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I was standin' close to the fore hatch at the time, a-talkin' to Jim Brag, an' the father o' the babby, poor feller, he was standin' by the foretops'l halyards holdin' on to a belayin'-pin, an' lookin' as white as a sheet for I got a glance at 'im two or three times doorin' the flashes o' lightnin'. Well, stooard, there was lightnin' playin' round the mizzen truck, an' the main truck, an' the fore truck, an' at the end o' the flyin' jib-boom, an' the spanker boom; then there came a flash that seemed to set afire the entire univarse; then a burst o' thunder like fifty great guns gone off all at once in a hurry.
The sailor wass good deal puzzled by this remark, but when its purport was explained to him, he gave vent to a vigorous chuckle, notwithstanding Sam's stern order to "lie still." "Didn't I say so?" he exclaimed. "Didn't I say distinctly, that night, to the stooard Thomson was his name `Stooard, said I, `that there babby what has just bin born will make his mark some'ow an' somew'eres."
I mean to give the mate strict orders to load all three guns, and if he sees the Count coming off again with his two boats full of men to take possession while he's got us tight, to sink them without mercy. Ah, here's the stooard, welcome, as you might say, as the flowers in spring. Come along, my lad, and let's lay in stores."
As a faithful chronicler, however, we must report that one-half minute later the stooard found Captain Wopper in the villa drawing-room, and there stated to him that it was "hall right; that he didn't need for to perplex hisself about Doctor Lawrence and Miss Hemma Gray, for that they was as good as spliced already, having been seen by him, Gillie, in the bower at the end of the garding a-blushin' and a " Here the spider stopped short and went into another fit of convulsions this time unrestrained.
At that identical moment, stooard, there came up from the fore-cabin a yell that beat well, I can't rightly say what it beat, but it minded me o' that unfortnit pig as got his tail jammed in the capstan off Cape Horn.
"Presently the doctor comes along, sees the crowd, but goes inside without sayin' nothin'. But soon we 'ears 'im lettin' go at the sick bay stooard inside. 'Wot the devil's the meanin' o' this? 'e wants to know. 'Fust lootenant's orders, sir, sez the stooard. 'Fust lootenant be damned, the doctor sings art. 'I'll report 'im to the captain.
That 'minds me when we was starvin', me and my shipmates in the Arctic regions, so as our ribs was all but comin' through our skins, an' we was beginnin' to cast an evil eye on the stooard who'd kep' fatter than the rest of us somehow, an' was therefore likely to prove a more satisfyin' kind o' grub, d'ee see "
There's to be company, too, an' you're to be waiter " "Stooard, you mean?" "Well, yes stooard. Now, stooard, you'll keep a good look-out, an' clap as tight a stopper on yer tongue as may be. I've got a little plot in hand, d'ee see, an' I want you to help me with it. Keep your eye in a quiet way on Dr Lawrence and Miss Gray. I've taken a fancy that perhaps they may be in love with each other.
As I said to our stooard on the night that you was born, `Stooard, says I, `take my word for it, that there babby what has just been launched ain't agoin' under hatches without makin' his mark somehow an' somewheres, an' you've begun to make it, sir, a'ready, an' you'll go on to make it, as sure as my name's John Johnson." "I'm gratified by your good opinion," replied Robin, with a laugh.
Although, as you know, he has suffered severely in hands and feet, he feels himself well enough to limp about the room and act the part, as he says, of `stooard and cook to the ship's company. He insisted on beginning last night just after you left, and I found him hard at it this morning when I went to see them.
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