Off to Sea: The Adventures of Jovial Jack Junker on his Road to Fame
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time used to live there. He does not now, that I knowof, because I have heard say that all the heathen gods and goddesseshave given up living at all on the earth; though, to be sure, I don'tsay but what he and they may visit it now and then. Now, Jack, youunderstand all about the matter, or as much as I, a sergeant of theRoyal Marines, do, and that surely must be quite enough for asecond-class boy on board ship."
Full of the lucid information I had received, I returned to mymessmates, who told me that, in spite of what the sergeant had said,they heard, positively, that Neptune and all his court were coming onboard, either the next day or the following. Sure enough, Daddy didcome on board, in right fashion, when the opportunity was taken ofgiving Dirty Jem a thorough washing, and punishing three or four otherindividuals in a rather unpleasant way, by cramming their mouths full ofgrease and pitch, under the pretence of lathering them, before beingshaved by Neptune's barber. I should say, that a lower studding-sailhad been fastened up, in the form of a long bag, in the main deck, onthe starboard side, and filled with water. The skid gratings had beentaken off, so that, looking down from the starboard gangway, nothing butwater was to be seen. Neptune and his wife made their appearance fromforward, sitting on what they said was their chariot, but which lookedlike a gun-carriage. They had two infants, who put me wonderfully inmind of two small boys in our mess, while his wife had very much theappearance of Ned Rawlings; and I thought, too, I recognised thefeatures of his secretary, his coachman, and barber. They were followedby a number of courtiers, and twenty-four bears, and as many constables.The chief business of the latter was to catch the fellows who were tobe shaved and ducked. We boys were tossed about from side to side ofthe tank by the bears, they crying out, "He's none of my child!" andvery fortunate we thought ourselves when we got out again. The sidebeing smooth and steep as an earthen pan, we were very much like ratscaught in one. Besides Dirty Jem, the smaller, we had a big, hulkingfellow--Michael Clack, by name. He was a dirty, lazy, lubberly fellow,disliked and despised by all the ship's company. He had, from thefirst, I doubt not, a pretty good notion that he would receive no verydelicate treatment from Neptune's ministers, so he went and hid himselfaway, thinking that he might, perhaps, escape notice. He had beenmarked, however, from the first.
"Michael Clack! Michael Clack!" was soon called out by the secretary,and "Michael Clack! Michael Clack!" resounded along the decks. Theconstables searched for him everywhere, along each deck, behind everychest, and each store-room, and in each corner into which he couldpossibly have crept. At last, it was believed that he must have goneoverboard. Still, as he had been seen by more than one of the boysscudding along the decks faster than he had ever been known to movebefore, the fact that he had gone overboard was doubted by a great many.At length, the constables instituted another search along the orlopdeck, and in the cable tier. A shout proclaimed that Clack was found.He was stowed away in the coil of a cable, and a piece of canvas drawnneatly over him. He was dragged up, and placed on the plank beforeNeptune.
"You are a big, lazy, idle, mischievous, do-nothing rascal," began hisMajesty. "You deserve no good from any one, and you will get it, too,my hearty! Give him Number 1." That was the roughest razor in use."Plenty of lather! Lay it on thick!" Neptune's ministers of justicedid not require a second bidding. The moment the unhappy Clack openedhis mouth to plead his cause, the tar-brush was run almost down histhroat. His face was next covered with it, and scraped with a jaggedrazor, till the blood ran out in all directions. In this state he wastossed into the tank, and bandied about among the bears, every one ofwhom owed him a grudge, till some one cried out that he was done for.He had fainted, or, like the Australian dingo, had pretended to faint,and looked, indeed, as if he were dead. The captain, seeing what hadhappened, was very angry, and ordering him to be taken to the doctor,forbade the sports to be continued. Neptune and his secretary beggedpardon as well as they could for what had happened, and he and hisfollowers waddled forward, and disappeared over the bows. We heard thatevening that Michael Clack was very ill, and there was a general ideathat he was going to die. What the doctor thought about the matter I donot know.
Clack hated work, but he disliked nasty physic still more. This thedoctor knew; and by giving him all the most nauseous draughts he couldthink of he soon got him out of the sick list. Clack, though out of thesick list, was very soon in the black list; and being shortly afterwardsdetected in helping himself to the contents of another man's bag, he wasadjudged by the captain to be placed in irons, to be kept in solitaryconfinement, and otherwise punished.
CHAPTER FIVE.
ACROSS THE OCEAN.
Falling in at length with the north-east trade-winds, we stood towardsthe coast of South America, and entered Rio de Janeiro harbour, whichwas but very little, if anything, out of our course for the Cape of GoodHope. This will be seen by a glance at a map of the world, and ships,therefore, frequently touch there on their way to the regions beyond theCape of Good Hope. It is a magnificent bit of water, surrounded bycuriously-shaped mountains and peaks, with a big city on its shores,full of large streets and no end of churches. Sergeant Turbot tookTommy Punchon and me with him, to keep us out of mischief, though wewould rather have gone alone to try and get into it. I was astonishedat the quantity of black slaves, grunting and groaning away under theirheavy loads. Still, they were ever ready for a joke, and the niggers wemet with loads were merry laughing fellows, who went along singing andjoking, as if no such thing as slavery existed. I might fill my journalwith an account of the numberless curious things I saw on shore, but ifI did I should have no space for my own adventures; so I will leave toothers to give a description of Rio, and go on with my sea log.
That night, when we got on board again, Sergeant Turbot and theboatswain were walking the forecastle, and Punchon and I were standingnot far off, when a splash was heard, and the sentry shouted out, "A manoverboard!" He immediately fired, but did not hit the man, whose head Icould see as I looked out from one of the ports as he struck out boldlyfor the land; there were plenty of sharks about, so that there was notmuch chance of his reaching it, even if he was allowed to go. Thesentry's shot was, however, followed by the officer of the watch callingaway the second cutter. She was lowered and manned pretty quickly, andI watched her eagerly as she made chase after the fugitive. He was soonbrought back, and proved to be no other than Michael Clack, who, takingadvantage of the short interval when a prisoner is relieved from hismanacles in the evening, had contrived to slip overboard. No one hadsupposed that he was a good swimmer, yet, to reach the shore, he musthave been a first-rate one. Perhaps some friend had told him that anAmerican vessel lay inside of us, and he hoped to reach her, when hewould have been taken on board and concealed. He would, however, havebeen a somewhat dear bargain, if they had got him. We were soon againat sea, steering across the Atlantic for the Cape of Good Hope. I needscarcely say that soon after we got out of harbour Michael Clack gotfour dozen for his attempt at desertion. I am not going to describe theceremony; it is a very unpleasant one for all hands concerned. Still, Imust own, Master Michael got what he deserved.
"You have heard of good service stripes, may-be, Jack?" said thesergeant to me. "Those are what we call bad service stripes; and mindyou, boy, never do anything to deserve them."
I asked Sergeant Turbot if he could tell me anything of thesetrade-winds, which had been blowing so strong in our favour for so manydays.
"That's just what I have been talking to Futtock about," he answered."He and I make it out, that they always do blow in some parts from thenorth-east, and, further south, from the south-east. Why they blowthus, is more than I can tell you; but I've heard say, that they havegot the name of trade-winds, because they help on traders in a voyagethrough the Atlantic."
I was not quite satisfied with this answer, and determined to try andfind out more of the matter by-and-by. The weather had been threateningfor some hours, and towards evening the hands were turned up to reeftopsails. Three
reefs were at once taken in, and not a moment too soon.Down came the gale upon us. The big ship heeled over till thelower-deck ports were under water. The rolling seas tossed round her,and roared, as if eager to swallow her up. The wind whistled, thethunder growled, every now and then breaking overhead with tremendousrattles and crashes, and a pitchy darkness came down over the ocean, theoccasional flashes of lightning only rendering the darkness still moredark. Before long we had our fore-topsail close reefed, three reefs inthe main-top-sail, and mizen-topsail furled, and we were running deadbefore the gale, at not less than fifteen knots an hour. Mr. Futtocksaid that we were going twenty; and, of course, I believed him; but I donot now, because I never found the fastest ship go so fast, and the old_Roarer_ was, as the men said, a good one to fight, but not to go. Inspite of the remarks