CHAPTER TWENTY.
ARRIVAL AT TRISTAN D'ACUNHA.
"This air prime, now ain't it?" said the skipper to Fritz, as the ship,with her nose pointing almost south, was driving away before the north-west wind and making some ten knots an hour.
"Yes, she's going along all right," replied he; adding frankly, however,"I should like it all the better, though, if the vessel didn't rollabout so much."
"Roll?" exclaimed Captain Brown indignantly; "call this rolling? Why,Jee-rusalem, she only gives a kinder bit of a lurch now an' ag'in! Ithought you would hev got your sea-legs on by this time."
Fritz could only bow to this statement, of course; but, all duedeference to the skipper, nevertheless, the _Pilot's Bride_ did roll,and roll most unmercifully, too.
She was just like a huge porpoise wallowing in the water!
It may be remembered that she had sailed from port light, with a prettyconsiderable freeboard; and now, with the wind almost right aft, so thatshe had no lateral pressure to steady her--as would have been the caseif the breeze had been abeam or on her quarter--she listed first to portand then to starboard, with the "send" of the sea, as regularly as theswing of a clock's pendulum. Really, the oscillation made it almost asimpossible for Fritz to move about as if the ship had been contendingwith all the powers of the elements in a heavy storm, whereas theskipper said she was only "going easy," with a fair wind!
Why, the "breeze" had not lasted a day, before nearly every particle ofglass and crockery-ware in the steward's cabin was smashed to atoms;while preventer stays had to be rove to save the masts from partingcompany.
Roll, eh? She did roll--roll with a vengeance!
Fortunately, this did not last long; the wind shifting round to thenorth-east, after a three days' spell from the west, which brought theship on a bow line, steering, as she was, south-east and by south. Hadnot this change come when it did, "the old tub would hev rolled herbottom out," as Mr Slater, the whilom deck hand, "guessed" one morningto Fritz, while the crew were engaged in washing decks.
Of course, the brothers themselves had many a chat together while thevoyage lasted, talking over their plans as well as chatting about thedifferent scenes and circumstances surrounding the endless panorama ofsea and sky, sky and sea, now daily unfolded before them.
Naturally--to Fritz, at least--all was new; and it was deeplyinteresting to him to notice the alteration in the aspect of the heavenswhich each night produced as the ship ran to the southward. The northstar had disappeared with its pointers, as well as other familiarstellar bodies belonging to higher latitudes; but, a new and morebrilliant constellation had risen up in the sky within his new range ofview, which each evening became more and more distinct.
This was the Southern Cross, as it is called, consisting of four stars,three of the first magnitude and the fourth somewhat smaller, arrangedin the form of an oblique crucifix, pointing across the firmament"athwartship-like," as the skipper explained one night-watch when thebrothers were looking out together. Only once in the year, CaptainBrown said, is this cross perfectly perpendicular towards the zenith;for, as it circles round our planet, it reverses its position, finallyturning upside-down.
When the _Pilot's Bride_ ceased to roll and began to make steady waytowards Tristan, with the wind from the northward and eastwards on herbeam, she ran along steadily on one tack, with hardly a lurch, coveringsome two hundred miles a day as regularly as the log was hove and thesun taken at noon.
All this time, no sight could now have been more glorious than theheavens presented each night after sunset. The myriads upon myriads ofstars that then shone out with startling brilliancy was somethingamazing; and the puzzle to Fritz was, how astronomers could name andplace all these "lesser lights"--following their movements from day today and year's end to year's end, without an error of calculation, sothat they could tell the precise spot in the firmament where to findthem at any hour they might wish!
"And yet," said Fritz, musingly, "these wise men are puzzled sometimes."
"Nary a doubt o' thet," responded the skipper, who, in spite of hisrough manner and somewhat uncultivated language, thought more deeplythan many would have given him credit for; "I guess, mister, all thebook-larnin' in the world won't give us an insight inter the workin's o'providence!"
"No," said Fritz. "The study of the infinite makes all our puny effortsat probing into the mysteries of nature and analysing the motives ofnature's God appear mean and contemptible, even to ourselves."
"Thet's a fact," assented the skipper. "Look thaar, now! Don't thetsky-e, now, take the gildin' off yer bunkum phi-loserphy an' talltalkin' 'bout this system an' thet--ain't thet sight above worth more'na bushel o' words, I reckon, hey?"
Fritz gazed upwards in the direction the other pointed, right over theport quarter of the ship and where the starry expanse of the stellarworld stretched out in all its beauty.
Eastwards, near the constellation Scorpio, was the Southern Cross, whichhad first attracted their attention, the figurative crucifix of theheavens; while the "scorpion," itself, upreared its head aloft,surmounted by a brilliant diadem of stars that twinkled and scintillatedin flashes of light, like a row of gems of the first water--the body ofthe fabled animal being marked out in fine curves, in which fancy couldtrace its general proportions, half-way down the heavens. In a moresoutherly direction, still, the parallel stars of the twin heroes Castorand Pollux could be seen, shining out with full lustre in a sky that wasbeautifully, intensely blue, conveying a sense of depths beyond depthsof azure beyond; and, as the wondering lookers gazed and the nightdeepened, fresh myriads of stars appeared to come forth and swell theheavenly phalanx, although the greater lights still maintained theirglittering superiority, Jupiter emitting an effulgence of radiant beamsfrom his throne at the zenith, while the Milky Way powdered the greatcelestial dome with a smoke wreath of starlets that circled across thefirmament in crescent fashion, like a sort of triumphal arch of flashingdiamonds which the angels could tread in their missions from heaven toearth, or the feet of those translated to the realms of the blest!
"Grand, ain't it?" repeated the skipper.
But Fritz said nothing; his thoughts went deeper than words.
A day or two after this, the north-east wind suddenly failed and a deadcalm set in, lasting for twenty-four hours. This circumstance did notplease Captain Brown much, for he hardly knew what to make of it;however, after a day and night of stagnation, the breeze returned again,although, in the interim of lull, it took it into its head to shiftround more to the southwards, causing the _Pilot's Bride_ to run close-hauled.
On the evening before this change of wind, and while the calm yetcontinued, the sea presented what seemed to Fritz--and Eric too, for hehad never seen such a sight before, although he had much betteracquaintance with the wonders of the deep than his brother--a mostextraordinary scene of phosphorescent display, the strange effect of itbeing almost magical.
The sun had set early and the moon did not rise till late; but, as soonas the orb of day had disappeared below water, the horizon all roundbecame nearly as black as ink, without any after-glow, as had invariablybeen noticed at previous sunsets. The whole sky was dark and pitchylike; only a few stars showing themselves momentarily for a while highup towards the zenith, although they were soon hidden by the mantle ofsombre cloud that enveloped the heavens everywhere.
Meanwhile, the entire surface of the sea, in every direction as far astheir eyes could reach, seemed as if covered with a coating of frostedsilver; and, all around the ship, at the water-line, there appeared abrilliant illumination, as if from a row of gas jets or like thefootlights in front of the stage of a theatre. Where the sea, too, wasbroken into foam by the slight motion of the ship, it also gave out thesame appearance; and the faint wake astern was as bright as the trackusually lit up by the moon or rising sun across the ocean, resembling apathway of light yellow gold.
When Fritz first saw the reflection, on looking over the side of theship, he thoug
ht that something had happened down below, and that theappearance he noticed was caused by different lights, streaming throughthe portholes and scuttles.
"What are they doing with all those lanterns in the hold?" he asked Ericin surprise.
The sailor lad laughed.
"No ship lanterns," said he, "are at work here. They say that thisqueer look of the sea is occasioned by thousands of little insects thatfloat on the surface and which are like the fireflies of the tropics.Don't you recollect reading about them?"
"But then, this light is so continuous," replied Fritz. "It is brightas far away as we can see."
"Yes, I suppose the shoal of insects stretches onward for miles; still,it is only when it is dark like this, with the sky overcast, that youcan see them. At least, that is what I've been told, for I never sawsuch a display before."
"You're 'bout right, my lad," observed Captain Brown, who had come overto leeward, where the brothers were. "I forgit what they call thedurned things; but, they're as thick as muskitters on the Florida coast.You'll see 'em all clear away as soon as the moon shows a streak,though. They can't stand her candlelight, you bet!"
It was as the skipper said. Although the illumination of the sea was sovivid that it lit up the ship's sails with flashes as the water wasstirred, it died away when the moon shone out. Then, too, the skylightened all round and the clouds cleared away before the approachingwind which had thus apparently heralded its coming.
Nothing occurred after this to break the monotony of the voyage, beyonda school of whales being noticed blowing in the distance away to thewindward one day, about a week after the change of wind.
"There she spouts!" called out a man who was up in the fore cross-trees,overhauling some of the running gear; but the hail only occasioned alittle temporary excitement, for the animals were much too far off forpursuit and, besides, Captain Brown wished to land the brothers andclear his ship of all cargo before going whaling on his own account.
This consummation, however, was not long distant; for some sixteen daysor so after they had turned their backs on the South American coast, theskipper told Fritz he hoped to be at Tristan on the morrow. This waswhen he and the captain were having their usual quarter-deck walk in thefirst watch, the evening of the same day on which they passed the schoolof whales.
"Yes, sirree," he said, "we've run down to 36 degrees South latitude, Iguess, an' wer 'bout 13 degrees West when I took the sun at noon; so Ikalkerlate, if the wind don't fail an' the shep keeps on goin' as sheis, which is bootiful, I reckon, why we'll fetch Tristan nigh onbreakfus-time to-morrow,--yes, sir!"
"Indeed!" exclaimed Fritz. He did not think they were anywhere near theplace yet; for, although it was more than two months since they had leftNarraganset Bay, the ship appeared to sail so sluggishly and the voyageto be so tedious, that he would not have been surprised to hear some dayfrom the captain that they would not reach their destination untilsomewhere about Christmas time!
"Ya-as, really, I guess so, mister. No doubt you're a bit flustered atgettin' thaar so soon; but the _Pilot's Bride's_ sich a powerful clipperthet we've kinder raced here, an' arrove afore we wer due, I reckon!"
The skipper innocently took Fritz's expression of surprise to be acompliment to the ship's sailing powers; and so Fritz would notundeceive him by telling him his real opinion about the vessel. Itwould have been cruel to try and weaken his belief in the lubberly oldwhaler, every piece of timber in whose hull he loved with a fatherlyaffection almost equal to that with which he regarded his daughterCelia.
Fritz therefore limited himself to an expression of delight at thespeedy termination of their voyage, without hazarding any comment on the_Pilot's Bride's_ progress; by which means he avoided either hurting theold skipper's feelings or telling an untruth, which he would otherwisehave had to do.
He was undoubtedly glad to have advanced so far in their undertaking;for, once arrived at Tristan d'Acunha, a few more days would see themlanded on Inaccessible Island, when, he and Eric would really begintheir crusoe life of seal-catching and "making the best" of it, insolitary state.
Wasn't he up on deck early next morning, turning out of his bunk as soonas he heard the first mate calling the captain at four bells--although,when he got there, he found Eric had preceded him, he having charge ofthe morning watch and having been up two hours before himself!
However, neither of the brothers had much the advantage of the other;for, up to breakfast time, Tristan had not been sighted.
But, about noon, "a change came o'er the spirit of their dream!"
Captain Brown had just gone below to his cabin to get his sextant inorder to take the sun, while Fritz, to quiet his impatience, had satdown on the top of the cuddy skylight with a book in his hand, which hewas pretending to read so as to cheat himself, as it were; when,suddenly, there came a shout from a man whom the skipper had ordered tobe placed on the look-out forward--a shout that rang through the ship.
"Land ho!"
Fritz dropped his book on to the deck at once and Eric sprang up intothe mizzen rigging, hurriedly scrambling up the ratlins to the masthead,whence he would have a better point of observation; the skippermeanwhile racing up the companion way with his sextant in his hand.
"Land--where away?" he sang out, hailing the man on the fore cross-trees.
"Dead away to leeward, two points off the beam," was the answer at oncereturned by the man on the look-out, who happened, strangely enough, tobe Fritz's whilom acquaintance, the "deck hand!"
"Are you sure?" hailed the captain again to make certain.
"As sure as there's claws on a Rocky Mountain b'ar," replied the man ina tone of voice that showed he was a bit nettled at his judgment beingquestioned; for he next added, quite loud enough for all to hear, "Iguess I oughter know land when I see it. I ain't a child put out to drynurse, I ain't!"
"There, thet'll do; stow thet palaver!" said Captain Brown sharply,"else you'll find thet if Rocky Mountain b'ars hev claws, they ken use'em, an' hug with a prutty good grip of their own too, when they meanbizness, I guess, Nat Slater; so, you'd better quiet down an' keep thetsass o' yourn for some un else!"
This stopped the fellow's grumbling at once; and Captain Brown, afterproceeding aloft to have a look for himself and see how far the islandwas off, gave directions for having the ship's course altered, lettingher fall off a point or two from the wind.
"I guess I wer standin' a bit too much to the northward," he said toFritz, who was waiting on the poop, longing to ask him a thousandquestions as to when they would get in, and where they would land, andso on; "but thet don't matter much, as we are well to win'ard, an' kenfetch the land as we like."
The island, which at first appeared like a sort of low-lying cloud onthe horizon, was now plainly perceptible, a faint mountain peak beingnoticeable, just rising in the centre of the dark patch of haze.
"Is it far off?" asked Fritz.
"'Bout fifty mile or so, I sh'u'd think, mister," answered theskipper--"thet is more or less, as the air down below the line isclearer than it is north, so folks ken see further, I guess. I don'tkinder think it's more'n fifty mile, though, sou'-sou'-west o' whar theshep is now."
"Fifty miles!" repeated Fritz, somewhat disconcerted by theannouncement; for, he would not have thought the object, which all couldnow see from the deck, more than half that distance away. "Why, we'llnever get there to-day!"
"Won't we?" said the skipper. "Thet's all you know 'bout it, mister.The _Pilot's Bride_ 'll walk over thet little bit o' water like a racehoss, an' 'ill arrive at Tristan 'fore dinner time, you bet!"
The skipper's prognostication as to the time of their arrival did notturn out quite correct, but Fritz's anxiety was allayed by theirreaching the place the same night; for, the mountain peak, which hadbeen noticed above the haze that hung over the lower part of the island,began to rise higher and higher as the ship approached, until its sharpridges could be plainly seen beneath a covering of snow that envelopedthe upper cone and which chan
ged its colour from glistening white to abright pink hue as it became lit up by the rays of the setting sun--thelatter dipping beneath the western horizon at the same instant that the_Pilot's Bride_ cast anchor in a shallow bay some little distance offthe land, close to Herald Point, where the English settlement on theisland lies.
Fritz and Eric Page 20