Show W on DICK 1 CK RODNEY R W lie to in ak or the adventures of 41 A I 1 I 1 an eton boy iii of in 16 on b BY jewes az r w k CHAPTER continued continue d soon after this when evening came on we heard a noise in the forecastle and the voice of hislop exclaiming stand clear blar oft off antonio it you come athwart me ill knock you down with a hand handspike splice what you grip your knife do you well just do it again and ill chuck you overboard like a bit of 0 old junk what Is the matter now said 1 I hastening forward oh this rascally spanish creole has been wearing swearing at the men again and threatening old roberts he vows sir he will burn the ship said roberts who seemed considerably sider ably excited burn the ship reiterated weston 1 I have a great mind to put him in the for or the remainder ot of the voyage best for or all concerned sir said tom lambourne Lambour nc ric touching his forelock or elock with his right hand and giving the deck a scrape with his left foot or set him adrift with some provisions in the jolly boat come come antonio said weston with greater severity than I 1 had hitherto seen expressed in his open and honest countenance you must haul your elrd tor for some time you have been going too tar far I 1 cant spare my jolly boat and thank heaven the days of marooning ma are past among british sailors but beware you shipmate or the it shall be and we have a pretty leavy heavy pair below and as tor for you mare marc IIi Ill slop he added in a low voice when we walked at aft take care of 0 yourself for or these spanish creoles cheoles are its as slippery and treacherous as serpents ill keep my weather eye open said hislop you will require to do so I 1 think you do exclaimed the scotsman with growing aar it he proceeds thus thug ill break eker ajer ejer his bis heart or his neck next morning roberts the old mano wars man who had always been antonios chief accuser concerning his dreams was nowhere to be found on board all the hands were turned up tip the whole brig was searched the forecastle berths the cable tier and ever every y place below from the tore fore to the after r peak but there was no trace of roberts save his old tarpaulin hat lying alyin g crushed and torn in the lee sc uppers ile he was last seen when turned up to take the middle watch which extends from 12 to 4 a in and antonio was then in his hammock roberts was entered in the log as having fallen overboard in the night but his loss cast a terrible gloom over all the ship suspicion grew apace and seemed to become confirmed as open war was soon declared between the crew and antonio every man was ready to take his trick at the wheel rather than trust the eugenie to his big steering in the night lest he might let her broach to and lose her spars or do some kotlier oth er mischief and no man it if he could avoid it would lay out on the yard beyond him no man would walk on the same side of the deck with him or exchange a word or a light for a pipe or use the same cup or plate so he be was generally to be seen leaning moodily and alone against the windlass bitts with his black eyes fixed on the horizon as it if he e expected a sail or something else to bleave heave in sight wo we shall soon see how all this ended CHAPTER we cross the line we were now in the latitude of burning days of starry nights and bright blue seas the winds were light and as usual near the line there was a tremendous swell upon tho the ocean which rose in long and slowly h heaving baving hills without foam or ripple s smooth glassy and without sound souad on a lovely night when the ocean seemed to sleep in the moonshine we crossed the equator the eugenie was running with the lee clews ott off L 1 e with a flowing sheet when father neptune came on board and the usual unpleasant pranks were played on those who ha had d never passed the girdle of the world bafo before re great preparations had been in progress all day in the forces forecastle astle and these were perfected under cloud of night all the crew were on deck save antonio who turned in having probably a dread of 0 what was about to ensue and knowing that he be was anything but a favorite accompanied by the shouts of the crew and preceded by will white playing rule britannia on a violin old father neptune was drawn on a species ot of hurdle alt aft to the quarter deck where weston stood ready to receive him with his hat in one hand and a case bottle of 0 brandy in the other under an old swab which hall had been well vell dried and curled to make a wig tor for the son ot of saturn and vesta I 1 recognized the grotesquely tattooed visage of my friend tom lambourne A cutlass was stuck in his girdle and he wore a huge paunch ot of canvas stuffed with oakum in a gown gowa made by the sall maker ned carlton offic officiated as find both deities were armed with harpoons as emblems of 0 their dominion over the sea the attendant tritons britons were got up I 1 in p the same fashion and all wore false n noses 0 of f singular sibe sibe and great brilliance with low lov wl wigs s and long tails on neptune and his goddess receiving a dram and questioning the captain about his crew it was discovered that antonio and I 1 were the only two on board who had never crossed the line before whereupon the tritons britons whooped and lanced danced as they laid violent hands on me I 1 submitted to the usual shaving and so BO forth with a good grace and compounded to avold avoid other annoyances for two bottles ol of brandy and ascending to the maln main cross trees without going through the lubbers hole but for the cubano there was neither ransom escape nor outlet and the poor wretch in consequence ot of his mysterious ioui antecedents was very roughly handled the more so that he be had threatened to use his big knife it if molested it was soon trundled out ot of his hand by one body of 0 britons tritons Tri Trl tons while another soused doused him well with salt water as he be was conveyed past the long boat which was lashed amidships and in which they were stationed with buckets ready tilled held fast on every side he was brought before the goddess born and inexorable monarch of the main who ordered the lord chief barber at once to shave him now as antonio had a rather luxuriant beard and mustache the plentiful application thereto of a compound of tar and slush such as we used tor for greasing the masts was the reverse of agreeable but the stern orders of neptune which were bel bellowed loed hoarsely through a tin trumpet were faithfully and elaborately obeyed and tile the contents of a dirty iron pot were smeared over the cheeks beard and mouth of the cubano by billy a mischievous ship boy with an unsparing hand demonto demonio was heard beard at intervals and greeted with laughter but when he attempted to storm or swear the brush a reeking tuft of oil tar and every horrid grease was thrust into his mouth the lord chief barber was now commanded to remove this noisome mess with his razor and he scraped it oft with a piece of hoop which had been carefully notched for the purpose a process which as it uprooted sundry thick portions of antonios coal black bristles caused him to yell and sputter out hoarse spanish oaths alternately he was again deluged with salt water and greater were about to be practiced upon him as some of the tritons britons cried tor for althe the ghost of roberts to come 0 out u t of the sea others to smoke him by putting his head in the hood bood of the cooks fu funnel rinel when weston ransome ransomed rans omed d him for two bottles of brandy and he was wag permitted to slink away to his bunk breathing vengeance against all his tor mentors grog was again served round the deck was cleared for a dance and the crew tooted footed the hours away in a succession of 0 hornpipes horn pipes while the grim cubano lay growling in the forecastle three cheers for the captain and three more tor for maric marc hislop Ill slop terminated the tun fun and all but the watch retired below they have hae gone too tar far with that fellow as some of us may discover before the voyage cornea comes to a close said hislop when we were having a parting glass in the cabin yes replied weston he is a dark dog and though I 1 am not very rich I 1 would give a hundred pounds to fathom the mystery of old roberts disappearance well heres to our wives and sweethearts at home 1 I have neither sweetheart nor wife said hislop as he tossed off his glass but I 1 have a poor old mother who loves me as well uell as either could do westons Wes lons ns ey eye e wandered to the portraits of his wife and child to whom he was tenderly attached and tor for whom all his savings by salary tonnage and hat money were carefully hoarded tor for whom poor fellow he tempted the dangers of the great deep the war of the elements and endured the hardships of a sailors life his w wife ife his little one and their home his bis all his sheet anchor in this world and his guide to the next as I 1 once heard him say forcibly and strangely CHAPTER the cubano unmasked As we kept the coast of south africa well aboard a few days after we saw cape san roque or as it Is sometimes called point Pell nga the northeastern extremity of brazil rising from the blue water like a purple cloud but it diminished to a low black streak on our weather quarter when the sun set and we found ourselves ploughing sloughing hing the waves of the south atlantic there tell fell a calm tor for a whole day after this and while the eugenie rolled lazily on the long glassy swells with her topsails top sails napping flapping and her courses hauled up the sole amusement of the crew consisted in catching a al I 1 batross es or in killing them undeterred by the old superstition that it was a bird of good omen or by the story of the ancient mariner of which they were probably ignorant A flock of these gigantic sea birds congregated under our stern where they gobbled up everything that was thrown over to them so hislop and I 1 methodically to fish them on hoard board we procured strong lines batted baited the books with pieces of pork lashing thereto a buoy formed of 0 a common cork and lowered tour four of them over the stern they had scarcely touched the water when amid a furious flapping of heavy pinions they were eagerly swallowed the hooks books and it lines nes began to bear taught ly and we soon had tour four gigantic albatrosses ses splashing the water into froth in their ineffectual efforts to escape we towed them in hand band over hand and after measurement found the smallest to be eleven feet from the tip of one wing to the tip of 0 the other though rank and fishy in flavor the nosh flesh of those these birds was made into sea aca ples on which the crew were regaled for two days after and they partook of it with great apparent relish but jack is not very particular especially pec ally lally when at sea though none of the crew shared the superstition connected with the destruction dost st of an albatross and probably none save haslop and myself knew the splendid ballad written by coleridge it would seem as it if our misfortunes commenced with that days wanton sport the huge sea birds bird became shy and left us the sun set amid saffron col ored waves and the western sky shy was all aflame when the sails began to fill and collapse as the wind came in heavy puffs causing the masts to sway away from side to side and the bellying courses to crack and flap with a sound like thunder at last there came a steady breeze the courses were left tali fall and with both sheets aft for the wind was fair the eugenie once more walked through the shining waters full round and slivery silvery the moon arose and tipped with liquid light every wave that seemed to dance onward W ard with the brig which in halt half an hour had the snowwhite snow white foam hying flying in sheets over her cat heads it was about the hour of I 1 in the morning that the horrible events event s which I 1 am about to relate occurred I 1 was in the middle w watch atch relieving weston who as the tropical dews were heavy always ordered billy the cabin boy to give me a glass of bran dy and water before going on deck tor for fear of ague and then he turned in the sullen spaniard antonio was at the wheel tom lambourne ned carlton and I 1 were walking to and fro loitering at times and looking at the compass to see how she headed now aloft to observe how the sails drew anon over the side where the water bubbled merrily past or ahead at the patch of blue and star studded sky which was visible under the leach of the fore course as the brigs bow filled every now and then an and she rolled heavily from side to side as all vessels do when running before the wind all was very still tor for save the bubble of the water in the wake astern or a gurgle as it surged up in the rudder case the creaking of a ill block ock or the iron slings of the lower yards not a sound stole upon the first hour of the silent morning two of the albatrosses ses we had caught were hanging by the legs from the gallows top abaft the foremost where their great ei extended tended wings whigs swung somewhat mournfully to and fro in the wind and by the motion of 0 the ship to be continued |