Morley Roberts

“ He swaggered as if he were an old salt, and had been pickled in the year of Trafalgar.
'All these brutes forward are sick, Captain Scantlebury,' said Bertie haughtily. 'They are a lot of useless scum—aw. Those that aren't ill don't know a horse from a mule, and those that know a mule from a horse are too ill to know themselves from a bale of hay.'
'Don't be too hard on 'em, sir,' urged the old skipper. 'This won't last long, and when they get over bein' sick, they'll be all right.'
'If I was as soft—aw—as you want me to be,' said Bertie, 'they'd walk over the lot of us. ”

“ But in the Scanderbeg Wood was talking to Mr. Boden.
'All right, Mr. Boden,' said he, 'set the foresail and let us draw ahead. I'll not put up with this. We shall be starving in reality in three days. We'll get even as soon as ever the sea goes down.'
And somehow it got to the men for'ard that the situation was not to last. They ate pease pudding with loathing and smoked heavily.
'We relies on the old man,' they said. 'Oh, what a blighter old Balaam is.'
They kept a mile or two ahead of the Cormorant all that day, and when night fell again the sea was fairly calm and the sky clear. ”

“ He led the way back to the boat, and under the wondering eye of the skipper, which was just then glued to a telescope, they embarked and rowed back like a funeral procession.
'Captain Balaam has taken all the provisions, sir,' said the mate.
'All?'
'Every biscuit, sir.'
'Get the anchor up and make sail,' said the skipper. He went below, and when he came on deck again the Scanderbeg was standing out to sea.
'Muster the men aft, Mr. Briggs,' said Captain Wood. And when they came aft the old man addressed them. The pith of his address lay in the tail of it. ”

“ But Connie Ryder went on board the Battle-Axe to see if she could not induce her husband's cousin to forgo the advantage he had already gained before sailing. She found him dark and grim, and as hard as adamant.
'A bet's a bet, and business is business,' said Watchett. 'We app'inted to-morrow, and bar lying out a gale from the north with two anchors down, and cables out to the bitter end, I'll sail.'
His wife, who was as meek as milk, suggested humbly that it would be more interesting if he waited. ”

“ The men were happy, for the fo'c'sle didn't leak, and the galley-fire was kept going every night to dry their clothes. At midnight every man got a mug of cocoa, and those that rose up called Mrs. Ryder blessed, and those that lay down agreed with them. The Star was a happy ship. There was no rule against playing the concertina on a Sunday in her fo'c'sle, and the men were not reduced to playing 'blind swaps' with their oldest rags for amusement as they were in the Battle-Axe. And yet every man in the Star knew his time for growling was coming on with every pitch and scend of the sea. ”

“ And the men went out feeling that for once they had a captain who understood men a little. There was not one of them who did not make up his mind to keep sober and stay by the Oriana. And as a crew is a crowd, and with the obstinate affections of a crowd, the initial direction given to their thoughts persisted long. The runners were given the cold shoulder, and every suggestion they made was looked on as a trap. The men followed Jacobs and Hillyer, who both had some knowledge of Portland. ”

“ Captain Balaam went below and called to the steward.
'Bunting, rum!' said Balaam, and Bunting, who was as white as spindrift with terror, brought it. Balaam went to sleep calmly, and left matters to Briggs and Creak. The worst having come to the worst, being left to themselves, they proved to be men. ”

“ Even in collapse a gleam came in Arizona's eye.
'Don't you kick me, Bertie, or I'll kill you when I'm well,' he said.
And Forder came along just in time to prevent Bertie doing what he said. Forder grabbed him by the arm.
'You don't know what you're aimin' at, sir,' said Forder. 'Do you reckon they'll be sick the whole passage, Mr. Fortescue? If you want to kick any one, go and kick a Dutchman.'
Bertie wrenched his arm loose.
'Confound you, sir, let go my arm! What the devil do you mean by interfering with me, sir? I'll sack you in Cape Town the very moment we get there. ”

“ And that man-drowning tank we was in lies a thousand fathoms deep to the west of Volcano.'
He didn't speak for a while, and when he did his voice was calmer.
'Don't think, sir, that I'd ha' complained of the common fortunes of the sea. Men are drowned, they go overboard, silent it may be, or they drop from aloft howling awful, and in the smother of a wreck when the sea's a wild beast, it's the lot of men to go. I've seen fire at sea, sir, and death in many shapes, sudden and slow, killing and fever. ”

“ He went through the crowd as if he didn't see them, walked up the brow to the 'tween-decks, and presently found himself outside his cabin on the spar deck. He nodded and said 'ha,' and found the order of the wooden gun. He dropped it inside the cabin and went for'ard to the bridge. Old Scantlebury waddled to him.
'Ain't it a lovely heavenly night, sir?' said the 'old man.' 'And going along so peaceful, while the stars shine on us. Are the horses all right, and the men?'
'They're—all right,' said Bertie. He seemed so silent that the skipper said no more. ”

“ With the wind astern when they squared away with Cape Horn frowning to the nor'west, the Star was a shooting star, as they said for'ard.
'If we could on'y carry a gale like this right to the Line we'd 'ave a pull over the Battle-Axe, ma'am,' said Silas Bagge, an old fo'c'sle-man, who was Mrs. Ryder's favourite among all the crew. He was a magnificent old chap, with a long white beard, which he wore tucked inside a guernsey, except in fine weather.
'But we can't; there'll be the Trades,' said the captain's wife dolorously. ”

“ But it was a far more extraordinary coincidence that her crew were in danger of starvation. As Captain Wood did not drink, his steward did. It seems necessary that some one shall at sea, and though it is usually the skipper, who has no one to control him, it excites no surprise to find that the steward does. This particular specimen of a hard-worked individual went into the lazarette with an uncovered candle, sampled some rum, which was forty over proof, and fell asleep to wake in a world where we are led to believe drink is scarce, though smoking is permitted. ”

“ Boys, I have done.'
'Bully for you,' said the Major, 'I'll take the eyeglass.'
And the ingenious orator went on deck with his fellow-conspirators to take the evening air, and commune with the genial and gentlemanly stokers. The cinder-shifters owned with much amazement that the most promising Whitechapel hero with the fire-rake was not a patch on the chief ruffians from Louisiana and Texas. They admired Arizona wonderfully, were marvellously civil to Ben Wilkins, who was a murderous devil in his heart, and sat at the feet of 'Mizzoura' Jack and Seth Graves, his partner. ”

“ The whole of the front of the poop had been burst in by the sea, and a big hole driven by the mizzen-topmast into the deck right through the poop and main deck into the lazarette. Into that there went so much water that anything not in tins was unfit to eat. And now all the pork and beef, save that in the harness casks, was found to be rotten.
'Great Scott!' said Briggs. The crew of the Cormorant anticipated starvation and had huge appetites. But they bore up well. A day ahead is enough for men of the sea. Charlie Baker took hold of the boys and felt them all over to see if they were fat. ”

“ As the men who knew were naturally the bosses by birth and education, having been mostly born in Texas and educated on the prairie, the unlearned learned because they had to. It was not an unhappy ship for the horses, even though Bertie knew as much about them as he did about men. What was due to Arizona and Ben Wilkins and half a dozen others he put down to himself. And he was much surprised at the peculiar change which came over the whole horse crowd as soon as they ran into good weather and went along on an even keel. ”

“ We come from the calm prairies of Texas and sunny Arizona, where peace flourishes for ever and no man dies without askin' for death, except in some fatal instances that may be looked on as accidents. We are all sorts here, Texans, Arizonians, Californians, Henglishmen, Kanucks, Mexicanos, but all serenely devoted to the cause of peace. Who's the disturbing influence here, waltzing round with a gun, boys?'
'Bertie is,' said the crowd unanimously. ”

“ Ticehurst!'
He called a quiet informal meeting of the genial blood-suckers who regulate the price of sailors in a so-called civilised city; and the crimps assembled in his back parlour, where many scoundrelly schemes had been hatched.
'He's come to fight,' said Healy, 'and what I propose is to give him so much of it that he'll sicken and quit. The first thing right now is to put prices up. I vote we make it a hundred and sixty dollars a man.'
He proposed to charge the skipper of any merchant ship £32 a head for any man he shipped. ”

“ Both vessels hailed from the same port of registry; they both traded to Australia, and mostly to Melbourne; they were owned by related rivals, and manned for the most part by men who knew each others' home affairs. It was no wonder that when the Cormorant was re-masted, as she had been previously under-sparred, the Scanderbeg's crew was very greatly excited. Up to the present time their ship had made the best passages, and now Balaam had announced that he meant to lick the Scanderbeg by a ruddy ensanguined crimson month.
'You're an ignorant old ass, and can't do it,' said Captain Wood. ”

“ Yet he knew those waters of Marah well.
'We was in a rotten old steamer, sir, them and me. Jack was my elder, and a fine big chap, good as gold, and as brave and strong as a lion; a real seaman, such as one don't meet nowadays. He mostly sailed in windjammers, but he was one of those that like to see things, and he had a fancy to potter round the Mediterranean once in a way. He'd read a lot at sea one passage in a Green's ship that had a fair pile of books in her for the crowd for'ard, and he'd a fancy to see Italy and Greece. ”

“ Arizona had the floor, so to speak. He was very fluent.
'Boys,' said Arizona, 'air we all in this?'
'To bee sure!' said Ben Wilkins, 'the man that ain't goes out with the muck next mucking-out, if I'm any authority on the doings in this ole packet!'
'Don't discourage any of us,' said Arizona. 'Ben, you're too fiery. I've known men that'd die sooner than be encouraged your way. Your talk inspires a sperrit of rebellion in the brave. Let us confine ourselves to the programme which is entitled as a drayma, "The Takin' Down of Bertie." ”

“ Bertie Fortescue was twenty-three, he weighed twelve stone, was rather fatter than he should have been, and wore an eyeglass. His father was good to him, his mother spoiled him, he had not been to a public school, and had never had a thrashing in his life. He believed in himself, in clothes and money, and imagined he was born to rule men. He was trying, it was for the first time, in the steamship Pilgrim of 6000 tons register, owners Fortescue and Son of Liverpool, bound from New Orleans to Cape Town with a cargo of mules and horses for the British Government. ”

“ For we're very peaceful and worships peace, and hates to die.'
'Go—go to the devil!' said Bertie. 'Confound you, let me pass.'
For now there were at least thirty men round him, and some of the stokers who were off duty stood in the background roaring with laughter.
'Make him hand over his gun, Bill,' said Ben, edging closer.
'We'd like to look at it to see if it's a real gun, sir,' said Arizona, with a very taking air of simplicity. 'Some of us reckons it's real, and some says your dad heeled you with a wooden one to scare a timid lot of boys from Arizona and Texas and Louisiana. ”

“ Watchett was very sick with the whole meteorology of the universe, and being a whole-souled man incapable of more than one animosity at a time, he found no time to spare from damning a heaven of brass to damn Ryder. ”

“ And then the young fellow, who certainly did not lack courage, made a bolt for the biggest gang, and naturally caught the slowest of the lot, who was a very harmless Dutchman. He knocked him down and pulled out his 'gun.' There was a dead silence for a moment, and then Arizona stepped up to him.
'What are you producin' that very fine weepon for?' he asked.
And Bertie roared—
'This is mutiny—mutiny!'
'Don't get excited, sir,' said Arizona; 'don't get flighty or flurried. With a tough and horrid crowd like this always keep cool. ”

“ Potts?' said Smith.
'I'd very much rather not, sir,' replied Geordie. 'I'm very happy here, sir, and takin' it all round, the Patriarch's a comfortable ship, sir. May I go for'ard now, sir?'
He made a step for the cabin door.
'Oh dear, oh dear,' said old Smith, 'you mustn't. You must have a berth here, and be a passenger.'
The skipper's obvious nervousness was not without its effect upon the new owner. For old Smith knew that if he lost his present billet he was not likely to find another one, and he had nothing saved to speak of. ”