Fritz and Eric

by John C. Hutcheson

  CHAPTER NINETEEN.

  THE VOYAGE OF THE SHIP.

  When Fritz awoke the next day, however, he could not quite make out whatwas going on in the place. There was a strong smell of gunpowder in theair, and he could hear the cracking reports of small cannon, let off atfrequent intervals with much noise in the streets by a crowd of boys,whose voices mingled with the excruciating sound of squeaking trumpetsand the shrill, ear-piercing scream of penny whistles.

  For the moment, he thought he was dreaming again of the old days of thewar, and that the confused medley, which became each moment louder, wasbut the half-waking recollection of the bivouac around Metz, with itsmany constant alarms of sallies and sorties from the beleagueredfortress; but, when he came downstairs from his bedroom, he was speedilyundeceived as to the reason for the pandemonium without.

  The captain and Eric had already started off for the ship, and only MrsBrown and Celia were below waiting breakfast for him.

  "What on earth is the matter?" he asked. "It seems like Bedlam brokenloose. Is there an insurrection going on?"

  "Ah, they're having a fine time, ain't they!" said Miss Celia.

  "But, what is it all about?" he repeated, gazing from one to the otherof the smiling ladies, almost bewildered by the uproar out of doors.

  "Fourth of July," replied the lady of the house, as if that was quite asufficient answer and accounted for everything.

  "The fourth of July!" he repeated mechanically. "What has the day ofthe month got to do with it--is it an anniversary of some sort--somenational holiday?"

  "An anniversary, indeed!" exclaimed Miss Celia indignantly. "I thoughtyou were such a good hand at history. Why, haven't you ever heard ofour glorious Declaration of Independence, when the free states ofAmerica severed the hated yoke that bound them under the thraldom of thetyrant England?"

  "Oh, yes, I forgot. I'm sure I beg your pardon for not recollectingwhat must be to you a sacred day!" said Fritz, somewhat deceived by thegirl's affected enthusiasm, Celia having spoken as grandiloquently as ifshe were an actress declaiming tragedy.

  "Sacred day, fiddlesticks!" she replied, laughing at his grave face andsolemn manner. "I guess we don't worry ourselves much about that! Wetry and have a good time of it, and leave it to the politicians andskallywags to do the speechifying and bunkum! The boys have the besttime of it, I reckon."

  "Yes," he replied, his ideas as to the patriotic associations ofAmerican citizens considerably modified. "They seem to enjoythemselves, if the noise they're making affords any criterion of that!"

  "I guess so," answered the girl. "They've burnt a few fire crackersthis morning; but, it's nothing to what they do at Boston. Law, why youshould see the goings on there'll be in front of Faneuil Hall to-night,when the `Bonfire Boys' set to work!"

  "By that time, I imagine, I'll be on the sea," said Fritz. "Your fathertold us last evening that he would start to-day if the wind was fair,and I noticed a bit of a breeze blowing through my window when I wasdressing."

  "Yes," put in Mrs Brown; "and he said this mornin', 'fore he went offdown town, to tell you to be sure and hurry up as soon as ever you'dswallowed your breakfast--not for what I want to hasten you away,though!"

  "Did he?" said Fritz, bolting a bit of buckwheat cake and hastily risingfrom the table. "If that's the case, I'd better be off to see about mytraps."

  "Bless you, they're all aboard hours ago! Eric took them with him whenhe started off with pa," remarked Celia demurely.

  "Oh, you saw him before he went, then?" said Fritz.

  "Yes, I wished your brother good-bye," replied the girl, colouring up.

  "Oh!" repeated Fritz meaningly, with a sly glance at her.

  "And now, Mr Dort, we must wish you good-bye, too," interposed MrsBrown, in order to distract his attention from Celia, who looked a bitconfused by Fritz's interrogatories respecting Master Eric.

  "Aren't you coming down to see us off?" said he.

  "Guess not," replied Mrs Brown with much composure, her husband'sdeparture with his ship being of such periodic occurrence as to havelong since lost all sense of novelty. "We'll see you when you get outin the bay, and wish you good luck in the distance. I hope, mister,that you and your brother will be successful in your venture--that I doheartily."

  "Thank you," said Fritz, shaking the hand of the good-natured womancordially. "I can't express how grateful we both are to you and yourhusband for all your kindness to us, strangers in a foreign land!"

  "What, do you leave me out?" put in Miss Celia saucily.

  "I should think not," returned Fritz gallantly. "I included you, ofcourse, when thanking your mother. I'm sure words would fail to giveyou any idea of my feelings on the subject; but I dare say Eric spoke onmy behalf this morning."

  "Indeed, he had too much to say for himself," retorted the girl; "and,instead of his behaving like a quiet German lad, as I thought him, hewas more of a saucy American sailor boy! Not that I minded that much,"she added demurely. "It made him more sparkish-like and all thepleasanter."

  "Really?" said Fritz, smiling. "I think I shall have to talk to MasterEric when I get on board the ship."

  "No, nary you mind that," pleaded Miss Celia most magnanimously. "Iforgive him this time; but you can tell him, though, I'll pay him outwhen he comes back to our shanty, that I will!"

  "All right, I will give him your message," replied Fritz, as he shookhands with the fair little Rhode Islander, whose eyes were full of tearsas she said good-bye, in spite of her sprightly manner and off-hand way."And now, ladies," he added, addressing them both collectively, "I mustsay farewell, hoping to have the pleasure of seeing you again on ourreturn from Inaccessible Island, somewhere about two years hence."

  "I'm sure I hope so, too," said the lady of the house kindly, Celiajoining cordially in the wish; and Fritz then left the shanty, directinghis steps down to the quay, where he expected to find the _Pilot'sBride_ still moored.

  She was not here, however; but, after a moment, he could discern thevessel lying out in the river some little distance from the shore.There, anchored almost in mid-stream and with a blue peter flying at thefore as well as the American stars and stripes trailing over her stern,she looked even more picturesque than when Fritz had seen her lyingalong the wharf on his first view of her.

  It was much earlier in the month than Captain Brown had stated was hisusual time for starting on his annual voyage to the South Atlantic; butthe skipper had accelerated his departure in order to have time to go toTristan d'Acunha on his outward trip, instead of calling there as heusually did just before returning to Providence--so as to allow thebrothers to pick up a little information that might be of use to themfrom the little colony at Tristan, before proceeding to their ownselected settlement on Inaccessible Island.

  The ship was now, therefore, quite ready to start as soon as the windand her captain willed it; for, her sails were bent, with the gasketscast-off and the topsails loose, ready to be let fall and sheeted homeat the word of command. A nautical man would have noticed, too, thatshe was hove short, right over her anchor, so that no time should belost in bowsing that up to the cathead and getting under weigh, when thetime came to man the windlass and heave up the cable, with a "Yo-heaveho!"

  Presently, Fritz observed a boat that had been towing astern of the shiphauled up alongside, and then this put off for the shore, with some onein the stern-sheets whom he did not recognise at first, on account ofthe person having a gilt-banded cap on; but, as soon as the boat gotnearer, he saw that it was Eric, who now hailed him while yet a hundredyards away.

  "Hullo!" he shouted; "how is it you're so late? The captain is onlywaiting for you to set sail, for the pilot's coming on board now!"

  "I didn't think you were going until the evening," replied Fritz,descending the steps of the jetty, which the boat had now nearlyapproached.

  "Nor were we, if this breeze hadn't sprung up since morning so verysuddenly, when we least expected it! I suppose it's because of all
thatgunpowder firing that the air's got stirred up a bit? But, jump in, oldfellow, the skipper seems a bit impatient; and the sooner we're all onboard the better he'll be pleased."

  With these words, Eric stretched out a hand to help his brother into thelittle dinghy, which could barely carry two comfortably besides the manpulling amid-ship, and then the frail little craft started on her wayback to the mother ship, of which she seemed the chicken!

  No sooner were they alongside and up the ladder, than Captain Brown'svoice was heard rapidly giving orders, as if no time were to be lost.

  "Veer thet boat astern an' hook on the falls," he roared in stentorianaccents. "I want her walked up to the davits 'fore I can say JackRobinson! There, thet's the way to do it, men. Now, get her inboardan' secure her; we shan't want her in a hurry ag'in, till we come backto the bay!"

  "Mr Dort," he sang out presently to Eric, who was standing by ready forthe skipper's orders and watching his eye--prepared to jump anywhere ata second's notice, and looking so full of eagerness and attention thatFritz felt quite proud of him!

  "Aye, aye, sir," answered the lad, touching his cap; for, nowhere isdeference insisted on so stringently from inferior officers to theirsuperiors as on board ship, especially in merchantmen commanded bycaptains worth their salt. In no other way can proper respect be paidto authority, or the necessary orders requisite for the safety andcomfort of all enforced.

  "I give you charge o' the mizzen mast," said Captain Brown, meaning thatEric would have to see to all that was necessary for making sail in theafter part of the ship. At the same time, the second mate stationedhimself amidships, and the first officer went forward to the bows, tosuperintend the getting up of the anchor, each of them repeating theseveral directions of the captain in turn.

  "All hands make sail!" then shouted the skipper, who, with his hands inthe pockets of his monkey jacket, stood on the poop deck aft, lookingeverywhere apparently in one glance, it was so comprehensive ofeverything that was going on below and aloft; whereupon, the men, racingup the rigging with alacrity, the topsails were soon sheeted home andthe yards hoisted, after which more canvas was unfolded to the breeze,that came in short, sharp puffs off the land.

  The headsails were then backed, as the ship brought up over her anchor;and, the windlass coming round with a ringing "clink, clank!" of thepawl to the hearty long heaves of the sailors--who worked at it with awill, singing in chorus the while--the heavy weight of metal that stillattached the _Pilot's Bride_ to the sand and shells at the bottom ofNarraganset Bay was ere long lifted gradually above the water and run upto the cathead. The jib and foretop-sail were then allowed to fillagain and the yards squared; when, the vessel, paying off, began tomove, at first slowly, and then more rapidly as she gathered way, out ofthe harbour away towards the open sea, some thirty miles beyond.

  The wind being light and flickering, the crew were soon ordered aloftagain to set the top-gallant-sails, for the breeze was so far favourablethat the ship did not have to beat out of the bay; consequently, she wasable to spread more canvas than if she had been forced to tack, or hadto be steered by her sails.

  Nor was Captain Brown satisfied with top-gallants alone; for, quickly,the order came to set the royals and flying jib before the men couldclimb down the ratlins; and, soon, the vessel was under a cloud of sailalow and aloft, taking advantage of every breath of air. Towards theafternoon, the north-westerly breeze still lasting, the ship clearedNarraganset Bay, running before the wind; when, shaping a course betweenthe treacherous Martha's Vineyard on the one hand and Gardiner's Islandon the other, she was steered out into the open Atlantic.

  No sooner had they got to sea than Captain Brown called all hands aft,mustering the crew--who numbered some twenty in all, including the cookand a couple of boys. He then gave them a short speech from the poop.

  Some of the men had been with him before, he said, so they knew what hewas; but, as for those who didn't, he would tell them that, as long asthey did their duty manfully, they would find him always consideratetowards them. If they "turned rusty," however, why then "they'd betterlook out for squalls," for they would discover, should they try on anyof their notions, that he was "a hard row to hoe!"

  The men were next divided into watches and dismissed to their severalduties; after which the _Pilot's Bride_ settled down steadily to hervoyage.

  At first, Fritz found the life on board very enjoyable. The motion ofthe ship was so slight, as she slipped through the water with the windon her quarter, that there was no rolling; and the difference of herarrangements, with clean cabins and the absence of that sickening smellof the engine-room which had permeated the steamer in which he had madethe passage from Bremen to New York--his only previous acquaintance withthe ocean-made him fancy that he could spend all his days on the deepwithout discomfort. But, after a time, the routine grew verymonotonous; and long ere the _Pilot's Bride_ had reached tropicallatitudes, Fritz would have been glad if she had reached their appointeddestination.

  Truth to say, the vessel was not that smart sailer which a strangerwould have imagined from all the skipper had said about her. It wasnearly three weeks before she ran into the north-east trades; and threemore weeks, after she got within these favouring winds, before shemanaged to cross the Line, which she did somewhere about 24 degreesWest. All this time, too, to add to Fritz's disgust, they never passeda single other sail!

  The weather throughout the voyage, up to now, had treated the vesselfairly enough, so no complaint could be made on that score; but, nosooner had they arrived at the equator, than the wind suddenly shiftedround to the west and south-west, accompanied by a violent squall thatwould have settled the _Pilot's Bride_, if Captain Brown had notfortunately anticipated it and prepared in time.

  The ship was nearing Pernambuco, off the South American coast, on ashort "leg," before taking the long one that would fetch down towardsTristan d'Acunha, proceeding in the ordinary track of vessels goinground the Cape of Good Hope; when, suddenly, towards evening, it fellnearly calm and sheet lightning was noticed towards the eastward, wherea dense bank of dark clouds had mounted up, obscuring the sky.

  This was enough for Captain Brown, who had gone through a similarexperience before.

  "All hands take in sail!" came his order, without a moment's delay.

  The men sprang aloft immediately and furled the royals and top-gallant-sails; while others below took in the flying jib and hauled up themainsail and trysail--the hands wondering all the time what on earth theskipper was at, taking in all the spread of the vessel's canvas, whenthere wasn't a breath of air blowing!

  However, the "old man," as he was generally called by the crew, knewbetter than they; and so, with the ship's yards stripped and squared, heawaited what science and forethought had taught him to expect.

  Science and forethought had not caused him to make these preparations invain!

  The blackness in the south-east extended round the horizon to the west,and, presently, a thick mist came rolling up from that quarter,enveloping the vessel in its folds and covering the stars in front likea curtain, although those lesser lights of the night shone out brightlyin other parts of the sky.

  Then, all at once, the squall burst with a furious blast that made theship heel over almost on her beam ends, the wind being followed by ashower of rain and hail that seemed as if it would batter in the decks.

  "Let go the halliards!" sang out Captain Brown; and, his order beingpromptly attended to, the vessel was not taken aback--otherwise everyspar would have snapped away, or else she would have gone down sternforemost.

  Now, however, instead of any accident happening, the good ship, althoughreeling with the blow like a drunken man, paid off from the windhandsomely--running on for some time before the gale and tearing throughthe water with everything flying, "as if old Nick were after her," themen said!

  All hands being then called again, the topsails and trysails were close-reefed, the courses furled, and the foretopmast-staysail set; when, thebarque wa
s brought round nearly to her course again, with the weather-braces hauled in a bit to ease her.

  This was the first rough weather Fritz experienced, and it cannot besaid to have increased his admiration for a sea life, all he saw ofwhich only tended to make him wonder more and more every day what couldinduce his brother Eric to have such a passionate inclination towardsit! It was a strange fancy, he thought, as he watched the disturbedstate of the wild ocean, lashed into frenzy by the force of the gale,which seemed to wax more lusty each hour; for, the ship appeared to be,now, careering like a mad thing through some deep watery valley, betweenlofty mountainous peaks of spray, and, the next moment, seeming to be onthe toppling edge of a fathomless abyss, into which she looked about toplunge headlong to destruction as she rose above the plane of tempest-tossed water, borne aloft on the rolling crest of one of the huge wavesthat were racing by each other as if in sport--the broken, billowyelement boiling and seething as far as the eye could reach, in eddies ofcreamy foam and ridges of turbid green, with the clouds above of aleaden tinge that deepened, as they approached the horizon, to a darkslatish hue, becoming blue-black in the extreme distance.

  "That Shakespeare was a fine fellow!" Fritz said to Captain Brown, whostood close by the binnacle, keeping an eye to the two men who were nowat the wheel steering; for, the ship required careful handling in theheavy sea that was running to prevent her from broaching to, and itneeded very prompt action frequently to jam down the helm in time, so asto let her fall off her course before some threatening mountain of waterthat bore down on her bows.

  "Ha-ow?" ejaculated the skipper inquiringly, turning to the other, whowas looking over the taffrail surveying the scene around and had spokenmusingly--uttering his thoughts aloud.

  "I mean Shakespeare, the great dramatist," replied Fritz, who, like alleducated Germans, had a keen appreciation of the bard and could quotehis pregnant sayings at pleasure. "He wrote plays, you know," he added,seeing that Captain Brown did not quite comprehend him.

  "Oh, I rec'lect now," replied the skipper, understanding him at last,and his face beaming with curious intelligence. "Him as wrote a piececalled `Hamlet,' hey? I reckon I see it once when I wer to Boston someyears ago, an' Booth acted it uncommon well, too, yes, sirree!"

  "Well then," said Fritz, going on to explain the reason for his originalremark, "Shakespeare exactly expresses my sentiments, at this presentmoment, in the words which he puts into the mouth of one of hischaracters in the `Tempest,' Gonzalo, I think. `Now would I give athousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground; long heath, brownfurze, anything: the wills above be done, but I would fain die a drydeath!'"

  The young fellow laughed as he ended the apt quotation.

  The skipper, however, did not appear to see the matter in the samelight.

  "I guess thet there Gonzalo," he remarked indignantly, "wer no sailor;an' Mister Shakespeare must hev hed a durned pain in his stummick whenhe writ sich trash!"

  Some hours afterwards, fortunately for Fritz's feelings, the gale broke;when, the wind shifting round to the northward of west, the _Pilot'sBride_ was enabled to steer away from the South American coast and shapea straight course for Tristan d'Acunha.