook his head--and my fellow apprentices on the main-deck below, I could only see Tim Rooney forward, with a couple of sailors helping him to range the cable in long parallel rows along the deck fore and aft, the trio lifting the heavy links by the aid of chain-hooks and turning it over with a good deal of clanking, so as to disentangle the links and make it all clear for running out without fouling through the hawse-hole when the anchor was let go.

The boatswain looked quite as busy as Mr Mackay, if not more so, his work being more noisy at any rate; but he wore so good-humoured an expression on his face, and had made friends so nicely with me after our little difficulty when I first came on board, that I thought I really could do no great harm in speaking to him and asking him to solve some of the difficulties that were troubling me about everything.

So resolving, I made my way down the p.o.o.p ladder for the third time, pa.s.sing my fellow apprentices, who did not speak, though the lanky one, Sam Weeks, put out his tongue at me very rudely; and, at last I came to where Rooney was standing by the windla.s.s bitts below the topgallant forecastle.

"Hullo, Misther Gray-ham!" he cried on seeing me approach, "I was jist a wondtherin' how long ye'd be acting skipper on the p.o.o.p! You looked all forlorn up there, ma bouchal, loike Pat's pig whin he shaved it, thinkin' to git a crop o' wool off av its back. Aren't ye sorry now ye came to say, as I tould ye--hey?"

"Not a bit of it," said I stoutly. "I'm more glad than ever now that I came; and I wouldn't go back on sh.o.r.e if I could."

"Be jabers, that's more'n you'll say, me bhoy, a fortnight hince!" he retorted with a grim chuckle, while the other men grinned in appreciation of the remark. "Sure now, though, there's no good anyhow in fore-tastin' matthers, as the ould jintleman aid whin he onhitched the rope from off his nick which he was agoin' to hang himsilf wid. Is there innythin' I can do in the manetoime to oblige ye, Misther Gray- ham?"

"I wish you would tell me a lot of things," I replied eagerly.

"Be aisy, me darlint," he rejoined in his funny way; "an' if ye can't be aisy, be as aisy as ye can! Now, go on ahid wid ye'r foorst question--'one dog, one bone,' as me ould friend Dan'l sez."

"Well, what have become of all the sailors?" I asked to begin with.

"The sailors? Why, here we are, sure, all aloive an' kickin'! What do ye take me an' me lazy mates here for, ma bouchal?"

"Oh, but I mean all those men you were ordering about when I first came on board," I said.

"Bedad, my hearty, there's no doubt but ye ought for to go to say, as ye aid y'rsilf," rejoined the boatswain indignantly. "It shows how grane yez are to misthake a lot av rowdy rapscallion dock loompers for genuine Jack Tars! Them fellers were ownly the stevedores, hired at saxpence the hour to load the s.h.i.+p; an' they wint off in a brace av shakes, as you must have sayn for y'rsilf, whin their job was done! No, me bhoy, them weren't the proper sort av sh.e.l.lbacks. There's ownly fower raal sailors, as ye call's 'em, now aboard, barrin' Misther Mackay and the second mate; an' them's Adams over thar aft at the wheel, these two idle jokers here beside me, the s.h.i.+p's bhoy, an' thin mesilf--though, faix, me modesty forbids me say'n it, sure!"

"And are you really the only sailors on board?" I said, much surprised at this piece of information, being under the impression that the others had all gone below.

"Iv'ry ha'porth," he answered; "that is, lavin' out ye're brother middies, or 'foorst-cla.s.s apprentices' loike y'rsilf, Misther Gray-ham-- faix, though, they aren't sailors yit by a long shot. There's that Portygee stooard, too, that the cap'an's got sich a fancy for, I'm sure I can't till why, as he's possissed av the timper av ould Nick himsilf, an' ain't worth his salt, to me thinkin'!"

"And is that the captain up there now with Mr Mackay?" I asked.

"That the skipper? Bless ye, no, me lad--that's ownly the river pilot!"

"Where is the captain, then?" was my next query, without stopping to think.

"By the powers, ye bates Bannagher for axin' quistions, Misther Gray- ham!" cried Tim, amused at my cross-examination of him--just as if he were in a court of justice, as he afterwards said when he brought up the matter one day.--"Sure, how can I till where he or any other mother's son is that I can't say before my eyes? I can till you, though, where I belaives him to be this blissid minnit; an' that is, by the 'Crab an'

Lobster' at Gravesend, lookin' out for to say if he can say the Silver Quane a-sailin' down the sthrame."

"And will he come on board there?" I asked.

"Arrah, will a dook swim?" replied the boatswain in Irish fas.h.i.+on. "Av coorse he will, in a brace av shakes. Ould Jock Gillespie ain't the sort av skipper to lit the gra.s.s grow under his cawbeens, whin he says his s.h.i.+p forninst him!"

"Oh, he'll come on board at Gravesend," I repeated after him, my mind greatly relieved; for I had been much concerned as to how and when the captain would make his appearance as well as the remainder of the crew, having read enough about s.h.i.+ps to know that the Silver Queen could not well be navigated with such a small number of hands as were only in her then. "And will he bring any more sailors with him?"

"Aye, sonny, the howl bilin' av the crew, barrin' us chaps here alriddy.

Yis, an' our say pilot will come aboord there, the river one lavin' us there."

"I'm glad of that," I said. "I thought there weren't enough on board to sail the s.h.i.+p, with only you four men and the boy who struck the bell!"

"Did ye? Then, sure, ye've got the makin's av a sailor in yez afther all, as Misther Mackay aid whin he foorst clapped eyes on ye. An', sure, it's now me toorn to be afther axin' quistions, me bhoy--don't ye feel peckish loike?"

"Peckish?" I echoed, unable to understand him.

"Now, don't go on loike an omadhawn, an' make me angry, as ye did at foorst," he cried. "I mane are yez houngry? For I don't belaive you've hid a bit insoide yer little carcase since ye came aboord this forenoon; an' we're now gittin' through the foorst dog-watch."

I declare I never thought of it before, but, now he mentioned it, I did feel hungry--very much so, indeed, not having tasted a morsel since the hasty meal that morning before leaving home; when, as might be supposed, I did not have over much of an appet.i.te, with the consciousness that it might possibly be the last time I should breakfast with father and mother and sister Nell. The parting with Tom did not affect me much, as he had got priggish and rather above a boy like me since he had been to Oxford.

"By the powers!" exclaimed the kind Irishman when I confessed to feeling "peckish," as he called it, telling him I had not had anything since eight o'clock that morning, "ye must be jist famished, me poor gossoon; an' if I'd been so long without grub, why it's atin' me grandfather I'd be, or my wife's sister's first coosin, if I had one! But, now I've got this cable snug, jist you come along o' me, me bhoy, an' we'll say what that Portygee stooard hez lift in his panthry; for I've got no proper mess yit an' have to forage in the cabin."

"I thought you said, though, he was bad tempered," I observed as I followed the boatswain along the deck towards the door opening into the cuddy from the main-deck under the break of the p.o.o.p, and only used generally by the steward and cook going to and from the galley forward, the other entrance by the companion way, direct down from the p.o.o.p, being reserved for the captain and officers, as a rule. "Perhaps he'll say he has nothing left, now that the others have all had their dinner?"

I said this rather anxiously; for, now that I came to think of eating at all, I felt all the hungrier, although until Tim asked me the question I had not once thought about the matter, nor experienced the slightest qualm from that neglected little stomach he had pitied!

"Bedad, whatsomedever he may say, me lad, he'll have to git somethin'

for us to ate, an' purty sharp too, if he's forced to fry that oogly ould mahogany face av his!"

So saying, Tim entered the door of the pa.s.sage leading into the cuddy, which seemed very dark coming in from the open deck, and was all the darker as we proceeded, the skylight in the p.o.o.p having been covered over to protect the gla.s.s-work while the s.h.i.+p was loading in the dock, and the tarpaulin not having been yet taken off.

It was like going from the day into the night at one jump; but, after fumbling after my leader for a step or two, almost feeling my way and stumbling over the coaming at the entrance, placed there to prevent the water the s.h.i.+p might take in over the side when at sea from was.h.i.+ng in from the main-deck, I all at once found myself in a wide saloon stretching the whole length of the after part of the s.h.i.+p, with a series of small cabins on either side and two larger ones at the end occupying the stern-sheets. The doors of the latter, however, were closed so that no light came through the slanting windows that opened out on either side of the rudder-post, above which is usually fitted what is called the stern gallery on board of an East Indiaman or man-of-war.

The skylight above being now blocked up and the ports and side scuttles closed, the cuddy was only dimly illuminated by a couple of gla.s.s bull's-eyes let into the deck above, and one of the swinging lamps that were suspended at intervals over the long table that occupied the centre of the saloon, the rest being untrimmed and only this one lit.