Part 19 (1/2)
In about an hour afterwards the captain returned, looking very red and hot. He called the first lieutenant aside from the rest of the officers, who were on deck to receive him, and told him that we were to start for Plymouth the next morning; and the admiral had told him confidentially, that we were to proceed to the West Indies with a convoy, which was then collecting. He appeared to be very much alarmed at the idea of going to make a feast for the land crabs; and certainly his gross habit of body rendered him very unfit for the climate. This news was soon spread through the s.h.i.+p, and there was of course no little bustle and preparation. The doctor, who had refused to dine in the cabin upon plea of being unwell, sent up to say, that he felt himself so much better, that he should have great pleasure in attending the summons, and he joined the first lieutenant, O'Brien, and me, as we walked in. We sat down to table; the covers were removed, and, as the mids.h.i.+pmen prophesied, there was plenty of pork--mock-turtle soup, made out of a pig's head--a boiled leg of pork and peas-pudding--a roast spare-rib with the crackling on--sausages and potatoes, and pig's pett.i.toes. I cannot say that I disliked my dinner, and I ate very heartily; but a roast sucking-pig came on as a second course, which rather surprised me: but what surprised me more, was the quant.i.ty devoured by Mrs To. She handed her plate from the boiled pork to the roast, asked for some pett.i.toes, tried the sausages, and finished with a whole plateful of sucking-pig and stuffing. We had an apple-pie at the end, but as we had already eaten apple sauce with the roast pork, we did not care for it. The doctor, who abominated pork, ate pretty well, and was excessively attentive to Mrs To.
”Will you not take a piece of the roast pig, doctor?” said the captain.
”Why really, Captain To, as we are bound, by all reports, to a station where we must not venture upon pork, I think I will not refuse to take a piece, for I am very fond of it.”
”How do you mean?” inquired the captain and his lady, both in a breath.
”Perhaps I may be wrongly informed,” replied the doctor; ”but I have heard that we were ordered to the West Indies; now, if so, every one knows, that although you may eat salt pork there occasionally without danger, in all tropical climates, and especially the West Indies, two or three days' living upon this meat will immediately produce dysentery, which is always fatal in that climate.”
”Indeed!” exclaimed the captain.
”You don't say so?” rejoined the lady.
”I do indeed: and have always avoided the West Indies for that very, reason--I am so fond of pork.”
The doctor then proceeded to give nearly one hundred instances of messmates and s.h.i.+pmen who had been attacked with dysentery, from the eating of fresh pork in the West Indies; and O'Brien, perceiving the doctor's drift, joined him, telling some most astonis.h.i.+ng accounts of the dreadful effects of pork in a hot country. I think he said, that when the French were blockaded, previous to the surrender of Martinique, that having nothing but pigs to eat, thirteen hundred out of seventeen hundred soldiers and officers died in the course of three weeks, and the others were so reduced by disease, that they were obliged to capitulate.
The doctor then changed the subject, and talked about the yellow fever, and other diseases of the climate; so that by his account, the West India islands were but hospitals to die in. Those most likely to be attacked were men in full strong health. The spare men stood a better chance. This conversation was carried on until it was time to leave-- Mrs To at last quite silent, and the captain gulping down his wine with a sigh. When we rose from table, Mrs To did not ask us, as usual, to stay and hear a little music; she was, like her piano, not a little out of tune.
”By the powers, doctor, you did that nately,” said O'Brien, as we left the cabin.
”O'Brien,” said the doctor, ”oblige me, and you, Mr Simple, oblige me also, by not saying a word in the s.h.i.+p about what I have said; if it once gets wind, I shall have done no good; but if you both hold your tongues for a short time, I think I may promise you to get rid of Captain To, his wife, and his pigs.” We perceived the justice of his observation, and promised secrecy. The next day the s.h.i.+p sailed for Plymouth, and Mrs To sent for the doctor, not being very well. The doctor prescribed for her, and I believe, on my conscience, made her worse on purpose. The illness of his wife, and his own fears, brought Captain To more than usual in contact with the doctor, of whom he frequently asked his candid opinion, as to his own chance in a hot country.
”Captain To,” said the doctor, ”I never would have given my opinion, if you had not asked it, for I am aware, that, as an officer, you would never flinch from your duty, to whatever quarter of the globe you may be ordered; but as you have asked the question, I must say, with your full habit of body, I think you would not stand a chance of living for more than two months. At the same time, sir, I may be mistaken; but at all events, I must point out that Mrs To is of a very bilious habit, and I trust you will not do such an injustice to an amiable women, as to permit her to accompany you.”
”Thanky, doctor, I am much obliged to you,” replied the captain, turning round and going down the ladder to his cabin. We were then beating down the Channel; for, although we ran through the Needles with a fair wind, it fell calm, and s.h.i.+fted to the westward, when we were abreast of Portland. The next day the captain gave an order for a very fine pig to be killed, for he was out of provisions. Mrs To still kept her bed, and he therefore directed that a part should be salted, as he could have no company. I was in the mids.h.i.+pmen's berth, when some of them proposed that we should get possession of the pig; and the plan they agreed upon was as follows:--they were to go to the pen that night, and with a needle stuck in a piece of wood, to p.r.i.c.k the pig all over, and then rub gunpowder into the parts wounded. This was done, and although the butcher was up a dozen times during the night to ascertain what made the pigs so uneasy, the mids.h.i.+pmen pa.s.sed the needle from watch to watch, until the pig was well tattooed in all parts. In the morning watch it was killed, and when it had been scalded in the tub, and the hair taken off, it appeared covered with blue spots. The mids.h.i.+pman of the morning watch, who was on the main-deck, took care to point out to the butcher, that the pork was _measly_, to which the man unwilling a.s.sented, stating, at the same time, that he could not imagine how it could be, for a finer pig he had never put a knife into. The circ.u.mstance was reported to the captain, who was much astonished. The doctor came in to visit Mrs To, and the captain requested the doctor to examine the pig, and give his opinion. Although this was not the doctor's province, yet, as he had great reason for keeping intimate with the captain, he immediately consented. Going forward, he met me, and I told him the secret. ”That will do,” replied he; ”it all tends to what we wish.”
The doctor returned to the captain, and said that ”there was no doubt but that the pig was measly, which was a complaint very frequent on board s.h.i.+ps, particularly in hot climates, where all pork became _measly_--one great reason for its there proving so unwholesome.” The captain sent for the first lieutenant, and, with a deep sigh, ordered him to throw the pig overboard; but the first lieutenant, who knew what had been done from O'Brien, ordered the _master's mate_ to throw it overboard; the master's mate, touching his hat said, ”Ay, ay, sir,” and took it down into the berth, where we cut it up, salted one half, and the other we finished before we arrived at Plymouth, which was six days from the time we left Portsmouth. On our arrival, we found part of the convoy lying there, but no orders for us; and, to my great delight, on the following day the _Diomede_ arrived, from a cruise off the Western Islands. I obtained permission to go on board with O'Brien, and we once more greeted our messmates. Mr Falcon, the first lieutenant, went down to Captain Savage, to say we were on board, and he requested us to come into the cabin. He greeted us warmly, and gave us great credit for the manner in which we had effected our escape. When we left the cabin, I found Mr Chucks, the boatswain, waiting outside.
”My dear Mr Simple, extend your flapper to me, for I'm delighted to see you. I long to have a long talk with you.”
”And I should like it also, Mr Chucks, but I am afraid we have not time; I dine with Captain Savage to-day, and it only wants an hour of dinner-time.”
”Well, Mr Simple, I've been looking at your frigate, and she's a beauty--much larger than the _Diomede_.”
”And she behaves quite as well,” replied I. ”I think we are two hundred tons larger. You've no idea of her size until you are on her decks.”
”I should like to be boatswain of her, Mr Simple: that is, with Captain Savage, for I will not part with him.” I had some more conversation with Mr Chucks, but I was obliged to attend to others, who interrupted us. We had a very pleasant dinner with our old captain, to whom we gave a history of our adventures, and then we returned on board.
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.
WE GET RID OF THE PIGS AND PIANOFORTE--THE LAST BOAT ON Sh.o.r.e BEFORE SAILING--THE FIRST LIEUTENANT TOO HASTY, AND THE CONSEQUENCES TO ME.
We waited three days, at the expiration of which, we heard that Captain To was about to exchange with Captain Savage. We could not believe such good news to be true, and we could not ascertain the truth of the report, as the captain had gone on sh.o.r.e with Mrs To, who recovered fast after she was out of our doctor's hands; so fast, indeed, that a week afterwards, on questioning the steward, upon his return on board, how Mrs To was, he replied, ”O charming well again, sir, she has eaten a whole pig since she left the s.h.i.+p.” But the report was true; Captain To, afraid to go to the West Indies, had effected an exchange with Captain Savage. Captain Savage was permitted, as was the custom of the service, to bring his first lieutenant, his boatswain, and his barge's crew with him. He joined a day or two before we sailed, and never was there more joy on board: the only people miserable were the first lieutenant, and those belonging to the _Sanglier_, who were obliged to follow Captain To; who, with his wife, his pigs, and her piano, were all got rid of in the course of one forenoon.
I have already described pay-day on board of a man-of-war, but I think, that the two days before sailing are even more unpleasant; although, generally speaking, all our money being spent, we are not sorry when we once are fairly out of harbour, and find ourselves in _blue water_. The men never work well on those days: they are thinking of their wives and sweethearts, of the pleasure they had when at liberty on sh.o.r.e, where they might get drunk without punishment; and many of them are either half drunk at the time, or suffering from the effects of previous intoxication. The s.h.i.+p is in disorder, and crowded with the variety of stock and spare stores which are obliged to be taken on board in a hurry, and have not yet been properly secured in their places. The first lieutenant is cross, the officers are grave, and the poor mids.h.i.+pmen with all their own little comforts to attend to, are hara.s.sed and drive about like posthorses. ”Mr Simple,” inquired the first lieutenant, ”where do you come from?”
”From the gun wharf, sir, with the gunner's spare blocks, and breechings.”
”Very well--send the marines aft to clear the boat, and pipe away the first cutter. Mr Simple, jump into the first cutter, and go to Mount Wise for the officers. Be careful that none of your men leave the boat.
Come, be smart.”