William Clark Russell

“ After twenty years of working like a dog at sea, all that Robert Ridley had to show in the shape of "effect*" was comprised In a small sea-chest half full of clothes and a suit of oilskins, with perhaps a matter of eight pounds lodged in a Postoffice savings bank.
No! My friend Bob Ridley gained an independence not through old ocean—that most beggarly of callings—but through an uncle who had been an Italian warehouseman, and who left the worthy fellow, to his astonishment and joy, the handsome sum (to an able seaman) of six thousand pounds. ”

“ When thirst comes on you must grin and bear it, for once you begin to drink sea water you're doomed. It'll transform you Into raving, screeching lunatics, and in your madness you'll as likely as not fall foul of some of your messmates as a famished beast would of a fat sheep. ”

“ I kept Wescott at the bow of the boat, so I could have my eye on him. Next to me was the steward—never a strong man and hence the first to sink lifeless in a heap on the bottom of the boat.
"We had been washing about for three days. Hunger was beginning to give our faces that wild haggard look which robs the human countenance of all traces of a soul and leaves nothing behind but the dull distrustful glare of the animal. ”

“ That huge beast in human form with a rapid motion bent the steward's head back and then set those terrible teeth of his into the poor man's throat. In an instant I was upon him! My own strength and vigor astounded me, but although I rained blow after blow upon the mulatto's head with the butt of my pistol, it had no more effeet than the tapping of a lady's gloved hand. ”

“ I went chiefly on coasting trips, and was absent for short spells only, and lodging as I did with my sister when I was ashore, never did mortal man from the most loving of wives or mothers, from the most affectione of fathers or brothers, receive such a welcome home as I did from Jackson. ”

“ But a derelict is nearlv always a mystery when there's nobody left alive to tell the story. As much a mystery was it, too, why that there dog should have answered to the name of Jackson. Maybe his master was so called. Be this as it will, you had only to call him Jackson to bring him to your feet and convert him to the lovingest beast that over wagged a tail.
"During the week we were aboard the wreck that dog never lost sight of me. He followed at my heels like my own shadow, lay down with me, watched me as if he was human with a powerful intelligence working out imaginations in him. ”

“ There was a bit of a deck-house aft, and most of the men took shelter in it. I was making my way to that structure to join them when the deck blew up amidships, and to save myself from being washed overboard I crawled into the little caboose, and when I was there, feeling horribly lonesome, I thought of Jackson, and putting my head out though the door and whistled on the little silver whistle I used to carry expressly to call him with. ”

“ In their fitful sleep they would dream of coming upon sparkling rills and cool fountains, shaded by far-reaching boughs, heavy wtth dark green foliage, and when about to plunge their red and swollen lips into the cool and limpid pool it would move away from them like a painted curtain drawn slowly aside only to uncover darkness, blackness, nothingness! ”

“ We're in bad way, a very bad way. We haven't any water at all, and only about half a dozen biscuits, half of which are soaked with sea water, but I'll dry them as soon as the sun comes out. It's more than likely that we're in for a long last before we're picked up, but I've been in just such a fix before this and if you'll be patient and follow my instructions to the letter I may save you all. Now, if you don't know, I must tell you one thing and that's this: A man can go without food, or, better said, with an uncommon small allowance, for several days, if he lets sea water alone. ”

“ Any man with that notion in his head should have been aboard of us. The captain himself came forward one day and nailed a horse-shoe to the mast. I remember being weak enough myself to lament that there wasn't a Finn amongst us, so that we might have been able to say 'It's you, mate, that's the cause of these here calms and contrary gales,' and then have locked him up with nothing to eat until he should have been coaxed by famine into correcting his ill-nature and into giving us the breezes we wanted. ”

“ Never did the like of so much intelligence walk on four legs before.
"There came a time when I shipped as second mate and carpenter aboard a coal-man bound to a French port. This gave me a chance to carry Jackson along with me, the skipper not objecting. I had now had the dog about three and half years—perhaps four. He was still an active, beautiful dog with a lovely brown coat of hair, fine as silk, and eyes as expressive as a pretty girl's. It came on to blow after we had left port a few hours, and the weather turned thick as mud in a wine-glass. Wo got the vessel under easy sail ”

“ The mate of her, seeing a black object, put a glass to his eye and instantly spied me waving my arm, whereupon he headed for me, launched a boat and took me aboard. I was the only man saved; the vessel had gone to pieces in the darkness and drowned all the others. That's the little yarn, sir," exclaimed Bob Ridley, knocking the ashes out of his pipe and rising. "Poor old Jackson!" ”

“ He never rose to a higher grade than that of second mate. In which capacity indeed he acted without a certificate, having for the most part of his life sailed in a species of ship upon whose commanders find officers the State makes few or no demands in an educational sense. ”

“ We were nearly a week aboard that vessel before we were taken off. Luckily, there was plenty to eat and drink in her, but she was draining in water and needed constant pump ing, and we feared for our lives should heavy weather set in. That model you see there at the foot of tho obelisk is a true copy of her. ”