Part 5 (1/2)
The captain, taking the white yoke-lines, gave the order to shove off; the boat's head swung away from the side of the frigate; the oars fell with their blades flat on the water; and we began to glide rapidly up the harbour, propelled by the st.u.r.dy arms of the crew. I felt very proud as I looked at the captain in his c.o.c.ked hat and laced coat, and at the mids.h.i.+pman who accompanied him, in a bran new uniform, though, to be sure, there wasn't much of him to look at, for he was a mere mite of a fellow.
Had I not discovered that my own costume was not according to rule, I should have considered it a much more elegant one than his. After some time, the captain observing, I fancy, that I looked rather dull, having no one to talk to, said something to the mids.h.i.+pman, who immediately came and sat by me.
”Well, Paddy, how do you like coming to sea?” he asked in a good-natured tone.
”I've not yet formed an opinion,” I answered.
”True, my boy; Cork harbour is not the Atlantic,” he remarked. ”We may chance to see the waves running mountains high when we get there, and all the things tumbling about like shuttlec.o.c.ks.”
”I'll be content to wait until I see that same to form an opinion,” I answered. ”As I've come to sea, I shall be glad to witness whatever takes place there.”
”You're not to be caught, I perceive,” he said. ”Well, Paddy, and how do you like your name?”
”Faith, I'm grateful to you and my other messmates for giving it,” I answered. ”I'm not ashamed of the name, and I hope to have the opportunity of making it known far and wide some day or other; and now may I ask you what's your name, for I haven't had the pleasure of hearing it.”
”Thomas Pim,” he answered.
”Come, that's short enough, anyhow,” I observed.
”Yes; but when I first came aboard, the mess declared it was too long, so they cut off the 'h' and the 'as' and 'm' and called me Tom Pi; but even then they were not content, for they further docked it of its fair proportions, and decided that I was to be named Topi, though generally I'm called simply Pi.”
”Do you mind it?” I asked.
”Not a bit,” he answered. ”It suits my size, I confess; for, to tell you the truth, I'm older than I look, and have been three years at sea.”
”I thought you had only just joined,” I remarked, for my companion was, as I have just said, a very little fellow, scarcely reaching up to my shoulder. On examining his countenance more minutely, I observed that it had a somewhat old look.
”Though I'm little I'm good, and not ashamed of my size or my name either,” he said. ”When bigger men are knocked over, I've a chance of escaping. I can stow myself away where others can't get in their legs; and when I go aloft or take a run on sh.o.r.e, I've less weight to carry,-- so has the steed I ride. When I go with others to hire horses, I generally manage to get the best from the stable-keeper.”
”Yes, I see that you have many advantages over bigger fellows,” I said.
”I'm perfectly contented with myself now I've found that out, but I confess that at first I didn't like being laughed at and having remarks made about my name and my size. I have grown slightly since then, and no one observes now that I'm an especially little fellow.”
Tom spoke for some time on the same subject.
”I say, Paddy Finn, I hope you and I will be friends,” he continued.
”I've heard that you Irishmen are frequently quarrelsome, but I hope you won't quarrel with me, or, for your own sake, with any of the rest of the mess. You'll gain nothing by it, as they would all turn against you to put you down.”
”No fear of that,” I replied, ”always provided that they say nothing insulting of Ireland, or of my family or friends, or of the opinions I may hold, or take liberties which I don't like, or do anything which I consider unbecoming gentlemen.”
”You leave a pretty wide door open,” remarked Tom; ”but, as I said before, if you don't keep the peace it will be the worse for you.”
We were all this time proceeding at a rapid rate up the stream, between its wooded and picturesque banks. On arriving at Cork, the captain wished the major good-bye, saying that I must be on board again within three days, which would allow me ample time to get a proper uniform made.
I asked Tom Pim what he was going to do with himself, and proposed that, after I had been measured by the tailor, we should take a stroll together.
”Do you think the captain brought me up here for my pleasure?” he said.
”I have to stay by the boat while he's on sh.o.r.e, to see that the men don't run away. Why, if I didn't keep my eye on them, they'd be off like shots, and drunk as fiddlers by the time the captain came back.”
”I'm sorry you can't come,” I said. ”By the bye, talking of fiddlers, will you mind taking a fiddle on board to the boy who came with me,-- Larry Harrigan? I promised to send it to him, though I didn't expect so soon to have the opportunity.”