Part 3 (1/2)
”I'm very happy, I am sure, to see you on board andofficer, turning toI had already taken to hiht, Mr Graha all oods train from our place, addressed to the brokers in Leadenhall Street, as they directed, sir; so I hope it will arrive in tirown-up fellow like Mr Mackay addressing me as ”Mister”
”You needn't be alarly But, of course, although he ht so fro the fate ofwhen I wanted it Indeed, until that ht about it at all; for I knew father had despatched it all right fro no mishap ever occurred--at least that was our opinion at ho, frohts and the recollection of those I had left behind at the rectory flashed throughmyself about the chest, which of course I wasn't, Mr Mackay hastened, as he iined, to allay my fears
”There, there! don't bother yourself about your belongings, e ca frosters, and you'll find it stowed in that after-deckhouse below there, where you ether in a happy fae”
”Thank you, sir,” I answered, h, I confess, I wondered where the ”house” was of which he spoke, there being nothing like even a cottage on the deck, which with everything connected with it was utterly strange to hts; for even Tim Rooney noticed the puzzled expression it bore, as I looked over the poop rail in the direction Mr Mackay pointed
”I don't think, sorr, the young gintleether onderconstubbles your manin',” he remarked to the mate in that loud whisper of his which the poor man really did not intend me to hear, as I's ”Sure an' it's a reg'ler green hand the bhoy is entoirely”
”Never , if I don't mistake the cut of his jib,” retorted Mackay in a lower tone of voice than the other, although I caught the sense of what he said equally well, as he turned tome at my ease ”Have you seen any of your mess- in response to his kindly look ”I have seen no one since I came on board but you and Mr Rooney, who spoke toover there”
”Sure, sorr, all av 'erubbin' in the cuddy since dinner-toime,” interposedthethat none of the other officers were about when all should have been so busy ”Ivery man Jack av 'em, sorr, barrin' Misther Saunders; who, in coorse, as I tould you, sorr, has bin down in the hould a-sayin' to the stowage of the cargy, more power to his elbow! An', be the same token, I thinks I sayed hioin' to the cuddy too, to join the others at grub”
”Oh!” ejaculated Mr Mackay with deepround on his heel, all alert in an instant; and taking hold of a short bar of iron pointed at the end, lying near, which Ti-spike,” he proceeded to rap with it vigorously against the side of the co out at the same time so that he could be heard all over the shi+p: ”Tumble up, all you idlers and stoays and everybody! Below there--all hands on deck to warp out of dock!”
”Be jabers, that'll fetch 'e this suards to work ”Sure, yer honour, ye're the bhoy towhen ye wants to, an' no misthake at all, at all!”
”Aye, and I want theot no ti has been outside the lock-gates waiting for the last half-hour or et out in the stream Below there--look alive and tumble up before I come down after you!”
In obedience to this last hail of Mr Mackay, which had a sharp authoritative ring about it, a short, podgy little man with a fat neck and red whiskers, who, as I presently learned, was Mr Saunders, the second mate, ca hisof the hatchway, this showed that the boatswain's sur” with the others was not far wrong
Mr Saunders was followed up from below by a couple of sturdy youths, who appeared to be between eighteen and nineteen or thereabout; and, behind theain, the last of the file, slowly stepped out on to the deck a lanky boy of about the saot to h I looked older froht
”You're a nice lot of lazy fellows to leave in charge of the work of the shi+p!” cried Mr Mackay on the three presenting the the companion stairs, one after the other, as if the exertion was alreat for them, poor fellows, after their dinner! ”Here, you Matthews, look sharp and stir your stu in your sleep I want you to see to that spring forwards as we unmoor!”
The boatswain had already descended froone to his station in the fore part of the shi+p; and noith the first mate's words, all was stir and action on board
The tallest of the two youths immediately dashed off towards the bows of the shi+p with an alacrity that proved his slow movements previously had been merely put on for effect, and were not due to any constitutional weakness; for, he seemed to reach the forecastle in two bounds, and I could see hie to which he ni orders to a nuathered about the shi+p in thethe end of the fore hawser round a bollard on the jetty, near the end of the lock-gates by which entrance was gained from the adjacent river to the basin in which the vessel was lying
Tom Jerrold, the second youth--I heard him called by that name--was sent to look after another hawser passed over the bows of the shi+p on the starboard side, the end of the rope being bent round a capstan in the centre of the wharf
Then, on Mr Mackay's word of co the shi+p to the jetty were cast off; and, a gang of the dock labourersthe capstan, with their broad chests and sinewy ar so in a ”Yo, heave, ho!” the shi+p began to move--at first slowly inch by inch, and then with increased way upon her as the _vis inertiae_ of her hull was overcoates of which had been opened, or rather the caisson floated out shortly before, as the tide grew to the flood
Dearofoff the hawser that had been passed round the bollard, keeping a purchase on it and hauling in the slack as the vessel crept along out of the dock so as to prevent her ”taking charge” and slewing round broadside on at the entrance where she h deafened with the hoarse shouts and unintelligible cries that filled the air on all sides, everybody apparently having so out at once
”Bear a hand with that spring!” Mr Mackay would roar out one instant in a voice that quite eclipsed that of Ti on board ”Easy there!” screamed Matthews from his perch forwards, not to be outdone; while the boatsas singing out for a ”fender” to guard the shi+p's bows fro theout to the Sa or other to say about the ”warp fouling,” the h he seeeneral hubbub All the time, too, there was the red-headed Mr Saunders, the second mate, who had stationed hiood vieas going on both forward and aft alike, continually urging on the men at the capstan to ”heave with a will!”--just as if they wanted any further urging, when they had Mr Mackay at the chorus, ”Yo, heave, ho” to fall back upon!
It was a wonder, with so norant ears, that so adverse occurred to delay the shi+p; and those on shore being apparently as anxious to get rid of the Silver Queen as those on board were to clear her away froside the jetty, she was soon by dint of everybody's shouting and active co-operation warped out of the basin into the lock, drifting thence on the bosom of the tideway into the strea of a paddle stea for us the last hour or e volu her shrill steaside, so dexterously a line inboard, which Tiht as it circled in the air like a lasso and fell athwart the boat davits amidshi+ps