Dawkins

“ Dawkins gave his hat a ferocious cock, after delivering this sentiment, and looked at Master Bates, as if to denote that he would feel obliged by his saying anything to the contrary.
‘I am,’ repeated the Dodger. ‘So’s Charley. So’s Fagin. So’s Sikes. So’s Nancy. So’s Bet. So we all are, down to the dog. ”

“ All he valued in life drew him to close with Murch. On the one hand, he could see his owners satisfied and himself married and wealthy, all his troubles done. And on the other, only poor old Dawkins and a famine-stricken crew struggling down the river-banks, through the forest, with nothing in the world to hope for save the agent’s word of honour—the good faith of the supercargo with whom Mr Dawkins had dealt so crookedly. And why should a man keep faith with that treacherous old person, Dawkins? ”

“ Pomfrett stopped him sharply.
“Avast there, Mr Dawkins. I’ll have no swearing aboard my ship.”
“Your ship, was it? ’Twas this pretty little monkey was skipper just now,” growled Dawkins. “Come,” he went on, “I know when I’m beaten, I do. I had some opportunities to learn, [196] you see. Now you got the weather-gauge of poor old Dawkins, not a doubt of it. Let’s know the worst. ’Tis Jevon Murch as put you up to this here little game—enticing a man with a invitation to dinner, and what not, and call yourselves gentlemen. ”

“ Dawkins is ready, ay, and willing, to believe everything, like the man in the Bible. Now, here we sit, you and me and Hooky, and Mr Murch within a cable of us, very likely. He’s a-coming to supper, is Murch. Which there won’t be much of it left, seemingly.” Dawkins shot a glance upon the revelling seamen, under cover of whose increasing clatter and clamour his own talk went forward, unheard by any save the Jew and myself. “A nice little family party, ain’t it?” Mr Dawkins looked anything but cheerful at the prospect. ”

“ Everyone is aware that the plantations used to relieve of their failures who knows how many excellent families? There was nothing strange in that. Dawkins had probably garlanded our necks for the sacrifice with the fragments of all the Ten Commandments; or, rather, it was to be supposed, Gamaliel’s fertile wit had done so for him, since Dawkins was no hand with a pen. Mr Murch, in all likelihood, was even now gone to see Captain Dawkins on our account; Dawkins would confirm his letter with damning detail; the bonds would be signed, and Mr Dawkins would pouch two hundred pieces of eight, or so. ”

“ Ensconced in the adjoining cabin, we had our eyes glued to the spy-holes, you may be sure. Morgan Leroux fetched out bottle and glasses from the locker.
“A tot of rum, Mr Dawkins, now, to set you fair for dinner?”
“Spoken like your namesake,” said Dawkins, approvingly. “And you’ll surely join me this time, so I shan’t be ashamed. No? Well, strike me blind if ever I see a thing like this here. A gentleman of fortune, and not drink—why, it ain’t in nature. Well, here’s plate and plunder, full cargoes for every gentleman of fortune!” ”

“ We were to go to Barbadoes.
[55] “And as to mutiny, Mr Dawkins,” said the captain, harping on his dread aversion, “I should tell you that I do not like the word. It’s a dangerous word—an unlucky word at sea—eh?”
“I don’t value the word a penny,” says Dawkins. “Any word will do for me, Mr Shargeloes. I seen a many such”—thus did Mr Dawkins clear the sunken rock—“maroonings, knives going, and what not, but I never see much gained by it. It don’t frighten me. ”

“ But, why should Mr Dawkins desire to be rid of the owners’ agent and, by consequence, his assistant? Here, again, we were long in debate before we came to a plausible theory. The owners’ representatives out of the way, Mr Dawkins would lift the plate and skip with the profits—this was our brilliant solution.
“Why, the man’s a common pirate,” cried Brandon. “However could we have engaged him? But it was the bottle did it; we had to, you see. It was all my fault, but it seemed such plain sailing at the time. I can never go back to England now, whatever this Murch does with us. ”

“ I knew his errand before he spoke; and so did Tickle, who instantly cried out,
"Snip the tailor, eged! and another paroxysm of dunning!"
"Servant, Mr. Dawkins,—servant, Mr. Tickle," said the gentleman, giving each of us a scrape; "hope no intrusion and no offence; wouldn't go to controvert gentlemen on no account. But, talking of accounts, Mr. Dawkins, hope you'll excuse me; wouldn't dun a gentleman for the world, but have a cussed note in bank for cloth, and must make up the sum by to-morrow; and so, if it's convenient, Mr. Dawkins, shall be obliged for the amount of bill." ”

“ Lord!” says Dawkins, staring hard at Pomfrett the elder, and turning his little, lighted eyes upon Mrs A., who paled visibly, “as I look at you, lady and gentleman born, I could swear I see the blood a-spotting your white hands. But what cheer! The longest liver takes all, and the chaplain can square the dividend, I reckon. What’s he draw pay and rations for, else?”
There was an uncomfortable silence. If those good ship-owners, Mrs A. and Mr Pomfrett, never heard the truth before, they heard it, then, from Mr Dawkins’s vinous lips. ”

“ Mr Dawkins filled the room with his bellowing.
“As you please, Jemmy,” returned Gamaliel’s reedy voice. “I know the rules as well as you, I reckon. You get no more, without you pay for what you got—nor you don’t get that, neither.”
[23] “Now, I ask you fair and candid,” grumbled Dawkins, “have I got a guinea piece in the wide world? You know better than that, Hookey. Here! Hands off that bottle!”
Dawkins jumped to his feet, leaning forward upon the table, his open knife poised on his lifted palm, as Gamaliel caught up the bottle, replaced it swiftly in the cupboard, and turned the key. ”

“ Dawkins and her friend Miss Alton generally lamented with so much pathos: "has she lost her little French dog, or has the careless coachman scratched the pannels of her new carriage?" "Oh, you sad man! how can you make a jest of the dear soul's uncommon sensibility? To be sure she has the tenderest feelings. She often says to me, 'my dear Alton, what should I do without you: you are the only person who can really feel for the misfortunes of a friend.' Sweet woman!" ”

“ But that night Pomfrett and Dawkins and I were sitting at supper again in our own cabin.
But I could not eat; the thought of Murch and his insatiate craving for food stuck in my throat.
“Sick, are you? Well, and I don’t wonder. I’m on’y surprised as a man of Murch’s education didn’t take warning from that there unnatural [311] craving for victuals,” observed old Dawkins, shaking his head. “That was the grave-hunger, that was; the earth a-hungry for its nat’ral food. ”

“ John Dawkins, otherwise the artful Dodger, appeared, bearing in his right hand a tallow candle stuck in the end of a cleft stick.
The young gentleman did not stop to bestow any other mark of recognition upon Oliver than a humorous grin; but, turning away, beckoned the visiters to follow him down a flight of stairs. They crossed an empty kitchen, and, opening the door of a low earthy-smelling room, which seemed to have been built in a small back-yard were received with a shout of laughter. ”

“ For, Murch says, Dawkins is a desperate man. He’s getting old, ’tis his last cast. He’s squandered money and liquor in every port this side o’ the line. Now he’s got his last ship, by good luck; and supposing he misses the booty, do you see, he can still privateer till his hold’s full, then declare the dividend, pay off, and drink himself to death, as happy as a king. I cannot but admire your friend Dawkins, Harry.”
[133] “Then,” said I, after some cogitation, “we are not in Catoche Bay—this is not Yucatan.”
“Dear child,” says Morgan, “not by a thousand leagues. ”

“ And so have I—in Cartagena. Of course, all the inhabitants had taken to the woods, with their possessions; it is singular how a man of Dawkins’s experience will never learn to close the earths before he bolts the prey; but there it is, and I was able to save him the trouble of collecting their dues from them. I have a bag or two of diamonds aboard the Wheel of Fortune, Mr Pomfrett, as to which I should like your opinion. ”

“ Thus did the agent turn the tide in his favour; and everyone clamoured to hear the story of our adventures. But Dawkins, who had his own reasons for checking indiscriminate curiosity, hastily called the meeting to order. The dividend was duly declared; and, reserving the plate for the owners, there remained about an hundred pieces of eight, either in money or money’s worth, [214] per share, the men taking a single share each, the officers more, in proportion to their rank. All Captain Dawkins’s winnings he handed to Pomfrett. ”

“ But the first sprightly runnings of his genius are undoubtedly here. Mr. Bumble is in the parish sketches, and Mr. Dawkins the dodger in the Old Bailey scenes. There is laughter and fun to excess, never misapplied; there are the minute points and shades of character, with all the discrimination and nicety of detail, afterwards so famous; there is everywhere the most perfect ease and skill of handling. ”

“ Then Dawkins threw open the door of a back room and drew Oliver in after him.
The walls and ceiling of the room were perfectly black with age and dirt. There was a deal table before the fire, upon which were a candle stuck in a bottle, some pewter pots, bread and butter. Several rough beds were huddled side by side upon the floor. Seated around the table were four or five boys, none older than the Dodger, smoking long clay pipes and drinking spirits with the air of middle-aged men. But the chief figure was an old shrivelled Jew, whose villanous face was offset by a mass of matted red hair. ”

“ Uncle Charlie, reflective for a moment, seemed to conclude she was right and went on.
"The ship on which Sarah Dawkins crossed [300] foundered on the rocks off the Irish coast in a heavy sea this morning and went to pieces against the cliffs in the sight of shore. The dispatches report only three persons saved, and tell of a cook who went about with pots of coffee, and of a girl named Sarah Dawkins who gathered some children about her and whose voice could be clearly heard by those on shore in the lulls of the storm singing hymns to them to the end." ”

“ And when he’s shipwrecked once for all, he’s surprised. He likes to consider himself a clever man, you see—he hasn’t the heart to repent—he’s a fool. Well, now, when I came to post up the log last night, I had in my mind that Dawkins was lying, after what you told me of yourselves. I know Mr Dawkins better than he knows me. But I wasn’t sure. I took the night to think it over, and this morning I saw what to do. Yours, gentlemen, is not a common case.”
“I hope not,” said Pomfrett. “I’ve lost my ship.”
“And that’s better than losing your head, my lad,” observed Mr Murch. ”

“ We could not sail after Dawkins for ever; if for no other reason, because our crew would certainly break into mutiny before long. They came out for plunder, and plunder they would have, sooner or later. Failing Dawkins, we might set a course for Bristol, and keep the crew in a good humour by picking up what ships we could on the way. What would happen when we fetched up in Bristol was a question never at this time debated. Persons in a doubtful situation often avoid a discussion, for, so long as a matter is not talked of, you may, if you like, pretend [175] that it does not exist. ”

“ Pomfrett ended by a fervent adjuration, imploring Mr Murch, if he could not give or sell his liberty, at least to let him go down to the ship, on his parole, and challenge Captain Dawkins to mortal combat.
Mr Murch, who had listened without a word, good or bad, treated the proposition very airily.
“My lad,” said he, “don’t you know Dawkins better than that? He does not fight except for gain. Moreover, he sails to-night—has already cut sail, in all likelihood.”
I thought Brandon would have sprung at his throat, and then I thought he would break into weeping. ”

“ That night they had an elaborate supper and related some of their adventures to the store-keeper, a French Canadian, who, in turn, told many of his experiences. They were still talking when a man came in and announced himself as Bill Dawkins from “up the trail a ways.”
“I heard that one of your party is a doctor or suthin’ sim’lar,” he said, “and maybe he can do suth’in for a poor cuss that’s just been throwed [292] from his horse and had his head busted, up the road a piece.”
“I am not a doctor, but I have some knowledge of medicine,” said the professor. “Where is the man?” ”

“ I will try and get him to speak to you." He went back into the other room.
"Dawkins," he said, "there is a soul in agony. I pray you to listen. For God's sake come and listen."
The chaplain hesitated a moment.
"As you will," he said.
He took up the receiver and put it to his ear.
"I am Mr. Dawkins," he said. ”

“ As John Dawkins objected to their entering London before nightfall, it was nearly eleven o’clock when they reached the turnpike at Islington. They crossed from the Angel into St. John’s-road, struck down the small street which terminates at Sadler’s Wells theatre, through Exmouth-street and Coppice-row, down the little court by the side of the workhouse, across the classic ground which once bore the name of Hockley-in-the-Hole, thence into Little Saffron-hill, and so into Saffron-hill the Great, along which the Dodger scudded at a rapid pace, directing Oliver to follow close at his heels. ”