Afloat and Ashore (9 page)

"There's
two
niggers at that work!" exclaimed Mr. Marble,
after listening an instant, glancing his eye round to make certain the
mulatto steward was not in the discussion. "No
one
darkey ever
could make all that outcry. Bear a hand below, Miles, and see if
Africa has come aboard us in the night."

I was in the act of obeying, when Cato, the cook, was seen rising
through the steerage-hatch, dragging after him the dark poll of
another black, whom he had gripped by the wool. In an instant both
were on deck, when, to my astonishment, I discovered the agitated
countenance of Nebuchadnezzar Clawbonny. Of course the secret was out,
the instant the lad's glistening features were recognised.

Neb, in a word, had managed to get on board the ship before she hauled
out into the stream, and lay concealed among the water-casks, his
pockets crammed with ginger-bread and apples, until discovered by the
cook, in one of his journeys in quest of water. The food of the lad
had been gone twenty-four hours, and it is not probable the fellow
could have remained concealed much longer, had not this discovery
taken place. The instant he was on deck, Neb looked eagerly around to
ascertain how far the ship had got from the land, and, seeing nothing
but water on every side of him, he fairly grinned with delight. This
exasperated Mr. Marble, who thought it was adding insult to injury,
and he gave the lad a cuff on the ear that would have set a white
reeling. On Neb, however, this sharp blow produced no effect, falling
as it did on the impregnable part of his system.

"Oh! you're a nigger, be you?" exclaimed the mate, waxing warmer and
warmer, as he: fancied himself baffled by the other's powers of
endurance. "Take that, and let us see if you're full-blooded!"

A smart rap on the shin accompanying these words, Neb gave in on the
instant. He begged for mercy, and professed a readiness to tell all,
protesting he was not "a runaway nigger"—a term the mate used while
applying the kicks.

I now interfered, by telling Mr. Marble, with all the respect due from
a green hand to a chief-mate, who Neb really was, and what I supposed
to be his motives for following me to the ship. This revelation cost
me a good deal in the end, the idea of Jack's having a "waiting-man"
on board giving rise to a great many jokes at my expense, during the
rest of the voyage. Had I not been so active, and so
willing,
a
great source of favour on board a ship, it is probable these jokes
would have been much broader and more frequent. As it was, they
annoyed me a good deal; and it required a strong exercise of all the
boyish regard I really entertained for Neb, to refrain from turning-to
and giving him a sound threshing for his exploit, at the first good
occasion. And yet, what was his delinquency compared to my own? He had
followed his master out of deep affection, blended somewhat, it is
true, with a love of adventure; while, in one sense, I had violated
all the ties of the heart, merely to indulge the latter passion.

The captain coming on deck, Neb's story was told, and, finding that no
wages would be asked in behalf of this athletic, healthy, young negro,
he had no difficulty in receiving him into favour. To Neb's great
delight, he was sent forward to take his share on the yards and in the
rigging, there being no vacancy for him to fill about the camboose, or
in the cabin. In an hour the negro was fed, and he was regularly
placed in the starboard-watch. I was rejoiced at this last
arrangement, as it put the fellow in a watch different from my own,
and prevented his officious efforts to do my work. Rupert, I
discovered, however, profited often by his zeal, employing the willing
black on every possible occasion. On questioning Neb, I ascertained
that he had taken the boat round to the Wallingford, and had made use
of a dollar or two I had given him at parting, to board in a house
suitable to his colour, until the ship was ready for sea, when he got
on board, and stowed himself among the water-casks, as mentioned.

Neb's apparition soon ceased to be a subject of discourse, and his
zeal quickly made him a general favourite. Hardy, strong, resolute,
and accustomed to labour, he was early of great use in all the heavy
drags; and aloft, even, though less quick than a white would have
been, he got to be serviceable and reasonably expert. My own
progress—and I say it without vanity, but simply because it was
true—was the subject of general remark. One week made me familiar
with the running gear; and, by that time, I could tell a rope by its
size, the manner in which it led, and the place where it was belayed,
in the darkest night, as well as the oldest seaman on board. It is
true, my model-ship had prepared the way for much of this expertness;
but, free from all seasickness, of which I never had a moment in my
life, I set about learning these things in good earnest, and was fully
rewarded for my pains. I passed the weather-earing of the
mizen-top-sail when we had been out a fortnight, and went to those of
the fore and main before we crossed the line. The mate put me forward
on all occasions, giving me much instruction in private; and the
captain neglected no opportunity of giving me useful hints, or
practical ideas. I asked, and was allowed to take my regular trick at
the wheel, before we got into the latitude of St. Helena; and from
that time did my full share of seaman's duly on board, the nicer work
of knotting, splicing, &c., excepted. These last required a little
more time; but I am satisfied that, in all things but judgment, a
clever lad, who has a taste for the business, can make himself a very
useful and respectable mariner in six months of active service.

China voyages seldom produce much incident. If the moment of sailing
has been judiciously timed, the ship has fair winds much of the way,
and generally moderate weather. To be sure, there are points on the
long road that usually give one a taste of what the seas sometimes
are; but, on the whole, a Canton voyage, though a long one, cannot be
called a rough one. As a matter of course, we had gales, and squalls,
and the usual vicissitudes of the ocean, to contend with, though our
voyage to Canton might have been called quiet, rather than the
reverse. We were four months under our canvass, and, when we anchored
in the river, the clewing up of our sails, and getting from beneath
their shadows, resembled the rising of a curtain on some novel scenic
representation. John Chinaman, however, has been so often described,
particularly of late, that I shall not dwell on his peculiarities.
Sailors, as a class, are very philosophical, so far as the
peculiarities and habits of strangers are concerned, appearing to
think it beneath the dignity of those who visit all lands, to betray
wonder at the novelties of any. It so happened that no man on board
the John, the officers, steward and cook excepted, had ever doubled
the Cape of Good Hope before this voyage; and yet our crew regarded
the shorn polls, slanting eyes, long queues, clumsy dresses, high
cheek-bones, and lumbering shoes, of the people they now saw for the
first time, with just as much indifference as they would have
encountered a new fashion at home. Most of them, indeed, had seen, or
fancied they had seen, much stranger sights in the different countries
they had visited; it being a standing rule, with Jack to compress
everything that is wonderful into the "last voyage"—that in which he
is engaged for the present time being usually set down as
common-place, and unworthy of particular comment. On this principle,
my
Canton excursion
ought
to be full of marvels, as it
was the progenitor of all that I subsequently saw and experienced as a
sailor. Truth compels me to confess, notwithstanding, that it was one
of the least wonderful of all the voyages I ever made, until near its
close.

We lay some months in the river, getting cargo, receiving teas,
nankins, silks and other articles, as our supercargo could lay hands
on them. In all this time, we saw just as much of the Chinese as it is
usual for strangers to see, and not a jot more. I was much up at the
factories, with the captain, having charge of his boat; and, as for
Rupert, he passed most of his working-hours either busy with the
supercargo ashore, or writing in the cabin. I got a good insight,
however, into the uses of the serving-mallet, the fid, marlinspike and
winch, and did something with the needle and palm. Marble was very
good to me, in spite of his nor-west face, and never let slip an
occasion to give a useful hint. I believe my exertions on the
outward-bound passage fully equalled expectations, and the officers
had a species of pride in helping to make Captain Wallingford's son
worthy of his honourable descent. I had taken occasion to let it be
known that Rupert's great-grandfather had been a man-of-war captain;
but the suggestion was met by a flat, refusal to believe it from
Mr. Kite, the second-mate, though Mr. Marble remarked it
might
be so, as I admitted that both his father and grandfather had been, or
were, in the Church. My friend seemed fated to achieve nothing but the
glory of a "barber's clerk."

Our hatches were got on and battened down, and we sailed for home
early in the spring of 1798. The ship had a good run across the China
Sea, and reached the Indies in rather a short passage. We had cleared
all the islands, and were fairly in the Indian Ocean, when an
adventure occurred, which was the first really worthy of being related
that we met in the whole voyage. I shall give it, in as few words as
possible.

We had cleared the Straits of Sunda early in the morning, and had made
a pretty fair run in the course of the day, though most of the time in
thick weather. Just as the sun set, however, the horizon became clear,
and we got a sight of two small sail seemingly heading in towards the
coast of Sumatra, proas by their rig and dimensions. They were so
distant, and were so evidently steering for the land, that no one gave
them much thought, or bestowed on them any particular attention. Proas
in that quarter were usually distrusted by ships, it is true; but the
sea is full of them, and far more are innocent than are guilty of any
acts of violence. Then it became dark soon after these craft were
seen, and night shut them in. An hour after the sun had set, the wind
fell to a light air, that just kept steerage-way on the ship.
Fortunately, the John was not only fast, but she minded her helm, as a
light-footed girl turns in a lively dance. I never was in a
better-steering ship, most especially in moderate weather.

Mr. Marble had the middle watch that night, and of course I was on
deck from midnight until four in the morning. It proved misty most of
the watch, and for quite an hour we had a light drizzling rain. The
ship, the whole time, was close-hauled, carrying royals. As everybody
seemed to have made up his mind to a quiet night, one without any
reefing or furling, most of the watch were sleeping about the decks,
or wherever they could get good quarters, and be least in the way. I
do not know what kept me awake, for lads of my age are apt to get all
the sleep they can; but I believe I was thinking of Clawbonny, and
Grace, and Lucy; for the latter, excellent girl as she was, often
crossed my mind in those days of youth and comparative innocence.
Awake I was, and walking in the weather-gangway, in a sailor's
trot. Mr. Marble, he I do believe was fairly snoozing on the
hen-coops, being, like the sails, as one might say, barely "asleep."
At that moment I heard a noise, one familiar to seamen; that of an oar
falling in a boat. So completely was my mind bent on other and distant
scenes, that at first I felt no surprise, as if we were in a harbour
surrounded by craft of various sizes, coming and going at all
hours. But a second thought destroyed this illusion, and I looked
eagerly about me. Directly on our weather-bow, distant perhaps a
cable's length, I saw a small sail, and I could distinguish it
sufficiently well to perceive it was a proa. I sang out "Sail ho! and
close aboard!"

Mr. Marble was on his feet in an instant. He afterwards told me that
when he opened his eyes, for he admitted this much to me in
confidence, they fell directly on the stranger. He was too much of a
seaman to require a second look, in order to ascertain what was to be
done. "Keep the ship away—keep her broad off!" he called out to the
man at the wheel. "Lay the yards square—call all hands, one of you
—Captain Robbins, Mr. Kite, bear a hand up; the bloody proas are
aboard us!" The last part of this call was uttered in a loud voice,
with the speaker's head down the companion-way. It was heard plainly
enough below, but scarcely at all on deck.

In the mean time, everybody was in motion. It is amazing how soon
sailors are wide awake when there is really anything to do! It
appeared to me that all our people mustered on deck in less than a
minute, most of them with nothing on but their shirts and
trowsers. The ship was nearly before the wind, by the time I heard the
captain's voice; and then Mr. Kite came bustling in among us forward,
ordering most of the men to lay aft to the braces, remaining himself
on the forecastle, and keeping me with him to let go the sheets. On
the forecastle, the strange sail was no longer visible, being now
abaft the beam; but I could hear Mr. Marble swearing there were two of
them, and that they must be the very chaps we had seen to leeward, and
standing in for the land, at sunset. I also heard the captain calling
out to the steward to bring him a powder-horn. Immediately after,
orders were given to let fly all our sheets forward, and then I
perceived that they were waring ship. Nothing saved us but the prompt
order of Mr. Marble to keep the ship away, by which means, instead of
moving towards the proas, we instantly began to move from
them. Although they went three feet to our two, this gave us a moment
of breathing time.