William Drysdale

“ Men who had never shown any particular interest in him before, seemed grieved to have him go. He had to shake hands with Mr. Mason and Mr. Hanway, with Tom Haines and his chief, with the steward, even with Chock Cheevers.
In four days more, when in all the glory of bright new uniform he stood on the deck of a faster and handsomer ship, watching once more the hoisting of the flags as she sped by the Sandy Hook signal station, it gave him a start when he saw that the uppermost flag did not bear the familiar number of the North Cape. ”

“ Clark was half way over on the plank, when Kit heard a startled cry.
“Silburn!”
And plank and purser went down together, Mr. Clark disappearing beneath the black water.
Kit saw in an instant what had happened. The end of the plank had slipped from the edge of the opposite bed of pitch.
Mr. Clark, he knew, could not swim; and besides he might come up beneath one of those horrible “mushrooms,” and so almost inevitably be drowned. But Kit was not long in making up his mind what to do. ”

“ Everything was dark as pitch except for the light of a solitary lantern, and by that faint light they saw that in the heavy rolling one of the winches had broken loose and was rolling from side to side of the deck, to the imminent danger of both deck and rail; and men were trying to lasso it with heavy ropes, for no one could approach it without risking his life. While they watched, the winch was caught and secured, and they returned to the cabin.
About two o’clock Captain Griffith came down with the relieved look of a man who had just rid himself of an aching tooth. ”

“ It’s all very well for youngsters like you. But when you come to be my age, or especially my weight, you’ll find that a trifling adventure may mean something serious. To slip into a lake means a bad cold, as I know to my cost; a fall may mean some broken bones. No; adventures are for the young and spry, not for the old and fat.”
“Well, we have certainly had a safe and quiet trip ashore this time, sir,” Kit said, with a laugh, as, once more on deck, they reached the door of their office. “This whole voyage is about as quiet a trip as any one could ask for.” ”

“ Harry declared, “only a good deal worse. They don’t half know how to do things over here. And that’s Buckingham Palace, is it, where the Queen lives? Why, it’s only two stories high, and a basement! Now, Kit, you know as well as I do that this palace ain’t a patch to Mr. Barnum’s house out in Seaside Park, in Bridgeport. No, sir, it doesn’t compare with it.”
“Oh, Harry, you can’t please a fellow who’s determined not to be pleased,” Kit laughed. “When you come to London, you must make up your mind that things are better than anywhere else, and tell the people so. ”

“ Every leaf on every tree is more wonderful than anything that man has done. If we knew half as much as we think we do, there would be no more sickness in the world, because we would have a cure for every disease; no more poverty, for the earth is full of wealth and we should know how to get it out; and instead of merely sending a few dots and dashes by a wire across the ocean, we should be able to see what they are doing over in New York, and talk to them. We may come to that some day.”
“I wish we had come to that now, sir!” Kit exclaimed. ”

“ Vieve cried, throwing her arms about her brother’s neck and nearly choking him. “You? Just for writing out those paper things on a ship? That’s twelve hundred dollars a year! why, Mr. Wright don’t get more than a thousand, I’m sure, and the parsonage; but then you’ll have a sort of parsonage too—at least the ship to live in.”
“Ah! but Mr. Wright don’t travel about with cardinals!” Kit laughed. “That makes all the difference in the world. What do you think of it, mother? It is an important matter, and you are the one to decide it.” ”

“ Kit exclaimed. “That can’t be the man I have been reading about!”
“It is the very man,” the Captain declared. “This restaurant is so old that it was here in his day, and it was his favorite eating-place. And that exact seat where you are sitting was his favorite place, where he sat every day to eat his dinner while he talked with many of the famous men you read of in the book. You see you are on the track of famous people to-day.”
“I feel as if I were a sort of character in a book,” Kit replied, “instead of a real American eating chops and baked potatoes; such chops, too! ”

“ There is no harbor, and the shore slopes off so gradually that no ship can approach the town.
“That must have been as smooth a voyage as ever a ship made,” Kit said to Tom Haines, as they stood by the rail together when the anchor went down. “I didn’t know it ever was so smooth for ten days at a time.”
“The Atlantic is a treacherous old pond,” Tom answered. “To-day it makes you believe it’s only a big lake; to-morrow it knocks you all to pieces. And this is a bad part of the coast we’re on, this south side of the Gulf; when we get any bad weather here, we have to hoist anchor and run to sea. ”

“ So on the cold November night he paid particular attention to the wharf of Martin’s Stores, and visited it so often that no burglar in the neighborhood would have had the least chance.
Patrolman McSweeny had been a Brooklyn policeman long enough to understand all the favorite police ways of stirring out homeless tramps who are so desperately wicked as to go to sleep in the warmest corner they can find. Among such goods as bales of hemp, for instance, he took his long nightclub and jabbed it into all the dark spaces that were wide enough for a boy or man to squeeze into. ”

“ And that was the end of his dream of becoming steward of the North Cape!
“I think I am rather glad than sorry,” he soon said to himself; “but if I had really wanted the place, this would really serve me just right for not making up my mind about it. Chances don’t wait for a fellow if he does not seize them when they offer. So I am still the cabin boy, and will still have a chance to copy the manifests and go ashore to check off cargo. ”

“ The steward, seeing that his game had reached an end, was inclined to laugh over his experiences on the North Cape.
“You’ll be wanting a new steward on the ship, Spooney,” he laughed, “for I’ve accepted a steady situation on shore. I hope you’ll lend your Bible to the next man; I found it awfully comforting. But I guess I’ll not mail that letter to-night to my dear old papa; the old chap was hanged about thirty years ago. I kept your blooming cabin in good shape, anyhow, for a man with a hundred and forty thousand dollars in his satchel.” ”

“ KIT’S CONNECTICUT HOME. THE Huntington stage was the same old weather-beaten stage that Kit had left a month before, but its wheels were gone. Fairfield County, all the way from Bridgeport back to Huntington and beyond, was white with snow, and the frozen roads were packed hard. The body of the stage had been lifted from its wheels and put on runners, and the bells on its two gaunt horses jingled merrily through the Bridgeport streets and over the Connecticut hills.
“My folks all well, Silas?” was the first question that Kit asked when he found the stage nearly ready to start. ”

“ The chief engineer, too, had a good stock of such stories; and Haines spun two or three yarns that kept them in roars of laughter.
“I can’t do my share at this business,” Kit lamented. “I’ve hardly seen a real gale yet, much less had any adventures.”
“That would be no drawback, if you were a real Jack Tar instead of a supercargo,” the Captain said, laughing. “When Jack is short of adventures he invents a few. Some of the imaginary yarns are better than the true ones, too. But you can spin a real yarn some time about the night you were imprisoned in the Castle d’If.” ”

“ As long as there is the least chance, we must not lose hope; and both Captain Griffith and Mr. Ysnard think there is still a possibility of father’s being alive. Of course it is a very slight chance, but still it is a chance, and we must not give up.”
“Oh, Kit, I am so glad to hear you say so!” Vieve exclaimed. “You know that’s what I have always said. And your Captain thinks so too!”
72 “Ah, don’t deceive yourselves, children,” Mrs. Silburn sighed. “How could your father be alive without coming home or even sending us word for nearly a year? And we know that his ship was lost.” ”

“ Kit and the Captain were inclined to laugh at this, considering the purser’s hearty appearance; but his face was as solemn as a judge’s.
“The work seems to agree with you pretty well, sir,” Kit suggested.
“No, it don’t!” the purser declared, giving his knee another sounding slap. “That’s a mistake; work don’t agree with anybody, in spite of all the twaddle about it. I don’t believe in work. My theory is that nobody should have to work at all. Every man should have an income of at least five thousand dollars a year, and live on his money. ”

“ When a ship leaves port, there is only one law for everybody on board, and that is the captain’s orders.”
He paused a moment, and then went on:—
“There is another boy on this ship, the engineers’ mess-room boy. You’ve heard the old saying, I suppose, that one boy is half a boy and two boys are no boy at all. But it’s not so on the North Cape. Each boy has to be a whole boy here, from the top of his head to the soles of his boots. I don’t allow any skylarking, or any quarrelling.”
Kit saw that he was expected to make some reply, so he said, “I will try to please you, sir.” ”

“ Captain Griffith asked at length.
“Not on my account, sir,” Kit replied; “I don’t want to spoil the effect of these great people by looking at a lot of mere kings.”
“You mustn’t mind my young friend’s disparagement of your kings, Mr. Watkins,” the Captain laughed; “he is a thorough young American, and we don’t raise kings over there to any great extent. But it will suit me not to spend any more time here. What do you say to having a look at the town from the top of Primrose Hill, with just a glance into the British Museum as we pass it?” ”

“ I don’t feel so much now as if I had no one to depend upon.”
“Well, the Captain advised me,” Kit modestly answered. “He always knows what ought to be done. You must not set your heart too much upon it, but still there is a chance. Since one man escaped from the wreck of the Flower City, why not another? It will take weeks and weeks, perhaps months, to get an answer from the consul at Wellington; and until it comes, we can do nothing but wait patiently.”
The next morning Kit settled himself in his father’s armchair by the window, with a big volume in his hands. ”

“ And that being the case, how would you like to leave the North Cape and come and work for me?”
“For you, sir?” Kit exclaimed, naturally taken by surprise by the suddenness of the question. “On the Trinidad, do you mean?”
“Well, I mean for my company, of course,” Mr. Clark replied; “but with me, on the Trinidad. You see the situation is this. Our business has increased so much down among those islands, both in passengers and freight, that there is more work for the purser on the Trinidad than any one man ought to be asked to do. I am away behind in my work all the time, and that don’t do. ”

“ Being a mail and passenger boat, you know, she has to make time.”
It was hard work for Kit to go back to the North Cape to say good-by, after his employers had generously released him at once, with many expressions of satisfaction and good will. It was on her that he had changed from a waif on the docks to a cabin boy, and from cabin boy to supercargo. In her cabin he had made his start in life, and every man on board was his friend. He could not bid good-by to Captain Griffith in the cabin and then go away. The crew crowded around him to wish him happiness and prosperity. ”

“ Going to something better is a different matter entirely. I suppose when a United States senator is elected President he doesn’t have any great regrets about leaving his old seat in the Senate Chamber. And it is the same thing with you, in a smaller way. But we know each other, Kit, and though you may leave the ship, we will still be friends. Anyhow, when you are in need of a friend you need not go further than the cabin of the North Cape. ”

“ After a few days Vieve declared that the family reminded her of three kittens, so pleased with everything that they sat around the fire purring.
“You’d better enjoy it while you can,” her father answered. “Kit will soon have to be going back to his ship; and for my part, I’m not going to sit here the rest of my life doing nothing. You needn’t think it. It’s just the time for a man to go to sea again, after being shipwrecked; lightning don’t strike twice in the same place, you know.”
“Oh, Christopher!” Mrs. Silburn exclaimed. ”

“ If the ’buses were taken away, there would be no great crowd in the London streets. So if they had the same modern means of transit that we have in our American cities, fast cable and electric cars and such things, there would be plenty of room.”
“And the public buildings?” the Captain asked.
“Some of them must have been very fine when they were new, sir,” Kit replied; “but they are so dark with smoke and dirt and age that they make a fellow feel gloomy. I should think the Londoners would have the blues most all the time, with their dark buildings and those terrible fogs. ”

“ If we had been left locked in that cell, and had all starved there, who would have been responsible for it?”
“It would have been my fault, sir,” Harry answered.
“It would have been your fault,” the Captain repeated. “If a sailor goes to sleep on watch, and a collision results, and lives are lost, he is responsible for it, and the law would punish him. The man on watch often holds the lives of his comrades in his hand, and he should always feel the responsibility.”
The Captain stood up as he spoke and stepped toward Harry, but the cabin boy did not shrink. ”

“ That I consider one of the greatest curiosities of London—like a quiet country village set down in the very heart of the largest city in the world.”
“Is it a church, sir?” Kit asked.
“No, indeed!” the Captain laughed; “quite the opposite; it is one of the headquarters of the London lawyers, though there is a fine old church in the grounds. But it is so different from anything we have in America that I can hardly explain it to you. You will soon see for yourself, if we go there.”
“We can easily walk as far as the Temple,” Mr. Watkins said, “and you can always see more in walking than in riding. ”