Seamew

“ Some of the Seamew's crew were overtaken, and they swept off their hats to Prudence and the supposed Ida May, grinning up at Tunis with more than usual friendliness.
"Ah!" exclaimed Eunez Pareta to Johnny Lark, the Seamew's cook. "So you know she of the evil eye, eh?"
"What do you mean?" asked Johnny. "That pretty girl who rides behind Captain Latham?"
"Si!"
"She has no evil eye," declared the cook stoutly.
"It is told me that she has," said the smiling girl. "And she has put what you call the 'hoodoo' on that schooner. She come down in her from Boston." ”

“ Our story is a long one, and a queer one—too long and too queer to be spun just now, so it must wait; but you will all be glad to know that we are bound for the port that you hail from; so, please God, it will not be long before you see your sweethearts and wives once more. This, Mr Troubridge, is Mr Thomson, chief mate of the schooner Seamew, blazing out yonder; and the rest are the remainder of her crew, whose names I have not yet had time to learn.”
“Welcome aboard the Mercury, Mr Thomson, and men of the Seamew!” ”

“ I saw Mr. Alf Barney at the Seamew’s wheel. He handled the ship splendidly. When the Seamew came about on the other tack, her helmsman met the waves just right and swung her over so that the sails scarcely shook at all. She reared up on one tack, turned as it were on her heel, and swept away on the other tack at a speed that sent the spray flying high above her rail. It was a pretty sight.
Our Mr. Barney stood right beside me as I manipulated the Gullwing’s helm. He watched the handling of our rival with lowering brow.
“Gimme that wheel!” he snapped, pushing me away and seizing the spokes. ”

“ I wonder what's got into him."
"I'd like to get something out of him," growled Tunis, to whom the remark was addressed.
"What's that?"
"Some work, for one thing," said the captain of the Seamew. "He's as lazy a fellow as I ever saw. And his tongue's too long."
"Trouble is," Cap'n Ira rejoined, "these trips you take in the schooner are too short to give you any chance to lick your crew into shape. They get back home too often. Too much shore leave, if ye ask me."
"I'd lose Mason Chapin if the Seamew made longer voyages. And I have lost one of the hands already—Tony." ”

“ The Seamew was a shade faster in reaching and running than the Gullwing. Mr. Barney told me that.
“But to windward we have the best of her. And that’s not because of our sailing qualities. The difference is in the two masters,” the second mate said. “Captain Joe can always get more out of his ship than Captain Si can out of his when the going is bad. In fair weather the Seamew will beat us a little every reach. But it isn’t all fair weather in a voyage of ten thousand miles, or so,” and he smiled—I thought—rather nastily. ”

“ But Rachel knew nothing of all this; and so, on a certain morning, when the Seamew dropped anchor off the coral island of her dreams, she went ashore without any misgivings. It was an island paradise, not recognized by any map that she had seen, though Captain Ryan seemed to know all about it. ”

“ Tom Thornton was right by my side, for Mr. Barney had taken the wheel himself.
“In case of doubt,” I asked Tom, “who gives way—the Seamew or the Gullwing?”
“Why, the Seamew, of course,” growled Tom.
“Are you sure?”
“I be,” he said, emphatically. “No gittin’ around it. It has to be her gives way—not us. Both of us are close-hauled, that’s a fact; but we on this tack has the right of way. The Seamew’s got to come about and give us the road.”
“She don’t look like she would,” I said, gravely.
“Of course she will!”
“Then she’ll miss meeting the other tug this time. It will give us a big advantage.” ”

“ The work was done before the second dog-watch and then we had a chance to sit down and fraternize with the men from the Seamew.
“What gave the old Seamew her ticket,” said Job Perkins, “was our changing a live [214] man for a dead one. When Clint, here, went over the side and a man that had been garroted came back inboard, I knowed we was in for trouble. And that ten dollars you’re to pay me at Baltimore,” he whispered in my ear, “ain’t going to pay me for the dunnage I lost.”
“How d’ye s’pose that feller got strangled with his lanyard?” demanded another of the Seamew’s men. ”

“ During the cheerful and plentiful meal the young captain of the Seamew related certain matters he thought would interest the woman regarding his purchase of the schooner and the voyage down to the Cape. He told her he was sure the Seamew was fast enough for a Boston market boat.
"Speed is what is wanted now to compete with the Old Colony," Tunis declared. "We've got fish and clams and cranberries in season, and some vegetables, that have to be shaken up and jounced together and squashed on those jolting steam trains. ”

“ Old Bill, meanwhile, stood aft by the taffrail with the lead-line in his hand, anxiously noting the shoaling water as the smack drifted sternward toward the wreck.
“Hold on, for’ard,” he shouted at last, when the little Seamew had driven so far in upon the sand that there was little more than a foot of water beneath her keel when she sank into the trough of the sea. “Now lay aft here, all hands, and let’s see if we can get a rope aboard of ’em.” ”

“ They were until late in the evening beating into Paulmouth Harbor, but the heavens were starlit and the air as soft as spring. The tolling of the bell buoy over Bitter Reef was mellow and soothing; they heard it for a long time before the Seamew made the short leg of the final tack and went rushing in past the danger mark under the urge of a sudden puff of the fitful breeze.
"The old bell is welcoming us, Ida May," Captain Latham said to the girl who reclined in a canvas chair which the cook had raked out of the lazaret for her use. ”

“ Up to this moment not a gun had spoken save the two bow-chasers, as the captain would not yaw her until the last moment Then round she came and poured a broadside into the Seamew. Orders had been given to fire high, and every man was on his mettle. The maintop-mast of the Seamew fell, snapped at the cap; the peak halyards of the mizzen were shot away, and a number of holes were drilled through her sails. A loud cheer broke from our men. ”

“ That’d be foolish,” growled old Tom. “A man can go bullying his way ashore, pushin’ folks inter the gutter and all that, if he’s big enough—like Bob yonder. But a captain can’t do that at sea. He’d only git what’s due him. He’ll have to give way.”
Yet no order was given from the Seamew’s quarter; nor did our skipper say a word. I could not believe that Captain Bowditch, even with the sea-law on his side, would risk his beautiful ship and the lives of her crew. Yet if the Seamew continued to run in on us much longer we would have to fall off, or collide with her. ”

“ As I gazed, there suddenly appeared round a point of the high land a little vessel with closely reefed sails struggling in the sea between Vaalafiel and its neighbouring island. Her hull was partially concealed from my view by the arms of our voe, but very soon I seemed to know that it must be the Seamew, and that she was attempting to enter the harbour; and a thought occurred to me which was suggestive of peril at once: Why do they try to pass through so narrow and dangerous a strait when the storm is at its worst? ”

“ At least the girl who was going with the Seamew to Big Wreck Cove seemed to have made certain preparations for a new life.
The captain came out on deck and closed the slide. The commercial tug was puffing in toward the Seamew's berth.
"Come alive, boys!" said Captain Latham, taking instant command of the deck. "Cast off those lines! Get that tug hawser inboard, Horry. Mr. Chapin, will you see that those lines are coiled down properly? Keep the deck shipshape. Make less work for your watch when we get under canvas. ”

“ That is the Seamew, Ida May," he exclaimed. "Tut, tut! What's Tunis got himself into such a pickle for? 'Tain't reasonable he should—being as good a seaman as he is.
"My, my! Why don't he get some cloth on her? He can't have lost all his upper canvas. Don't he know he needs tops'ls to beat up aslant of this gale and get into the shelter of the Head? I swan! If there's men enough there to man her proper, why don't they do the right thing?"
"Oh, Cap'n Ball," gasped the girl, "perhaps there are not enough men with him. Perhaps his crew has deserted again." ”

“ The women once safe, the men made short work of it; and in little over two hours twenty-five souls—the survivors of a company of passengers and crew numbering in all forty-two—were safely transferred to the Seamew, which, slipping her cable, at once bore away with her precious freight for Brightlingsea. ”

“ Oh, didn't that pipe make men of us. We spent a very pleasant half-hour with the merchant; then we filled our sacks and returned to our boat happier, surely, than Joseph's brethren could have been coming up, corn-laden, from the land of the Pharaohs. We had one or two little escapades going down stream, caught it wet and nasty on the bar, but got safely and quietly on board the Seamew one hour before sunrise, and to witness the joy on our mess-mates' faces when we cracked a bottle of rum and opened a box of Havanas, more than repaid us for all we had come through. ”

“ No craft ventured out of Big Wreck Cove, least of all the Seamew, although she had a cargo in her hold and a complete and satisfied crew in her forecastle.
Tunis Latham was speaking of the latter fact to Aunt Lucretia in the warm and homelike kitchen of Latham's Folly.
"Zeb is a good fellow. He has got together a bunch of hands that aren't afraid of ghosts or bogies. You couldn't make those Portygees or some of the other hands we had see the ridiculousness of their fear of the Seamew—bless her! But with this bunch Zeb has got together I wouldn't fear to sail around the Horn." ”

“ Indeed, the tug coming up to hook us attracted no attention from anybody aboard our ship at that moment.
The Seamew was wallowing deep in the water now. Her head was under and her stern was kicking up. She was about to dive like a duck to the bottom.
Suddenly the air-pressure below blew off her forward hatch. Instantly the waves broke across the deck and the water poured into the open hatchway.
Swiftly and more swiftly she sank. When our boat came to the hulk, she presented a steep side for one to mount from the small boat.
“Alf! Alf!” we heard our second mate yell. ”

“ To the cook's relief he found that the Seamew's next voyage was to a little port on the West Coast named Cocklemouth, calling at the garrison town of Bymouth on the way. He told Sam that it was a load off his mind, and showed clearly by his manner that he expected the syndicate at least to accept his story. They spent most of their time in the galley, where, secure from money-grubbing eavesdroppers, they matured their plans over the washing of potatoes and the scouring of saucepans. ”

“ But it left a very serious situation upon the schooner when the mate drove away in the taxicab. Six men, forward and aft, to handle a suit of sails which equaled those of any seagoing racing yacht. If it had not been for the freight—some of which was perishable—the master of the Seamew would have laid up until he could have got together a more numerous crew at least.
But instead of going to the seamen's employment offices, Tunis had to turn to himself, while the heavier pieces of freight were lowered down the hatchway of the schooner. ”

“ Every moment it grew and grew until we could see a large ship in flames, while another lay about a quarter of a mile distant. Three or four boats were pulling from the ship in flames towards the other, and as this was a bark we had no doubt that we had [Pg 179] caught the Seamew at her villainous work. The pirate was lying between us and the burning merchantman, so that while her spars stood out clear and distinct against the glare of light we must have been invisible to her. The word was passed quickly forward for the men to go to quarters. ”

“ The waves raced by the Gullwing’s bulwarks with dizzy speed. We plowed on, gaining all we could in every reach, but noting likewise that the Seamew, when she was in sight, seemed to draw away from us. When we had beheld her in the mirage she must have been a long way behind.
I reckon Captain Bowditch prayed for foul weather. And he did not have to pray long in this latitude. We were in the district of the Boiling Seas. Fogs are frequent; gales sweep this section below the Horn almost continually—sometimes [77] from one direction, sometimes from another. ”

“ The Seamew sailed more than three weeks behind Le Dauphin, armed with letters of marque from the King commissioning her to prey upon Spanish commerce in southern seas, and especially to take part in any expedition against Havana or Pensacola. ”

“ And Stronson, with Tom Thornton and other of the old salts, told weird tales in the dog-watch.
In spite of the hurricane we had made good time in this run from Valparaiso. As far as I could see, however, nothing momentous happened at once; and the next important incident that went down in the ship’s log was the sighting of the Seamew.
We really saw her this time—“in the flesh,” not a ghostly mirage. She came out of the murk of fog to the south’ard at dawn and, far away as she was, the lookout identified her. ”

“ In XV. 10, which deals with the capture of pelamyde or young tunny fish, one of the crew sitting at the stern lets down on either side of the ship lines with hooks. On each hook he ties a bait (perhaps not a bait in our modern technical sense, but rather a lure) wrapped in wool of Laconian red, and to each hook attaches the feather of a seamew. ”