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"He is not a man after my own heart, and I would rather be excused
from serving under him. I don't think we shall agree."
"You may not agree, but he will," laughed the captain, who did not
appear to be half so amiable as before I had signed the shipping
papers.
"I don't think you know him. In my opinion, the police commissioners
of St. Louis would like to see him very much indeed," I answered.
This was a very imprudent remark on my part, though it was only the
simple truth. Ben Waterford's face turned red, and he leaped into the
boat where I was.
"We have carried this farce just far enough," said he, angrily. "I'm not
going to fool all day with any one. Now get into that boat. Tumble his
trunk in."
The men with me obeyed the order, and my valuable trunk was
placed in the stern sheets of the shipping master's boat. I could not
hope successfully to resist the captain and mate of the Michigan, and
calmer reflection than I had at first given the subject cooled my
desperate ardor. But I still hoped that some lucky event would save
me from my fate.
"Tumble into the boat, Phil," repeated the mate.
"I want you to tell the police of New York, as soon as possible," I
continued, turning to my boatman, "that the mate of the Michigan is
—"
I had not time to say any more before Ben Waterford seized me by
the throat, and pitched me into the other boat.
Phil made Prisoner by Waterford.
"Yes, sir; I always do that, and I do not feel like neglecting it here."
"That's right, my lad. I don't do so myself, but I like to see others do it;
I wish I could. I always feel safer in a vessel when somebody prays."
"If you think it is right to do so, I hope you will do it yourself."
"I don't think I could now. I was brought up to do so; but I've drank
liquor enough to float this bark from New York to Palermo, and that's
knocked all the good out of me."
"I would stop drinking liquor."
"Stop! But I'm an old sailor."
"Have you any liquor on board?"
"Not a drop."
"Then you will drink none on this cruise."
"Not a thimbleful."
"If you can get along without it for three or four weeks at sea, why can
you not do without it when you go ashore?"
"You are green, my lad. By the time you can take your trick at the
wheel, and parcel a stay, you will know all about it. But batten down
your peepers, and go to sleep, Phil."
It was not so easy for me to go to sleep after the excitement of the
evening, and I wasted half of my watch below in thinking over the
events of the day. Certainly I had enough to reflect upon, enough to
regret, and enough to dread in the future. I was completely in the
power of my enemy. I could only submit, and suffer. It was possible
that Captain Farraday, after he was sober, would save me from
absolute abuse; but I did not expect anything from him. I went to
sleep at last, because I could think of nothing to mitigate my hard lot.
"All the port watch!" rang through the forecastle before I was ready to
hear the call, for I had not slept two hours.
However, I was one of the first to hear the summons, because I had
no drunken debauch to sleep off. I turned out instantly, and shook
Jack Sanderson till he came out of his drunken stupor. He leaped
briskly from his bunk, and we were the first to report ourselves on
deck. The chief mate had not yet appeared, and I wondered whether
he had discovered the loss of a part of his specie. I expected a
tremendous storm when he ascertained that his ill-gotten gold had
disappeared. He could not unlock his trunk without the use of the
pick-lock; but, as he had found no difficulty in opening mine, I did not
think he would in opening his own. The only thing that troubled me
was the insecurity of the hiding-place I had chosen for my treasure. I
was looking for a better place, and I hoped the storm would not come
till I had found it.
The bark was still under all sail, with the wind from the south-west. I
noticed a change in the sails, and that the vessel rolled now, instead
of pitching. Either the wind had changed, or the course of the bark
had been altered; I could not tell which. I liked the motion of the
vessel; and, as she sped over the waves, I could have enjoyed the
scene if I had not been in the power of an enemy. While I was looking
at the sails and the sea, the chief mate came on deck. By this time
the starboard watch had roused their sleepy shipmates, and the
whole port watch were at their stations.
"Phil Farringford!" called the mate.
"Here, sir," I replied, stepping up to the quarter-deck; and I observed
that Jack Sanderson followed me as far as it was proper for him to
go.
"You are an able seaman, Phil; take your trick at the wheel."
"Ay, ay, sir," I replied, using the language I had heard others use
when ordered by an officer to do anything.
"Beg your pardon, sir; but Phil does not pretend to be an able
seaman," interposed my salt friend.
"Who spoke to you?" growled the mate. "Go forward, and when I
want anything of you I'll call for you."
"I only wanted to say, sir—"
"Shut up!"
Jack went forward, followed by a shower of oaths from the mate.
"Relieve the helm, Phil," repeated Waterford.
"Ay, ay, sir."
I went to the wheel.
"You are down on the shipping papers as an able seaman, and you
ought to be able to take your trick at the wheel."
"I will do the best I can, sir," I replied.
"You will steer the bark, or take the consequences," said the mate, as
if satisfied that he had put me in a position where I must make a
failure, and call down upon my head the wrath and contempt of my
shipmates.
There were but two able and three ordinary seaman in the port watch.
The others, like myself, were green hands, who had never stood at a
wheel. The five seamen, therefore, would be obliged to do all the
steering; and of course it put more of this duty upon them than the
other watch had, in which there were three able and three ordinary
seamen. Five men would have to do the work which properly
belonged to six; and these men, in the common course of life on
shipboard, would hate and annoy, to the best of their ability, the one
who imposed this extra labor upon them.
I had never steered at a wheel, but I was perfectly at home at the
helm of a yacht. I knew the compass, and understood when a sail
was drawing properly. Perhaps it was presumptuous in me, but I
made up my mind, when ordered to do it, that I could steer the bark.
She was going free, with the wind a little abaft the beam, and this
made it easy for a beginner. While I stood listening to the mate, I
noticed that the helmsman steered very "small;" indeed, the bark
seemed to take care of herself.
"South-east," said Ned Bilger, whom I relieved at the helm.
"South-east," I repeated, as I had heard the wheelman say when the
course was given to him.
I placed myself on the weather side of the wheel, and grasped the
spokes with a firm hand. Fixing my gaze upon the compass in the
binnacle, I determined to make a success of my first attempt to steer.
I was a mechanic, and I fully comprehended the working of the
machinery of the compass. All I had to do was to keep the point
south-east on the notch; or, in other words, to keep south-east in
range with the bowsprit. I was cool and self-possessed, for I felt that I
could do all that was required of me.
Waterford walked forward, as I took the helm, to look after the men.
Doubtless he expected the bark would come up into the wind in a
moment, and that he should have an opportunity to lay me out. I soon
found that the vessel carried a weather helm; or, if left to herself,
would throw her head tip into the wind. As the compass appeared to
turn, though in reality it was the bark that varied, I met her with the
helm. I steered small, thus avoiding the usual mistake of
inexperienced helmsmen; and I found that a single spoke brought the
compass back to its proper position. In five minutes I felt entirely at
home; but I thanked my stars that the bark did not happen to be
close-hauled, for, between laying a course and keeping all the sails
drawing, I should have been badly bothered.
As soon as I understood the wheel, I rather liked the work. I was so
interested in my occupation that I ceased to gape, and felt very much
like an old sailor. The mate, who was evidently waiting for me to
make a blunder, said nothing more to me. He occasionally walked aft
and glanced at the compass; but I was very careful not to let the bark
vary a hair from her course. As the mate said nothing, I imitated his
example. It is not proper for any one to talk to the man at the wheel,
and Waterford showed that he was a good officer by holding his
tongue. I kept up a tremendous thinking; and, among other things, I
tried to explain why, if the bark was bound up the Mediterranean, her
course was to the south-east. I knew about the variation of the
compass; but, as it was less than a point to the westward, it did not
account for the present course. My theory was, that the vessel ought
to be headed about east, in order to reach the Straits of Gibraltar. But
I did not venture to express any opinion on this subject to the captain
or the mate.
Waterford planked the deck, and I fancied that he was not at all
pleased to find that I could steer the bark. While I congratulated
myself that I was able to do so, I knew there were a hundred other
things I could not do, and therefore his revenge was only deferred for
a few hours. At four bells, Dick Baxter, one of the able seamen of our
watch, came aft and relieved me.
"What do you mean, Phil?" demanded Jack Sanderson, when I went
forward. "You said you wasn't a seaman."
"I never steered a square-rigged vessel before in my life," I replied. "I
have been at the helm of a yacht."
"You steered like an old sailor, my hearty, and kept her as steady as a
judge on the bench."
"I am going to do the best I can. I know something about a vessel, but
I have a great deal to learn."
"I'll learn you, my lad."
"Thank you. I shall be very grateful to you."
I spent the remaining two hours of my watch on deck in learning the
names and uses of the various ropes of the running rigging. I studied
on halyards, sheets, buntlines, and clew-garnets, and I thought I
made good progress. But the next day I was introduced to a cringle,
and found myself at fault.