The King's Own

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

  _Pericles_. That's your superstition.

  _Sailor_. Pardon us, sir. With us at sea it still hath been observed, and we are strong in earnest.

  SHAKESPEARE.

  The weather was fine, and the water smooth, on the morning when the_Aspasia_ arrived at the reef, which, although well known to exist, hadbeen very incorrectly laid down; and Captain M--- thought it advisableto drop his anchor in preference to lying off and on so near to dangerswhich might extend much farther than he was aware. The frigate was,therefore, brought up in eighteen fathoms, about two miles from thatpart of the reef which discovered itself above water.

  The captain and master undertook the survey; but any officers, whovolunteered their assistance, or midshipmen, who wished to profit by theopportunity of gaining a practical knowledge of maritime surveying, werepermitted to join the party, another boat having been lowered down fortheir accommodation. Hector, the captain's Newfoundland dog, was flyingabout the decks, mad with delight, as he always was when a boat waslowered down, as he anticipated the pleasure of a swim. Captain M---,who had breakfasted, and whose boat was manned alongside, came on deck;when the dog fawning on him, he desired that his broad leather collar,with the ship's name in large brass letters riveted round it, should betaken off; that it might not be injured by the salt water. Jerry, whowas on deck, and received the order, asked the captain for the key ofthe padlock which secured it, and Captain M--- handed him his bunch ofkeys, to which it had been affixed, and desiring him to take the collaroff and return the keys to him, descended again to his cabin.

  Jerry soon dispossessed the dog of his collar, and, ripe for mischief,went down to the midshipmen's berth, where he found Prose alone, therest being all on deck, or scattered about the ship. Prose was theperson that he wanted, being the only one upon whom he could venture apractical joke, without incurring more risk than was agreeable. Jerrycommenced by fixing the collar round his own neck, and said, "I wish Icould get _promotion_. Now, if the situation of _captain's dog_ wasonly vacant, I should like the rating amazingly. I should soon get fatthen, and I think I should look well up in this collar."

  "Why, Jerry, that collar certainly does look as if it was made for you;it's rather ornamental, I do declare."

  "I wish I had a glass, to see how it looks. I would try it on you,Prose, but you've such a bull neck, that it wouldn't go half round it."

  "Bull neck, Jerry--why, I'll lay you sixpence that my neck's almost assmall as yours; and I'll lay you a shilling that the collar will goround my neck."

  "Done; now let's see--recollect the staple must go into the hole, or youlose," said Jerry, fixing the collar round Prose's neck, and pretendingthat the staple was not into the hole of the collar until he hadinserted the padlock, turned and taken out the key.

  "Well, I do declare I've lost, Prose. I must go and get you theshilling," continued Jerry, making his escape out of the berth, andleaving Prose with the collar so tight under his chin, that he couldscarcely open his mouth. Jerry arrived on the quarter-deck, just as thecaptain was stepping into the boat, and he went up to him, and touchinghis hat, presented him with the bunch of keys.

  "Oh, thank you, Mr Jerry; I had forgotten them," said Captain M---,descending the side, and shoving off.

  "Whose clothes are these hanging on the davit-guys?" said Mr Bully, whohad given order that no clothes were to be drying after eight o'clock inthe morning.

  "I believe that they are Mr Prose's, sir, though I am not sure,"answered Jerry, who knew very well that they were not, but wished thatProse should be sent for.

  "Quarter-master, tell Mr Prose to come up to me directly." Jerryimmediately ran down to the berth.

  "Well, now, Jerry, this is too bad, I do declare. Come, take it offagain, that's a good fellow."

  "Mr Prose," said the quarter-master, "the first-lieutenant wants you ondeck directly."

  "There now, Jerry, what a mess I might have been in! Where's the key?"

  "I have not got it," replied Jerry; "the captain saw me on thequarter-deck, and took the bunch of keys away with him."

  "What! is the captain gone away? I do declare,--now, this is too bad,"cried Prose, in a rage.

  "Too bad!--why, man, don't be angry--it's a distinction. Between me andthe first-lieutenant, you are created a knight of the _Grand Cross_. Igave you the _collar_, and he has given you the _order_, which Irecommend you to comply with, without you wish further elevation to themast-head."

  "Mr Prose, the first-lieutenant wants you, immediately," said thequarter-master, who had been despatched to him again.

  "Why, how can I go up with a dog's collar round my neck?"

  "I'm sorry, very sorry indeed, Prose. Never mind--say it was me."

  "Say it was you! Why, so it was you. I'd better say that I'm sick."

  "Yes, that will do. What shall your complaint be?--a _lockjaw_? I'llgo up and tell Mr Bully--shall I?"

  "Do--tell him I'm not well."

  Jerry went up accordingly. "Mr Prose is not well, sir--he has a sortof lock-jaw."

  "I wish to God you had the same complaint, sir," replied thefirst-lieutenant, who owed him one. "Macallan, is Mr Prose ill?"

  "Not that I know of; he has not applied to me. I'll go down and see himbefore I go on shore."

  Macallan came up laughing, but he recovered his seriousness before Bullyperceived it.

  "Well, doctor?"

  "Mr Prose is certainly not very fit to come on deck in his presentstate," said Macallan, who then descended the side, and the boat, whichhad been waiting for him, shoved off. But, this time, Jerry was caughtin his own trap.

  "Mr J---, where is the dog's collar?--it must be oiled and cleaned,"said the first-lieutenant.

  "Shall I give it to the armourer, sir?" replied Jerry.

  "No, bring it up to me."

  Jerry went down, and returned in a few minutes. "I cannot find it, sir;I left it in the berth when I came on deck."

  "That's just like your usual carelessness, Mr J---. Now go up to themast-head, and stay there till I call you down."

  Jerry, who did not like the turn which the joke had taken, moved up witha very reluctant step--at the rate of about one ratline in ten seconds.

  "Come, sir, what are you about?--_start up_."

  "I'm no _up-start_, sir," replied Jerry to the first-lieutenant--asarcasm which hit so hard, that Jerry was not called down till dark; andlong after Prose had, by making interest with the captain's steward,obtained the keys, and released his neck from its enthralment.

  The party in the second boat were landed on the reef, and while the restwere attending to the survey, Macallan was employed in examining thecrevices of the rocks, and collecting the different objects of naturalhistory which presented themselves. The boat was sent on board, as itwas not required until the afternoon, when the gun-room officers were toreturn to dinner. The captain's gig remained on shore, and the coxswainwas employed by Macallan in receiving from him the different shells andvarieties of coral, with which the rocks were covered.

  "Take particular care of this specimen," said the surgeon, as hedelivered a bunch of corallines into the hands of Marshall, thecoxswain.

  "I ax your pardon, Mr Macallan,--but what's the good of picking up allthis rubbish?"

  "Rubbish!" replied the surgeon, laughing--"why you don't know what itis. What do you think those are which I just gave you?"

  "Why, weeds are rubbish, and these be only pieces of seaweed."

  "They happen to be _animals_."

  "Hanimals!" cried the coxswain, with an incredulous smile; "well, sir, Ialways took 'em to be _weggitables_. We live and larn, sure enough.Are cabbage and _hingions hanimals_ too?"

  "No," replied the surgeon, much amused, "they are not, Marshall; butthese are. Now take them to the boat, and put them in a safe place; andthen come back."

  "I say, Bill, look ye here," said the coxswain to one of the sailors,who was lying down on the thwarts of the boat,
holding up the coral tohim in a contemptuous manner--"what the hell d'ye think this is? Why,it's a hanimal!"

  "A what?"

  "I'll be blow'd if the doctor don't say it's a hanimal!"

  "No more a hanimal than I am," replied the sailor, laying his head downagain on the thwarts, and shutting his eyes.

  In a few minutes Marshall returned to the surgeon, who, tired withclambering over the rocks, was sitting down to rest himself a little."Well, Marshall, I hope you have not hurt what I gave into your charge."

  "Hurt 'em!--why, sir, a'ter what you told me, I'd as soon have hurt acat."

  "What, you are superstitious on that point, as seamen generally are."

  "Super-what, Mr Macallan? I only knows, that they who ill-treats acat, comes worst off. I've proof positive of that since I have been inthe service. I could spin you a yarn."

  "Well now, Marshall, pray do. Come, sit down here--I am fond of proofpositive. Now, let me hear what you have to say, and I'll listenwithout interrupting you."

  The coxswain took his seat, as Macallan desired, and, taking the quid oftobacco out of his cheek, and laying it down on the rock beside him,commenced as follows:--

  "Well now, d'ye see, Mr Macallan, I'll just exactly tell you how itwas, and then I leaves you to judge whether a cat's to be sarved in thatway. It was when I belonged to the _Survellanty_ frigate, that we werelaying in Cawsand Bay, awaiting for sailing orders. We hadn't droppedthe anchor more than a week, and there was no liberty ashore. Well,sir, the purser found out that his steward was a bit of a rascal, andturns him adrift. The ship's company knew that long afore; for it wasnot a few that he had cheated, and we were all glad to see him and histraps handed down the side. Now, sir, this here fellow had a blackcat--but it warn't at all like other cats. When it was a kitten, theyhad cut off his tail close to its starn, and his ears had been shavedoff just as close to his figure-head, and the hanimal used to set up onhis hind legs and fight like a rabbit. It had quite lost its natur, asit were, and looked, for all the world, like a little imp of darkness.It always lived in the purser's steward's room, and we never seed himbut when we went down for the biscuit and flour as was sarving out.

  "Well, sir, when this rascal of a steward leaves the ship, he had nonatural affection for his cat, and he leaves him on board, belonging tonobody; and the steward as comes in his place turns him out of thesteward's room; so the poor jury-rigged little devil had to take care ofitself.

  "We all tried to coax it into one berth or the other, but the poor brutewouldn't take to nobody. You know, sir, a cat doesn't like to change sohe wandered about the ship, mewing all day, and thieving all night. Atlast, he takes to the master's cabin, and makes a dirt there, and themaster gets very savage, and swears that he'll kill him, if ever hecomes athwart him.

  "Now, sir, you knows it's the natur of cats always to make a dirt in thesame place,--reason why, God only knows; and so this poor black devilalways returns to the master's cabin, and makes it, as it were, hishead-quarters. At last the master, who was as even-tempered an officeras ever I sailed with, finds one day that his sextant case is all of asmudge: so being touched in a sore place, he gets into a great rage, andorders all the boys of the ship to catch the cat; and after much ado,the poor cat was catched, and brought aft into the gun-room. `Now,then, P---,' said the master to the first-lieutenant, `will you helpkill the dirty beast?'--and the first-lieutenant, who cared more abouthis lower deck being clean than fifty human beings' lives, said hewould; so they called the sargant o' marines, and orders him to bring uptwo ship's muskets and some ball cartridge, and they goes on deck withthe cat in their arms.

  "Well, sir, when the men saw the cat brought up on deck, and hears thathe was to be hove overboard, they all congregates together upon the leegangway, and gives their opinions on the subject,--and one says, `Let'sgo and speak to the first-lieutenant;' and another says, `He'll put youon the black list;' and so they don't do nothing--all except Jenkins,the boatswain's mate, who calls to a waterman out of the main-deck port,and says, `Waterman,' says he, `when they heaves that cat overboard, doyou pick him up, and I'll give you a shilling;' and the waterman says ashow he would, for you see, sir, the men didn't know that the muskets hadbeen ordered up to shoot the poor beast.

  "Well, sir, the waterman laid off on his oars, and the men, knowing whatJenkins had done, were content. But when the sargant o' marines comesup, and loads the muskets with ball cartridges, then the men begins togrumble; howsomever, the master throws the cat overboard off thelee-quarter, and the waterman, as soon as he sees her splash in thewater, backs astarn to take her into the boat, but the first-lieutenanttells him to get out of the way, if he doesn't want a bullet through hisboat--so he pulls ahead again. The master fires first, and hits the cata clip on the neck, which turns her half over, and the first-lieutenantfires his musket, and cuts the poor hanimal right in half by thebackbone, and she sprawls a bit, and then goes down to the bottom.`Capital shots both,' says the first-lieutenant; `he'll never take anobservation of your sextant again, master;' and they both laughsheartily, and goes down the ladder to get their dinner.

  "Well, sir, I never seed a ship's company in such a farmant, or such anitty kicked up 'tween decks, in my life: it was almost as bad as amutiny; but they piped to grog soon a'ter, and the men goes to theirberths and talks the matter over more coolly, and they all agrees thatno good would come to the ship a'ter that, and very melancholy theywere, and couldn't forget it.

  "Well, sir; our sailing orders comes down the next day, and the firstcutter is sent on shore for the captain, and six men out of ten leavesthe boat, and I'm sure that it warn't for desartion, but all along ofthat cat being hove overboard and butchered in that way--for three on'em were messmates of mine--for you know, sir, we talks them mattersover, and if they had had a mind to quit the sarvice, I should haveknow'd it. The captain was as savage as a bear with a sore head, anddid nothing but growl for three days afterwards, and it was well to keepclear on him, for he snapped right and left, like a mad dog. I neverseed him in such a humour afore, except once when he had a fortnight'sfoul wind.

  "Well, sir, we had been out a week, when we falls in with a largefrigate, and beats to quarters. We expected her to be a Frenchman; butas soon as she comes within gunshot, she hoists the private signal, andproves to be the _Semiramus_, and our senior officer. The next morning,cruising together, we sees a vessel in-shore, and the _Semiramus_ standsin on the larboard tack, and orders us by signal to keep away, andprevent his running along the coast. The vessel, finding that shecouldn't go no way, comes to an anchor under a battery of two guns--andthen the commodore makes the signal for boats manned and armed, to cuther out.

  "Well, sir, our first-lieutenant was in his cot, on his beam ends, withthe rheumatiz, and couldn't go on sarvice; so the second and thirdlieutenants, and master, and one of the midshipmen, had command of ourfour boats, and the commodore sent seven of his'n. The boats pulled in,and carried the vessel in good style, and there never was a man hurt.As many boats as could clap on her took her in tow, and out she came atthe rate of four knots an hour. I was coaxswain of the pinnace, whichwas under the charge of the master, and we were pulling on board, as allthe boats weren't wanted to tow--and we were about three cables' lengthahead of the vessel, when I sees her aground upon a rock, that nobodyknows nothing about, on the starboard side of the entrance of theharbour; and I said that she were grounded to the master, who orders usto pull back to the vessel to assist 'em in getting her off again.

  "Well, sir, we gets alongside of her, and finds that she was off again,having only grazed the rock, and the boats towed her out again with arally. Now the Frenchmen were firing at us with muskets, for we hadshut in the battery, and as we were almost out of the musket-shot, theballs only pitted in the water, without doing any harm--and I wasa-standing with the master on the starn-sheets, my body being justbetween him and the beach where they were a-firing from. It seemedmortally impossible to hit him, except through me. Howsome
ver, a bulletpasses between my arm--just here, and my side, and striked him dead uponthe spot. There warn't another man hit out of nine boats' crews, andI'll leave you to guess whether the sailors didn't declare that he gothis death all along of murdering the cat.

  "Well, sir, the men thought, as he had _fired first_, that now all wasover; only Jenkins, the boatswain's-mate, said, `that he warn't quitesure of that.' We parts company with the commodore the next day, andthe day a'ter, as it turned out, we falls in with a French frigate. Shehad the heels of us, and kept us at long balls, but we hoped to cut heroff from running into Brest, if a slant o' wind favoured us--andobligating her to fight, whether or no. Tom Collins, the firstlieutenant, was still laid up in his cot with the rheumaticks, but whenhe hears of a French frigate, he gets up, and goes on deck; but when hegets there he tips us a faint, and falls down on the carronade slide,and his hat rolled off his head into the waist. He tried, but he was soweak that he couldn't get up on his sticks again.

  "Well, sir, the captain goes up to him, and says something about zeal,and all that, and tells him he must go down below again, because he'squite incapable, and orders the men at the foremost carronades to takehim to his cot. Now, sir, just as we were handing him down the ladder,for I was captain of the gun, a shot comes in at the second port, andtakes off his skull as he lays in our arms, and never hurts another man.He was dead in no time; and what was more curious, it was the only shotthat hit the frigate. The Frenchman got into Brest--so it was noaction, after all.

  "So, you see, Mr Macallan, in two _scrummages_ only two men were killedout of hundreds, and they were the two who had killed the cat! Now,that's what I calls proof positive, for I seed it all with my own eyes;and I should like to know whether you could do the same, with regard tothat thing being a _hanimal_?"

  "I will, Marshall; to-morrow you shall see that with your own eyes."

  "To-morrow come never!" [see note 1] muttered the coxswain, replacingthe quid of tobacco in his cheek.

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  Note 1. The phraseology of sailors has been so caricatured of late,that I am afraid my story will be considered as translated into English.Seamen, however, must decide which is correct.