Afloat and Ashore Part 23

"I was about to send for you, Captain Wallingford," said Emily, the instant she saw me, and confirming my conceited conjectures, by blus.h.i.+ng deeper than I had seen her before, in the whole of that blus.h.i.+ng, sensitive, and enjoyable day; "about to send for you, to take charge of your treasure."

"And could you not a.s.sume that much responsibility, for a single night?"

"'T would be too great--it is an honour reserved for Mrs. Wallingford, you know."

This was smilingly said, I fancied sweetly and kindly, and yet it was said not altogether without something that approached to an _equivoque_; a sort of manner that the deep, natural feeling of Grace, and needle-like truth of Lucy had rendered unpleasant to me. I took the necklace, shook the young lady's hand for good-night--we always did that, on meeting and parting for the day--paid my compliments to the father, and withdrew.

I was dressing next morning, when Neb came bolting into my state-room, with his Clawbonny freedom of manner, his eyes looking lobsters, and _his_ necklace of pearl, glittering between a pair of lips that might have furnished a cannibal two famous steaks. As soon as fairly established in command, I had brought the fellow aft, berthing him in the steerage, in order to have the benefit of more of his personal service than I could obtain while he was exclusively a foremast Jack.

Still, he kept his watch; for it would have been cruel to deprive, him of that pleasure.

"Oh! Ma.s.ser Mile!" exclaimed the black, as soon as he could speak; "'e boat!--'e boat!"

"What of the boat?--Is any one overboard?"

"'E whale-boat, sir!--Poor Captain Marble--'e whale-boat, sir!"

"I understand you, Neb--go on deck, and desire the officer of the watch to heave-to the s.h.i.+p, as soon as it is proper; I will come up, the instant I can."

Here, then, I thought, Providence has brought us on the track of the unfortunate whale-boat; and we shall doubtless see the mutilated remains of some of our old companions--poor Marble, doubtless, from what Neb said--well, the will of G.o.d be done. I was soon dressed; and, as I went up the cabin-ladder, the movement on deck denoted the nature of the excitement that now prevailed generally, in the s.h.i.+p. Just as I reached the quarter-deck, the main-yard swung round, and the sails were brought aback. The whole crew was in commotion, and it was some little time before I could learn the cause.

The morning was misty, and the view round the s.h.i.+p, until within a few minutes, had been confined to a circle of less than a mile in diameter.

As the sun rose, however, the mist broke away gradually, and then the watch caught a view of the whale-boat mentioned by Neb. Instead of being floating about on the ocean, with the remains of its unfortunate crew lying in its bottom, as I had expected to see it, when I caught the first glimpse of the unlooked-for object, it was not a mile distant, pulling briskly for us, and containing not only a full, but a strong and an animated crew.

Just at that instant, some one cried out "Sail-ho!" and sure enough, a s.h.i.+p was seen some four or five miles to leeward, a whaler evidently, turning to windward, under easy canva.s.s, in order to rejoin her boat, from which she had lately been separated by the night and the fog.

This, then, was no more than a whaler and her boat; and, on sweeping the horizon with a gla.s.s, Talcott soon discovered, a mile to windward of the boat, a dead whale, with another boat lying by it, in waiting for the approach of the s.h.i.+p, which promised to fetch as far to windward, on its next tack.

"They desire to speak us, I suppose, Mr. Talcott," I remarked. "The s.h.i.+p is probably an American; it is likely the captain is in the boat, and he wishes to send letters or messages home."

A shout came from Talcott, at the next instant--then he cried out--

"Three cheers, my lads; I see Captain Marble in that boat, as plainly as I see the boat itself!"

The cheers that followed, were a spontaneous burst of joy. They reached the approaching boat, and gave its inmate an earnest of his reception.

In three more minutes. Marble was on the deck of his old s.h.i.+p. For myself, I was unable to speak; nor was poor Marble much better off though more prepared for the interview.

"I knew you, Miles; I knew you, and the b.l.o.o.d.y 'Pretty Poll,'" he at last got out, the tears running down his cheeks like water, "the moment the fog lifted, and gave me a fair glimpse. They've got her--yes--d----n her--G.o.d bless her, I mean--they've got her, and the b.l.o.o.d.y Frenchmen will not go home with _that_ feather in their caps. Well, it couldn't have happened to a cleverer fellow; and I'm just as happy as if I had done it myself!"

There he stood, sound, safe, and st.u.r.dy as ever; and the four Sandwich Islanders were all in the boat, just as well as if they had never quitted the s.h.i.+p. Every man of the crew had to shake hands with Marble, congratulations were to be exchanged, and a turbulent quarter of an hour pa.s.sed, before it was possible to get a coherent account from the man of what had befallen him. As soon as practicable, however, he motioned for silence, and told his own story aloud, for the benefit of all hands.

"You know how I left you, men," Marble commenced, swabbing his eyes and cheeks, and struggling to speak with something like an appearance of composure, "and the errand on which I went. The last I saw of you was about half an hour before the gust broke. At that time I was so near the s.h.i.+p, as to make out she was a whaler; and, nothing doubting of being in sight of you in the morning, I thought it safer to pull alongside of _her_, than to try to hunt for the schooner in the dark. I found an old s.h.i.+pmate in the whaler's captain, who was looking for a boat that had struck adrift the night before; and both parties were pleased. There was not much time for compliments, however, as you all know. The s.h.i.+p bore up to speak you, and then she bore up, again and again, on account of the squalls. While Mr. Wallingford was probably hugging the wind in order to find _me_, we were running off to save our spars; and next morning we could see nothing of you. How else we missed each other, is more than I can say; for I've no idee you went off and left me out here, in the middle of the ocean--"

"We cruised for you, within five miles of the spot, for a whole day!" I exclaimed, eagerly.

"No, no--Captain Marble," the men put in, in a body, "we did all that men could do, to find you."

"I know it! I could swear to it, without a word from one of you. Well, that's the whole story. We could not find you, and I stuck by the s.h.i.+p as a matter of course, as there was no choice between that and jumping overboard; and here has the Lord brought us together again, though we are every inch of five hundred miles from the place where we parted."

I then took Marble below, and related to him all that had occurred since the separation. He listened with the deepest interest, manifesting the strongest sympathy in our success. Nothing but expressions of gratification escaped him, until I remarked, as I concluded my account--

"And here is the old s.h.i.+p for you, sir, just as we lost her; and glad am I to see her once more in so good hands."

"Who put that b.l.o.o.d.y p.o.o.p on her, you or the Frenchman, Miles?"

"The Frenchman. Now it is peace, however, it is no great matter; and the cabin is very convenient for the Major and his daughter."

"It's just like 'em! Spoiling the neatest quarter-deck on the ocean, with a b.l.o.o.d.y supernumerary cabin!"

"Well, sir, as you are master now, you can have it all cut away again, if you think proper."

"I! I cut away anything! I take the command of this s.h.i.+p from the man who has so fairly won it! If I do, may I be d----d!"

"Captain Marble! You astonish me by this language, sir; but it is nothing more than a momentary feeling, of which your own good sense--nay, even your duty to the owners--will cause you to get rid."

"You never were more mistaken in your life, Master Miles Wallingford,"

answered Marble, solemnly. "I thought of all this the moment I recognised the s.h.i.+p, and that was as soon as I saw her; and my mind was made up from that instant. I cannot be so mean as to come in at the seventh hour, and profit by your courage and skill. Besides, I have no legal right to command here. The s.h.i.+p was more than twenty-four hours in the enemy's hands, and she comes under the usual laws of recapture and salvage."

"But the owners, Captain Marble--remember there is a cargo to be taken in at Canton, and there are heavy interests at stake."

"By George, that would make me so much the more firm. From the first, I have thought matters would be better in your hands than mine; you have an education, and that's a wonderful thing, Miles. As to sailing a s.h.i.+p, or stowing her, or taking care of her in heavy weather, or finding my way across an ocean, I'll turn my back on no man; but it's a different thing when it comes to figures and calculations."

"You disappoint me greatly in all this, sir; we have gone through so much together--"

"We did not go through _the recapture of this vessel_ together, boy."

"But it was _your_ thought, and, but for an accident, would have been your _deed_."

"I don't know that; I have reflected coolly in the matter, after I got over my mortification; and I think we should have been flogged, had we attacked the French at sea. Your own plan was better, and capitally carried out. Harkee, Miles, this much will I do, and not a jot more.

You are bound to the island, I take it for granted, to pick up odds and ends; and then you sail for Canton?"

"Precisely--I am glad you approve of it, as you must by seeing into it so readily."

"Well, at the island, fill up the schooner with such articles as will be of no use at Canton. Let her take in the copper, the English goods, and the like of that; and I will carry her home, while you can pursue the v'y'ge in the s.h.i.+p, as you alone have a right to do."

No arguments of mine could turn Marble from his resolution. I fought him all day on the subject, and at night he was put in command of the "Pretty Poll," with our old second-mate for his first officer.

CHAPTER XIX.

"Thou shalt seek the beach of sand, Where the water bounds the elfin land; Thou shalt watch the oozy brine Till the sturgeon leaps in the light moons.h.i.+ne."

DRAKE.

There is but a word to say of the whaler. We spoke her, of course, and parted, leaving her her boat. She pa.s.sed half an hour, close to us, and then went after her whale. When we lost sight of her, she was cutting in the fish, as coolly as if nothing had happened. As for ourselves, we made the best of our way for the island.

Nothing worth relating occurred during the remainder of the pa.s.sage.

We reached our place of destination ten days after we found Marble; and carried both the s.h.i.+p and schooner into the lagoon, without any hesitation or difficulty. Everything was found precisely as we had left it; two months having pa.s.sed as quietly as an hour. The tents were standing, the different objects lay where they had been hastily dropped at our hurried departure, and everything denoted the unchangeable character of an unbroken solitude. Time and the seasons could alone have produced any sensible alteration. Even the wreck had neither s.h.i.+fted her bed, nor suffered injury. There she lay, seemingly an immovable fixture on the rocks, and as likely to last, as any other of the durable things around her.