Masterman Ready; Or, The Wreck of the Pacific

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE.

  The next morning was fine, and as soon as breakfast was over, they tookthe wheels down to the turtle-pond, and Ready having speared one of thelargest by means of a pike with a barb to it, which he had made onpurpose, they hauled it on shore, slung it under the wheels, and took itup to the house. Having killed the turtle, and cut it up, Juno, underthe directions of Ready, chose such portions as were required for thesoup; and when the pot was on the fire, Ready, Mr Seagrave, and Williamset off with the cross-cut saw and hatchets, to commence felling thecocoa-nut trees for the building of the outhouse, which was to holdtheir stores, as soon as they could be brought round from the other sideof the island.

  "I mean this to be our place of refuge in case of danger, sir," observedReady; "and therefore I have selected this thick part of the wood, as itis not very far from the house, and by cutting the path to it in azigzag, it will be quite hidden from sight; and we must make the pathjust wide enough to allow the wheels to pass, and stump up the roots ofthe trees which we are obliged to cut down, otherwise the stumps wouldattract attention."

  "I agree with you, Ready," replied Mr Seagrave; "there is no sayingwhat may happen."

  "You see, sir, it is often the custom for the natives, in this part ofthe world, to come in their canoes from one island to another, merely toget cocoa-nuts. I can't say that the other islands near us areinhabited, but still it is probable, and we cannot tell what thecharacter of the people may be. I tell you this, but we had better notsay a word to Mrs Seagrave, as it may distress her."

  Mr Seagrave agreed, and Ready continued:

  "We are now near the spot, sir. You see, when we have got over thishill, where the trees are so very thick, the fall in the ground willassist in the concealment of the building. I should say we are verynear right where we now stand."

  "How far are we now from the house? We must not be too distant."

  "I reckon we are not 150 yards in a straight line, although the roadwill, by its turning, make it double the distance."

  "Then I think this spot will do very well."

  "I'll just mark out the trees which are to stand, Mr Seagrave, andthose which are to be cut down, so as to leave about four feet of stumpstanding."

  As soon as they had planned the building, the axes and saw were in fulluse, and tree after tree fell one upon the other. They worked hard tilldinner-time, and were not sorry at the prospect of sitting down to arich mess of turtle-soup.

  "My dear William, and you too, Mr Seagrave, how very warm you are!"said Mrs Seagrave; "you must not work so hard."

  "Cutting down trees is very warm work, mother," replied William, "andhard work will never hurt any one, especially when he dines offturtle-soup. Why, Tommy, what's the matter with you?"

  "Tommy and I are at variance," replied Mrs Seagrave. "I had my thimblethis morning, and had commenced my sewing, when I was called out byJuno, and Caroline went with me, and Tommy was left in the house. WhenI came back I found him outside, and on going back to my work, there wasno thimble to be found; I asked him if he had touched it, and his answerwas that he would look for it. He did look, and said he could not findit; I have asked him several times if he took it away, and his onlyanswer is that he will find it by and by."

  "Tommy, did you take the thimble?" said Mr Seagrave, gravely.

  "I'll find it by and by, papa."

  "That's not an answer. Did you take the thimble?"

  "I'll find it by and by, papa," said Tommy, whimpering.

  "That's all the answer he will give me," said Mrs Seagrave.

  "Well, then, he shall have no dinner till the thimble makes itsappearance," replied Mr Seagrave.

  Master Tommy began to cry at this intelligence. Juno appeared with theturtle-soup; and Tommy cried louder when they had said grace andcommenced their dinner. They were all very hungry, and William sent hisplate for another portion, which he had not commenced long before he puthis finger in his mouth and pulled out something.

  "Why, mother, here's the thimble in my soup," cried William.

  "No wonder he said he would find it by and by," said Ready, smiling; "hemeant to have fished it up, I suppose, from what was left of the soupafter dinner. Well, Mrs Seagrave, I don't mean to say that Tommy is agood boy, but still, although he would not tell where the thimble was,he has not told a falsehood about it."

  "No, he has not," replied William. "I think, now that the thimble isfound, if he begs pardon, papa will forgive him."

  "Tommy, come here," said Mr Seagrave. "Tell me why you put thatthimble into the soup?"

  "I wanted to taste the soup. I wanted to fill the thimble; the soupburnt my fingers, and I let the thimble drop in."

  "Well, a thimbleful wasn't much, at all events," observed Ready. "Andwhy didn't you tell your mamma where the thimble was?"

  "I was afraid mamma throw all the soup away, and then I get none fordinner."

  "Oh! that was it, was it? Well, sir, I said you should have no dinnertill the thimble was found, so, as it is found, you may have yourdinner; but if you ever refuse to answer a question again, I shallpunish you more severely."

  Tommy was glad the lecture was over, and more glad to get histurtle-soup; he finished one plate, and, as he asked for another, hesaid, "Tommy won't put thimble in again; put tin pot in next time."

  After dinner they went to their work again, and did not come in againtill sunset.

  "The clouds are gathering fast, sir," observed Ready; "we shall haverain to-night."

  "I fear we shall; but we must expect it now, Ready."

  "Yes, sir; and by and by we shall have it for days together."

  "Ready," said Mrs Seagrave, "if you are not too tired, perhaps you willgo on with your history."

  "Certainly, ma'am, if you wish it," replied Ready. "When I left off, Iwas on board of the collier, bound to London. We had a very fair wind,and a quick passage. I was very sick until we arrived in the Nore, andthen I recovered, and, as you may suppose, was astonished at the busyscene, and the quantity of vessels which were going up and down theriver. But I did not like my captain; he was very severe and brutal tothe men; and the apprentice who was on board told me to run away, andget into another vessel, and not to bind myself apprentice to thiscaptain, or I should be beat all day long, and be treated as bad as hewas. I knew this was the case, as the captain kicked and cuffed himtwenty times a day. The men said that he did not do so to me, for fearI should refuse to be his apprentice; but that, as soon as my indentureswere signed, he would treat me in the same way.

  "Well, I made up my mind that I would not remain in the collier; and, asthe captain had gone on shore, I had plenty of time to look about me.There was a large ship, which was ready to sail, lying in the stream; Ispoke to two boys who were at the stairs in her boat, and they told methat they were very comfortable on board, and that the captain wantedtwo or three apprentices. I went on board with them, and offeredmyself. The captain asked me a great many questions, and I told him thetruth, and why I did not like to remain in the collier. He agreed totake me; and I went on shore with him, signed my indentures, andreceived from him a sufficient supply of clothes; and, two daysafterwards, we sailed for Bombay and China."

  "But you wrote to your mother, Ready, did you not?" said William.

  "Yes, I did; for the captain desired me to do so, and he put a few linesat the bottom to comfort her; but, unfortunately, the letter, which wassent on shore by the cook, never arrived. Whether he dropped it, orforgot it till after the ship sailed, and then tore it up, I do notknow; but, as I found out afterwards, it never did get to her hands."

  "It was not your fault that the letter did not arrive safe," said MrsSeagrave.

  "No, madam, that was not my fault; the fault had been committed before."

  "Don't dwell any more upon that portion of your history, Ready; but tellus what took place after you sailed for the East Indies."

  "Be it so, if you please. I certainly was very smart and active for myage,
and soon became a great favourite on board, especially with thelady passengers, because I was such a little fellow. We arrived safelyat Bombay, where our passengers went on shore, and in three weeksafterwards we sailed down the straits for China. It was war time, andwe were very often chased by French privateers; but as we had a goodcrew and plenty of guns, none of them ventured to attack us, and we gotsafe to Macao, where we unloaded our cargo and took in teas. We had towait some time for a convoy, and then sailed for England. When we wereoff the Isle of France, the convoy was dispersed in a gale; and threedays afterwards, a French frigate bore down upon us, and afterexchanging a few broadsides, we were compelled to haul down our colours.A lieutenant was sent on board with forty men to take charge of us, forwe were a very rich prize to them. The captain and most of the crewwere taken on board of the frigate, but ten Lascars and the boys wereleft in the Indiaman, to assist in taking her into the Isle of France,which was at that time in the hands of the French. I thought it hardthat I was to go to prison at twelve years old; but I did not care muchabout it, and very soon I was as gay and merry as ever. We had made theisland, and were on a wind beating up to the port, when a vessel wasseen to windward, and although I could not understand what the Frenchmensaid, I perceived that they were in a great fluster and very busy withtheir spy-glasses, and Jack Romer, one of my brother 'prentices who hadbeen three years at sea, said to me, `I don't think we'll go to prisonafter all, Ready, for that vessel is an English man-of-war, if I'm notmistaken.' At last she came down within three miles of us, and hoistedEnglish colours and fired a gun. The Frenchmen put the ship before thewind, but it was of no use; the man-of-war came up with us very fast,and then the Frenchmen began to pack up their clothes, together with allthe other things which they had collected out of the property of ourcaptain and crew; a shot was fired which went clean over our heads, andthen they left the helm, and Jack Romer went to it, and, with my help,hove the ship up in the wind; a boat came on board and took possession,and so there was one escape, at all events.

  "They sent a midshipman as prize-master on board of the vessel, and leftall us, who had been taken prisoners by the French, in the vessel, tohelp to work her into port, as the captain did not wish to part with anymore men of his own than was necessary. We soon made sail for England,quite delighted at having escaped a French prison, but, after all, weonly exchanged it for a Dutch one."

  "How do you mean?"

  "I mean that, two days afterwards, as we were rounding the Cape, anotherFrench vessel bore down upon us, and captured us. This time we did notfind any friend in need, and were taken into Table Bay; for at that timethe Cape of Good Hope was in the possession of the Dutch, who, as wellas the French, were at war with England."

  "How very unfortunate you were, Ready!" said Mrs Seagrave.

  "Yes, madam, we were, and I can't say much in favour of a Dutch prison.However, I was very young at that time, and did not care much--I had alight heart."