Oliver Optic

“ I don’t feel like turning away from my plan yet. I love the sea.”
[35] “But with all the money your uncle will leave you, can’t you sail all over the world in your own yacht; and that yacht a steamer like the American Prince, or a full-rigged ship like the Young America? What are you talking about?”
“But I want to finish my course in the Tritonia; and, if you won’t laugh at me, I mean to be the captain of her before she reaches the shores of the United States,” said Tom, with enthusiasm.
“Oh, murther! is that what’s the matter wid you?” ejaculated O’Hara, with a laugh. ”

“ But Pierre had an opinion of his own in regard to the key; and he positively refused to give it up. Gregory began to feel the effects of the strong Burgundy in his head, for he could not carry off a whole tumbler of it without being fearfully shaken in his upper works. He felt the need of fresh air; for the hold was hot from the furnaces. He tottered back by the way he had come, followed by Pierre, who was evidently assured that he had made a friend of the first officer of the steamer, and that was almost as good as securing an alliance with the captain. ”

“ I thought I would stay up till you have communicated with the Tritonia,” replied Tom. “Have you noticed any thing strange about the young lady on board, O’Hara?”
“Upon me sowl, I haven’t, except that she is as pretty a girl as I have set eyes on for seven years; and that’s saying a great dale,” answered the captain.
“Don’t joke, please, just now, O’Hara. I think something ails the young lady; and I’m afraid it’s something serious,” added Tom.
“You don’t mane it! What could ail a girl as pretty as she is?”
Tom took five minutes to tell what he had observed in the cabin. ”

“ But you forget that we have no engineers on board of the Tritonia to run the engine,” suggested O’Hara.
“I will run the engine myself. I never went to sea much, but I have run an engine on a river and bay steamer enough to understand the business,” replied the American Prince. “If you will find firemen, I will look out for the engine.”
“I will report all you say to the captain.”
“Let me see: you have a vice-principal, or something of that sort, in each of the consorts. Of course he will direct in this matter.” ”

“ The Italians, who were off duty, went to their quarters under the forecastle. O’Hara did not like the way they behaved, and he directed Shakings to keep a close watch over them.
“Have you heard any thing of the rest of the fleet, Speers?” asked the captain, as he joined the second officer on the poop-deck.
“I have not; and the fog is thicker than ever,” replied Speers. “Have you looked at the barometer lately? It feels like bad weather to me. The sea seems to have an ugly look, what we can see of it.” ”

“ Frisbone. “Tom’s head is not one of the sort to be turned by money, or any thing else. He will do more good with that fortune than his uncle ever did; and I thank God it has fallen into good hands.”
“Let us hope so.”
“And believe so; for I know the young man through and through.”
“This is a fine steamer you have, Mr. Frisbone,” added the principal, looking about the cabin.
“It is a fine steamer you have, Mr. Lowington,” yelled the Prince, in his loudest tone. “She belongs to you, every timber and bolt in her! she was saved by your boys, or she would have gone to the bottom. ”

“ Frisbone disappeared in the engine-room, and Tom went forward. He had a long talk with O’Hara about the adventure of the night, in which the captain did not spare the praise he felt that the bold fellow deserved.
“Upon my sowl, the Prince would make you a rich man if he could; but, by the powers, you have got ahead of him, and it’ll be no use. You are richer than he is, and he can’t do any thing for you in that way.” ”

“ Tom’s secret had come out in spite of the vigilance with which he had guarded it. The sprigs of nobility made themselves very intimate with him; and all the students wanted to know about it, for most of them could recollect how careful he was of the small store of money he possessed.
“A millionnaire, is he?” said Gregory, in the state-room, for the open-work above the door enabled him to hear every word that was said in that part of the cabin. “And he is a great crony with O’Hara.”
“I should like to get in with such a fellow,” replied Clinch. “But what are we going to do with ourselves? ”

“ It is only fair to let the first and third officers know, if they object to any thing, that they are kicking against the senior vice-principal, and not against you,” continued Tom, as sagely as though he was a fit judge to settle a case between his captain and an officer above himself. ”

“ Tom thought it might be possible that his friend the captain had been just a little “airy” in his dealings with the two officers from the Josephine, though he had never noticed any thing of the kind in O’Hara while they had been together in the steamer. Such an exhibition would not be very remarkable in a young man, placed in command of a steamer with the arbitrary control of thirty of his companions. He was determined to caution his friend in regard to the manifestation of any thing that could be construed into an overbearing or domineering spirit. ”

“ But not a word will I spake till I have your permission to do so.”
“Thank you, O’Hara: I am sure we shall be good friends.”
“You may bet your life on that! You are a broth of a boy, with five or six millions, more or less, in your trousers-pocket; and you may depind upon it, I’ll stick to you like a brother,” said O’Hara, with a wild laugh.
“Don’t consider me an heir till we have further information. But we were very good friends before I read this message to you.”
“Faix, we were!” ”

“ Fairfield sent me to see what had become of Stokes,” said Lawring, as he came into the mess-room.
“Well, you see, don’t you?” leered Gregory, whose head was buzzing as though it contained a circular saw in motion. “Here, Lawring, you are a good fellow.”
The first officer took the second bottle of Burgundy from the locker (for the first was empty by this time) , and filled the glass on the table. Clinch looked out of the window on the deck to warn his companion of the approach of any one who might interfere with their pastime. But no one disturbed them. ”

“ O’Hara,” interposed the young hero.
“Oh! you are not on duty now; and you needn’t measure off your words into lengths with me just now,” said O’Hara, with a laugh.
[199] “Do you think Gregory is discontented?” asked Tom.
“If his words come from his heart, he is; but that is his fault,” replied the captain very lightly. “If he don’t like the arrangement of the watches, he can’t help himself; for I am the commander of this ship.” ”

“ WALKS AND TALKS ABOUT THE CANARY ISLANDS. AS soon as the lecture of Mr. Mapps was ended, all hands were allowed to go on shore. The elegant barge of the Marian had gone directly from the American Prince to the landing-place, having on board Don Roderigue and his daughter. The boat was pulled by four seamen with a coxswain in the stern, all attired in holiday uniforms; and the barge was fitted up as gayly as a festive gondola in the Grand Canal of Venice, for the young lady and her father.
“Here we are!” exclaimed Lieut. Scott, as he stepped on the shore with Capt. Wainwright. ”

“ You are getting things mixed up with them lords and dooks on this side of the ocean,” continued the Prince reproachfully. “I call myself an American Prince; and I don’t eat dirt before any man, and I don’t like to see other princes do it.”
“It is the first duty of an American sailor to be respectful to his betters; and I use the lingo I learned, because I am in the habit of doing so when I see a man do a handsome thing, as your honor always does,” said Shakings with a laugh. ”

“ Greenwood was first lieutenant again; and his name was well received by the ship’s company. Scott, who had been fourth lieutenant during the preceding month, came in as second; and, as the joker had always been a favorite, his promotion produced a very decided sensation.
“I congratulate you, Mr. Scott,” said the vice-principal, with a smile.
“Thank you, sir. For the good of the Tritonia, I am glad this thing has happened,” replied the joker.
“Modesty is a cardinal virtue,” added Mr. Pelham. ”

“ The course was true south till seven o’clock in the morning, when the Salvages, a group of islands with [257] very rocky and dangerous surroundings, bore to the eastward; and then the fleet was headed to the east south-east. The islands looked barren and forbidding.
“Land, sharp on the weather-bow!” shouted the lookout on the top-gallant forecastle of the Tritonia.
“Land!” exclaimed Scott, who had the deck. “There is no land within a hundred miles in that direction. The lookout has a gravel-stone in his eye, and thinks it is an island.” ”

“ He knew that the captain had a habit of prowling about the deck at all hours of the night, as well as of the day; and for this reason he felt obliged to keep on his feet during the remainder of his watch, for it would have ruined [237] him to have the commander find him asleep at his post. He did not consider the Burgundy experiment a success.
Gregory slept like a log in his state-room till eight o’clock, when all hands were called. He got out of his berth with an aching head, and was as cross as a spoiled child. He went to breakfast ”

“ It won’t look regular if he don’t,” protested Sir Philip. “I don’t see any way to get Clinch out of the steamer, unless we get him into the boat in some manner before you and Fillgrove get in. You can manage that better than I can; for you know the rules of your bloody ships, and I do not.”
“Shakings overlooks every boat that comes to the steamer, or leaves it. We couldn’t get Clinch into the boat any more than we could get the engine into it,” replied Gregory. ”

“ Hastily putting on his pea-jacket, he went on deck.
All hands gazed earnestly at him as he appeared, and watched his movements with intense interest. The vice-principal was not on board, and Capt. Wainwright was the supreme authority. Mr. Primback, the senior professor, who was nominally the head of the institution in the absence of the vice-principal, knew [60] no more about a ship, or about nautical matters, than a man that had never seen the ocean. The adult boatswain and carpenter were seamen, and were competent advisers; but they were without authority in the absence of Mr. Pelham. ”

“ It reminds me of Greece, where the hills are red and barren. There appears to be no room for the cultivation of any thing on this island, as you look at it from the sea; for we cannot see any thing of its beautiful valleys and plains enclosed by mountains. ”

“ Frisbone,” added O’Hara. “I think we are all in condition to appreciate good living. What are you going to do with this steamer after you have returned us all to the vessels of the squadron?”
“That will be for the principal to say. The steamer belongs to him, and not to me; for it was one of his squadron that picked her up,” replied the Prince. “I think he had better use her as one of the vessels of his fleet, and sell out his sailing-vessels. It won’t be many years before sails, except with steam, will go out of fashion.” ”

“ The title of the book, “Isles of the Sea,” indicates the character of the foreign travel in which the students of the institution were engaged; and in the pursuit of knowledge they visit the Madeira Islands, the Canaries, the Azores, the Bermudas, and one vessel of the fleet extends its cruise to the Cape Verd Islands. As in its predecessors, the professor of geography and history has something to say about each of the islands visited, and the surgeon and sanitary officer continues to enlighten the young gentlemen who seek his companionship in their rambles on shore. ”

“ The judge had come to England in his steam-yacht in order that he might follow the academy squadron, if, as he feared, it had left Europe on its return voyage to America.
“Give me your hand, Speers!” said O’Hara with enthusiasm. “I was dead sure your uncle had made a millionnaire of you!”
“I was rather afraid he had,” replied Tom moodily, as he glanced at the letter again. “He gives me no particulars of the death of my uncle, or in relation to the fortune.”
“Upon my sowl, you are the quarist mortal that iver came into the world, or will iver go out of it after getting quare in it. ”

“ The views in the Bermudas are peculiar. The little islands look like so many green hillocks rising out of the water; and much of the scenery is quite rugged. There is an island off there, with a little white cottage upon it. For my part, I think there is nothing more lovely in the world; and if we could have the society of the States, as they call [364] our country, I should spend the rest of my days here.”
The party landed from the boat, and Wainwright and Scott joined them. ”