Mattie called her foster-mother, invariably brought abasket of such good things, that the very thoughts of them beforehandused to make my mouth water, and of course Jill's as well.
"I'm really delighted, Mr Moore," said Aunt Serapheema, on thequarter-deck one day, "to see the boys looking so well and happy. Itwas really an excellent thought of yours to have them here, and I havenot the slightest doubt they will prove a credit to your tuition, andpass their examination with flying colours."
"Bravo! Miss," cried Tom Morley. "In my time, Miss, I've heard many'sthe little speech on a quarter-deck, but I declare to you, on the honourof an old sailor, I never heard a neater than that."
"To my mate Tom, here," replied Mr Moore, "belongs the credit more thanto me and my wife, of making the young gentlemen what you see them."
Old Tom Morley scraped and bowed in the most orthodox fashion, and MrMoore continued:
"He does keep them at it, Miss. Why, it's drill, drill, drill, all daylong, and the boys like it, too. Then he reads to them and tells themstories in the evening."
"Good books, I hope?"
"Not bad 'uns, Miss, I can assure you. We've Dickens and Scott, andthat lot, but what we're doin' principally at present is a thoroughoverhaul o' Marryat. He is the chap, Miss, to give a man, or boyeither, a right taste o' the crust o' the service."
Dear Mattie was listening to all this while she stood close by me, withone wee arm round my wrist, all eyes and smiles.
"What a perfect picture those two little ones look!" said Mrs Moore."You are very fond of your little sailor brothers, aren't you, dear?Which do you like best?"
Mattie's eye wandered from Jill to me, then she dropped her head smilingon my shoulder.
"I love them both," she said, "but Jack saved my life."
That was only Mattie's romantic way of alluding to our introduction,when I punched the rude fisher-boy's head on her account.
But there was never a bit of jealousy about Jill.
There was one other thing that Tom taught us, and it is a branch of suchpleasant education that I advise all boys to go in for it, viz, joiner'sand carpenter's work. We had a regular bench on board and all sorts oftools, so that we could make almost any sort of article.
We spent the greater part of every evening on board ship, and as Tom wasgenerally on board also, and had a wealth of wonderful tales to tell,the time passed very quickly indeed.
We did not forget to read and pray as dear mother told us to, and thiswe did every night whether sleepy or not. Mind, I am not telling thispart of our story for the sake of showing we were good boys. We were nobetter, perhaps no worse, than other lads of our age, but we had then,as I have had all my life, unbounded faith in prayer, and in thegoodness of the Father who made us. Besides, there was so much to thankHim for and to ask Him for, and while on our knees we somehow seemedalways close to our absent mother. That alone made prayer _so_ sweet.
Like most boys, we rather liked ghost stories, and though I do notbelieve it now, we had an idea then, that the old _Thunderbolt_ washaunted. You see so many men had been killed on her battle-decks, andthere were so many ugly dark stains about the parts where the guns hadbeen, that it is no wonder lads so full of romance as we were,manufactured a ghost or two.
The decks did seem very gloomy and empty just after nightfall, so muchso that, I do not mind confessing, when Jill and I had to go forward, wewalked very closely together indeed, and gave many a fearful quickglance round, lest we should see a strange light or something even morestartling.
But we never saw anything fearsome, though more than once, after we hadbeen talking about mysterious things just before getting into our cots,we did have ugly dreams, and were glad when we saw daylight shimmeringon the water alongside.
Now, all along my influence over Jill had been something quitemarvellous. It really was as if his soul and mine were linked togetherin bonds that nothing could sever. Our very thoughts and imaginingswere often precisely similar at the same time or times.
Well, knowing this, I should have been most careful in all I did and inall I said, and I will never, _never_ forgive myself for not being so.For as you will presently see, my giving way to romantic imaginings andthoughts, that however pleasant they might be for the present, werereally silly, had terrible results.
Tom Morley used to tell us tales of the pirates of the olden times, arace of marauders that I need hardly say have been long since swept fromthe face of the great deep.
Well, we liked ghosts best, perhaps, but next to them came pirates.
Being older than Jill--by five minutes--I really ought to have knownbetter, yet one day I proposed playing at pirates. And soon this becamea regular game of ours. Tom did not seem to mind it much, though hehimself did not play, but he lent us a couple of old-fashioned horsepistols, and taught us to load and fire them--one lesson was enough. Ofcourse we did not use anything more deadly than a little blotting-paperto keep the powder in.
Jill was always the pirate. He used to hail and board the ship from thebows in fine form, while I represented the crew. The battle would ragewith pistols and sword-sticks, the former being dispensed with after thefirst discharge, and the fight then continued all over the deck, breastto breast, the excitement increasing every minute.
Sometimes the ship was captured, and I had to represent the crew to thebitter end, and walk the plank a dozen times.
What we did miss more than anything else was a black flag with skull andcross-bones.
Happy thought, we would make one!
We worked unknown to Tom at this, however. I bought the stuff, whiteand black, and it cost us a whole week or more to finish the job, but itwas certainly a very creditable piece of work when finished. Quite abig thing too, and all complete, and ready to be run up to the halyardson which Tom hoisted a bit of bunting on high-days and holidays.
We never really thought of running it up, of course, but it was nice tohave it. We felt then we w'ere pirates, in imagination at all events.
Now here is a singular thing which I must relate. One morning afterbeing called by Tom--this was a regular part of Tom's duty--I lookedround to Jill's cot, and there he was sitting bolt upright in it, withthat sunny smile on his innocent sleepy face.
"What's up, Jill?" I asked.
"You're not," said Jill, "though I heard Tom sing out, `Five bells,young gentlemen, please,' more than half an hour ago."
Then the next words spoken were said by both at precisely the same time,_syllabic by syllable as if we had been wound up to it_.
"I've had such a funny dream."
We looked at each other, then I said:
"What was yours, Jill?"
"Nay," said Jill, "you tell me yours first, because you know you are theeldest."
"Well, I dreamt we had captured the _Thunderbolt_, hoisted the blackflag and run off to sea with her."
"That was exactly my dream," said Jill.
"Did _you_ make Mr Moore and the rest walk the plank?"
"Oh no, Jack, I wouldn't dream of anything so very dreadful. I didn'tsee them anywhere about."
"Neither did I in mine. But my dream was altogether jolly fun."
"So was mine and--"
"Gone six bells, young gentlemen. Really if this sort o' thing goes on,I'll take the number o' your hammocks, and report ye on the quarter-decknext time your aunt comes on board."
"All right, Captain Tom, we'll be out in five minutes."
And up we jumped, and were speedily dressed, and on deck for our morningwalk.
But we thought no more of the dream.
It went as completely out of our minds as if we had never dreamed it atall.
But it was brought to our minds about a month afterwards in a way I amnever likely to forget.
Meanwhile we still kept up our game of playing at being pirates.
It was summer now, and dear sister Mattie came often to see us, moreoften with her Mummy Gray than with Aunt Serapheema.
Of course we initiated her into
the mystery of the pirate-game, and shetook a most active part in it too. She acted the rich old dowager whohad bags of gold and treasures untold, diamonds and all the rest of it,and who was eventually captured, and made to walk the plank with therest of the unhappy crew.
I never saw any game take such complete possession of a child, as thatpirate-play did of Mattie. She came oftener on board now than she mightotherwise have done; she entered into the thing heart and soul,suggesting many improvements we never should have thought about, andacting her part as if to the manner born.
Of course she was told of the black flag, and must see it, and her eyesactually sparkled as they fell on the weird white skull and bleachedcross-bones.
Things went on thus for some weeks longer, the pirate-play never losinginterest, and each of us being
Wild Life in the Land of the Giants: A Tale of Two Brothers Page 6