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Yes, yes, Jack Pringle will be the man, though Jack ain't a holiday, shore-going, smooth-spoken swab, but as good a seaman as ever trod deck or handled a boarding-pike." "Any friend of yours," said Varney, blandly, "will be received and treated as such upon an errand of such consequence; and now our conference has, I presume, concluded." "Yes, yes, I've done d e, no yes no.
Great caution should therefore be used under such circumstances in attacking these ferocious creatures. We have always found a boarding-pike the most useful weapon for this purpose. The lance used by the whalers will not easily penetrate the skin, and a musket-ball, except when very close, is scarcely more efficacious.
Ellice presented me to him, and the old hero asked why I had left the Navy. 'The finest service in the world; and likely, begad, to have something to do before long. This was only a year before the Crimean war. With his strong rough features and tousled mane, he looked like a grey lion. One expected to see him pick his teeth with a pocket boarding-pike.
With the boarding-pike he carefully chopped the lump, till he had made it into a thick circular cake; then he pared away the edges, and afterwards commenced operations with his knife, scraping away, till he had formed both sides into a perfect convex shape. Lastly, he took it between his mittens, and rubbed it round and round till he turned it out with a fine polish.
Gradually the rocking movement of the berg ceased, and we found that the ledge on which we were posted had sloped rather more towards the water than before, so that it was necessary to continue holding on by the boarding-pike to prevent its gliding off. "What has happened?" I exclaimed, as I first again drew breath freely. "I thought it was all over with us."
Jack fetched a tray of cakes and wine while his uncle bawled at the servants who came running with soft cloths and hot water and healing lotions. Captain Bonnet protested that the hurt was trifling and carelessly explained: "My own ship's surgeon was spitted on a boarding-pike in our last action at sea and I have not found me another one. You show much skill and tenderness, sir."
"Climb up with the rest, and fight the Frenchmen," I replied promptly. "Very good, Mr Merry; but suppose one of the Frenchmen was to give you a poke in the ribs with a boarding-pike, or a shot through the chest, or a slash with a cutlass, what would you do then?" "Grin and bear it, I suppose, like anybody else," was my answer.
There appears to be nothing extraordinary about the service, the only unfamiliar feature to me being a man wearing a uniform similar to the gendarmerie of Paris: cockade, sash, sword, and everything complete; in addition to which he carries a large cane and a long brazen-headed staff resembling the boarding-pike of the last century.
Being desirous, however, of leaving nothing uncertain respecting it, we walked out a few hundred yards upon the ice, and began with a boarding-pike and our knives, which were all the tools we had, to dig a hole in it, in order to taste the water beneath.
It was bravely done; and, had they met with a less stout resistance, the Kestrel would have been captured. But, as it was, they had Englishmen to deal with, and Hilary and about ten of the crew met them bravely, Hilary going down, though, from the first blow one from a boarding-pike.
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