Very well, said Captain Bream, pulling out an immense gold chronometerthe gift, in days gone by, of a band of highly grateful and appreciative passengers. Ive got business in the city an hour hence. We shall have dinner first. Two hours afterwards I will return with a cab and take away my boxes. That will give you plenty of time to make out your little bill and
What do you mean, captain? interrupted Kate, in much surprise.
I mean, dear ladies, that you and I entered into an agreement to rent your little cabin for so much. Now it has been my rule in life to stick to agreements, and I mean to stick to this one or throw up my situation. Besides, Im not goin to submit to have the half of my rent cut off. I cant stand it. Like old Shylock, I mean to stick to the letter of the bond. Now, is it to be, or not to be? as Hamlet said to the ass.
I was not aware that Hamlet said that to an ass, remarked Jessie, with a little laugh.
Oh yes! he did, returned the captain quite confidently; he said it to himself, you know, an that was the same thing. But what about the agreement?
Well, since you are so determined, I suppose we must give in, said Kate.
We cant resist you, captain, said Jessie, but there is one thing that we must positively insist on, namely, that you come and sit in this room of an evening. I suppose you read or write a great deal, for we see your light burning very late sometimes, and as you have no fire you must often feel very cold.
Cold! shouted the captain, with a laugh that caused the very window-frames to vibrate. My dear ladies, Im never cold. Got so used to it, I suppose, that it has no power over me. Why, when a man o my size gets heated right through, it takes three or four hours to cool him even a little. Besides, if it do come a very sharp frost, Ive got a bear-skin coat that our ship-carpenter made for me one voyage in the arctic regions. It is hot enough inside almost to cook you. Did I ever show it you? Ill fetch it.
Captain Bream rose with such energy that he unintentionally spurned his chairhis own solid peculiar chairand caused it to pirouette on one leg before tumbling backward with a crash. Next minute he returned enveloped from head to foot in what might be termed a white-bear ulster, with an enormous hood at the back of his neck.
Accustomed as the sisters were to their lodgers bulk, they were not prepared for the marvellous increase caused by the monstrous hairy garment.
It would puzzle the cold to get at me through this, wouldnt it? said its owner, surveying it with complacency. It was my own invention tooat least the carpenter and I concocted it between us.
The sleeves are closed up at the ends, you see, and a thumb attached to each, so as to make sleeves and mittens all of a piece, with a slit near the wrists to let you shove your hands out when you want to use them naked, an a flap to cover the slit and keep the wind out when you dont want to shove out your hands. Then the hood, you see, is large and easy, so that it can be pulled well forardsoand this broad band behind it unbuttons and comes round in front of the face and buttons, soto keep all snug when you lay down to sleep.
Wonderful! exclaimed the sisters as the captain stood before them like a great pillar of white fur, with nothing of him visible save the eyes and feet.
But thats not all, continued the ancient mariner, turning his back to the sisters. You see that great flap hooked up behind?
Yes, answered Jessie and Kate in the same breath.
Well, then, notice what I do.
He sat down on the floor, and unhooking the flap, drew it round in front, where he re-hooked it to another row of eyes in such a manner that it completely covered his feet and lower limbs.
There, you see, Im in a regular fur-bag now, all ready for a night in the snow.
By way of illustration he extended himself on the floor at full-length, and, by reason of that length being so great, and the room so narrow, his feet went into the window-recess while his head lay near the door.
All ignorant of this illustration of arctic life going on, Liffie Lee, intent on dinner purposes, opened the door and drove it violently against the captains head.
Avast there! he shouted, rising promptly. Come in, lass. Come inno damage done.
Oh! sir, exclaimed the horrified Liffie, I ax your parding.
Dont put yourself about my girl. Im used to collisions, and its not in the power o your small carcass to do me damage.
Disrobing himself as he spoke, the lodger retired to his cabin to lay aside his curious garment, and Liffie, assisted by Kate, took advantage of his absence to spread their little board.
I never saw such a man, said Kate in a low voice as she bustled about.
Saw! exclaimed Jessie under her breath, I never even conceived of such a man. He is so violent in his actions that I constantly feel as if I should be run over and killed. It feels like living in the same house with a runaway mail coach. How fortunate that his spirit is so gentle and kind!
A tremendous crash at that moment caused Jessie to stop with a gasp.
Hallo! fetch a swaba dish-clout or somethin, Liffie, came thundering from the captains room. Dont be alarmed, ladies, its only the wash-hand basin. Knocked it over in hangin up the coat. Nothin smashed. Its a tin basin, you know. Look alive, lass, else the waterll git down below, for the caulkin of these planks aint much to boast of, an youll have the green-grocer up in a towering rage!
A few minutes later this curious trio sat down to dinner, and the captain, according to a custom established from the commencement of his sojourn, asked a blessing on the meat in few words, but with a deeply reverent manner, his great hands being clasped before him, and with his eyes shut like a little child.
Well now, before beginning, he said, looking up, let me understand; is this matter of the lodging and rent settled?
Yes, it is settled, answered Jessie. Weve got used to you, captain, and should be very, very sorry to lose you.
Come, thats all right. Lets shake hands on it over the leg of mutton.
He extended his long arm over the small table, and spread out his enormous palm in front of Jessie Seaward. With an amused laugh she laid her little hand in itto grasp it was out of the questionand the mighty palm closed for a moment with an affectionate squeeze. The same ceremony having been gone through with Kate, he proceeded to carve.
And what a difference between the dinners that once gracedperhaps we should say disgracedthat board, and those that smoked upon it now! Then, tea and toast, with sometimes an egg, and occasionally a bit of bacon, were the light viands; now, beef, mutton, peas, greens, potatoes, and other things, constituted the heavy fare.
The sisters had already begun to get stronger on it. The captain would have got stronger, no doubt, had that been possible.
And what a satisfactory thing it was to watch Captain Bream at his meals! There was something grandabsolutely majesticin his action. Being a profoundly modest and unselfish man it was not possible to associate the idea of gluttony with him, though he possessed the digestion of an ostrich, and the appetite of a shark. There was nothing hurried, or eager, or careless, in his mode of eating. His motions were rather slow than otherwise; his proceedings deliberate. He would even at times check a tempting morsel on its way to his mouth that he might more thoroughly understand and appreciate something that Jessie or Kate chanced to be telling him. Yet with all that, he compelled you, while looking at him, to whisper to yourselfhow he does shovel it in!
I declare to you, Kate, said Jessie, on one occasion after the captain had left the room, I saw him take one bite to-day which ought to have choked him, but it didnt. He stuck his fork into a piece of mutton as bigoh! Im afraid to say how big; it really seemed to me the size of your hand, and he piled quite a little mound of green peas on it, with a great mass of broken fragments and gravy, and put it all into his mouth at once, though that mouth was already pretty well-filled with the larger half of an enormous potato. I thought he would never get it in, but something you said caused him to laugh at the time, and before the laugh was over the bite had disappeared. Before it was properly swallowed he was helping himself to another slice from the leg of mutton! I declare to you, Kate, that many a time I have dined altogether on less than that one bite!
Poor Miss Seaward had stated a simple truth in regard to herself, but that truth was founded on want of food, not on want of appetite or capacity for more.
At first it had been arranged that an account-book should be kept, and that the captain should pay for one-third of the food that was consumed in the house, but he had consumed so much, and the sisters so ridiculously little, that he refused to fall in with such an arrangement and insisted on paying for all the food consumed, with the exception of the cup of coffee, cream, and sugar, with which he regaled himself every day after dinner. Of course they had had a battle over this matter also, but the captain had carried the day, as he usually did, for he had marvellous powers of suasion. He had indeed so argued, and talked, and bamboozled the meek sisterssometimes seriously, oftener jocularly,that they had almost been brought to the belief that somehow or other their lodger was only doing what was just! After all, they were not so far wrong, for all that they ate of the captains provisions amounted to a mere drop in the bucket, while the intellectual food with which they plied their lodger in return, and the wealth of sympathy with which they surrounded him, was far beyond the power of gold to purchase.
No, said Captain Bream, sipping his coffee and shaking his head, when Jessie again pressed on him the propriety of sitting in the parlour of an evening, I cant do it. The fact is that Im studyingthough you may think Im rather an oldish studentand I cant study except when Im alone.
What are you studying? asked Kate, and then, observing that the captain looked slightly confused, and feeling that she ought not to have put the question, she quickly changed the subject by addingfor whatever it is, you will be quite free from interruption here. My sister and I often sit for hours without talking, and
No, no, dear Miss Kate. Say no more, interrupted the captain; I must stick to my own cabin except at meal-times, and, of course, when we want a bit of a talk together. There is one thing, however, that I would like. I know you have family worship with your little lass. May I join you?
Oh! it would give us such pleasure, exclaimed Kate, eagerly, if you would come and conduct worship for us.
The captain protested that he would not do that, but finally gave in, and afterwards acted the part of chaplain in the family.
By the way, he said, when about to quit the parlour, Ive brought another chest to the house.
Yes, said Kate, we felt the shock when you put it down.
Well, it is a bit heavy. Ive fairly given up my connection with my last ship, and as the new commander took possession this morning I was obliged to bring away my last box. Now, I dont want Liffie to move it about when putting things to rights, or to meddle with it in any way. When we want to sweep behind or under it Ill shift it myself. But, after all, youre safe not to move it, for the three of you together couldnt if you were to try ever so much. So, good-day. Ill be back to tea.
Kate, said Jessie, after he was gone, I am quite sure that there is some mystery connected with that box.
Of course you are, replied Kate, with a laugh, you always see mystery in things that you dont understand! You saw mystery too, didnt you, in the late sitting up and studies of Captain Bream.
Indeed I did, and I am quite sure that there is some mystery about that, too.
Just so, and I have no doubt that you observe mystery of some sort, added Kate, with a humorous glance, in the order for worsted work that we have just received.
Undoubtedly I do, replied Jessie, with decision. The whole affair is mysteriousridiculously so. In truth it seems to me that we are surrounded by mystery.
Well, well, sister mine, said the matter-of-fact Kate, going to a small cupboard and producing an ample work-box that served for both, whatever mysteries may surround us, it is our business to fulfil our engagements, so we will at once begin our knitting of cuffs and comforters for the fishermen of the North Sea.
Chapter Six.
The Curse of the North Sea; and the Trawls at Work
There are few objects in nature, we think, more soothing to the feelings and at the same time more heart-stirring to the soul than the wide ocean in a profound calm, when sky and temperature, health, hour, and other surrounding conditions combine to produce unison of the entire being.
Such were the conditions, one lovely morning about the end of summer, which gladdened the heart of little Billy Bright as he leaned over the side of the Evening Star, and made faces at his own reflected image in the sea, while he softly whistled a slow melody to which the gentle swell beat time.
The Evening Star was at that time the centre of a constellationif we may so call itof fishing-smacks, which floated in hundreds around her. It was the Short Blue fleet of deep-sea trawlers; so named because of the short square flag of blue by which it was distinguished from other deep-sea fleetssuch as the Grimsby fleet, the Columbia fleet, the Great Northern, Yarmouth, Red Cross, and other fleetswhich do our fishing business from years end to years end on the North Sea.
But Billy was thoughtless and apt to enjoy what was agreeable, without reference to its being profitable. Some of the conditions which rejoiced his heart had the reverse effect on his father. That gruff-spirited fisherman did not want oily seas, or serene blue skies, or reflected clouds and sunshineno, what he wanted was fish, and before the Evening Star could drag her ponderous gear along the bottom of the sea, so as to capture fish, it was necessary that a stiffish breeze should not only ruffle but rouse the billows of the North Seaall the better if it should fringe their crests with foam.
My usual luck, growled David Bright, as he came on deck after a hearty breakfast, and sat down on the bulwarks to fill his pipe and do what in him lay to spoil his digestionthough, to do David justice, his powers in that line were so strong that he appeared to be invulnerable to tobacco and spirits. We use the word appeared advisedly, for in reality the undermining process was going on surely, though in his case slowly.
His hands, having enjoyed an equally good breakfast, were moving quietly about, paying similar attention to their digestions!
There was our tall friend Joe Davidson, the mate; and Ned Spivin, a man of enormous chest and shoulders, though short in the legs; and Luke Trevor, a handsome young fellow of middle size, but great strength and activity, and John Gunter, a big sour-faced man with a low brow, rough black hair, and a surly spirit. Billy was supposed to be minding the tiller, but, in the circumstances, the tiller was left to mind itself. Zulu was the only active member on board, to judge from the clatter of his pots and pans below.