to go to church on a Sunday?"
"Oh yes, Miss, and I'm sure my wife and I will be delighted if you anddear Mattie will come and see us all regularly. We'll always call theseour red-letter days."
Auntie smiled and promised. There is no doubt about it. Mr Bill Mooreknew what ladies' hearts are made of.
So it was all arranged that very day, and in a fortnight after westarted and took up our quarters on board the saucy _Thunderbolt_.
CHAPTER FIVE.
THE GALLANT "THUNDERBOLT"--TOM MORLEY, BO'S'N'S MATE--A STRANGE DREAM.
It would be hard to say, perhaps, why the gallant old _Thunderbolt_ waslaid up as a hulk. She looked a fine old wooden frigate, and had seen alot of service in her time. But the engines had been taken out of her,and away up the water she lay like a good many more, moored by the headto swing with the tide, or with any extra strong wind that blew. Shewas evidently considered too good to break up, and she might, theAdmiralty thought, come in handy some day, and even require to be fittedout for sea again.
Meanwhile she would do as a store, or rather lumber ship. But at thistime neither stores nor lumber either worth speaking about was on boardof her.
She hardly made any water, though occasionally some hands came off fromthe dockyard and pumped her dry, with a deal of din and noise and no endof talking and chaffing. In fact the _Thunderbolt_ seemed to have beenforgotten by the big human guns at Somerset House, and for that matterthere was no real use in the bit stump of a lower mast that stuck out ofher forward, nor the morsel of ratlin that led to it, unless to dryclothes upon. Her crew, all told, were an old bo's'n's mate and MrMoore. We must call him _Mr_ Moore now, and forget the Bill.
Tom Morley was the bo's'n's name, a rugged old son of a gun as ever anyone clapped eyes upon, with a face as rough and red as a boiled lobster,and a voice that would have brought down birds out of the air had heused it to its full extent. It was a harsh voice, however, and gave youthe idea his air-tubes had been originally lined with emery paper, whichhad never worn quite smooth.
Such was Tom, a good-hearted old soul nevertheless, though with a sadpredilection for tossing off cans. It will be seen, therefore, that hewas a seaman of the old school--one that Dibdin would have delighted toportray. Yes, and he often made the decks of the saucy old_Thunderbolt_ ring with Dibdin's heroic ditties.
Although it might have been difficult to define which was the superiorofficer of this hulk, owing to the peculiar rating of Mr Moore, when hehad served afloat, neither was jealous of the other: when Moore was outof the ship Morley was captain, and _vice versa_; when both were onboard, why then both were captains. But, between ourselves, I do think_Mrs_ Moore herself was what the Yankees call "boss of the wholeconcarn." Anyhow, she did just as she pleased, and cooked and washedfor the crew all-told, and hung up the clothes wherever she liked.
Attached to the hulk was a morsel of a dinghy boat not much bigger thanMrs Moore's washing tub, only differently shaped, in some slight degreeat least.
We youngsters received a hearty welcome when we came off. Tom had puton his best coat for the occasion, and much to our delight met us in thegangway, saluting us in true naval fashion with as much dignity as if wehad been admirals.
"Very glad to see you, young gentlemen," said Tom. "You are trulywelcome on board the saucy _Thunderbolt_. And I assure you the sight ofyour youthful faces makes me think the old times has all come backagain. I'd like to be taking up anchor now with a Yee-ho and Heave-O!"
Jill and I laughed and thought Tom very jolly.
"But I say, Captain Moore," he continued, turning to his shipmate, "however are we to tell these youngsters apart? Why, bother my old wig, ifthey ain't as like as two whalers, same rig, too, from top to bottom,same cut from jib to binnacle. I say, messmate, if I'd never seen 'embefore and met 'em as I was coming out of the `Jolly Tapsters' I'dthink--I was only seein' one, though there appeared to be two."
"I'll make that all right, Tom," said Mrs Moore, coming up from belowand taking charge of us right away.
And she did too, for when we appeared on deck an hour after, I wore ared ribbon round my straw hat, and Jill wore a blue, and Tom doffed hiscap, and giving a shout that must have been heard on shore, hailed us atonce as "Admiral Jack of the Red," and "Admiral Jill of the Blue."
We were simply delighted with our accommodation on board, and witheverything on the old hulk fore and aft.
Of course we all lived aft, and dined in state together in the greatcabin, where once a post captain had sat at meals or in council of war,and in which, probably, before now court-martials had been assembled andmen tried for life itself.
Jill and I had a large cabin to ourselves on the starboard side of the"saloon," as it would be called in the merchant service, the Moorcs hadtheirs on the port side, and the bo's'n's mate occupied quarters in theward-room on the deck beneath. Our cabin was furnished charmingly, butwe each had a swinging cot, though they were in close juxtaposition.There were curtains to the windows and doorways, and a carpet andpictures and all complete.
All day long we had different views of our surroundings from the portsbelow in our cabin, or from the ward-room. For according to the tidethe old ship swung; now we would be looking down the harbour amongships, noble men-of-war and others, and away out seaward, again it wouldbe the town or dockyard, and at other times the green country. Oh, itwas very charming and so romantic, I can tell you.
In a day or two we commenced our studies in downright earnest, and avery pleasant and thorough teacher Mr Moore proved. But it was allforenoon work, and not all book work either. For twice a week oroftener we were told off to go round the ship with Tom, and he gave usthe name of every part of her hull, and examined us on his lecturesafterwards.
One day a shore boat brought alongside a full rigged ship nearly as longas a sofa, and this was hoisted carefully on deck and lowered below. Itwas, of course, a model man-o'-war, and old Tom set about next dayputting it "ship-shape and Bristol fashion," as he called it. Hethoroughly overhauled it, altering here, and adding there, cutting andcriticising all the time. While he was doing this we were with him,listening to every word, and gained quite a deal of information aboutrigging, etc, in this way. It took Tom three weeks to refit his modelship and make her ready for sea, as he called it. Then--still having usalongside of him--he manned and provisioned her, taking in stores fromlittle boats that he brought alongside on the deck. And though this wasto a large degree dummy work, he would have the thing rightly done. Nolugger or officer's boat either must come alongside in any save anorthodox fashion, and if in hauling up stores any hitch happened to thegearing, he would have it all put carefully to rights before anothercask, or box, or shot, or shell was taken on board.
I think we worked with Tom in this way for three or four months, bywhich time we really began to consider ourselves proficient seamen andofficers.
Nor was our exercise forgotten. This was also Tom's department, and hewould have Jill and I squirming up and down the ratlins and over the topfor an hour at a time. Or standing face to face with sword-sticks,going through, at the word of command, each cut and guard and quirk ofthe sword exercise. This we considered grand fun, but it was seriousearnest with honest Tom.
"There ain't no nonsense about this sort of thing, young gentlemen," hewould say. "I saw you laughing, Admiral Jack, and whatever _you_ doesAdmiral Jill does too. Now if it occurs again on duty I'll mast-headye, so look out for squalls. 'Ttention! On guard! Point o' your sworda leetle higher, Admiral Jill. Shoulders more square, Admiral Jack.That's better. Right toe a trifle more fore-and-aft. So. Steady asyou go."
But as soon as duty, as Tom called it, was done, we were all as merry asEton boys off on a summer holiday. We had all kinds of games on board,and plenty of rowing about on the water in that morsel of a dinghy, andwere allowed to go on shore at any reasonable hour and for anyreasonable time.
Tom had always gone in for growing mustard and cress on board, and a bito' sea-kale in a fl
ower-pot, but the idea struck Jill and me that wemight carry garden operations out to even greater perfection, and havingasked and obtained permission of Mr Moore, we set to work and soonarranged in different parts of the deck a series of little flowergardens made from orange boxes. And very charming and beautiful theylooked.
So that when auntie came with Mattie one summer's morning, they wereboth astonished at our horticultural skill and contrivances.
Tom and Mr Moore always dressed in their best when the ladies werecoming, and a bit of bunting was even hoisted on the top of the mast,and no clothes permitted to be hung up to air or dry for that day.
Auntie used to make a pic-nic of these visits. Mrs Moore had thetable-cloth laid with spotless linen and adorned with gay flowers, andMummy Gray, as
Wild Life in the Land of the Giants: A Tale of Two Brothers Page 5