Masterman Ready; Or, The Wreck of the Pacific

by Frederick Marryat

  CHAPTER FORTY.

  A few mornings afterwards, Juno came in before breakfast with six eggsin her apron, which she had found in the hen-house.

  "Look, Missy Seagrave--fowls lay eggs--soon have plenty--plenty forMaster William--make him well again--and plenty for chickens by and by."

  "You haven't taken them all out of the nests, Juno; have you?"

  "No; leave one in each nest for hen to see."

  "Well, then, we will keep them for William, and I hope, as you say, theywill make him strong again."

  "I am getting quite strong now, mother," replied William; "I think itwould be better to leave the eggs for the hens to sit upon."

  "No, no, William; your health is of more consequence than having earlychickens."

  For a few days Mr Seagrave and Ready were employed at the gardenclearing away the weeds, which had begun to sprout up along with theseeds which had been sown; during which time William recovered veryfast. The two first days, Juno brought in three or four eggs regularly;but on the third day there were none to be found. On the fourth day thehens appeared also not to have laid, much to the surprise of MrsSeagrave; as when hens commence laying eggs they usually continue. Onthe fifth morning, when they sat down to breakfast, Master Tommy did notmake his appearance, and Mrs Seagrave asked where he was.

  "I suspect, madam," said Old Ready, laughing, "that Tommy will not comeeither to his breakfast or his dinner to-day."

  "What can you mean, Ready?" said Mrs Seagrave.

  "Why, madam, I will tell you. I thought it very odd that there were noeggs, and I thought it probable that the hens might have laid astray; soI went about yesterday evening to search. I could not find any eggs,but I found the egg-shells, hid under some cocoa-nut leaves; and Iargued, that if an animal, supposing there was any on the island, hadtaken the eggs, it would not have been so careful to hide theegg-shells. So, this morning, I fastened up the door of the hen-house,and only left open the little sliding door, by which the fowls go in toroost; and then, after you were up, I watched behind the trees, and sawTommy come out, and go to the hen-house. He tried the door, and findingit fast, crept into the hen-house by the little sliding-door. As soonas he was in I let down the slide, and fastened it with a nail; so therehe is, caught in his own trap."

  "And there shall he remain all day, the little glutton!" said MrSeagrave.

  "Yes, it will serve him right," replied Mrs Seagrave; "and be a lessonto him."

  Mr Seagrave, Ready, and William, as usual, went down to their work;Mrs Seagrave and Juno, with little Caroline, were busy indoors. Tommyremained very quiet for an hour, when he commenced roaring; but it wasof no use, no one paid any attention to him. At dinner-time he began toroar again, but with as little success: it was not till the evening thatthe door of the hen-house was opened, and Tommy permitted to come out.He looked very foolish; and sat down in a corner without speaking.

  "Well, Tommy, how many eggs did you suck to-day?" said Ready.

  "Tommy won't suck eggs any more," said the urchin.

  "No, you had better not," replied Mr Seagrave, "or you will find, inthe end, that you will have less to eat, instead of more, as you havethis day."

  Tommy waited very quietly and very sulkily till supper was ready, whenhe made up for lost time. After which Ready continued his narrative.

  "I told you, William, that I was informed by the gentleman on the coachthat my mother had died of a broken heart, in consequence of my supposeddeath. I was in agony until I arrived at Newcastle, where I couldascertain all the facts connected with her decease. When the coachstopped, the gentleman, who had remained outside, came to the coachdoor, and said to me, `If I mistake not, you are Masterman Ready, whoran away to sea; are you not?' `Yes, sir,' replied I, very sorrowfully,`I am.' `Well, my man,' said he, `cheer up; when you went away you wereyoung and thoughtless, and certainly had no idea that you would havedistressed your mother as you did. It was not your going to sea, butthe report of your death, which preyed so much upon her mind; and thatwas not your fault. You must come with me, as I have something to sayto you.'

  "`I will call upon you to-morrow, sir,' replied I; `I cannot do anythinguntil I talk to the neighbours and visit my poor mother's grave. It isvery true that I did not intend to distress my mother; and that thereport of my death was no fault of mine. But I cannot help feelingthat, if I had not been so thoughtless, she would be still alive andhappy.' The gentleman gave me his address, and I promised to call uponhim next morning. I then went to the house my mother used to live in.I knew that she was not there; yet I was disappointed and annoyed when Iheard merry laughter within. I looked in, for the door was open; in thecorner where my mother used to sit, there was a mangle, and two womenbusily at work; others were ironing at a large table; and when theycried out to me, `What do you want?' and laughed at me, I turned away indisgust, and went to a neighbouring cottage, the inmates of which hadbeen very intimate with my mother. I found the wife at home, but shedid not know me; and I told her who I was. She had attended my motherduring her illness, till the day of her death; and she told me all Iwished to know. It was some little relief to my mind to hear that mypoor mother could not have lived, as she had an incurable cancer; but atthe same time the woman told me that I was ever in her thoughts, andthat my name was the last word on her lips. She also said that MrMasterman had been very kind to my mother, and that she had wantednothing. I then asked her to show me where my mother had been buried.She put on her bonnet, and led me to the grave, and then, at my request,she left me. I seated myself down by the mound of turf which coveredher, and long and bitterly did I weep her loss and pray for forgiveness.

  "It was quite dark when I left the spot and went back to the cottage ofthe kind woman who had attended my mother. I conversed with her and herhusband till late, and then, as they offered me a bed, I remained withthem that night. Next morning I went to keep my appointment with thegentleman whom I had met in the coach: I found by the brass plate on thedoor that he was a lawyer. He desired me to sit down, and then heclosed the door carefully, and having asked me many questions, toascertain if I was really Masterman Ready, he said he was the personemployed at Mr Masterman's death, and that he had found a paper whichwas of great consequence, as it proved that the insurance of the vesselwhich had belonged to my father and Mr Masterman, and which had beenlost, had not been made on Mr Masterman's share only, but upon myfather's as well, and that Mr Masterman had defrauded my mother. Hesaid he had found the paper in a secret drawer some time after MrMasterman's death, and that my mother being dead, and I being supposedto be dead, he did not see any use in making known so disagreeable acircumstance; but that, now I had re-appeared, it was his duty so to do,and that he would arrange the matter for me, if I pleased, with thecorporation of the town, to whom all Mr Masterman's property had beenleft in trust to build an hospital and almshouses. He said that theinsurance on the vessel was three thousand pounds, and that one-third ofthe vessel belonged to my father, so that a thousand pounds were due tohim, which the interest for so many years would increase to above twothousand pounds. This was good news for me, and you may suppose Ireadily agreed to all he proposed. He set to work at once, and havingcalled together the mayor and corporation of the town, and proved thedocument, they immediately agreed that I was entitled to the money, andthat it should be paid to me without any contest. Thus you see, MasterWilliam, was a new temptation thrown in my way."

  "How do you mean a temptation? It surely was very fortunate, Ready,"said William.

  "Yes, William, it was, as people say, fortunate, according to the ideasof the world; every one congratulated me, and I was myself so inflatedwith my good fortune, that I forgot all the promises of amendment, allthe vows of leading a good life, which I made over my poor mother'sgrave. Now do you perceive why I called it a temptation, MasterWilliam?"

  "My dear child," said Mr Seagrave, "riches and prosperity in this worldprove often the greatest of temptations; it is adversity that chastensand amen
ds us, and which draws us to God."

  "As soon as the money was in my own hands," continued Ready, "I began tosquander it away in all manner of folly. Fortunately, I had notreceived it more than ten days, when the Scotch second mate came like aguardian angel to save me. As soon as I had made known to him what hadtaken place, he reasoned with me, pointed out to me that I had anopportunity of establishing myself for life, and proposed that I shouldpurchase a part of a vessel, on condition that I was captain of her. Iliked this idea very much, and being convinced that I had been making afool of myself, I resolved to take his advice; but one thing onlyrestrained me: I was still very young, not more than twenty years old;and although I could navigate at one time, I had latterly paid noattention. I told Sanders this, and he replied, that if I would takehim as my first mate, that difficulty would be got over, as he couldnavigate well, and that I could learn to do so in the first voyage; soall was arranged.

  "Fortunately, I had not spent above one hundred pounds of the money. Iset off for Glasgow in company with Sanders, and he busied himself veryhard in looking about for a vessel that would suit. At last, he foundthat there was one ready for launching, which, in consequence of thefailure of the house for which it was built, was to be sold. He madeinquiries, and having found who was likely to purchase her--that it wasa very safe and respectable firm--he made a proposal for me that Ishould take one-fourth share of her, and command her. As Sanders wasvery respectable, and well known to be a steady man, his recommendationwas attended to so far that the parties wished to see and speak to me.They were satisfied with me, young as I was, and the bargain was made.I paid down my two thousand pounds for my share, and as soon as thevessel was launched, was very busy with Sanders, whom I had chosen asfirst mate, in fitting her out. The house which had purchased her withme was a West India firm, and the ship was of course intended for theWest India trade. I had two or three hundred pounds left, after I hadpaid my share of the vessel, and this I employed in purchasing a ventureon my own account, and providing nautical instruments, etcetera. I alsofitted myself out, for you see, William, although Sanders had persuadedme to be rational, I was still puffed up with pride at the idea of beingcaptain of my own ship; it was too great a rise for one who had justbefore been a lad in the mizen-top of a man-of-war. I dressed myselfvery smart--wore white shirts, and rings on my fingers. Indeed, ascaptain and part owner of a fine vessel, I was considered as somebody,and was often invited to the table of the other owners of the vessel. Iwas well off, for my pay was ten pounds a month, independent of what myown venture might produce, and my quarter-share of the profits of thevessel. This may be considered as the most prosperous portion of mylife; and so, if you please, we will leave off here for to-night, for Imay as well tell you at once that it did not last very long."