Kitabı oku: «Frank Nelson in the Forecastle. Or, The Sportman's Club Among the Whalers», sayfa 12
CHAPTER XVI
CONCLUSION
Frank went aloft with his glass, and after watching the steamer for a few minutes made up his mind that if he held on his way she would cross his path at such a distance that he could not speak her; so he altered the Tycoon's course a few points, and for several miles ran almost parallel with the approaching craft. This manœuvre was successful, and by sunset the two vessels were within hailing distance. After seeing one of the boats cleared for lowering and the crew ready to tumble into her, Frank came to while the steamer was yet a half a mile away; and this attracting the attention of her captain, he ran under a slow bell until within speaking distance, when he stopped his engines. His vessel was a fine large mail steamer, and her promenade deck was crowded with passengers.
"Steamer ahoy!" yelled Frank, through his trumpet. "Will you wait for me to send a boat aboard of you? We are in need of medical assistance."
A reply in the affirmative promptly came back, and five minutes afterward a whale-boat, manned by a sturdy crew steered by Frank, was pulling toward the steamer.
Up to this time Frank's mind was fully occupied with thoughts of the wounded captain; but now it occurred to him that he was not in just the right dress to present himself before a company of ladies and gentlemen. Clothed in a red shirt, coarse trowsers, heavy boots, all plentifully spattered with oil, a tarpaulin, which, although but a short time out of the slop-chest, began to show signs of wear, and with hands and face browned by exposure, he was not the most attractive looking young man in the world, and he thought he looked worse when in the presence of the dapper young officer who met him at the gangway. The well-dressed people on deck gave him plenty of room as he walked along, but the gray-headed captain came forward and greeted him cordially. "What did you say you wanted, sir?" said he. "A doctor?"
"Yes, sir. There's a man aboard that ship in a critical condition. We had some trouble with the natives at the Mangrove Islands, and he's badly wounded."
A chorus of ejaculations and questions arose from the passengers who crowded eagerly forward, and Frank could have told his story to a most attentive and interested audience if he had only had time; but the captain sent off at once for the surgeon, who made his appearance before he was fairly begun. To him Frank described the nature of the captain's injuries as well as he could, and when he had heard all Frank could tell him, he provided himself with medicine and instruments, got into the whale-boat and was taken on board the Tycoon. He remained there nearly three hours – so long that some of the gentlemen among the steamer's passengers became impatient at the delay, called on Frank for a boat, and came off to see what the "blubber-hunter" looked like. The young captain met them as they came over the side, and was amused at the look of astonishment that settled on their faces when they found themselves fairly on her deck.
"Why, if I had known that you kept your craft as neat as this, I should have brought my wife and daughter along," said one of the gentlemen, running his finger over the rail and closely examining it to make sure that there was no oil on it. "I expected to find myself knee-deep in grease. I have seen whalers come into port before now, and they were such horrible looking things outside, that I supposed, they could not be very tidy on deck."
"They are not always, sir," said Frank, "especially when they are cutting in and trying out. They often spend eight months and more out of sight of land, and the men are so busy with other work that they can't find time to keep the ship as neat and trim as a merchantman or man-of-war."
The visitors having satisfied themselves that they were in no danger of soiling their good clothes, began to exhibit a lively interest in what they saw about them. Frank showed them over the ship, explained the use of the try-works, harpoons, lances and all the other implements connected with a whaler's calling, and related the particulars of the fight they had had with the natives at the Mangrove Islands; and so engrossed did his listeners become that they were sorry when the doctor came out of the cabin and announced that he was ready to depart. He told Frank what he had done for the wounded man, and said that, although he was so badly used up that it might take him some months to fully recover from the effects of his injuries, there were no bones broken, and his life was in no danger, if the remedies he left for him were faithfully administered according to the directions he had given the captain's attendant. The doctor and the passengers were then taken on board their vessel by one of the whale-boats, and when it returned and was hoisted at the davits, the Tycoon filled away for the Sandwich Islands.
It was wonderful what a change the doctor's visit made in the wounded man! He seemed to grow better immediately. Frank found him in earnest conversation with Calamity. When it was ended the latter came out with the request that Mr. Gale might be sent to the captain when he was off duty, if Frank had no objection. Of course he had none. The first mate was sent for at once, and remained in conversation with the captain for more than an hour. When he came out he went straight to Frank, who was pacing the quarter-deck. "How is he now?" asked the latter.
"O, he's all right that is, his tongue is as lively as ever. He wants me to act as mediator between you and him."
"There is no occasion for it," answered Frank. "There are no hard feelings on my part."
"I was sure of it, sir. Calamity has told him everything, and he would be perfectly satisfied with the way matters have been arranged, if it wasn't for the fear that you helped rescue him from the natives, and brought the doctor off to save his life, so that you might have the chance to take him before the court at Honolulu."
"Perhaps if he knew me better he would not have so poor an opinion of me," returned Frank. "I don't deny that if I could have got him there two days ago, I should have made trouble for him. Indeed I told him so to his face. But that is all over now."
"He has been punished enough, hasn't he, sir?"
"I think he has. You may assure him for me, in the plainest language you can command, that I shall not trouble him in any way. On the contrary, I will do what I can to make him comfortable."
"I'll tell him, sir. He wanted me to ask two favors of you: one is, that you will put him on board the first ship you meet bound for the States. He's afraid of the men, sir. Calamity told him that they were going to throw him overboard."
"He has nothing to fear from them, but I'll respect his wishes all the same. What else does he want me to do?"
"He hopes that while you are looking out for a sail, you will keep an eye open for whales and lose no chance for filling up. We stow twenty-five hundred barrels, and here we have been out nearly seventeen months and haven't taken a quarter of that quantity. It looks now as though we were not going to make a paying voyage."
"I'll do the best I can," replied Frank.
And he did. The ship lay-to that night with only a boatsteerer's watch on deck, and the next morning business began in earnest. A whale was discovered before breakfast, and three boats in command of Mr. Gale, Lucas and Boson were sent out after him, Frank remaining in charge of the ship. The prize was secured without much trouble, and while it was lying alongside, and the men, having prepared themselves for work by eating a good breakfast, were about to begin the cutting in, another was raised, and by three o'clock that also was alongside, and the carpenter was at work on a stove boat. This whale fought hard, but there was nobody hurt.
This was only the beginning. The blubber-room was never entirely empty, and during the next three weeks four hundred barrels of oil were added to those in the hold. Of course the labor was severe, the crew being small, but the men had plenty to eat, were kindly treated and the amount of work they turned off was surprising. Calamity kept the captain posted in all that was going on, and he growled lustily – being an old sailor he couldn't help it – and wondered why he had not been blessed with such luck, and why the crew had not worked as well for him as they did for the new captain.
One bright morning, following a hard night's work at trying-out, while Frank was leaning over a water-bucket, rubbing his hands and face with a piece of hard soap, the man at the mast-head announced that there was a sail in sight, and in response to the usual inquiry, added: "Broad off the wheather beam. Topsail schooner. Sets low in the water and spreads lots of canvas."
"Do you hear that, Lucas?" cried Frank, gazing about through eyes that were almost hidden in soap suds. "Jump up there, quick!"
The latter cleared his eyes by the aid of a piece of canvas that served him for a towel, and watched the movements of the old boatswain's mate as he hurried aloft. He saw him level his glass, hold it to his eye for a moment and then begin to scramble down again. That was enough for Frank. "Mr. Gale," said he, so delighted and excited, that he could hardly stand still, "my connection with the Tycoon is nearly ended now. My friends are close by."
"I am glad for your sake, sir, and sorry for my own," replied the mate. "We've had a pleasant ship and the best of luck since you've been on the quarter-deck."
"And I have been very well contented," said Frank; "but I wasn't while I was in the forecastle, I tell you. It isn't often that a shanghaied man becomes master of the ship that runs away with him, is it?"
"I never heard the like before, sir."
"And probably you never will again. Well, Lucas!"
"It's the Stranger, sir! I can tell her among a million!" replied the second mate, no less delighted than his captain.
"Breakfast is on, sir," announced the steward.
Frank did not want any, but he made a show of eating nevertheless. He drank a cup or two of a decoction of parched beans which the steward called coffee, swallowed a few mouthfuls of salt horse and hard-tack, and then hurried on deck to tell the officer on watch to see one of the boats clear for lowering, and to have a crew, whom he mentioned by name, ready to pull him off to the schooner. After that he gave his black suit a good overhauling; but it had seen pretty hard service before he drew any clothing from the slop-chest, and he decided that it would not do to put on. Then he took a look at himself in the little mirror that was screwed fast to one of the bulkheads in the cabin, and told himself that Boson was a beauty compared to him.
"Well, what's the difference?" thought Frank. "If any of those boys had been in my boots they would look just as rough and weather-beaten as I do."
With this reflection to console him Frank hurried on deck again, and taking the glass Lucas offered him, levelled it at the schooner, which was now close aboard. Almost the first man he saw was Dick Lewis. Frank's heart leaped at the sight of him. He had supposed that the two trappers were safe in the mountains long before this time, but now he would have a chance to shake them by the hand once more before he bade them good-by for ever. He wondered how they had conquered their fears sufficiently to venture out to sea. He saw Uncle Dick Gaylord and his two officers on the quarter-deck, and the Club gathered in the waist, every one of them with his field-glass in his hand.
"Of course they will recognise the ship, but they will never know me in this dress," thought Frank. "And I don't think they'll be able to make much out of my hail either."
Frank kept out of sight until the ship's main yard was backed and the schooner thrown up into the wind; then he showed himself.
"What ship is that?" yelled a stentorian voice, that Frank could have recognised anywhere.
"The whale ship Eli Coon, Hank Wilson master. Seventeen months out of Nantucket and nine hundred barrels of oil in the hold. I think that bothered them a little, Mr. Gale. I see they are talking very earnestly. Is that crew ready? I'll send a boat aboard of you," he added, hailing the schooner.
"Ay, ay, sir!" answered Uncle Dick, in a tone of voice which indicated that he did not understand the matter at all.
Lucas, Barton, Boson and Tully, all good oarsmen, comprised the boat's crew, and they were not long in taking their captain alongside the schooner. Seeing that the Club and Uncle Dick kept their glasses levelled at him, Frank drew his hat low over his forehead, and thanked the wind for turning the collar of his shirt up around his ears. He laughed to himself when he thought how amazed his friends would be to see him in those clothes and learn that he was the captain of the Tycoon – he who had been shanghaied and thrust into her forecastle to do duty as a common sailor! He thought he could have some sport with the schooner's company, and run no risk of being recognised. After comparing his reckoning with Uncle Dick's, he would slap the boys on the back and take all sorts of liberties with them, and see what they would do about it. But Dick Lewis upset all these calculations in short order. His sharp eyes penetrated Frank's disguise, and no sooner did his head appear above the schooner's rail than he was hauled aboard, lifted bodily from the deck and carried aft. He struggled hard to free himself, but the trapper held him fast, and finally stood him on his feet in front of Uncle Dick, just as he had done with the bogus captain.
"What do you mean?" demanded Frank, in a gruff voice. "If this is the way you treat your visitors, sir, I'll go back where I belong!"
Uncle Dick stared at Frank, who tried to look angry, but his eyes laughed in spite of himself. "Nelson!" he exclaimed, at a venture.
"That's jest who he are, cap'n," cried the trapper, bringing his heavy hand down on Frank's shoulder with such force that he shook all over. "Whiskers and all, that's him."
It was all out now, and Frank's little plan was exposed. Of course a great hubbub arose at once, and Frank judged by the greeting he received that his friends were just as glad to see him as he was to see them. Lucas and Barton met with an equally cordial reception from their friends in the forecastle, who were not a little surprised to find that one of them had worked his way to the quarter-deck during his absence.
Frank had a long story to tell, and it took him a long time to tell it. When it was ended, Uncle Dick and the Club had a good many questions to ask, and it took a long time to answer them; so that the two vessels remained alongside the greater part of the day. During that time boat's crews were exchanged, some of the schooner's company going off to visit the ship, and some of her crew coming back to visit the Stranger.
As soon as the conversation began to flag Frank spoke of the needs of the wounded captain, asking for some of the good things with which the Stranger was so amply provided; but Uncle Dick had something better to propose. "Write an order to your mate to send him off here," said he. "I have a medicine-chest, plenty of lint and bandages, and long experience has made me a passable physician and surgeon. I can take better care of him than you can, and perhaps he will feel easier when he is out of reach of his men."
Frank was only too glad to accept this kind offer, for he knew that the wounded man would be benefited by the change. He sent off an order to Mr. Gale, and half an hour afterward Captain Barclay was comfortably settled in the Stranger's cabin. He was delighted with his elegant quarters, and repeatedly declared that he did not deserve the treatment he received. If he was ever able to take the quarter-deck again he would be a different man.
His story told and all questions asked and answered, the young captain made ready to return to his ship. Of course all the boys went with him. Frank warned them that he could not give them such food or such quarters as they had on board the Stranger, but they didn't care for that. They wanted to see the Tycoon, and they made Frank promise, over and over again, that if the opportunity were offered, he would show them the operation of catching a whale. The Club tried to induce the trappers to go with them, but their entreaties and arguments fell on deaf ears. Dick and Bob knew that the Stranger was a safe boat, but they did not like to trust the Tycoon, and so thought it best to remain where they were.
"Brace for'ard main yard," said Frank, when all the whaler's boats had been hoisted at the davits. "Eugene, you said you couldn't understand how it came that you reached the Sandwich Islands three days after we did. Now I'll show you. Set studding sails, Mr. Gale."
Eugene very soon found out why it was. The Stranger was considered to be remarkably swift for a small vessel, but the big Tycoon sailed two miles to her one, and at daylight the next morning the schooner was out of sight.
Frank being impatient to reach Honolulu, did not go out of his way to find whales. According to promise he kept the mast-head manned, but to no purpose. The boys watched and waited in the hope of hearing the welcome cry, "There she blows!" but not a whale was to be seen. Mr. Gale told them that the reason was because they offered no inducement. It was the practice of whalers under such circumstances as these, he said, to put up a prize of some kind to go to the man who discovered the first spout. He had known a whale to rise in less than two minutes after a pair of trowsers had been hung up in the rigging.
"O, if that's the trouble, we'll raise so many that you won't know which to go after first," said Archie; "who's got any money?"
All the boys happened to have a little in their pockets, and by clubbing together they raised sufficient to purchase one of the best suits of clothing in the slop-chest – hat, boots and all – which was hung up in plain view of the crew. But the offer of a dozen suits would not have enabled the men to see whales where there were none, and Frank took the ship into Honolulu without having the opportunity to gratify his friends, who were greatly disappointed. The Stranger was not in port, but she came shortly afterward, and by that time the Tycoon's business was settled. She passed through the consul's hands, the crew were paid off and discharged and a new captain assumed command and made ready to take her to the States. As soon as the Stranger came in, Uncle Dick's charge was carried to the hospital, and Frank never heard of him afterward. He never heard of Mr. Gale either after he took leave of him. The last time he saw him he was second mate of the Tycoon.
One incident happened on board the Stranger that is worth recording. It was noticed that after Captain Barclay was brought on board, Dick Lewis acted more like himself than he had done for many a day.
It was observed, too, that he often went through a most expressive pantomime, which was easily understood by those who witnessed it. One morning the captain came out of his cabin and found him standing at the top of the companion ladder, where he had been often seen of late. "Why do you hang around here so much?" asked Uncle Dick.
The trapper pushed his hat on the back of his head, shoved up his sleeves until his brawny arms were bare to the elbow, spread out his feet, placed his hands on his hips and looked at the captain. "When is that mean varmint comin' up?" said he. "I owe him a leetle something, an' I'm in an amazin' hurry to pay it!"
"Now, Lewis, you needn't worry about him," said Uncle Dick. "He's having as much punishment as he can stand. Frank heaped hot coals of fire on his head every day for three weeks, and I am following up the same treatment."
"Sho!" exclaimed the trapper, looking doubtfully at Captain Gaylord.
"It is as true as gospel."
Dick could not refuse to believe it after so strong an affirmation as this. He grinned all over with delight, and taking the sailor's sturdy palm in his long, bony fingers, gave it a shake and a squeeze that made the captain wince and lift one of his feet a little way from the deck. Then Dick hurried off to find his chum.
"It's all right, Bob," said he, gleefully. "I didn't know civilized folks done sich things, but the cap'n's scalpin' that feller in a way the Injuns never thought of. He's pilin' fire on his head every day."
This piece of news, while it greatly surprised both the trappers, afforded them the liveliest satisfaction. The kidnapper was being fearfully punished for what he had done, and they told one another that he deserved it. Dick did not hang around the cabin door any more, but he kept his eyes open, and as he never saw any fire carried below, he began to grow suspicious.
When the Stranger arrived in the port of Honolulu and he saw preparations being made to take the captain ashore, he resolved to investigate things a little, just to satisfy himself. Watching his chance, while the wounded man was being carried across the deck to be lowered into the boat, he dashed forward and lifted the hat from his head. To his intense surprise and chagrin the captain's scalp was all there, and his hair did not look as if it had ever been near a fire. Knowing nothing of the Christian principle of returning good for evil, the trapper supposed that Captain Gaylord had been piling literal coals on his patient's head every day. It took Uncle Dick a long time to explain things, and the backwoodsman never had as much faith in him after that.
Having restored Frank to the society of his friends once more, we will take leave of him for the present, promising to say more of him soon in the concluding volume of this series, which will be entitled: "THE BOY TRADERS; OR, THE SPORTSMAN'S CLUB AMONG THE BOERS."
