Captain Eph

“ Captain Eph cried. "Don't get worked up over what may all turn out to be the simplest kind of a simple matter, an' keep your wits about you. Now! Back water for all you're worth!" [Pg 236]
As he spoke the keeper had leaped for the shattered timbers of the hulk, and not daring to turn his head in order to see if a landing had been effected safely, Sidney threw all his strength on the oars, until the burden on his mind was lifted by hearing Captain Eph's cheery cry, which told that no accident had befallen him:
"Way enough, Sonny! Hold her as she is a minute!" ”

“ Eph insisted, "but I must look over the passengers."
"Very good, then," sighed Captain Walford.
"And muster the crew forward. I must see on deck every person on this craft."
"Very good, sir."
Eph returned to deck, leaning against the starboard rail of the quarter deck. Below, he heard some sounds of remonstrance in feminine voices. Then, as a step sounded on the after companionway, and Eph straightened up, he heard a woman's voice say:
"United States Navy? I would call this a good deal more like piracy!" ”

“ He lifted one of the unconscious sailors in his big arms, as if handling a baby, [Pg 181] and ran across the slippery rocks like a goat, depositing his burden in the kitchen and getting back to the dory before the second sufferer had been taken out.
"Leave him to me," the cook said as he raised the sailor in his arms, literally forcing Captain Eph to release his hold. "I'm feelin' so mighty good 'cause you've come back alive that I've got to do somethin' out of the common run, or take the chances of bustin'." ”

“ Peters suggested, and Uncle Zenas nodded in token that he was of the same opinion.
"I can't make out why any craft should be hereabouts in an easterly blow," Captain Eph said with nervous impatience. "It seems to me that any half-careful skipper would have clawed off shore at sunset, unless he knew his way as I do this 'ere ledge!"
"Don't you count on trying to do anything?" Sidney asked as the men moved nervously about the small room.
"That's what makes it so tough, Sonny," Captain Eph said in a tearful tone. ”

“ ISLE OF SHOALS.
"I reckon, after thinkin' of all that, there ain't any one of this 'ere crew as feels like complainin', eh?" and Captain Eph looked around sternly, much as though believing his assistants were on the verge of insubordination. "If a seventeen-year-old girl, with the same as nothin' to eat, can take care of a whole family an' a light for twenty-one days durin' heavy weather, we deserve to be kicked if there's any show of gettin' down at the heel." ”

“ Captain Jack shouted back as he halted at the water's edge, where a rowboat lay hauled up on the shore.
Jacob Farnum's face showed suddenly pallid as he, also, reached the beach. Hal, who was in the rear, did not seem so much startled.
“Do you think Eph has gone off on a cruise all alone?—that he has come to any harm?” gasped the shipbuilder.
“I don't know, but I'm not going to worry a mite about Eph Somers until I have to,” retorted Jack Benson, easily.
“Eph can generally take care of himself,” added Hal Hastings. “He rarely falls into any kind of scrape that he can't climb out of.” ”

“ Eph built his boat, and, in spite of his evident dislike of visitors, the inside finish and the arrangements of the little cabin were so ingenious and so novel that everybody had to pay him a visit.
True to his plan of being independent, he built in the side of the hill, near his barn, by a little gravelly pond, an ice-house, and, with the hardest labor, filled it, all by himself. With this supply, he would not have to go to the general wharf at Sandy Point to sell his fish, with the other men, but could pack and ship them himself. ”

“ Whether he was or was not hired to write it to support the present administration, as some folks suspect, is not my affair. I will, therefore, resume the thread of my discourse, which was only "belayed" for a few minutes, to indulge in the rare pleasure of grumbling a little at seeing
"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread."
Julia Effingham was embarked on board the large, burthensome, and not alarmingly fast sailing brig Avon—John Burton, master; while the ship under the command of Captain Allerton was called the Hyperion. ”

“ Von Kerber Effendi, or I, or both of us, will meet you outside the Elephant Mosque at five o'clock. Nevertheless, should there be others with us, do not speak unless we address you."
"Who is he, the red ox?" demanded the Arab, gazing after the broad figure of Captain Stump.
"He is the captain of our ship, a man of no importance. The Hakim Effendi is in the approaching boat. With, him is Fenshawe Effendi, the old, gray-haired man. There is a tall young ship's officer there, too. His name is Royson—you will not forget?—Royson. He is dangerous. Regard him well. ”

“ And he asked Ephraim if there was a chance to be a sailor on the Industry. But Ephraim said that they had a full crew and there wasn't any chance, for the old man was very strict. He called Captain Solomon the old man, but he wasn't an old man at all, for he wasn't quite forty years old; but sailors always call the captain the old man. And Ephraim was afraid of Captain Solomon, but he needn't have been afraid, for Captain Solomon was a kind man, although he was rather gruff and stern to the sailors. ”

“ Likely, they would have got me in the end and thrown me overboard to feed the sharks, but we happened to come across another schooner and they had to let me go."
"He don't want to try any tricks with me," Captain [64] Westfield declared. "I got him to talk their lingo but had him sign on as one of the crew. If he tries to act up, I'll put him at the hardest work on the schooner."
"Well, keep your eye on him," advised the other. "He has never made a trip yet without making trouble. He's a mighty bad egg and as sly and cunning as he is mean." ”

“ The mate always has the port watch. Now do you know which is which?"
"Faix, you didn't tell me which was the captain's watch," replied Felix with a blank look. "I'll figure it out, and I may be able to tell you by the time we are ready to sail."
"You are not a fool, Flix!"
"Wait till I argue the matter with myself. The mate has the port watch, and the captain has the other," replied Felix, scratching his head as if to stimulate his ideas. "Begorra! it just shoots through my mind, like an electric light in a dark street when it is touched off! The captain's watch must be the starboard." ”

“ He spent far more of the time with me than with his own master, and before long obeyed me with a hearty good nature, which he never thought of showing toward that musical brigand.
'One sunny afternoon, when we were three weeks out, the captain, the grinder and myself stood upon the forecastle-deck, trying to make out a sail just visible on the horizon ahead of us. As usual, Beppo was cutting his pranks about me. For a moment he would sit demurely on my shoulder and hold his tail to his eye in mimicry of the captain's eye-glass. A second more, and he would be sitting in the fore-top. ”

“ The men had come to beg some provisions, as they had not a morsel to eat.
"Give them all they want to eat," replied the captain when the request was translated to him.
"The Guardian-Mother!" suddenly shouted Felix at the top of his lungs.
All hands gave three rousing cheers, to the astonishment of the Frenchman and those in the boat. Pitts came out of the galley to ascertain the cause of the demonstration, and he made out for himself the bow of the ship passing the point of the cape. A plentiful supply of food was put into the boat, and the Maud continued on her course. ”

“ But I saw you, Deck, engaged against two men in front of you only a few minutes ago; and I was about to order the platoon to charge in order to rescue you. I thought the first company had lost one of its best soldiers then."
"But I have come through all right, Captain," added Deck, laughing at the excitement of his officer. "Ceph always does me a good turn when I get into a tight place, and he did this time."
"There come some more of the men from the other side of the house," added the captain, as he pointed to the way the orderly had come. ”

“ The leader of the marauders hesitated, and then took a single step in the descent; he halted there.
"I only want to say"—
"Say nothing more! Come down, or you are a dead man in another second!" added Deck, still calm and resolute.
"Go down, Cap!" said several of his followers as they retired from the dangerous locality at the head of the stairs.
The captain did not hesitate any longer, but descended the steps very slowly, as though he was marching at his own funeral.
"Win, bring all the cords and straps you can find. We shall want a lot of them," said Deck in a low tone to the guide. ”

“ Seated on the grass with his two lieutenants, the captain listened to the report of Deck on the events of the forenoon. When he came to his encounter with Captain Letcher, both of his auditors were intensely interested, though he told his story very modestly.
"I suppose you caused Ceph to stand up on end when you found yourself in a tight place?" suggested Tom Belthorpe.
"I did not," answered Deck very emphatically. "Ceph knows more than some men; but he became restive and uneasy after the captain and I had pegged away at each other for some time, and he stood up of his own accord. ”

“ When there is a second mate"—
"That's metaphysics, for we have no second mate," protested Felix.
"For that reason the captain has to keep his own watch, which the second mate would keep for him if there were one," continued the captain. "Just as soon as the ship gets into deep water the crew are divided into watches."
"Do you think the water is deep enough in here to divide the crew into watches?" asked Felix, still struggling to be funny.
"It is two hundred fathoms deep in the middle of the bay, and it will do. Each officer chooses a man in turn." ”

“ I must search this craft. If I allowed one for whom we are seeking to slip through our fingers it would bring a lot of blame down about my head."
Eph now stepped back to the rail, ordering six of the sailors on board. To them he gave his orders. The party spread, going below. Eph, excusing himself to the ladies, went with the sailors.
No more thorough search could have been made. Every nook and cranny of the schooner was searched, but at last Eph was obliged to admit that the man he sought was not aboard.
"My apologies to everyone for all trouble caused," declared Ensign Somers. ”

“ The guns of the ship were trained upon them. They knew the mettle of Captain Phips. In a minute more cannon-balls might be ploughing deadly gaps through their midst. They dared not fly; they dared not fight. Panic fear took possession of them. They fell upon their knees in a body, begged the captain not to fire, and vowed that they would rather live and die with him than any man in the world. ”

“ The Captain, therefore, with his victorious good-heartedness, came to him and begged him cleverly to intercede with the Cadet-General for his Gustavus, that the latter might one day come under his standard. Protector Oefel said the thing was already as good as arranged; he was himself enraptured with the vision of getting a singular genius who had been educated under ground for a room-mate and a sitter.
The refraction of light always shows the land to sea-men some hundreds of miles nearer than it really lies, and by a so innocent illusion fortifies them with hope and pleasure. ”

“ But then, I don' know as 'tis; woods all bein' cut off—poles gittin' scurcer; hoops bein' shoved in from Down East. That don' seem just right, now, does it—but then, other folks must make a livin', too. Still, I should think they might take up suthin' else; and yet, they might say that about me. Understand, I don' mean to say that they actually do say so; I don' want to run down any man unless I know—"
"I can't stand this," said Eph to himself; "I don't wonder that they always used to put Joshua off at the first port, when he tried to go coasting. They said he talked them crazy with nothing. ”

“ You’ve talked enough, sir.”
“Just one more, Cap’n Hap! Just this! This I’ve got to know. What was it—exactly—that those men did? How did they come to be in such a plight? How in the world—that beautiful new boat—and an intelligent officer at the helm, Captain—how on earth did it come about?”
“The Clara Em was sot to sail,” replied Captain Hap calmly. [131] “That’s about all. Her owners they were sot, and her cap’n he was sot. It was the sotness done it. They’d make the market first, you see, if they got the start—and it’s a job gettin’ your crew aboard, you know. Anything to get your crew. ”

“ Fullerton, fire the blank shot at the stranger," ordered Lieutenant
Jack Benson.
"Aye, aye, sir."
The order was carried by a simple wave of the executive officer's hand. The petty officer in command behind the bow gun, looking for the signal, saw it and gave a low-toned order.
Bang! Eph was watching for it. His eyes danced as he heard the sharp explosion and saw the cloud of white smoke, with the tongue of fire spitting through the center of it. In most of us there is left some of the spirit of the old Norse pirate; Eph had a lot of it. ”

“ And all the voices sang with her
"Thus we work, thus we love ever while we live."
Then the procession moved out again, and Effie clung still to the little man's seal-skin cap, as she sat on her cushion of sea-weed, upon the hump on his back; and he marched along, using his flat hands like oars, while the gruff old constable with his sword, and the dolphins and the fishes, great and small, moved beside the pair, and they all went swiftly up from the light to the darker green, the voices growing fainter to Effie, and their forms more indistinct. ”