Part 19 (2/2)

At Eight Bells, or four o'clock in the ordinary parlance of landsmen, Mr Bitpin was relieved by the first lieutenant, who then came on deck with the rest of the starboard watch to take charge, while the port watch went below at the same time.

This hour marked the beginning of the first dog watch, which, it may be here mentioned for the benefit of the uninitiated, only lasts two hours, from four o'clock to six, when the second dog watch, of similar duration, commences and continues until eight o'clock, or ”Eight Bells,”

again.

These subdivisions of time are necessary on board s.h.i.+p in order to allow all to share alike the rough with the smooth, and give the officers and men a change at regular intervals from day to night service, and the reverse; for, if all the watches were of equal length, there could not be any possible variation of the hours during which the hands would be on and off duty respectively, the one section of the crew in such case coming on deck at precisely the same time each day and going below in similar rotation.

By the system in vogue, however, of cutting one of the watches into two parts, which is common to the seamen of all countries in the mercantile marine and is not merely limited to the routine of our men-of-war, there is a constant change introduced; so that, the men who take, say, the first watch to-night, from eight o'clock till midnight, will have the middle watch to-morrow night, and so on in regular sequence until the time comes round again for them to ”return to their old love” again!

”Gla.s.s-eye,” as the men called the first lieutenant, I noticed, was a much smarter hand than Mr Bitpin, in spite of his drawly way of speaking and lackadaisical airs below; and when he was officer of the watch there was no lolling about the deck or any of the talking that went on behind the boats and in odd corners, as was the case while ”old growler” had charge.

Everyone then, on the contrary, brightened up and kept to his station; while even the old quartermaster and helmsman drawing themselves up at ”attention” as soon as the Honourable Digby Lanyard's long, telescopic form appeared on the p.o.o.p, just as if he were the commander, or Captain Farmer himself.

The Honourable was not long inactive, for the sun was already beginning to sink below the western horizon, lighting up Saint Alban's Head, abreast of which we were now speeding along, with a bright glare that displayed every detail of its steep escarpment and the rocky foresh.o.r.e at its base; the glorious...o...b..of day presently disappearing beneath the ocean, leaving a track of radiance behind him across the watery waste and flooding the heavens overhead with a harmony of vivid colouring in which every tint of the rainbow was represented--crimson and purple and gold, melting into rose, that paled again into the most delicate sea-- green and finally became merged in the more neutral tones of night!

”Looks like a change coming, I think,” observed Mr Quadrant, the master, glancing at the sunset more with the eye of a meteorologist than that of an artist. ”Those northerly winds never last long in the Channel, especially at this time of year.”

”The evening's closing in, too,” said the ”first luff,” s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g his eyegla.s.s more tightly into the corner of his eye and bending his lanky body over the p.o.o.p-rail to see if everything was all right on the deck below, after taking a hurried squint aloft. ”I shall shorten sail at once. Bosun's mate!”

You should have heard him roar out this hail. Why, it made me jump off my feet as if a cannon had been fired, with a full charge, close to my head!

”Ay, ay, sir,” replied the boatswain's mate, coming under the break of the p.o.o.p, so as to be nearer at hand; but there was certainly no necessity for his approaching in order to hear better, for the lieutenant's voice would have been audible a mile off, ”I'm here, sir.”

”Pipe the watch to shorten sail!”

”Ay, ay, sir.”

There was no need, though, of pipe or shout from the worthy petty officer addressed, notwithstanding that the l.u.s.ty seaman could have piped and shouted with the best, should duty demand it of him; for, the lieutenant's order had already reached the ears of every man of the watch, and all were at their several stations, ready for the next command.

This was not long-delayed.

”Topmen aloft! In royals and to'gallant stu'ns'ls!” he bellowed, in a tone that put that of poor Mr Bitpin completely into the shade; his voice sounding as if the wild bull which that gentleman had apparently imitated, according to the facetious Larkyns, had since been under the instruction of Signor Lablache or some other distinguished ba.s.s singer and had learnt to mellow his roar into a deeper tone. No sooner, too, had the hands jumped into the rigging and the studdingsail halliards and tacks been cast off by the watch on deck and the downhauls and sheets manned, than the ”first luff,” pitching his voice to yet a higher key, sang out in rapid sequence, ”Topmast stu'ns'l downhaul--haul taut--clew up--all down!”

”Bosun's mate,” he then cried, ”turn the hands up!”

This was the last order he gave on his own responsibility; for, while the men of the watch below were hurrying up on deck in obedience to the busy boatswain's mates' whistle and shout of ”all ha-a-nds,” which could still be heard ringing through the s.h.i.+p, Commander Nesbitt came up on the p.o.o.p and took charge.

He thus superseded his subordinate, the lieutenant; it being the custom of the service for the commander to ”carry on” on such occasions and the officer of the watch, whoever he might be, to ”play second fiddle,” as the saying goes, which part the ”first luff,” took in the present instance, proceeding at once to his proper station on the forecastle.

No cessation occurred, however, in the task of shortening sail.

”Hands reef tops'ls!” shouted the commander almost on the instant he gained the p.o.o.p, following this up by the command, ”Topmen aloft--take in one reef--way aloft!”

Of course Adams and Larkyns and Popplethorne had to scramble up to their posts in the mizzen and main and foretops, much to my admiration and envy; for, being only a cadet, I was not allowed to go aloft except for drill, and then only under special supervision, as I will presently tell.

While these lucky beggars, as I then thought them, were footing it up the ratlines, the commander sang out in rapid rotation, the orders necessary to make the way clear for taking in the reef required--

”Weather topsail braces--round in--lower the tops'ls!”

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