Afloat and Ashore (65 page)

"And so you abandoned Marble Land to the pig's and the fowls?"

"I did, indeed, Miles; and I hope the poor creaturs will have a
comfortable time of it. I gave 'em what the lawyers call a quit-claim,
and sailed two months to a day after you went off in the Crisis."

"I should think, old shipmate, that your voyage must have been as
solitary and desperate as your life ashore."

"I'm amazed to hear, you say that. I'm never solitary at sea, one has
so much to do in taking care of his craft; and then he can always look
forward to the day he'll get in. But this generalizing, night and
day, without any port ahead, and little comfort in looking astarn,
will soon fit a man for Bedlam. I just: weathered Cape Crazy, I can
tell you, lads; and that, too, in the white water! As for my v'y'ge
being desperate, what was there to make it so, I should like to know?"

"You must have been twelve or fifteen hundred miles from any island
where you could look forward to anything like safety; and that is a
distance one would rather not travel all alone on the high seas."

"Pshaw! all consait. You're getting notional, Miles, now you're a
master and owner. What's a run of a thousand or fifteen hundred miles,
in a tight boat, and with plenty of grub and water? It was the easiest
matter in the world; and if it warn't for that bloody Cape Horn, I
should have made as straight a wake for Coenties' Slip, as the
trending of the land would have allowed. As it was, I turned to
windward, for I knew the savages to leeward weren't to be trusted. You
see, it was as easy as working out a day's work. I kept the boat on a
wind all day, and long bits of the night, too, until I wanted sleep;
and then I hove her to, under a reefed mainsail, and slept as sound as
a lord. I hadn't an uncomfortable moment, after I got outside of the
reef again; and the happiest hour of my life was that in which I saw
the tree-tops of the island dip."

"And how long were you navigating in this manner, and what land did
you first make?"

"Seven weeks, though I made half a dozen islands, every one of them
just such a looking object as that I had left. You weren't about to
catch me ashore again in any of them miserable places! I gave the old
boat a slap, and promised to stick by her as long as she would stick
by me, and I kept my word. I saw savages, moreover, on one or two of
the islands, and gave them a berth, having no fancy for being
barbacued."

"And where did you finally make your land-fall?"

"Nowhere, so; far as the launch was concerned. I fell in with a
Manilla ship, bound to Valparaiso, and got on board her; and sorry
enough was I for the change, when I came to find out how they
lived. The captain took me in, however, and I worked my passage into
port. Finding no ship likely to sail soon, I entered with a native who
was about to cross the Andes, bound over on this side, for the east
coast. Don't you remember, Miles, monsters of mountains that we could
see, a bit inland, and covered with snow, all along the west side of
South America? You must remember the chaps I mean?"

"Certainly—they are much too plain, and objects much too striking,
ever to be forgotten, when once seen."

"Well them's the Andes; and rough customers they be, let me tell you,
boys. You know there is little amusement in a sailor's walking on the
levellest 'arth and handsomest highways, on account of the bloody ups
and downs a fellow meets with; and so you may get some idee of the
time we had of it, when I tell you, had all the seas we saw in the
last blow been piled on top of each other, they would have made but a
large pancake, compared to them 'ere Andes. Natur' must have outdone
herself in making 'em; and when they were thrown together, what good
comes of it all? Such mountains might be of some use in keeping the
French and English apart; but you leave nothing but bloody Spaniards
on one side of them Andes, and find bloody Spaniards and Portugeese on
the other. However, we found our way over them, and brought up at a
place called Buenos Ayres, from which I worked my passage round to Rio
in a coaster. At Rio, you know, I felt quite at home, having stopped
in there often, in going backward and forward."

"And thence you took passage in the Dundee for London, intending to
get a passage home by the first opportunity?"

"It needs no witch to tell that. I had to scull about Rio for several
months, doing odd jobs as a rigger, and the like of that, until,
finding no Yankee came in, I got a passage in a Scotchman. I'll not
complain of Sawney, who was kind enough to me as a shipwrecked
mariner; for that was the character I sailed under, hermits being no
way fashionable among us Protestants, though it's very different among
them Catholic chaps, I can tell you. I happened to mention to a
landlady on the road, that I was a sort of a hermit on his travels;
when I thought the poor woman would have gone down on her knees and
worshipped me."

Here then was the history of Moses Marble, and the end of the colony
of Marble Land, pigs and poultry excepted. It was now my turn to be
examined. I had to answer fifty curious inquiries, some of which I
found sufficiently embarrassing. When, in answer to his
interrogatories, Marble learned that the Major and Miss Merton had
actually been left at Clawbonny, I saw the ex-mate wink at Talcott,
who smiled in reply. Then, where was Rupert, and how came on the law?
The farm and mills were not forgotten; and, as for Neb, he was
actually ordered up into the top, in order that there might be another
shake of the hand, and that he might answer for himself. In a word,
nothing could be more apparent than the delight of Marble at finding
himself among us once more. I believed even then, that the man really
loved me; and the reader will remember how long we had sailed
together, and how much we had seen in company. More than once did my
old shipmate dash the tears from his eyes, as he spoke of his
satisfaction.

"I say, Miles—I say, Roger," he cried—"this is like being at home,
and none of your bloody hermitages! Blast me, if I think, now, I
should dare pass through a wood all alone. I'm never satisfied unless
I see a fellow-creatur', for fear of being left. I did pretty well
with the Scotchman, who
has
a heart, though it's stowed away in
oatmeal, but
this
is
home.
I must ship as your steward,
Miles, for hang on to you I will."

"If we ever part, again, until one or both go into dock, it will be
your fault, my old friend. If I have thought of you once, since we
parted, I have dreamed of you fifty times! Talcott and I were talking
of you in the late gale, and wondering what sail you would advise us
to put the ship under."

"The old lessons have not all been forgotten, boys; it was easy enough
to see that. I said to myself, as you stood down upon us, 'that chap
has a real sea-dog aboard, as is plain by the manner in which he has
everything snug, while he walks ahead like an owner in a hurry to be
first in the market.'"

It was then agreed Marble should keep a watch; whenever it suited him,
and that he should do just as he pleased aboard. At some future day,
some other arrangement might be made, though he declared his intention
to stick by the ship, and also announced a determination to be my
first-mate for life, as soon as Talcott got a vessel, as doubtless he
would, through the influence of his friends, as soon as he returned
home. I laughed at all this, though I bade him heartily welcome, and
then I nick-named him commodore, adding that he should sail with me in
that capacity, doing just as much, and just as little duty as he
pleased. As for money, there was a bag of dollars in the cabin, and he
had only to put his hand in, and take what he wanted. The key of the
locker was in my pocket, and could be had for asking. Nobody was more
delighted with this arrangement than Neb, who had even taken a fancy
to Marble, from the moment when the latter led him up from the
steerage of the John, by the ear.

"I say, Miles, what sort of bloody animals are them passengers of
your's?" Marble next demanded, looking over the rim of the top, down
at the trio on deck, with a good deal of curiosity expressed in his
countenance. "This is the first time I ever knew a ship-master driven
aloft by his passengers, in order to talk secrets!"

"That is because you never sailed with the Brigham family, my
friend. They'll pump you till you suck, in the first twenty-four
hours, rely on it. They'll get every fact about your birth, the island
where you first saw me, what you have been about, and what you mean to
do; in a word, the past, present, and future."

"Leave me to overlay their cur'osity," answered the ex-mate, or new
commodore—"I got my hand in, by boarding six weeks with a Connecticut
old maid, once, and I'll defy the keenest questioner of them all."

We had a little more discourse, when we all went below, and I
introduced Marble to my passengers, as one who was to join our
mess. After this, things went on in their usual train. In the course
of the day, however, I overheard the following brief dialogue between
Brigham and Marble, the ladies being much too delicate to question so
rough a mariner.

"You came on board us, somewhat unexpectedly, I rather conclude,
Captain Marble?" commenced the gentleman.

"Not in the least; I have been expecting to meet the Dawn, just about
this spot, more than a month, now."

"Well, that is odd! I do not comprehend how such a thing could well be
foreseen?"

"Do you understand spherical trigonometry, sir?"

"I cannot say I am at all expert—I've looked into mathematics, but
have no great turn for the study."

"It would be hopeless, then, to attempt to explain the matter. If you
had your hand in at the spherical, I could make it all as plain as the
capstan."

"You and Captain Wallingford must be somewhat old acquaintances, I
conclude?"

"Somewhat," answered Marble, very drily.

"Have you ever been at the place that he calls Clawbonny? A queer
name, I rather think, Captain!"

"Not at all, sir. I know a place, down in the Eastern States, that was
called Scratch and Claw, and a very pretty spot it was."

"It's not usual for us to the eastward, to give names to farms and
places. It is done a little by the Boston folk, but they are notional,
as everybody knows."

"Exactly; I suppose it was for want of use, the chap I mean made out
no better in naming his place."

Mr. Brigham was no fool; he was merely a gossip. He took the hint, and
asked no more questions of Marble. He tried Neb, notwithstanding; but
the black having his orders, obeyed them so literally, that I really
believe we parted in Bordeaux, a fortnight later, without any of the
family's making the least discovery. Glad enough was I to get rid of
them; yet, brief as had been our intercourse, they produced a sensible
influence on my future happiness. Such is the evil of this habit of
loose talking, men giving credit to words conceived in ignorance and
uttered in the indulgence of one of the most contemptible of all our
propensities. To return to my ship.

We reached Bordeaux without any further accident, or delay. I
discharged in the usual way, and began to look about me, for another
freight. It had been my intention to return to New York, and to keep
the festivities of attaining my majority, at Clawbonny; but, I confess
the discourse of these eternal gossips, the Brighams, had greatly
lessened the desire to see home again, so soon. A freight for New York
was offered me, but I postponed an answer, until it was given to
another ship. At length an offer was made me to go to Cronstadt, in
Russia, with a cargo of wines and brandies, and I accepted it. The
great and better informed merchants, as it would seem, distrusted the
continuance of the hollow peace that then existed, and a company of
them thought it might be well to transfer their liquors to the capital
of the czar, in readiness for contingencies. An American ship was
preferred, on account of her greater speed, as well as on account of
her probable neutral character, in the event of troubles occurring at
any unlooked-for moment. The Dawn took in her wines and brandies
accordingly, and sailed for the Baltic about the last of August. She
had a long, but a safe passage, delivering the freight according to
the charter-party, in good condition. While at Cronstadt, the American
consul, and the consignees of an American ship that had lost her
master and chief-mate by the smallpox, applied to me to let Marble
carry the vessel home. I pressed the offer on my old friend, but he
obstinately refused to have anything to do with the vessel. I then
recommended Talcott, and after some negotiation, the latter took
charge of the Hyperion. I was sorry to part with my mate, to whom I
had become strongly attached; but the preferment was so clearly to his
advantage, that I could take no other course. The vessel being ready,
she sailed the day after Talcott joined her; and, sorry am I to be
compelled to add, that she was never heard of, after clearing the
Cattegat. The equinox of that season was tremendously severe, and it
caused the loss of many vessels; that of the Hyperion doubtless among
the rest.

Marble insisted on taking Talcott's place, and he now became my
chief-mate, as I had once been his. After a little delay, I took in
freight on Russian government account, and sailed for Odessa. It was
thought the Sublime Porte would let an American through; but, after
reaching the Dardanelles, I was ordered back, and was obliged to leave
my cargo in Malta, which it was expected would be in possession of its
own knights by that time, agreeably to the terms of the late
treaty. From Malta I sailed for Leghorn, in quest of another
freight. I pass over the details of these voyages, as really nothing
worthy of being recorded occurred. They consumed a good deal of time;
the delay at the Dardanelles alone exceeding six weeks, during which
negotiations were going on up at Constantinople, but all in vain. In
consequence of all these detentions, and the length of the passages, I
did not reach Leghorn until near the close of March, I wrote to Grace
and Mr. Hardinge, whenever a favourable occasion offered, but I did
not get a letter from home, during the whole period. It was not in the
power of my sister or guardian—
late
guardian would be the most
accurate expression, as I had been of age since the previous
October—to write, it being impossible for me to let them know when,
or where, a letter would find me. It followed, that while my friends
at home were kept tolerably apprised of my movements, I was absolutely
in the dark as respected them. That this ignorance gave me great
concern, it would be idle to deny; yet, I had a species of desperate
satisfaction in keeping aloof, and in leaving the course clear to Mr.
Andrew Drewett. As respects substantials, I had sent a proper power of
attorney to Mr. Hardinge, who, I doubted not, would take the same care
of my temporal interests he had never ceased to do since the day of my
beloved mother's death.