Captain Saulsby

“ He proved to be wrong, however, in more than one particular. It was a good half hour before they were able to get Captain Saulsby even the short distance down to the edge of the mill-stream. Although protesting loudly that he had suffered no harm from yesterday’s mishap and that such an adventure was nothing to an old sailor like himself, the Captain was, nevertheless, unable to hide the fact that he was thoroughly spent and ill. Even with a strong arm to help him on each side, he was hardly able to struggle along the path. ”

“ She seemed to have been thinking of Captain Saulsby even when she wrote her first letter, for she had said, “I hope you will find one companion, at least, who will interest you.” She had a great affection for the queer, gruff, bent, old sailor, and must have felt that he and the boy were bound to become friends. And now Billy, standing before the captain himself, shifting uneasily from foot to foot and looking into those small, twinkling blue eyes, was beginning, much to his surprise, to feel the same thing. ”

“ Billy took his place on the bench beside the old sailor and sat staring out to sea.
“What is Johann Happs doing out there in his boat?” he inquired at last. “Is he going to sail her?”
“I think not today,” Captain Saulsby answered. “He is always working out there at something or other. He is as fond of her as though she were his own kin. He hasn’t any one belonging to him, maybe that is why he loves her so.” ”

“ I don’t understand myself what the whole thing is about, but I suppose the captain does.”
“We’ll have to go around by the road,” the other said, “but there’s one thing sure, the old man can’t make it that far.”
It was very plain that Captain Saulsby had dragged himself as far as he could, for he stood swaying and would have fallen. Between them the two sturdy bluejackets carried him up the beach and laid him down under a tree. ”

“ So she had sent him off in the direction of Captain Saulsby’s house and seemed not in the least surprised or displeased that he was so long in coming back. Old maid aunts sometimes have a way of knowing things, just from the fact that they have lived so long.
Meanwhile Billy was still sitting on the bench listening, entranced, to details of full-rigged ships, schooners, yawls, raceabouts and dories. His head began to reel under the weight of all the knowledge poured out upon him, so that, finally, it was only with mighty effort that he followed what the Captain was saying. ”

“ No, poppies have to have cool earth to dig their toes into, and cool salt air to breathe; it’s sea breezes that put the colour into them, and a good wet fog is their meat and drink. Poor things, I hate to think of them off somewhere drooping and withering for a whiff of fresh salt wind.”
“Captain Saulsby,” said Billy gravely, “I do believe you care a lot for those flowers of yours. You are always saying you don’t, but I think I won’t believe you again. I can see by the very way you look at them that you love them.”
“No, can you?” exclaimed the old sailor in genuine surprise. ”

“ Captain Saulsby was less restless now than he had been, and seemed to be growing quieter and more contented, even drowsy. Billy thought that he had better wait a little before he set out for the Shutes’, that it would be better to let the old man fall asleep so that he might not know he was being left alone. He sat down upon the floor to wait until the Captain should drop off. ”

“ Billy ran to another driftwood heap, glancing over his shoulder to see that Sally had successfully started hers and was hastening on to kindle others. The whole beach was lit by the red glare, the crests of the little waves caught and reflected the glow as they came running in, while, with the lighted circle spreading farther and farther out over the water, the boat drew back more and more to keep in the sheltering darkness. Johann Happs’ tall figure and Captain Saulsby’s huge, bent one looked gigantic against the crimson light, with their moving shadows trailing down to the water’s edge. ”

“ Even Billy could see that the man’s eagerness betrayed him and that he asked the last question a shade too anxiously. Sally observed it as plain as day and had no hesitation about saying so.
“If you want to find out all that so much, you had better ask Captain Saulsby himself,” she told him emphatically. “I really think he knows best about his own affairs.”
“You are right,” the other agreed instantly, “and I will ask him. But you see,”—here he dropped his voice to a very confidential tone—“the old Captain is a hard man to do business with, very hard. ”

“ He was short and fat and looked so much like a lesser edition of Sally that there could be no doubt of his being Jacky Shute.
“I’m just a-goin’ to weed those onions, Captain Saulsby,” he said hastily, to prevent the old sailor’s speaking first. “I stayed down by the wharf a little late, fishing, but there’s plenty of time yet. It’s not five o’clock.”
He scurried away across the garden, leaving the Captain sputtering with helpless indignation.
“That’s the kind of helper I have,” he exclaimed. “Comes when he likes, goes when he likes, does what he likes. ”

“ A dead boy could not have slept more heavily than did Billy on the hard floor of the old mill. The wind rose and rain struck, pattering, against the windows, a door closed somewhere, perhaps not merely by the force of the wind. Captain Saulsby stirred in his sleep and groaned out loud, but still the weary boy slept on. The far-off rumble of some warship at target practice came faintly on the wind—it had no power to waken him. It was not until hours had gone by, not until one shower had passed and then another, and even the second one had cleared away ”

“ Captain Saulsby’s burst of energy seemed to wear itself out with surprising quickness. Once they were well started he put the tiller into Billy’s hand and went and sat down in the cockpit.
“I’m an old man,” he said gloomily. “I’m not a sailor any longer, just an old man, and good for nothing.”
Billy hardly heard him, so intent was he upon the responsibility of steering the boat. She was a clumsy little craft with a rather daring expanse of sail, she cut through the water swiftly but was not easy to keep upon her course. The tiller jerked and kicked under his hand ”

“ Only the utter recklessness of two headlong boys could have conceived such an expedition; only the almost uncanny skill of one and the blind obedience of the other could ever have carried it through. Billy, who did not yet know all that there was to be learned of sailing, could still realize that never had he seen a boat handled as was the little Echo with Johann Happs at the helm. He himself made a better assistant than he had on the day when he and Captain Saulsby capsized ”

“ Above them the clouds were assuredly blowing away, but over in the west another bank of them, thick and grey and threatening, was rising very slowly to meet the sun. There could also be little doubt that the wind was steadily freshening and the waves splashing higher and higher along the sides of their little boat. All these things Captain Saulsby seemed cheerfully determined to ignore, so Billy decided that it was best for him to say nothing.”
“I’ve had a lot of little adventures like this in my day,” the old sailor went on. “It makes me feel quite young again to be in just one more. ”

“ I think Harvey Jarreth has gone on to Captain Saulsby’s ahead of you. Good-bye.”
As Billy hastened across the stepping-stones and through the meadow, he looked very sharply and very often down toward the rocks, but could see no signs of any one’s presence. Sally was right; Harvey Jarreth had gone ahead of him and was standing now by the bench near the hedge, in hot dispute with the old Captain.
“I never saw a man so blind to his own interests,” he was saying. “I believe you are out of your senses. Come now, say what figure you will really take.” ”

“ One of the officers now appeared in the doorway, come to inquire into the welfare of Captain Saulsby.
“We will get him home,” he said; “the tide is off the causeway now and my men can carry him across to his own house, or perhaps on to the hospital in the village. I am afraid he is pretty sick after all these adventures! I wish we could have had time to help you sooner.”
Four of the sailors bore the old captain down to the shore while Billy went home with Sally Shute through the woods. The fog was clearing and it was getting light at last ”

“ It had grown quite dark and the church bells were ringing again for the evening service, but Billy was still sitting before Captain Saulsby’s door. Quick steps—they could be no other than Sally Shute’s—came across the garden, and the little girl stepped out of the dark and sat down beside him.
“Mother and Jacky have gone to church,” she said, “but I came over here to see the Captain. Is he sick again, or anything? Is something wrong?” ”

“ Nothing alive could possibly keep so quiet; why, I could have heard even a mouse breathe.”
He was thoroughly convinced that his intent listening could not have played him false and that he must have been mistaken about seeing a light. His reassured thoughts, therefore, went back once more to Sally and Captain Saulsby. Suppose it was so near morning that the tide would be down again; suppose he ran across the causeway for help and got back within half-an-hour, long before Sally could get uneasy. ”

“ When he had finished with Captain Saulsby’s message, he proceeded to send another on his own account. It was a cablegram to his father, asking if he would give his consent, should Billy wish to enlist in the Navy.
“If there is going to be a real war I might want to go in by and by,” he reflected. “It will take two months to get a letter answered, so I may as well ask this way. I’m afraid he won’t say yes. If I were eighteen I wouldn’t have to ask him. But once it is done I know he and mother wouldn’t object.” ”

“ He is always getting the best of people and boasting about it, making money on sharp bargains, finding out things that aren’t his concern and then profiting by them. No one can trust him and no one can like him.”
“Does he really want to buy Captain Saulsby’s land, do you think?” Billy asked.
“He says so. My father thinks it would be a good thing for the Captain if he could sell it, and if there really is such a person as Harvey Jarreth tells about, who wants to buy it for a house. None of us has ever seen any such friend of his. And Captain Saulsby is a queer old man ”

“ Isn’t there a house near?”
“There’s the old mill,” Billy recollected suddenly; “that will keep us dry at least and we can wait there for some one to come for us. I don’t think it is too far to carry him.”
Only the iron muscles trained in Uncle Sam’s navy could have managed such a huge, awkward burden as Captain Saulsby proved to be. He objected loudly and even struggled against being carried, so that all three of his friends were well worn out by the time they had deposited him in the big, cool, shadowy room that formed the first story of the mill. ”

“ Sally, however, as a source of information, was quite as disappointing as Captain Saulsby.
“Harvey Jarreth,” she announced firmly, “you are always going round asking questions about other people’s business, but I, for one, won’t answer them. ”

“ Well, that’s the only craft that Ned Saulsby ever was skipper of, or ever will be.”
He made this statement very abruptly and fell immediately to work on stepping a mast of the little vessel.
“There’s a lot of kind-hearted folks in the world,” he went on after a pause, “and some of them started calling me ‘Captain’ about the time my rheumatism got so bad that I could never go to sea again. They thought giving me the name would make me feel better, and I guess it did, perhaps. ”

“ Fighters! These Pikers look savager than the Leopard Men. Best back away, Master Captain, while there's still time."
"Oh, look! LOOK! There's a ship on the mountain," cried Tandy, jerking Samuel's sleeve, "right there where that torrent comes down between the bridges, a three-master, larger than the Crescent Moon."
"Then it's a battle!" boomed Samuel, bringing his helm hard around. "Stand by to man the guns. 'Hoy, all hands, 'hoy!" While his shipmates sprang to attention, Samuel darted from mast to mast, touching the buttons on his sail controls. ”

“ Saulsbury readily accepted a figure that was intended to be prohibitive. The Governor was proud of the tug and expatiated upon its good points, which included sleeping quarters for the men and a nook where the captain could tuck himself away. He deplored his previous inattention to tugs; he believed more fun could be got from a tug like the Arthur B. Grover than from the best steam yacht afloat.
"We must be ready for anything," he remarked to Archie. "The signs point to a disturbance of great waters, and there's nothing like being prepared." ”

“ Archy, watching Admiral Rodney's ship, saw by the dull and clouded light a change of signals, and above him, on the bridge, it was greeted by something like a shout of joy from Admiral Digby.
"We can carry all hard sail now, captain; there is the signal for chasing!" cried the Admiral to his captain; and, as if by magic, the sailors sprang into the rigging, and, with a rousing cheer, everything that would draw was shaken out, and the Royal George, like a horse under the spur, dashed forward, ahead of every ship in the fleet. ”

“ Sharp took command of the boats and brought them off safely to the river's mouth, where they took a barque full of maize, before they arrived at their ship.
Sawkins was "as valiant and courageous as any could be," "a valiant and generous-spirited man, and beloved above any other we ever had among us, which he well deserved." His death left the company without a captain, and many of the buccaneers, who had truly loved Richard Sawkins, were averse to serving under another commander. ”