Captain White

“ The captain mounted the gangplank with a steadiness that disproved my first suspicion of his having been on a drunk. He glanced aloft, cast a speculative eye on the stevedores trooping across the waist of the ship, and ascended to the quarter-deck where the mate stood leaning over the rail and uttering directed curses from between sweat-beaded lips. There the big man roamed aimlessly on what seemed to be a tour of casual inspection. ”

“ Pellier stepped on the Graywing's afterdeck, old Peter Laval, Jacques Beauport, Codroy John and a dozen more at his heels, forming two guarding lines through which the admiral beckoned captain and crew.
"Come quickly," he ordered, waving a hand to the Groix's guns frowning at point-blank range. "There is no chance for resistance."
"You cowards!" stormed Taylor, clenching his fists in their faces. "You scheming whelps! Do you think you're going to drag me off my own deck like a dog? By heavens, I'll sink to the harbor bottom first, Graywing and all!" ”

“ White not very long afterwards joined another pirate ship, commanded by a Captain Read, with whom he sailed, helping to take several prizes, amongst others a slave ship, the Speaker. White soon found himself possessed of a considerable fortune, and settled down with his crew at a place called Methelage in Madagascar, marrying a native woman, and leading the peaceful life of a planter. The call of piracy at length proving irresistible, he sailed before the mast with Captain Halsey, then returned to his native wife and home, shortly afterwards to die of fever. ”

“ White, laying her hand upon the captain's arm. "Pray, remember, captain, there will be inquiry made, as sure as you are alive. You had better not take them till you are quite ready to go."
"Thou art a wise woman, Mrs. White," replied Captain Barecolt; "thou art a wise woman, and I will forbear. I will but ascertain whether he has these papers, while he yet lies in the mud of drunkenness, and leave the appropriation of them till an after period." ”

“ III THE DEATH SHIP Billy Edwards came on deck with a line of irritation right-angling the furrows between his eyes.
"Go ahead," the quarter-deck bade him, seeing him aflush with information.
"The captain won't believe me," blurted out Edwards.
"Is it as bad as that?" asked Barnett, smiling.
"It certainly is," replied the younger man seriously. "I don't know that I blame him. I'd hardly believe it myself if I hadn't——"
"Oh, go on. Out with it. Give us the facts. Never mind your credibility." ”

“ It must form one of the most dreadful wastes in the world, for there are a thousand miles of coast line, without one single stream emerging. Afforestation may alter all that. In the Everard Ranges Captain White found untouched savages of the stone age, who had never seen a white man before, and who treated him with absolute courtesy and hospitality. They were a fine race physically, though they lived under such conditions that there was little solid food save slugs, lizards and the like. ”

“ Across the breast of the jam he hurried, and to the other bank where the pile-driver lay. The crew had recovered from their panic, and were ashore gazing curiously underneath the scow. Captain Aspinwall examined the supports of the derrick on deck.
“That was lucky,” said Orde briefly to Aspinwall. “How's the damage? Stove you in?”
“I—I don't think so,” replied the captain, turning a rather perturbed face to Orde.
“That's good. I'll send over the tug to help get her afloat. We've got our work cut out for us now. ”

“ Her taunt, trim masts, square yards, and clear, delicate black tracery of rigging, shadowed by a wide spread of snow-white canvas over the low, dark hull––which at every roll in the gentle undulations exposed a row of ports with a glance of white inner bulwarks––while the brass stars of her battery reflected sparks of fire from the blazing rays of the sun, showed she was a man-of-war.
“She’s one of our cruisers, I think, sir,” said the mate, as he handed the spy-glass to the captain; “but Ben here believes contrariwise, and says she is a French corvette.” ”

“ Now she gathered full headway, yet edged little by little to windward again. "Mighty queer tactics," muttered Edwards. "I think she's steering herself."
"Good thing she carries a weather helm," commented Ives, who was an expert on sailing rigs. "Most of that type do. Otherwise she'd have jibed her masts out, running loose that way."
Captain Parkinson appeared on deck and turned his glasses for a full minute on the strange schooner. ”

“ Here Captain Brand, having regained some few faculties and energy, moved on beyond the church, till he came to the white coral headstone, where he stood still.
It was his last walk on deck or sand! Shading his still horror-stricken eyes by both hands, he glared to seaward.
“Ho, ho! there you are, my Yankee commodore, with that old brig under convoy, and that pretty schooner! Reminds me of my old ‘Centipede.’ Bueno! there are other ‘Centipedes,’ and I must begin the world anew. I am not old; here is my strong right arm yet; and who can stop me?” ”

“ Ralph's captain threw himself down by the side of the boy, as he was trying to shut out the dreadful pictures which were burned upon his brain.
“Is the victory ours?” he asked.
“It is, and a dear one to us,” the captain replied. “We have left over a thousand dead upon the field; but the Johnnies have moved off, and we have orders to push on to the western side of the mountain. They raked us down in terrible fashion, but the men stood their fire like statues. There was some heavy firing over at the other Gap a while back, but it has stopped now. Hallo!” ”

“ It ceased, and with the growl of a leaping animal a squall furiously beset the ship. Soon the great steel body was plunging and heaving in the billows. It was a gloomy company about the wardroom table. Upon each and all hung an oppression of spirit. Captain Parkinson came from his cabin and went on deck. Constitutionally he was a nervous and pessimistic man with a fixed belief in the conspiracy of events, banded for the undoing of him and his. Blind or dubious conditions racked his soul, but real danger found him not only prepared, but even eager. ”

“ Why?" He drew his powerful figure to its height and spread his thick arms out in the luxury of stretching. "Why?" he repeated, exhaling abruptly. "Because their captain was Ezra Selover! Well, Mr. Eagen," he went on crisply, "Captain Ezra Selover is their captain, and they know it! They'll talk and palaver and git into dark corners, and sharpen their knives, and perhaps fight it out as to which one's going to work the monkey-doodle business in the doctor's chest, and which one's going to tie up the sacks of them diamonds, but they won't git any farther as long as Captain Ezra is on deck." ”

“ This year the fullness of time will come, the shout of victory will be heard in Heaven, the triumphant return of our great Captain may be expected, the new song will commence before the throne, eternity begin its revolution, and time shall be no more. ”

“ And so, past those lonely shores sails the brave vessel—the yawl White Dove, Captain Mary Avon, bound for anywhere.
But you must not imagine that the new skipper is allowed to stand by the tiller. Captain though she may be, she has to submit civilly to dictation, in so far as her foot is concerned, Our young Doctor has compelled her to be seated, and he has passed a rope round the tiller that so she can steer from her chair, and from time to time he gives suggestions, which she receives as orders. ”

“ Grant tried to get it to the Captain that Kenyon’s real job in the world was composing music, and that sometimes he tired of cities and came down to Harvey to get the sunshine and prairie grass and the woods and the waters of his childhood into his soul. But the Captain waved the idea aside, “Nothing in the fiddling business, Grant–two dollars a day and find yourself, is all the best of ’em make,” protested the Captain. “Let him do like I done–get at something sound and practical early in life and ’y gory, man–look at me. ”

“ But the cheerful kindliness and capability of the captain, the crew, and the passengers, on whatever boat you may chance to travel, pervades the whole ship like an atmosphere, and makes one forget any slight discomfort in a justifiable pride that as an Anglo-Saxon one can claim kinship to these "Vikings of to-day."
Life is hard in White Bay. An outsider visiting there in the spring of the year would come to the conclusion that if nothing further can be done for these people to make a more generous living, they should be encouraged to go elsewhere. ”

“ How many great men have been sailors, White-Jacket! They say Homer himself was once a tar, even as his hero, Ulysses, was both a sailor and a shipwright. I’ll swear Shakspeare was once a captain of the forecastle. Do you mind the first scene in The Tempest, White-Jacket? And the world-finder, Christopher Columbus, was a sailor! and so was Camoens, who went to sea with Gama, else we had never had the Lusiad, White-Jacket. Yes, I’ve sailed over the very track that Camoens sailed—round the East Cape into the Indian Ocean. ”

“ They can scatter. They can hide. It ain't right to put a man ashore alone with such a crew. I'm doing my best, but it ain't goin' to be good enough. I wisht we were safe in 'Frisco harbour——"
He would have maundered on, but I seized his arm and led him out of possible hearing of the men.
"Here, buck up!" I said to him sternly. "There's nothing to be scared of. If it comes to a row, there's three of us and we've got guns. We could even sail the schooner at a pinch, and leave them here. You've stood them off before."
"Not ashore," protested Captain Selover weakly. ”

“ Logically Captain Selover and I should have passed most of our evenings together. As a matter of fact we so spent very few. Early in the dusk the captain invariably rowed himself out to his beloved schooner. What he did there I do not know. We could see his light now in one part of her, now in the other. The men claimed he was scrubbing her teeth. "Old Scrubs" they called him to his back: never Captain Selover.
"He has to clean up after his own feet, he's so dirty," sagely proffered Handy Solomon. ”

“ They have gone beyond the law o' God and man, and I will never forgive them for tricking her till I do see her back in your arms. The Esperance be ready, Captain. Marie be on the wharf. Will you take the chance?"
"Will I?" exploded Taylor, grabbing his log. "Watch me, Codroy! Come on, before Pellier has a change of mind."
The Graywing's log under his arm, he led the way into the admiral's waiting boat and the rest of his men filed after. Pellier, Peter, Beauport and the men of the Groix took their places and the rowers sent the craft foaming alongside the Esperance. ”

“ As in the case of the Commodore, when the captain visits the deck, his subordinate officers generally beat a retreat to the other side and, as a general rule, would no more think of addressing him, except concerning the ship, than a lackey would think of hailing the Czar of Russia on his throne, and inviting him to tea. Perhaps no mortal man has more reason to feel such an intense sense of his own personal consequence, as the captain of a man-of-war at sea. ”

“ The men sullenly assisted each other. Then they went immediately on deck and to work.
After this taste of his quality, Captain Selover enjoyed a quiet ship. We made good time, but for a long while nothing happened. Finally the monotony was broken by an incident.
One evening before the night winds I sat in the shadow of the extra dory on top of the deck house. The moon was but just beyond the full, so I suppose I must have been practically invisible. Certainly the Nigger did not know of my presence, for he came and stood within three feet of me without giving any sign. The companion was open. ”

“ A few men clapped their hands. Grant Adams turned back into the room and in due course the crowd slowly dissolved. At ten o’clock he was standing in the door of the 422Vanderbilt House looking at his watch, ready to turn in for the night. Suddenly he remembered the Captain. He hurried around to the Hot Dog, and there peering into the darkness of the vacant lot saw the Captain with his gun on his shoulder pacing back and forth, a silent, faithful sentry, unrelieved from duty. ”

“ It must have been with conscious pride that the brave and loyal commander gazed around him on the noble frigate and her gallant crew. The white decks, the tiers of cannon polished like varnished leather, with the breechings and tackles laid fair and even over and around them; the bright belaying-pins, holding their never-ending coils of running gear––the burnished brass capstan––the great boom––board to the boats amidships with a gleaming star of cutlasses, reflecting a glitter on the ring of long pikes stuck around the main-mast near, all inclosed by the high and solid bulwarks ”

“ You're only butting in down river and cutting the rations for each man smaller than ever. But that's our blasted luck! Captain Ravigne," yelling at the deck house, "full speed ahead!"
The canoe had topped the rail, and the Voyageur, throbbing violently to her full stride, leaped on down the Yukon to another outburst of the Selkirk inhabitants' cheers.
"Now, Ryan, you take an ax," Hess ordered, "and chop some of that ice from our bow. Marlin and Simons, you take a couple of poles out of the hold and stand at the forward port to fend off floes. ”