Dick Cheveley Part 21

"You know I never miss my aim, you scoundrels. The first man that utters a word on the subject I'll shoot through the head. The food's good enough for better men than you, so be off forward, and let this be the last time I hear any complaint. If not, look out for squalls."

The men stood irresolute, and no one liked to run the chance of having a pistol-bullet sent through his head.

"Are you going, you villains?" thundered the captain, pointing his pistol at the boatswain.

He used a good many other stronger expletives, which need not be repeated.

The boatswain was a bold fellow, but his courage gave way, and he stepped back. The others, overawed by the determined manner of the captain, imitated the example of their leader, knowing that the pistol might be turned towards any one who stood his ground, and together they retreated forward, tumbling over each other in their endeavour to put as wide a distance as possible between themselves and their now furious commander.

For my part, I felt a greater amount of respect for him than I had ever done before. His eye did not for a moment quail, his arm appeared as firm as iron. Had he shown the slightest hesitation, the men, in the temper they were in, would have been upon him, and he would have lost his authority.

Mark and I remained at one side of the deck, where we happened to be at the time. Tom Trivett had not come aft, having refused to take any part in the affair, whereby he gained still greater ill-will than before from his s.h.i.+pmates.

The discontent which had thus shown itself, though kept down for a time, was by no means quelled. We had to eat the food, bad as it was, though perhaps not altogether as bad as the samples exhibited to the captain.

The third mate came forward much oftener than before, and tried hard to win back the men into something like good-humour, but his efforts were unavailing.

"You see, Mr Simmons, as how we poor fellows have got to work hard, and except we gets good grub we can't do it," I heard the boatswain remark in an insinuating tone; "it's very hard lines for us to have to eat rancid pork and weevilly bread, when we knows well enough that the captain and mates has good grub in the cabin. Share and share alike, and we sha'n't complain. But we must abide by it till the s.h.i.+p gets into harbour, and then we suppose that the captain will be getting good stores aboard and will serve out fresh meat and vegetables."

"Oh! Of course he'll do that," said Mr Simmons, pleased, as he thought, at having brought the men to reason. "You know Captain Longfleet is a just man, though he's a determined one, and won't stand nonsense. Everything will go well, I hope, by-and-by."

I should have observed that our boatswain held a very different position among the crew to that occupied by a warrant officer on board a man-of-war. He was merely one of the men, and was so called from certain duties he had to perform, and was a sort of link between the officers and the crew.

We were now in the tropics. When there was a breeze the heat was supportable enough, but when it fell calm we could scarcely bear our clothes on, and went about in s.h.i.+rts and trousers, with bare feet, and were glad to have the opportunity of getting into the shade. The pitch boiled up out of the seams, and old Growles declared that he could cook a beefsteak on the capstan-head, if he only had a beefsteak to cook.

The heat did not improve the temper of the men, and the s.h.i.+p became to Mark and me a regular h.e.l.l afloat. Matters were almost as bad with Tom Trivett, but he could hold his own better than we could.

One day Mark came to me.

"I say, d.i.c.k," he exclaimed--a common fate had made us equal, and he had long ago dropped the master--"I've been hearing that to-morrow we're to cross the line. I wonder what sort of place we shall get into on t'other side; as far as I can make out, it's a kind of bar, and those who go over it for the first time have to pay toll to old Daddy Neptune, who is coming aboard to collect his dues."

I was surprised that Mark had never heard of the line, and so I tried to explain to him what it was. As to Neptune coming on board, I knew that that was all nonsense, and so I told him.

During that evening and the next morning some of the men were busily engaged in their berth, into which they allowed no one but themselves to enter.

Soon after noon the captain, having taken his observations, gave notice that we were about to cross the line. Mark and I had been sent aft, when we heard a voice hail as if from under the bows.

"What s.h.i.+p is that?"

"The 'Emu,'" answered the captain, who with the officers was standing on the p.o.o.p.

"Where did you come from, and for what port are you bound?" asked the voice.

"From Liverpool, and we're bound to Rio and round Cape Horn," answered the captain.

"All right, Captain Longfleet; with your leave my wife and I will pay you a visit and bring some of our children and attendants, and if you have any youngsters who have not crossed the line before, we shall have a word to say to them."

"You're welcome, Father Neptune, for I suppose no one else would be desirous of giving me a call out in these seas."

It was amusing to observe Mark's look of astonishment when immediately afterwards a party of grotesque figures appeared clambering over the bows. The first was an old fellow with a long white beard, a gold paper crown on his head, and a sceptre in his hand, and dressed in a flowing robe painted all over with curious devices. With him came a huge woman, also wearing a crown and garments of many colours, a necklace of huge beads and a couple of clasp-knives hanging down from either side of her face to serve as ear-rings; another figure followed them equally curiously dressed, with a basin under one arm, a pair of sailmaker's shears hanging round his neck, and a piece of rusty hoop shaped like a razor in his hand. A fourth person, tall and gaunt, was seen in a c.o.c.ked-hat, a thick cane in one hand, and a box of pills of large proportions in the other. Following them came a party of monsters in green dresses with long tails, and heads covered by oak.u.m wigs.

The captain, wis.h.i.+ng to humour the men, shouted out--

"Glad to see your majesty on board my s.h.i.+p. You're welcome to come aft and look out for any of those whose acquaintance you have not before made."

On this the whole gang came tramping aft. Mark and I saw that their eyes were fixed upon us. We had no place to fly to but up the mizen rigging. We made the attempt, but were quickly caught by some of the monsters, who managed to climb up in spite of their tails.

The barber had in the meantime placed a huge tub on the deck, and a couple of small casks. On these we were compelled to sit down, when he immediately with a paint-brush began to daub our faces over with the contents of a bucket of grease. He then drew out his razor, and sc.r.a.ped us in the most cruel fas.h.i.+on, taking off the skin at every stroke.

The doctor in the meanwhile, with mock solemnity, felt our pulses, and then observing that we were terribly sick, crammed one of the boluses out of his box into our mouths, and forced it down with his tarry finger.

"A bath would do them good," he growled out.

We were seized, and soused head over heels in a tub till we were well-nigh drowned. In vain we struggled and shrieked. Every time we opened our mouths the barber shoved his brush into them, and the monsters then ducked our heads under water to wash them out, as they said.

More dead than alive we were at last allowed to go, but had scarcely strength left to crawl away.

Tom Trivett was next dragged aft, though he declared that he had often crossed the line. Daddy Neptune refused, however, to believe him, protesting that he had never seen his face in those parts before.

Though he fought bravely he was overpowered, and was even worse treated than we had been, the monsters, aided by the doctor and barber and Mrs Neptune, holding his arms and legs.

The captain and officers all the time in no way interfered, but seemed to enjoy the cruel sport. They wished, indeed, to allow the sailors to take their full fling according to their barbarous fancies.

Mark and I, seeing how our friend was treated, attempted to go to his rescue, but we had better have remained quiet, both for his sake and our own, for we were cuffed and kicked even worse than before, and with difficulty again made our escape.

A double allowance of grog was served out, which made the men even more savage than before; and when they were tired of ill-treating us they took to rough play among themselves. Daddy Neptune's crown was torn off, his sceptre broken in two, his wife was despoiled of her finery; the doctor's hat and spectacles shared the same fate; he was made to swallow his own pills, and the barber had his brush nearly shoved down his throat.

They would have come to serious blows had not the captain ordered them to knock off and return to their duty. The mates, with boats'

stretchers in their hands, had to rush in among them before they could be induced to desist. Not until a breeze sprang up, and they were ordered aloft to make sail, were they brought into anything like order.

For days afterwards Mark and I limped about the deck, with aching heads and sore faces, and Tom Trivett could with difficulty get through his duty.

This relaxation of discipline had no good effect on the men. They still grumbled and growled as much as ever at every meal over the food served out to them.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

Land ho!--Cape Frio--The Sugar-loaf Mountain--The Castle of Santa Cruz--The harbour of Rio de Janeiro--A taste of fruit--We receive some pa.s.sengers--A gale springs up--Man overboard--Poor Tom Trivett-- Captain Longfleet's inhumanity--Mark and I are treated worse--I overhear a conversation--A proposed mutiny--The plot--Differences will arise--Who's to be captain?--I determine to reveal the plot--I consult with Mark--Our determination--Southern lat.i.tudes--The Southern Cross-- The Falkland Islands--Mark escapes, but I am retaken--Highland blood-- Mark's probable fate--A battle with an albatross.

"Land ho!" was shouted from the masthead. In a short time we came off Cape Frio, a high, barren, almost insular, promontory, which runs into the Atlantic to the eastward of Rio de Janeiro. We stood on, the land appearing to be of a great height behind the beach, till we came in sight of the Sugar-loaf Mountain; the light land wind preventing us from entering the harbour, we had to stand off and on during the night.

"Well, I've made up my mind to get a precious good tuck out," I heard old Growles say to the boatswain; "I suppose the skipper will order a good store of provisions aboard after the talk we had with him the other day."

"Not so sure of that, old s.h.i.+p," said the boatswain; "but if he doesn't, he'd better look out for squalls, as he said to us."

The other men were rejoicing in the expectation of a hearty meal and wholesome food, and so indeed were Mark and I; for we were not better off than the rest, except that Mark occasionally got some pickings at the captain's table, and now and then, when he could manage it, brought me some.

Next morning a sea-breeze setting in, we stood towards the harbour, and as the fog lifted, several small islands near its mouth came into sight, and the Sugar-loaf Mountain loomed up high on the left, while on the right we saw the battlements of the Castle of Santa Cruz, which stands at the foot of the mountain. As we pa.s.sed under the guns of the fortress, we were hailed by a stentorian voice, which came out from among the stone-built walls, but the speaker was not seen.