Part 3 (1/2)

As soon as their watch was over, the two mids.h.i.+pmen went below, where they found Mrs Rumbelow seated on a chest, busily employed in darning her husband's stockings, or in some other feminine occupation, as was her wont: Mrs Rumbelow's fingers were never idle.

”Glad to see you, young gentlemen,” she said, looking up from her work.

”Well, Mr Dicey, you don't look like the same person you were before we reached the Cape; by the time you get home again they won't know you.”

”If all goes well with us, perhaps not,” said w.i.l.l.y; ”but Ensign Holt has gone and killed an albatross, and perhaps, as you know, that is a very dreadful thing to do. They say that evil is sure, in consequence, to come to the s.h.i.+p.”

Mrs Rumbelow looked at the faces of her two young visitors. ”Do you think seriously that G.o.d rules the world in that fas.h.i.+on?” she asked, in a somewhat scornful tone. ”Because a foolish young gentleman happens to kill a bird, will He who counts the hairs of our heads allow a number of His creatures, who have nothing to do with the matter, to suffer in consequence. Do not let such nonsense enter your heads, my dears.”

”We wanted you, Mrs Rumbelow, to inquire of the seamen what they think about the matter,” said w.i.l.l.y.

”I will do no such thing, and that's my answer,” replied the sergeant's wife; ”harm may come to the s.h.i.+p, but it won't be because of that, or anything of the sort.”

Just then Sergeant Rumbelow himself came up: in appearance he was very unlike his wife. Whereas she was tall and thin, he was comparatively short and broad; indeed, though of the regulation height, his width made him appear shorter than he really was; while his countenance, though burnt and tanned by southern suns and exposure to all sorts of weather, was fat and rubicund. He held his sides and laughed so heartily at the account his wife gave him of the questions which had been put to her, that w.i.l.l.y and Peter wished they had not mentioned the subject.

The wind was light and the s.h.i.+p made but little way for several days.

Shafto, though only a mate, did duty as a lieutenant. w.i.l.l.y was in his watch; it was the middle watch. w.i.l.l.y enjoyed such opportunities of talking with his friend. The sea was perfectly smooth, there was only wind sufficient just to fill the sails, and the s.h.i.+p was making scarcely three knots through the water. Every now and then a splash was heard; some monster of the deep rose to the surface, and leaping forth, plunged back again into its native element. Strange sounds seemed to come from the far distance. A thick fog arose and shrouded the s.h.i.+p, so that nothing could be seen beyond the bowsprit.

”Keep a bright look-out there, forward,” sang out Shafto every now and then, in a clear ringing voice, which kept the watch forward on the alert.

”Hark!” said w.i.l.l.y; ”I fancy I heard singing.”

”You heard the creaking yards against the masts, perhaps,” said Shafto.

”No, I am certain it is singing,” exclaimed w.i.l.l.y; ”listen!”

Harry and his companion stopped in their walk; even Harry could not help confessing that he heard sweet sounds coming over the water. ”Some emigrant s.h.i.+p, perhaps, bound out to Auckland,” he observed; ”the pa.s.sengers are enjoying themselves on deck, unwilling to retire to their close cabins. Sounds travel a long distance over the calm waters. She is on our beam, I suspect; but we must take care not to run into each other, in case she should be more on the bow than I suppose.” He hailed the forecastle to learn if the look-out could see anything. ”Nothing in sight,” was the answer. ”Keep a bright look-out, then,” he shouted.

”Ay, ay, sir,” came from for'ard.

Soon after this the fog lifted. Far away on the starboard hand the dim outline of a tall s.h.i.+p appeared standing across their course. ”She will pa.s.s under our stern if she keeps as she is now steering,” observed Harry; ”the voices we heard must have come from her.”

The stranger approached, appearing like some vast phantom floating over the ocean, with her canvas spread on either hand to catch the light wind. ”A sail on the starboard beam,” shouted the look-out, as he discovered her. It appeared as if she would pa.s.s within easy hail, when, just as Harry Shafto had told w.i.l.l.y to get a speaking-trumpet, she appeared to melt into a thin mist.

”What has become of her?” exclaimed w.i.l.l.y, feeling somewhat awe-struck.

”She has run into a bank of fog which we had not perceived,” said Shafto; ”I will hail her;” and taking the speaking-trumpet, he shouted out, ”What s.h.i.+p is that?” No answer came. Again he shouted, ”This is Her Majesty's s.h.i.+p 'Ranger.'” All was silent. ”Surely I cannot have been deceived,” he remarked; ”my hail would have been answered if it had been heard.” w.i.l.l.y declared that he heard shouts and laughter, but Harry told him that was nonsense, and that undoubtedly the stranger was much further off than he had supposed her to be.

Before the watch was out, Harry had to turn the hands up to shorten sail; a strong breeze was blowing, increasing every instant in violence.

Before morning the ”Ranger” was ploughing her way through the ocean under close-reefed topsails, now rising to the summit of a sea, now plunged into the trough below. It was w.i.l.l.y's first introduction to anything like a gale of wind.

”Well, Mr Dicey, you have at last got a sight of what the sea can be,”

said Roger Bolland, the boatswain, with whom w.i.l.l.y was a favourite.

”I have got a feeling, too, of what it can do,” answered w.i.l.l.y, who was far from comfortable.

”Don't you go and give in, though, like the soldiers below,” said the boatswain; ”there are half of them on their backs already, and the gay young ensigns, who were boasting only the other day of what capital sailors they were, are as bad as the men.”

Though the whole battalion had been sick, Mrs Rumbelow was not going to knock under. She was as lively and active as ever, going about to the ladies' cabins to a.s.sist them into their berths, and secure various articles which were left to tumble about at the mercy of the sea. If the truth must be known, she did not confine her attentions to them alone, but looked in as she pa.s.sed on the young ensigns, offering consolation to one, handing another a little cold brandy and water, and doing her best to take comfort to all.