United States or Cuba ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
He lightens the labors of a crew, adds to the harmony and happiness of all on board, shortens a passage, and, as a natural consequence, promotes the interests of the owner. On one occasion, however, Silvernail's fondness for fun threatened to disturb the harmony which was wont to reign in the forecastle.
This little domestic drama had hardly been played out, when a more serious one almost a tragedy was enacted on the forecastle.
"Ah, that he is, sir; and if he isn't hatching out something row to surprise you all, I don't know mutton from beef." I looked sharply at the cook, for his words chimed in with a kind of fancy I had that the people in the forecastle were not so silent for nothing. "Ah, well," I said, "I dare say we shall be ready for him if he does try to play any pranks. But you didn't tell me about Mr Walters."
The respect the forecastle had acquired for Done was vastly increased by his rescue of Lucy Woodrow. Conduct that had previously been ascribed to mere conceit was now accounted for by most romantic imaginings, for it is a cardinal belief amongst men of their class that the true fighter is superior to all little weaknesses and small motives.
This impulse to aid the captain's side of the fight came to me swiftly, and I put it into action at once by jumping directly in Long Jim's path at the head of the forecastle ladder. I planned to grab his arms and hurl him back, yelling at the same time to Harris not to shoot, that it was I, Trenholm, and that I was holding Long Jim.
He had been all the time peering into the darkness, thinking more than once that he saw what he had been told to look out for. Mr Martin and three or four of the best men in the ship were on the forecastle with him, all likewise looking out. Suddenly he saw what appeared like a huge sheet shaken before him by invisible hands, and a chill struck his cheek. This was what he was to look for.
Thereupon, as there was no time to lose, he took the bold course of asking them outright whether, in the event of there being a scheme afoot on the part of others to escape from the brigantine to the ship, they would be disposed to join in it, to which they replied that they would gladly, and that indeed they had been discussing the possibilities of such an attempt when he interrupted them by his descent into the forecastle.
"I will, ma'am," replied Ted, with a forecastle bow, "Does Mister Ally onderstand English?" "Oh yes," returned Mrs Langley, with a laugh. "I forgot that he was absent when you arrived. You will find that he understands all you say to him, though I'm not quite sure that you will understand all he says to you.
Watching his chance my companion made a sudden rush along the deck toward the forecastle, which he gained in safety, and from which he returned in about five minutes, followed by the carpenter and several men, with the gratifying intelligence that, so far as he could ascertain, only two of the crew were missing.
Something had gone wrong with the big cabin stove, due to our wild running, I fancy, and the steward was compelled to let the fire go out. So we are getting a taste of the hardship of the forecastle, though in our case everything is dry instead of soggy or afloat. The kerosene stoves burned in our state room, but so smelly was mine that I preferred the cold.
Word Of The Day