Part 21 (1/2)

”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.