The Adventures of Dick Maitland: A Tale of Unknown Africa Read online

  CHAPTER THREE.

  BEFORE THE MAST.

  The remainder of Dick Maitland's time in England was pretty fullyoccupied in comforting and encouraging his mother, in view of thepending separation, and in getting his somewhat slender wardrobe readyand packed for the voyage. The first-mentioned part of his task provedvery much more difficult than the other, for Mrs Maitland was rather ahelpless kind of person, and had already come to look to Dick for adviceand help in every sort of difficulty, whether great or small; theprospect, therefore, of being henceforth obliged to look after herselfand manage her affairs unaided filled her at first with dismay.Besides, there was the separation from her son, the feeling that sheknew not whether she would ever again set eyes on him in this world, andthe terrible uncertainty generally of the future, to further distracther; but at length the buoyancy and unquenchable hopefulness of Dick'sspirit had its effect upon her; and, finally, when the moment of partingcame, she had been brought to a frame of mind that enabled her to saythe last words of farewell almost with calmness. As for Dick, he hadalready received Humphreys' assurance that he would keep in touch withMrs Maitland, and see, in conjunction with his friend Graham, thesolicitor, that she came to no harm; therefore he had few fears for herimmediate future; while, for the rest, he was confident that before hismother's little capital became exhausted he would have found means toreplenish it. He spent with her the remainder of the day upon which hehad interviewed the skipper of the _Concordia_, and practically thewhole of that which succeeded it, finally bidding her farewell about sixo'clock in the evening, in order that he might spend the remainder ofthe day with Humphreys, with whom he had still much of importance todiscuss.

  Upon Dick's return to Number 19 Paradise Street he found the genialDoctor so busily engaged in dispensing drugs and advice that the two hadtime for little more than a mutual nod of greeting; but later on, whenthe last patient had departed and business had been brought to a closefor the night, they sat down together for a chat over a cup of coffeeand--so far as Humphreys was concerned--a pipe. Dick had not yet takento tobacco, and Humphreys, although an inveterate smoker himself, so farfrom urging his young friend to adopt the habit, had strongly dissuadedhim from having anything to do with the weed, at least until he hadreached his twenty-first birthday, learnedly descanting upon theinjurious effects of nicotine upon the immature constitution, andincidentally warning him to eschew narcotics generally, which, heinsisted, were always injurious, and only to be resorted to, evenmedically, when it became a choice between a narcotic and some greaterevil.

  "Well, my boy," remarked the Doctor, when they were at lengthcomfortably settled in their respective chairs, "so you have parted withyour mother. I hope you were able to cheer the poor lady and reconcileher to the separation. It is of course very hard upon her that at hertime of life she should be left absolutely alone, but necessity is apitiless jade, exacting her tribute of sorrow and suffering from allalike, from the monarch to the pauper, and when she lays her hand uponus there is no escape. But do not allow anxiety on behalf of your dearmother to worry you for a moment, lad, for I have promised to keep aneye upon her, and, as you know, I am a man of my word, and no harm shallbefall her so long as I have the power to avert it. No, don't thank me,Dick, there is no need; the satisfaction and pleasure that I shallderive from helping your dear mother will be reward enough for me, for Iregard her as a personal friend, and shall consider it a privilege to beallowed to do all that I can for her."

  "And now, to pass on to another topic, let me show you the medicinechest which I intend shall be my parting gift to you. Here it is,"--producing a stout case measuring about eighteen inches long by fourteeninches wide and twelve inches high. "It is not inconveniently bulky orheavy, but it contains a practically complete assortment of drugs,sufficient in quantity to enable you to fight successfully about half adozen cases of almost every known disease. More than that it would beinconvenient to carry about with you; and when any particular drug showssigns of exhaustion you must take timely steps to replenish your supply.And, with reference to that same replenishment, you will find a littlemanuscript book, written by myself, containing full instructions in theart of preparing several of the drugs from their parent plants, which Ibelieve you will find exceedingly useful." Here Humphreys' talk becameprofessional and his speech surcharged with technicalities--for he wasan enthusiast in everything relating to the combating and cure ofdisease, and far into the small hours he descanted learnedly upon hisbeloved science, confiding to and instructing Dick in many valuablesecrets that, by dint of laborious research and much consumption ofmidnight oil, he had wrung from Dame Nature. And on many an occasion inthe not-far-distant future Dick Maitland had ample cause to look backwith gratitude upon that long midnight conversation.

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  With exemplary punctuality young Maitland presented himself at theshipping office at ten o'clock in the morning, and duly "signed on" asordinary seaman in the good ship _Concordia_, bound for Natal; MrSutcliffe, the chief mate, privately congratulating Captain Roberts, theskipper of the ship, immediately afterwards, upon his good fortune insecuring so "likely" a hand for the small sum of one shilling per month,and expressing his fixed determination to "make a man of him" beforethey reached the Line. At the private suggestion of the said chiefmate, Dick lost no time in conveying his belongings to the ship anddepositing his bedding in the best-sheltered bunk in the forecastle;after which he returned to Number 19 Paradise Street, where he spent thefew hours of freedom remaining to him in assisting his friend theDoctor, and absorbing further knowledge from him. Finally, as theclocks in the immediate neighbourhood were striking the hour of eight inthe evening, Dick stepped over the rail of the _Concordia_ and formallyreported himself to the chief mate, thereafter repairing to theforecastle and making his preparations for the night. He was the firsthand to join the ship, notwithstanding the fact that the entire crew hadbeen ordered to be on board not later than eight o'clock that evening;and it was not until close upon midnight that the remainder found theirway down from the neighbouring public houses, all of them as surly andquarrelsome as bears at the termination of their short period ofliberty. Fortunately for Dick, all hands were too far gone in drink toadmit of their quarrelsomeness going further than words, and eventually,by about one o'clock in the morning, he was able to compose himself tosleep, to the accompaniment of the snores and mutterings of hiscompanions--thirteen in number.

  Many lads in Dick Maitland's position, and brought up amid refinedsurroundings, as he had been, would have regarded with horror andloathing such a situation as that in which he now found himself, andwould have been overwhelmed with self-pity at the cruelly hard luckwhich forced them to herd with such uncongenial companions in such a pigsty of a place as the _Concordia's_ forecastle just then presented; butDick was something of a philosopher, and was, moreover, full of "grit".He held the doctrine that a man can make what he chooses of hissurroundings, and always find in them something of amusement orinterest, if he cares to look for it; and now he consoled himself withthe reminder that life in that forecastle, and among those men, whosehighest ideal of happiness seemed to be helpless intoxication, wouldafter all be but a brief experience, out of which it would be hardindeed if he could not learn some useful lesson. With this philosophicreflection, he curled himself up in his blankets and dropped into asound, dreamless sleep.

  At six o'clock next morning the mate came thundering upon the forescuttle with a handspike, following up the resounding blows with a yellof:

  "All hands ahoy! tumble up there, you sleepers, and don't wait to curlyour hair. Hurry up, now, and give me a chance to see who are the`smarties' among you!"

  With low growls of disgust at such rude and untimely disturbance oftheir slumbers the fourteen occupants of the forecastle rolledunwillingly out of their bunks and proceeded to scramble into theirgarments, most of them anathematising the sea life generally, and theirpresent ship in
particular. For forecastle Jack is a curious creature,and, if you are to believe him, "last voyage" is invariably the supremeperiod of his life, wherein has been crowded the utmost comfort andpleasure and the most remarkable adventures, while the ship on boardwhich he happens to be at the moment is, as invariably, the slowest,ugliest, most uncomfortable, and most rotten tub that he ever had theill luck to ship in. And all this, mind you, as likely as not beforethe much-maligned craft has passed out through the dock gates, or Jackhas done a hand's turn of work on board her. Dick listened with a good-tempered grin to the chorus of grumbling that was proceeding around him,interjected a merry jest or two which caused the growlers to stop inmid-career in amazement at his audacity, and then, having slipped nimblyinto his clothes, he sprang up through the hatchway and presentedhimself first on deck of the forecastle hands, to be greeted by the matewith a cheery:

  "Well done, youngster! First to answer the call. That comes of joiningyour ship with an unmuddled brain. I think you and I are going to geton well together."

  "I sincerely hope so, sir," answered Dick. "If we don't it shall not bemy fault. And although I am rather an ignoramus at present in respectof a sailor's work generally, you will find me both willing and eager tolearn."

  The mate stared at Dick for a moment with compressed eyebrows, rathertaken aback at the lad's refined tone and manner of speech; then henodded, and remarked gruffly:

  "That's all right; if you are willing to learn I'll take care that youhave the chance. And, as a starter, you may get a broom and sweep upall this litter. But don't heave it overboard, or you'll have the dockpeople after you. Sweep it all together and put it into that emptybarrel until we get out of dock and can heave it over the side."

  The rest of the forecastle hands now came stumbling up on deck, and wereset by the mate to various tasks, pending the opening of the dock gatesand the arrival of the tug which was to tow the _Concordia_ down theriver. At length the order was given to unmoor ship, the dock gatesswung open, the vessel was warped through the opening to where the tugawaited her, the towrope was passed, and presently the _Concordia_ washeading down the river toward Gravesend, from whence, having firstshipped her passengers, she was to take her final departure for thesouthern hemisphere.

  The _Concordia_ was a steel barque of eight hundred and seventy-fourtons register, Clyde built, and modelled upon lines that combined a veryfair cargo-carrying capacity with high speed possibilities. She was avery handsome vessel to look at, and Captain William Roberts, who hadcommanded her since she left the stocks some two years prior to the dateat which we make his and her acquaintance, was inordinately proud ofher, sparing no pains either to himself or his ship's crew--andespecially, his boatswain--to keep her as trim and neat as a man-o'-war.The decks were regularly holystoned every morning when the ship was atsea--to the intense disgust of the crew--the brasswork was as regularlypolished, not with the usual rottenstone and oil, but with special metalpolish provided out of the skipper's private purse; and there was nomore certain way of "putting the Old Man's back up" than for a man toallow himself to be seen knocking the ashes of his pipe out against anyportion of the ship's painted work. It was even asserted of CaptainRoberts that, so anxious was he to maintain the smart appearance of theship, he would, whenever she ran into a calm, have the quarterboatlowered and manned, in order that he might pull round his vessel andassure himself that her masts were all accurately stayed to preciselythe same angle of rake; and woe betide the unhappy boatswain if thereseemed to be the slightest occasion for fault-finding.

  The _Concordia_ was a beamy ship in proportion to her length, and shecarried a full poop extending forward to within about twenty feet of hermainmast, underneath which was a handsome saloon, or cuddy, fitted withberth accommodation for twenty passengers; for although the steam linershave, for all practical purposes, absorbed the passenger traffic, therestill remains a small residue of the travelling public who, either forhealth or economy's sake, choose a well-found, well-built sailingclipper when they desire to make a sea voyage.

  Such was the vessel in which young Dick Maitland was to make his first,and, as he hoped, his only, essay as a seaman before the mast, and afterthe slight sketch which has been given of her and her skipper, it willbe readily seen that he could scarcely have hit upon a craft where hewould be likely to have more hard work, or better opportunities for theacquirement of a large measure of seafaring knowledge in a very shorttime.

  Mr Sutcliffe, the chief mate, had been favourably impressed by Dickfrom the moment when the two had encountered each other at the shippingoffice, and Mr Sutcliffe's method of showing his favour was to providehis favourites with an ample sufficiency of work to do. The ship had,therefore, not been out of dock half an hour when Dick was sent aloftwith an able seaman named Barrett to get the fore and main royal-yardsacross; and so eager was the lad to learn as much as he could thatBarrett very willingly permitted him to do all the work, merelydirecting him what to do and how to do it, and at the same timeinstructing him as to the nomenclature and purposes of the various partsof the gear which were manipulated during the operation. Naturally,Dick, being a novice, took about twice as long as his companion wouldhave taken over the job; but so eager was he to learn and such aptitudedid he exhibit that he won the unqualified approval of Barrett, as wellas of Mr Sutcliffe, who had been keeping a sharp eye upon what wasgoing on aloft. As for Dick, although it was the first time that he hadever been aloft in anything deserving the name of a ship, and althoughthe hull upon which he looked down seemed ridiculously inadequate tosupport the lofty spar upon which he was working--suggesting the ideathat unless he exercised the utmost caution in the disposition of hisweight he must inevitably capsize the entire complicated structure--hefelt neither giddy nor nervous, but went about his work with all thecoolness and confidence of a thoroughly seasoned hand.

  Arrived off Gravesend, the anchor was let go, and the ship swung to thenow fast ebbing tide, the quarterboat was lowered, and the skipper wasrowed ashore, while Mr Sutcliffe went the rounds of the decks andsatisfied himself that everything had been done to make the _Concordia_perfectly ready to get under way at a moment's notice; the yards wereaccurately squared by the lifts and braces, the running gear hauled tautand neatly coiled down, the decks once more swept; and then the worthymate found himself compelled to admit, with a sigh, that nothing morecould be done, at least to advantage, until the passengers should havecome off and the ship be once more under way. These two events happenedlate in the afternoon, and meanwhile the occupants of the forecastlewere sent below to snatch a few hours' rest in preparation for thecoming night, during which Dick Maitland had an opportunity to becomebetter acquainted with his messmates. For a wonder these proved to bewithout exception British, consisting of two Irishmen, five Scotchmen,and one Welshman, while the rest were English. There was nothing veryremarkable about any of them, they were all just ordinary averagesailormen, but it did not take Dick very long to make up his mind that,with the possible exception of the carpenter, and Barrett, the A.B. whohad been his companion and instructor aloft during the morning, the fiveScotchmen were the pick of the bunch. But all hands seemed to be verydecent fellows in their own rough way, now that they had had time torecover from their previous day's debauch, and manifested a distinctdisposition to be friendly toward the young greenhorn whom they found intheir midst, especially as they had already had an opportunity to seethat the greenhorn's greenness was not of such a character as to entailupon them very much extra work.

  The afternoon was well advanced when at length the passengers, seventeenin number, came off to the ship; and the moment that they and theirbaggage were embarked the anchor was hove up, the tug once more camealongside and took the towrope, and the _Concordia_ proceeded upon hervoyage, the hope being freely expressed, both fore and aft, that therewould be no more anchoring until the ship should have arrived under theshadow, so to speak, of Natal Bluff. As soon as the ship was fairlyunder way, and the anchor at the cathead, the chief an
d second matespicked the watches, and Dick, to his satisfaction, found himself pickedby Mr Sutcliffe as a member of that officer's watch.

  As the ship drew down toward the lower reaches of the river she met aslight breeze breathing out from the north-east, to which she spread,first, her fore-and-aft canvas, and, later on, her square sails, so thatby the time of her arrival off Deal, near midnight, she was practicallyindependent of the tug, which at that point cast her off. Here also thepilot left her, taking with him a goodly packet of letters from thepassengers to their friends ashore; and the _Concordia_, spreading herstudding-sails, swept on into the broadening waters of the EnglishChannel. With the other letters went one from Dick to his mother andanother to Dr Humphreys, written during his watch below.

  The fair wind which the _Concordia_ fell in with at the mouth of theThames lasted long enough to carry the ship, not only clear of theChannel, but also well to the westward of Ushant, Captain Roberts havingavailed himself to the utmost of the opportunity to make as much westingas possible, as his experience had taught him that at that season of theyear the prevailing winds which he might expect to meet with to thenorthward of Madeira would most probably be strong from the south-westward. And the event proved the correctness of that mariner'ssurmise, for on his seventh day out from Gravesend he fell in with theexpected shift of wind, and four hours later the _Concordia_ wasfighting her way to the southward, under double-reefed topsails, againsta heavy and fast-rising sea.

  Those seven days had made a vast amount of difference to Dick Maitland,so far as his usefulness as a seaman was concerned. In thatcomparatively brief period he had contrived not only to learn the nameand function of every bit of running rigging in the ship, but also tolay his hand unerringly upon any required halyard, brace, sheet,downhaul, clewline, or other item of gear in the darkest night; he wasas active and almost as handy aloft as the smartest A.B. in the ship;and he proved to be a born helmsman, standing his "trick" at the wheelfrom the very first, and leaving a straighter wake behind him than anyof the other men, even when the ship was scudding before a heavyfollowing sea. Mr Sutcliffe, the chief mate, was delighted with hisyoung _protege_, and declared, in unnecessarily picturesque language,that he would qualify the boy to perform the duties of an able seamanbefore Natal Bluff should heave in sight.

  But Dick was to prove his mettle in quite another fashion before long;for the strong south-westerly breeze which the _Concordia_ encounteredon her seventh day out rapidly developed into so furious a gale that,after battling with it for some fourteen hours, Captain Roberts decidedto heave-to under close-reefed fore and main topsails, and at eightbells--noon--the order was accordingly given to clew up and furl thealready reefed courses, and to haul down and stow the fore-topmaststaysail. This, under the weather conditions of the moment, was a taskrequiring the services of all hands, and by the orders of the chiefmate, who was conducting the operations, Dick was stationed at theweather fore clew-garnet, with three other hands. The men, having goneto their stations, were waiting for the word of command when suddenlythe chain main-tack carried away, and the part attached to the sail,acting like a whip, struck one of the men who was standing by to ease itaway, smashed the poor fellow's right arm above the elbow, shattered hisjaw, and laid open his right cheek from the turn of the jaw to the rightear, which was all but torn away from the man's head; the force of theblow also was such as to dash the unfortunate fellow against thebulwarks so violently that he instantly fell to the deck senseless.

  The accident, naturally, at once occasioned the utmost confusion, in themidst of which the mainsail promptly threshed itself to rags, the matesprang down the poop ladder and rushed to the spot, yelling a wholestring of orders, to which nobody paid the slightest attention, andDick, with two or three others, abandoned their posts and ran to theinjured man's assistance.

  "Back to your stations, you skowbanks," roared the mate. "What d'yemean by rushing about like a flock of frightened sheep? D'ye want tosee the ship dismasted? Here you, Dick, and Joe, pick him up and carryhim below to his bunk until the skipper can attend to him."

  "I beg your pardon, sir," spoke Dick, "but I am afraid we may do thepoor fellow some further injury if we attempt to carry him below. Iunderstand that there is a spare bunk in the deckhouse where theboatswain and carpenter are quartered. May we not take him in there?And, if you will give me leave, I will attend to his hurts. I havestudied both medicine and surgery, and feel sure that I can do betterfor him than anyone else, excepting, of course, a qualified surgeon."

  "The dickens! You don't say so?" ejaculated the mate, staring at Dickin amazement. "Very well, then, in that case you had better take chargeof him. And--yes, of course, take him into the deckhouse. Now, lads,clew up that fore-course, and be lively with it; haul taut your clew-garnets, ease up your tack and sheet; man your buntlines and leach-lines; that's your sort, up with it; away aloft, some of you, and make agood, snug furl of it!"

  Quickly, yet with the utmost care, the injured seaman was lifted up andcarried into the deckhouse, where, in accordance with Dick'sinstructions, he was laid upon the table, a mattress having first beenhurriedly dragged from one of the bunks and placed to receive him.Then, leaving the patient for the moment in charge of the other man,Dick hurried to the forecastle and brought up the medicine chest whichhad been Humphrey's parting gift to him, and his case of surgicalinstruments, which he opened and placed upon the carpenter's chest, tothe undisguised admiration and horror of his assistant, who gazed asthough fascinated at the array of highly polished saws, knives,scissors, and other instruments of queer and horribly suggestive shape.Then, dexterously removing the man's jacket and shirt while he stillremained unconscious, Dick rapidly proceeded to give his patient asystematic overhaul, with the object of ascertaining the precise natureand extent of his injuries.

  He had just completed this examination when the injured man showed signsof returning consciousness, at the same moment that the skipper, havingheard from the mate the particulars of the accident, came bustling intothe deckhouse with a bottle of brandy in one hand and a tumbler in theother, intent upon doing something, though he scarcely knew what, forthe relief of the sufferer. The brandy arrived in the nick of time,and, seizing the bottle and tumbler unceremoniously, Maitland poured outa small quantity and held the tumbler to the patient's lips. Withdifficulty the man contrived to swallow about a teaspoonful, whichconsiderably revived him, and then, with a groan of anguish, strove tomumble a few words in spite of his broken jaw. Now, if ever, was themoment when Humphreys' doctrine of the efficacy of hypnotism might beeffectively tested, and fixing the man's upturned gaze with his own, inthe peculiar manner which Humphreys had described and illustrated, Dicksaid to his patient, in a quiet, yet firm and confident tone of voice:

  "Now, Tom, don't attempt to say anything or ask any questions, butlisten to me. You have met with an accident, but it is not at allserious; and I am going to put you right and make you quite comfortable.I shall be obliged to pull you about a bit, but understand this, youwill suffer no pain whatever, and when I have finished with you you willfall into a quiet and refreshing sleep, from which you will awakewithout fever or complication of any sort. Now, turn over on your leftside, and let me begin by attending to the injuries of your face."

  To the utter amazement of the skipper and Joe--the man who had assistedDick to carry the injured man into the deckhouse--the patient turnedquietly over on his left side as directed, without a groan or any othersign of suffering, and resigned himself quite contentedly to Dick'sministrations. The latter, to all outward appearance perfectly calm andself-possessed, but inwardly full of astonishment at the completesuccess of his first experiment, at once proceeded with quick and defthands to arrange in position the shattered fragments of the jaw,strapping them firmly in place with bandage and sticking plaster; thenhe deftly drew together the edges of the gashed cheek, stitched up thewound, applied an antiseptic dressing, and bound up the injured face insuch a manner that the patient might be enabled t
o take liquidnourishment without disturbance of the dressings. Lastly, he placed thebroken bone of the arm in position, and firmly secured it there withsplints and bandages. As Dick inserted the last pin in the bandage andarranged the arm in a comfortable position the patient closed his eyes,and a minute later his quiet and regular breathing showed that he wasfast asleep!