William Henry Giles Kingston

“ He and his companions were searching about for the same object, that they might eke out the diminishing store of their more nutritive food, and give the captain a larger supply. Peter, when not thus employed, read to the captain, as also to the other men, and Bill and the black were well pleased to listen, as were the captain and Hixon. Indeed, the light of God’s blessed truth shone on the small shipwrecked party, and shed on them its warmth and healing influence. It never occurred to young Peter to pride himself that the light shone from the lamp he carried within him. ”

“ Old Jim was afraid, perhaps, that Peter would get talking to the rest of the crew, and hear something about Captain Hawkes which might induce him to go on shore again, the last boy having run from the ship, though shoeless and penniless, rather than endure the treatment he had received.
Peter, not suspecting old Jim’s motive, sat down on the locker in the cabin. Not feeling disposed to sleep he took up his Bible, as he had been accustomed to do when tending sheep on the Springvale downs, and began to read. Old Jim gazed at him with open eyes. ”

“ The night was pitchy dark, the wind blew harder than ever, and the foam-topped seas raged round the hapless brig. The men laboured at the pumps, the captain and mate working as hard as the rest, for they all knew that their lives depended on their exertions.
Hour after hour passed by. Day was approaching. The captain thought that they must be nearing the land. The men at length cried out that they could work no more without food. Peter was sent down to get it. ”

“ Peter was ordered to take his spell, and even old Jim and the captain took theirs. All day long they worked away, and at night also. No fire could be lighted in the caboose, for the seas broke so heavily over the bows of the ship that they dashed in upon the fore-hatchway. Such provisions as could be eaten without cooking were their only fare. Peter wished to read the Bible to his shipmates, but the spray broke over them in such dense showers that the leaves would have been wetted through in an instant. ”

“ A few nights after leaving the Tyne it came on to blow hard, with the wind right ahead, and the Polly began to tumble about in a way which made Peter feel very miserable. Sometimes, though under close-reefed topsails, she heeled down so much that he could scarcely stand on the wet slippery deck, and he fancied that she would go over altogether. The dark green seas, with their foaming crests, rolled up on either hand, and frequently broke on board in showers of spray, as the brig ploughed her way amid them: now she rose to the top of a mountain billow ”

“ Ah, Mr Gray, Christians enjoy a happiness and freedom from anxiety which no others possess. I leave my family, knowing that, as His dear children, they are under God’s protection, and they, while I am tossing about on the ocean, are supported by the same faith, being sure that if I am called hence we shall meet again in heaven. When I part from my beloved wife and daughter I can always remind them of that, and the truth cheers all our hearts. ”

“ Living among the savages here, I grew to live as they lived, and forgot my home and friends. Since I have learned to love God I have been longing to see my family again, but I have not been able to get back, for I have been away on the other side of the island each time a ship has touched here. If you had left a wife and a little boy at home as I have, you would wish to get back to set your eyes again on them, and hold them in your arms.”
“A wife and a little boy!” exclaimed Peter, unable longer to restrain his eagerness to learn who the old man was. ”

“ To my mind the ship won’t hold together many minutes longer; and if we succeed, as I think we shall, they will follow if there’s time. I’ll go sir,” he cried to the captain, and grasping Peter, he led him along, holding on to the rope. They reached the mast, when Peter, keeping close to his companion, scrambled up it. Alone he felt that he might have been unable to succeed, but supported by his old friend he made his way along the mast, which all the time was swayed up and down by the movement of the ship. ”

“ Peter, indeed, did his very utmost to support his mother, by working early and late—not a moment was he idle; but do all he could he often was unable to gain enough to find food for her and for himself, though he was content with a dry crust and a draught from the bright spring which bubbled out of the hill-side. The little cottage and garden was her own, left to her by her father, Simon Field, a hard-working man, who by temperate habits and industry had been enabled to purchase the ground and to build the cottage, though that, to be sure, was put up chiefly by his own hands. ”

“ To his surprise one evening, after he had cleaned up the pots and pans, the cook asked him to come and sit in the caboose, and begged him to read a chapter or two in the Bible. Peter did so, and explained it to the best of his power, and frequently after that he spent an hour in the evening in the same way.
The ship had now rounded the Cape of Good Hope. The wind was fair, the weather continued fine. Peter had determined to try again to get Hixon to let him read to him. It seemed so sad that an old man should continue to refuse listening to God’s message of love. ”

“ Peter could no longer distinguish him.
The captain was standing still, undecided what to do, with the third-mate and five or six seamen who had succeeded in getting aft, when old Hixon was seen making his way along the deck from amid the mass of wreck which cumbered it.
“The foot of the mainmast still hangs to the ship and the head rests on a rock,” he said; “what is beyond I cannot tell, it may be water or it may be land, but the sea does not break over it; it is our only chance if we can manage to reach it.” ”

“ At length Berge not only consented to let Peter read the Bible to him, but gladly accepted a copy of which the captain made him a present, and, becoming a diligent reader himself, before the Edgar rounded Cape Horn, could say, “I rejoice in the blood of my risen Saviour.”
There is no part of the ocean in which storms are more frequent or more terrible than off Cape Horn. Just as the Edgar sighted the Cape, she encountered a heavy gale, the seas rising in mountain billows around her. ”

“ The other boys would play him all sorts of tricks, and the men would send him to perform some work or other, and if they could think of nothing else, would despatch him with a pretended message to the man at the helm. Simon Hixon was his greatest foe, and frequently as Peter passed gave him a blow with a rope’s-end.
One day as Peter was quietly reading his Bible in the berth, Hixon swore that if he found him again at it, he would throw the book overboard.
“It would be a great shame to do that,” answered Peter, “and I hope you won’t try. God would, I am sure, not allow you to go unpunished.” ”

“ Presently he saw a boat lowered from her quarter; several people jumped in, and with rapid strokes pulled towards him. The tide had again risen, and scarcely a ripple was observed on the bank. The boat crossed it, and an encouraging cheer reached his ears; he waved his hat in return, and descending the rigging stood ready to step into the boat as soon as she came.
“Glad to rescue you, my lad,” said the officer, who was steering. “How long have you been on the mast? What’s become of your shipmates?”
“Since last night,” answered Peter; “and I hope they have reached the shore in the boat.” ”

“ The Primrose had a fine run down Channel. On her passage a sudden squall struck her; the watch on deck flew aloft to shorten sail. Peter, who was aft, lay out on the mizen top-gallant-sail yard, and taking the weather earring, succeeded, with Owen Bell and two others, in handling the fluttering sail. As he reached the deck the captain called to him.
“You did that smartly, youngster; it’s not the first time I have observed you. I’ll keep my eye on you. Go on as you have begun, and you will make a famous seaman.” ”

“ I like t’other more, a good deal.”
“Because he says, ‘Lord, be merciful to me a sinner’?” asked Peter.
“Ay,” said Hixon, bending down his head. He had for some time ceased to ply his needle.
“Then do you know how God says He alone will be merciful?” Peter asked.
“No, ’cept to them as be sorry for what they have done bad, and try to do better.”
“Oh, no, no! God does not say that; Satan is always trying to make people believe it, because he well knows that if people try to make themselves better, trusting only in their own strength, they will fail. ”

“ The men came, one after the other, and the captain spoke affectionately and earnestly to each, urging them to seek the Saviour while He might be found, and recommending them to listen to the first-mate, who would explain the truth to them.
“Gray,” he said, when they had left him, “I must ask you to visit my wife and daughter when you get home, and bear my last message of love to them. Take this letter and deliver it, if you can, with your own hands. Send them the property I leave on board; I know that I can trust you; with things of this world I have nothing more to do. ”

“ At last he reached a two-masted vessel, in reality a brig, somewhat larger than the rest, but her deck was black with coal-dust, and everything about her had a dark, grimy look. A rough, black-bearded, strongly-built man, better dressed than some of those he had spoken to, was stepping on shore by the plank which formed a communication between the vessel and the quay. Peter guessed rightly that he was the captain. ”

“ Hixon was just getting on the mast, when he exclaimed that the skipper and mate were coming along it. At that moment the end of the mast began to rise. Hixon threw himself off it.
“Stand clear of the rigging,” cried several voices. The mast moved more rapidly, the end lifting up in the air, then with a crash came down on the rock, against which it was at once violently dashed by a sea which broke over the wreck. One of the poor fellows who had escaped was dragged off into the seething waters.
“The captain is gone,” cried several voices.
“I see a man close at hand,” said Peter. ”

“ And mind when you are called you turn out pretty quick; we cannot have laggards aboard the Polly.”
“Thank you, sir,” said Peter, depositing his bundle in the dark, close-smelling bunk. “I am accustomed to be afoot by daybreak, to look after Farmer Ashton’s sheep.”
“You will have something different from sheep to look after; and night and day at sea are the same. All hands don’t turn in and sleep till the sun is up, or the ship would be apt to lose her way.”
A laugh at the mate’s wit from some of the other men who had followed them into the forepeak, was heard out of the darkness. ”

“ Again the captain and mate laughed. Of course they felt their superiority to the poor ignorant little shepherd-boy.
“We have no down-stairs here, no more than we have Sundays; but your bundle is not to stop in my cabin, I should think. Get it and take it with you.”
Peter, having got his bundle from below, went forward, accompanied by old Jim.
“Now, lads,” said the latter to the four unkempt beings who formed the crew of the Polly, “here is a boy for you, and just see he don’t go overboard or run away; the skipper is tired of getting lads to do your work.” ”

“ Peter came to the conclusion that he should wish to marry no other woman than Susan Sandford. Perhaps Susan had discovered this, for he was not a person who could well hide his feelings; at all events he ventured to tell her so, and she promised to become his wife. He would gladly have married before going to sea, but Mrs Sandford, who was a prudent woman, insisted on his waiting till he had returned from his next voyage.
That voyage was a long one, for the owners again sent the Edgar into the Pacific. ”

“ Peter saw that she was the largest vessel in the harbour, and so readily believed what the mate said.
The old man asked him if he was hungry, and Peter acknowledging; that such was the case, he took him down into the cabin, and after giving him some bread and ham, offered him a tumbler of rum and water. Peter, who had never tasted spirits, said he would rather not take the rum, whereon old Jim laughed at him and drank it himself.
“We shall all get under weigh with the evening tide if the wind holds fair, for it’s off the land you see, and will take us out of the harbour,” he observed. ”

“ I could only cry out—loud enough, too, like the man you were reading about—‘Lord, be merciful to me a sinner!’ and I don’t think God would hear such a wicked chap as I have been,” muttered the old man.
“The Bible says that Jesus Christ came into the world to save the worst of people as well as the best; ‘I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ These are the words of Jesus Himself. God promises to hear all who come to Him. ”

“ Peter made no reply, and endeavoured, though it was a hard task, to continue his prayers. Similar jeers and questions were now showered on him from all sides.
“Oh, my Father in heaven,” he mentally ejaculated, “help me to continue to pray and soften the hearts of my shipmates towards me and towards themselves. May they see what a fearful state they are in when thus obeying Satan, and strangers to Thee.” ”