Captain Sam

“ Captain Sam may be ain't had much experience in the fightin' way as yet; but your honor knows, it's more what's in a man than what he larns—a brave man ashore will be a brave man at sea, that is, a'ter the sickness is over; but if Captain Sam don't face an enemy's bullet with the best on 'em, I'll cut off my pigtail and give it to the cats.' Peter could have made no stronger asseveration ”

“ And he put the tiller up and threw the Spray off the wind, while Arthur and Joe started the sheets. It was this sudden manœuvre which had startled Captain Sam.
They soon passed the entrance to Little Reach, two barren ledges shelving down into the water, and were well down the Reach when Captain Sam and the Nancy Jane headed into it.
“There they go,” cried Captain Sam, “like an ostrich sticking its head into the sand. Well, what can you expect of boys, anyway? ”

“ Sam screamed. "Listen! He wasn't cold before they seen a sail. Right against the sun when it come up! A sail! A brig that took us all aboard—him, too—an' me—with the blood onto my hands—" He held them out to the lake, clenched, shaking them fiercely as if they were not a part of him, but something hateful, something criminal, and guilty against himself.
The captain grasped him by the arm. "Stop!" he said. "Stop it! You've got to stop it. You've got to ferget it. Listen to me. It wasn't your fault. Case like that. Man's got to fight fer his life. ”

“ The corridor was narrow and close, and Sam soon grew restive. Espying a chair a little way from him, he helped himself to it and sat down, crossing his legs.
Just then an officer came hurrying through the corridor.
“See here, my man, what are you doing there?” he demanded.
“Captain’s orderly, sir,” answered Sam, saluting.
“Get up! Don’t you know an orderly is supposed to remain on his feet? Never sit down when on duty. Stand at attention when the captain comes out and remain that way until he has passed. After that, follow him.” ”

“ He looked up in surprise and caught Jake Elliott's eye. In an instant he guessed the truth.
"Lay down your bundles, boys," he said, "we cannot start just yet."
"Why not, Captain Sam?" asked two or three boys in a breath.
"Because Jake Elliott has broken our compass," replied Sam, looking the offender fixedly in the eye.
"Shame on the wretched coward," exclaimed the boys. "Let's duck him in the creek."
"I'm not a coward, and whoever says I broke the compass—" [90]
"Silence!" cried Sam peremptorily. "Don't finish that sentence, Jake. It isn't a wise thing to do. ”

“ The officer in charge of the whaleboat grumbled at being thus obliged to turn back and travel some distance to reach the wherry. The latter had by this time cast out an anchor so as to hold the boat in place near the spot where the mine had gone down.
“What is this for?” demanded Sam, clambering over into 216 the wherry, his clothes still wet and dripping.
“I did not think best to ask the captain for his reasons for giving the orders,” answered Dan, with a meaning smile.
“I didn’t mean that. Look out, the ship is making signals. Why don’t you tend to your business?” demanded Sam. ”

“ It looks as if you had gotten into the captain’s good graces. I hope so. See that you perform your duties in a ship-shape manner. Keep your head working all the time. I should call it almost a promotion.”
“I hope I don’t get seasick,” muttered Sam doubtfully. “This rolling is awful.”
An hour later, Sam Hickey made his way down the after gangway to the captain’s quarters, clad in a spotless white uniform, his braided white knife-lanyard drooping gracefully across his chest and disappearing in the pocket of the blouse. ”

“ Sam by this time was seized up, as it is called, that is, placed against the shrouds, with his wrists made fast to the shrouds, his jacket off, and his back exposed. The captain stood on the break of the deck, a few feet from him, and a little raised, so as to have a good swing at him, and held in his hand the bight of a thick, strong rope. The officers stood round, and the crew grouped together in the waist. All these preparations made me feel sick and almost faint, angry and excited as I was. A man—a human being, made in God's likeness—fastened up and flogged like a beast! ”

“ Several sailors spoke at once. Black Sam elevated his immense, hairy fist.
"We complain of this," said he; "first, the ship ain't seaworthy.'
"Lie number one," said the captain.
"She ain't seaworthy," continued Black Sam, with a menacing note of storm in his deepening voice. "You're as good a sailor as we are, I suppose, and ye must know that a ship that needs to be pumped out every four hours ain't seaworthy."
"Next?" said the captain.
"All the wittles is rotten to the heart. Is this food for a man?" ”

“ He was for ever busy; the first man to arise in the town, and the last to retire at night. In fact, it is a fair assumption that, had Captain Sam deserted the island at an early date in its history, the town might have eventually fallen so sound asleep that it would not have awakened to this day.
[11]
Captain Sam united in his activities the duties of storekeeper, coal and ice merchant, musician, constable, and schoolmaster, the latter vocation occupying his winter months. The energy of the village was concentrated in this one man, who seemed tireless. ”

“ Then bedlam broke loose. Hoarse voices could be heard shouting orders, and the answering yells of the crew came roaring back. Women were screaming somewhere below, and men passengers were trying in vain to quiet them.
Sam was hurled out of his bunk, and, rudely awakened, found Jack lying stunned on the floor. He dashed some water over him and then ran to the bridge. Captain McDonald, firm and inflexible, stood there giving orders as calmly as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
“Shall I send out an S. O. S., sir?” asked Sam, striving to keep as cool as the ship’s commander. ”

“ Sam. Yes, Sam Skillings, who would scorn to do a mean action, but who accidentally purloined one of this gentleman’s spoons, for which he is willing to make all possible reparation.
Capt. Oh, I see how it is; Sam has been practising the art of carving.
Hanscomb. The art of carving? Why, I’ll teach him that in twenty minutes.
Sam. Will you, though? I’ll be greatly obliged to you; so will Annastasia, and my uncle, the captain, skipper of the “Jemima”—
Capt. Sammy, sink the ship. I’ve concluded that the sea don’t agree with my constitution. I’ll sell her. (To audience.) ”

“ Not so much as a scrap of a sail nor the merest fragment of a hull, absolutely nothing.
Captain Sam was so dumfounded he could only gasp and stare vacantly at the place where, by all rights, the Spray ought to be.
The colonel and the squire, who had no preconceived ideas about the passage between the islands, solved the problem at once; but not so the captain.
“They’ve gone through there, you idiot,” exclaimed the squire, growing red in the face. “Where else can they be? They can’t fly, can they?” ”

“ The captain was puffing at a long cigar that drooped between his lips. Presently he pulled his cigar from his mouth, and shouted: "We don't want all hands. The starboard watch can trim sail. Trim sail, the starboard watch!" and replacing his cigar, he fell to swiftly striding the quarter-deck to and fro.
The seven sailors marched aft, and came to a stand a little abaft the mainmast. Black Sam advanced himself by a step, and exclaimed:—"Capt'n Jones, us men don't mean to do no more work until our wrongs are righted." ”

“ I plan everything and am responsible for everything. If you misbehave as you go through the country I shall be held to blame and I shall be to blame. But not a man of you shall misbehave. I am your commander, you made me that, and you can't undo it. Until we get to Camp Jackson I mean to command this company, and I'll find means of enforcing what I order. That is all. Right face! Break ranks!"
A shout went up, in reply.
"Good for Captain Sam!" cried the boys. "Three cheers for our captain!" ”

“ Walls were painted white, floors red, jackies both red and white. Dan and Sam—the latter having been released from the brig after serving his sentence—not belonging to a gun crew, were put to work in a corridor on this occasion. They were in great good humor, having gained the distinction of being ordered to report for wig-wag signal duty during the mine practice, both being experts with the signal flag. The boys were talking over their good fortune when the 155 captain came hurrying through. Instantly the boys came to attention. ”

“ The captain said nothing to the gentlemen, but, as soon as the boat was hoisted up, he began to belabour poor Sam with a rope’s end. He was still striking the lad, when old Tom stepped between them, grasping a handspike. “What has the lad done, sir?” he exclaimed. “Why not attack Mr Duncan? If anyone is to blame for the delay, he is the person, not young Sam.” The gentlemen were advancing while old Tom was speaking, and several of the crew cried out shame. The captain again found himself in the minority, and, without replying to old Tom, walked aft, muttering between his teeth. ”

“ Sam balanced, for one awful second, on the companionway chain, then pitched downward through the open hatchway. He disappeared in the direction of the gun deck. From the commotion below it was evident to those on the lower bridge that he had reached his destination.
"What's all that racket?" demanded the captain, looking aft from the navigator's bridge.
"Signalman fell off, sir."
"Fell off where?"
"Off the signal box, sir."
"Where is he?"
"I think the gun deck stopped him, sir."
"Get another man up there to attend to the signaling. We cannot bother with such clumsy lubbers." ”

“ The “Old Man” aboard ship means the captain.
The lads gave no further heed to the chaffing of their new shipmates. Dan nudged his companion and motioned for the latter to follow him.
“Where?” demanded Sam. “You don’t know where you are going.”
“We must report to the officer of the deck first of all. Lieutenant Commander Devall told me to do so.” ”

“ It was Bob's turn to prepare breakfast, and a hare was to be cooked. The boys wanted it cut up and fried, but Bob remained firm.
"No, siree," he said, "Captain Sam's gone off to look out for us, without waiting for his break [121] fast, and when he comes back he's to have roast rabbit for breakfast, and his pick of the pieces at that. If any of you boys want fried victuals you may go and kill your own rabbits and fry them for yourselves, or you may cook your bacon. I killed this game myself, and nobody shall eat a mouthful of it till Captain Sam carves it." ”

“ The cabin passengers sat as long as possible at dinner, to pass away the time, and bothered the captain with useless questions every time he appeared among them.
But the gale increased slowly and surely. One sail after another was taken in. The captain was on deck all night, the mate or himself shouting their orders in the teeth of the roaring wind, and even then the men could scarcely distinguish [83] them. Shut up in the dark and crowded steerage, bruised with the rolling of the vessel, Sam began to think, on the second day, that a storm at sea was by no means so romantic as he imagined. ”

“ This task completed to his satisfaction, he pushed the boy over on his bunk and tossed Mose on top of him.
“There!” he cried. “You keep quiet, or I’ll turn Sam loose on you! And, Sam, if you molest the boy again I’ll settle with you for it. I take it he had a right to fight for his boat! And the little coon! You keep your hands off him, too!”
The man called Sam flashed an ugly look out of his foxy, inflamed eyes and went out on deck. In a moment he was seen in the doorway again, dragging Captain Joe after him.
“Shall I pitch the dog overboard?” he asked, in a surly tone. ”

“ Sam seemed to have got funny again, and he and John the Swede learned that Captain Thompson had several months before sailed in command of a ship for the coast of Sumatra, and that their chance of proceedings against him at law was hopeless. Sam was afterwards lost in a brig off the coast of Brazil, when all hands went down. Of John and the rest of the men I have never heard. The Marblehead boy, Sam, turned out badly; and, although he had influential friends, never allowed them to improve his condition. ”

“ Twenty dollars apiece and the men are yours. And I don’t care if you give ’em ruddy hell!’ Now I say to you, ‘This man’s yours! Take him, and I wish you joy of your shipmate!’”
And, grasping Seattle Sam by the collar of his coat and the scruff of his pants, he propelled him to the top of the poop ladder and gave him a skilful hoist which dropped him full in the midst of the expectant group below.
. . . . .
The tug’s smoke was a grey feather on the skyline; Flattery a grey cloud on the port bow.
The song of the wind in his royals was sweet music in Captain Bascomb’s ears. ”

“ I'm a sailor, I am. I don't want anything to do with steam."
"Fact!" whispered Pete to Sam. "He hates even a railroad. Everything but the old kind of ships."
THE START HOMEWARD FROM THE WRECK.
Captain Pickering did not bring any gun with him. Nothing but a small satchel. He came down over the side of the Goshawk by a rope, and Sam felt a little queer to perceive what an addition the tall, brawny old seaman made to the load to be carried by the Elephant. Hardly had he taken his seat in the middle of the boat before the wind was in her sail and her head was turned landward. ”

“ But you missed the main snapper, Sam. Suppose Doris doesn't want to live for five thousand years and is allergic to becoming a monster?”
“Huh; you don't need to worry about that.” Sam brushed that argument aside with a wave of his hand. “Show me a girl who doesn't want to stay young and beautiful forever and I'll square you the circle. Come on. What's holding us up?”
The Orion hurtled through space back toward Ardry and Hilton, struck by a sudden thought, turned to the captain.
“Skipper, why wouldn't it be a smart idea to clamp a blockade onto Fuel Bin? Cut the Stretts' fuel supply?” ”