In Savage Africa E-Book

Verney Lovett Cameron

• Herausgeber: Publisher s11838
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

In Savage Africa written by Verney Lovett Cameron who was an English traveller in Central Africa.  This book was published in 1887. And now republish in ebook format. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy reading this book.

Leseprobe

In Savage Africa

The adventures of Frank Baldwin from the Gold Coast to Zanzibar.

By

Verney Lovett Cameron

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I.LEAVING SCHOOL.

CHAPTER II. OFF TO SEA.

CHAPTER III.UNPLEASANT NEWS.

CHAPTER IV.ROBBERY AND DESERTION.

CHAPTER V.A RUN ASHORE.

CHAPTER VI.TAKEN PRISONER.

CHAPTER VII.AN INTERESTING CONVERSATION.

CHAPTER VIII.ESCAPE FROM THE SLAVE-SHIP.

CHAPTER IX.AMONG THE NATIVES.

CHAPTER X. FETICHMEN.

CHAPTER XI.AN EXCITING JOURNEY.

CHAPTER XII.IN THE INTERIOR.

CHAPTER XIII.CAPTURED BY CANNIBALS.

CHAPTER XIV.WORSE THAN DEATH.

CHAPTER XV. ESCAPE AND RECAPTURE.

CHAPTER XVI.FRIENDLY ARABS.

CHAPTER XVII.A NATIVE COUNCIL.

CHAPTER XVIII.PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE.

CHAPTER XIX.A FIERCE FIGHT.

CHAPTER XX.AT NYANGWE.

CHAPTER XXI.DEPARTURE FOR THE COAST.

CHAPTER XXII.SPEARING HIPPOPOTAMI.

CHAPTER XXIII.TROUBLES WITH THE NATIVES.

CHAPTER XXIV.ACROSS TANGANYIKA.

CHAPTER XXV.DIFFICULTIES AND DANGERS.

CHAPTER XXVI.A HAPPY ENDING.

FOOTNOTES:

On the Look-Out.

Surf-Boat Capsized.

CHAPTER I.LEAVING SCHOOL.

In the year of our Lord 18—, I was delighted one morning by receiving a letter from my father, who was captain and owner of the brig Petrel, telling me that he had arrived safely at Bristol with a valuable cargo, and that both he and my brother Willie, who was second mate of the Petrel, were well. The letter went on to say that my father had decided on taking me to sea with him, and had written to my schoolmaster, the Rev. Stephen Poynter of Clifton, to announce his intention. The letter also said that in two days’ time Willie would come to take me away from school, and that I was to have everything ready for starting when he came. According to the custom of the school, I had received my letter in the ten minutes which were given to us for a run in the playground before commencing our work after breakfast, and, as may be imagined, I lost no time in announcing its contents to my school-fellows, considering myself a very fine and important fellow to have finished my school days. The bell stopped short a description of the Petrel in which I was indulging, and we all had to hurry in and take our places at prayers, and when they were finished, to commence our ordinary tasks. I took my place at my desk, and opened my books. I must own, however, I did not think much of what they contained, and, under their cover, I tried to read over again my father’s letter which had announced the coming change in my life. I could not help thinking that it was very wrong for the head-master to keep such an important personage, as I had now in my own estimation become, sitting on a hard bench at a black desk to con over rules of arithmetic, and I kept looking at the door of the class-room to see if old Abe the porter would not come to summon me to the head-master’s presence.

Indeed, my inattention became so marked that twice the usher of the room said, “Baldwin, if you don’t go on with your work I shall have to punish you.” He was just on the point of leaving his seat to come over to me, when at last the door opened, and old Abe appeared, calling out, “Master Baldwin, wanted in the head-master’s study.” Usually, such a summons was the reverse of pleasant, for it meant, as a rule, that the boy who was called out had to answer for some mischief, and he was loath to answer the call. I, however, having a free conscience, jumped up at once; and the usher, who did not know of my approaching departure, said, “There, Baldwin, you’re wanted by the head-master. I suppose you have been up to some mischief, and that anticipation of your punishment has caused you to be inattentive.”

I smiled to those of my comrades to whom I had shown my letter, and went past the usher with a sort of swaggering show of independence; and he very rightly made me return to my seat and leave the room properly. As soon as I left, old Abe led the way to the double doors which separated Mr. Poynter’s private residence from the schoolrooms, and of which only he and the masters had the keys, and opened them, saying with a grin as he did so,—

“He hasn’t chosen the cane yet; what is it you have been up to?”

“Nothing, Abe. I’m going to leave.”

“Going to leave are you, and the holidays a month off yet! What is it for?”

I somewhat resented old Abe’s familiarity, with whom the boys were on the best of terms, and said in as dignified manner as I could, “I’m going to sea.”

“Going to sea, is it? Well, you’ll wish yourself back here before long. Going to sea! Salt beef and weevilly biscuit won’t suit as well as what you get to eat here.”

“I shan’t have salt beef and weevilly biscuit; I’m going in my father’s ship the Petrel.”

“Well, I never heard of a ship yet where there wasn’t salt beef. But now the master mustn’t be kept waiting; just you hurry on to his study.”

I went along a passage on which the doors opened, and crossing the hall, knocked at Mr. Poynter’s study door. As soon as I had knocked I heard Mr. Poynter say, “Come in;” and, opening the door, I found him sitting in his arm-chair, with my father’s letter in his hand. He motioned to me to sit down in a chair opposite to him, and said,—

“Frank, my boy, you know why I have sent for you, as your father tells me he has written to you that you are to leave us in a couple of days. Now, this will be a great change in your life; and although I think that most boys should stop at school till they are at least eighteen, you are now old enough to commence the life of a sailor. You are sixteen, are you not?”

“Yes, sir; I was sixteen two months ago.”

“I have little to say about the temptations to which you will be exposed, for as you will be under your father’s own eye, you will be shielded from many which usually assail the young; but remember always that, even if you are tempted to do what is wrong by the thought that your earthly father will know nothing about it, your heavenly Father’s eye is all-seeing, and that no thought or deed can escape him. For the five years you have been here you have given me satisfaction; but still, I have seen symptoms of self-will, and an inclination not always to obey with readiness. Remember that in a sailor instant and prompt obedience

FRANK’S INTERVIEW WITH MR. POYNTER.

is absolutely necessary, as you will soon learn; and he who cannot obey will never be fit to command. As to your studies, your father will doubtless look after your navigation; and I will write to him and tell him what other subjects will, in my opinion, best repay your continued attention. Now I do not suppose you can pay much attention to your work, so you may tell Mr. Stone that as you are going to leave us so soon, I have excused you from further attendance in the school-room, and you may gather all your things together, in readiness for packing up.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said; and then, nerved to boldness by the kindness of Mr. Poynter’s manner, I begged that he would grant my comrades a holiday.

“That’s a big request, Baldwin. You must remember that they are not all going to sea, and have to fit themselves by study for their future callings; besides, in three weeks the examination takes place, and they want every moment to prepare themselves, so that they may do credit to the school before the examiners.”

“Yes, sir; but if I leave in two days I shall not be able to play in the cricket-match between the first eleven and the next fifteen, while if you gave us a holiday to-morrow we could play then.”

“That is, no doubt, a most important matter in your mind, but it is not so important to me. However, I will think about it. Now I have lots to do, so you must run away.”

I left the study rather slowly, and was almost about to urge my request again, when Mr. Poynter said, “Remember obedience;” and I at once saw that the ultimate granting of the holiday would depend on my being promptly obedient, and left without saying another word.

Old Abe was by the double doors to let me back into the school, and I said,—

“All right, old Abe; there are no more lessons for me.”

He looked at me and smiled, and answered,—

“No more lessons! Why, my poor lad, you will find that all this life is one long lesson. You will have many a one to learn which will not be so easy as the tasks which they set you here. Now Mr. Stone won’t want you in the schoolroom, I’ll warrant; so if you go and tell him what the head has said, and then come back to me, I’ll just help you to get your box up, ready to pack your clothes and things in.”

I thought this was very good of old Abe, and did not think that all the boxes had to be got from the cellar, where they were kept by old Abe and his assistants. I went into the classroom, where I went up to Mr. Stone and said,—

“Please, sir, the head-master has told me I need do no more lessons, but that I may begin to get my things together, ready for going away.”

“Going away, are you! That is why you were so inattentive this morning, I suppose.”

“Yes, sir. My brother Willie is coming for me the day after to-morrow, and I am to go to sea with him and my father in the Petrel.”

“Very well, my lad; but you must not make a noise here, for there are boys who are not going to sea. So get away, and you can tell all about it when we come out of school at half-past twelve. Now don’t speak to any one, but go at once.”

I remembered “obedience,” and did as I was told. Leaving the room, I found old Abe waiting for me with the key of the cellar, and followed him down, and soon found my box, which with him I carried up into the dormitory which I shared with nine of my school-fellows. Here I found the matron and one of the maids busy getting my clothes ready for packing up.

When the matron, Mrs. Stevens, saw Abe and me carrying in my box, she said,—

“Now, Abe, don’t you know how particular Mr. Poynter is that none of the young gentlemen should carry their boxes about?”

“Why, ma’am,” he answered, “Master Baldwin’s going to sea, and he’ll have more hard work to do than help an old man to carry an empty box.”

“That will do, Abe. Mind, if I find you disobeying orders again, I shall tell Mr. Poynter.—Now, Master Baldwin, I do not think you can be any use here. I will leave out your best suit for you to go away in, and will have a place for your books. You had better go to the room and get all your belongings together in the way of bats and balls, and pack them in your play-box.”

Old Abe and I left the room at once, and he said to me,—

“Now that’s done. She can’t abear an old man getting a bit of help. But, Master Baldwin, there are your rabbits and pigeons. Now, there’s not a boy among them all who takes care of their pets like you do. I wonder what will become of them!”

I certainly was flattered by what old Abe said, for I believed my white Himalayan rabbits, with their black noses and ears, and my pair of tumbler pigeons, to be the best of all the pets which were kept by the boys in the school playground; and I also prided myself that the rabbit-hutch and dove-cot, which I had made with my own hands, were superior to the various receptacles of the pets of my schoolfellows. I therefore fell into the trap which he had set for me.

“Why, Abe, I don’t know. There’s Jones Major, he has some pigeons, and looks well after them; and Brown too, he has lost his two carriers; and Smith, he has been wanting to buy my rabbits this long time.”

“Surely, sir, a gentleman like you, a-leaving school and going to sea, and all, can’t be thinking of selling his rabbits. Sailors are fine generous fellows, and they always give away things. I mind one I saw not a fortnight agone as gave an old man a ten-shilling bit. But don’t you be after giving them lovely rabbits to that young Smith; he don’t know how to feed or look after them, and they’ll be dead in a week with him. And as for Master Brown, it’s my opinion he kept his carriers so dirty and half-starved, that when he let them out they made up their minds not to come back again. Now, sir, I could keep them nicely. I do love a good pigeon and a handsome rabbit; and I can warrant you that they’d be well taken care of.”

I had certainly had an idea of selling both pigeons and rabbits to pay some small schoolboy debts; but I felt my character as a generous sailor was at stake, and not to be outdone by the anonymous sailor who gave an old man a ten-shilling bit, I gave rabbits and pigeons to old Abe. He then asked me to come and look at my boots and shoes, and would soon have begged all from me if Mrs. Stevens had not arrived upon the scene and sent him about his work, grumbling sadly at being sent away from a young gentleman whom he always said “was the nicest lad he had ever set his eyes on.”

Mrs. Stevens told me I must learn not to be taken in; and when I said I had given my rabbits and pigeons to old Abe because he would look after them, she said, “Why, you must be foolish. Master Baldwin. He will sell them before you have left the place.”

By this time school-hours were over, and I was soon surrounded by all my class-fellows asking me for a description of the Petrel, and where she had been, and where she was going. As whenever my father had been at home I had passed my holidays with him, I was fully able to say what the good brig Petrel was like. I believe that I was so proud of her that if all I said had been true she would have been as big as Nelson’s flagship the Victory, and that in her my father and brother had gone through as many adventures as Anson in the Centurion, or Drake and the brave hearts who, first of Englishmen, sailed round the world in the famous Pelican.

But these stories were all repetitions, for I had been wont to tell marvellous stories of the Petrel, her captain and crew, whenever I returned to school after having spent my holidays with my father. Far more interest was excited by the announcement that I had been bold enough to ask for a holiday for the next day, and that the governor, as we called Mr. Poynter, had shown some inclination to grant it.

As soon as the excitement had somewhat abated, Smith, Brown, and Jones Major, and other rabbit and pigeon fanciers, came about me to find out if there was any chance of their becoming the fortunate possessors of my Himalayan rabbits and tumbler pigeons; and great was their disappointment at finding that I had given them to old Abe, who, it was at once said, would sell them to the highest bidder.

I had to promise to bring home an army of monkeys and a whole brigade of parrots before I could appease the reproaches of those who, like me, were fond of pets; and then I had to give to my special chums such little schoolboy treasures as they might value for keepsakes. In return many willing hands helped me to carry my books up to the dormitory to be packed up, and the bell rang for dinner whilst we were engaged about what we called helping (but which Mrs. Stevens called hindering) to pack my box.

After dinner I saw Mr. Poynter again, and from him obtained the promise of a holiday for the next day, the announcement of which was hailed with delight by the whole school; and great were the preparations for the cricket-match which was to take place.

I did not find as much pleasure as I had anticipated in being excused from school. It was very lonely work being about in the playground and fives-courts while they were untenanted, and, even with the prospect of having a stiff piece of construing to do, I would gladly have joined my class in their work. I was delighted when evening came, and with it the companionship of my fellows, to whom I might anew dilate on the Petrel and her crew. Indeed, long after we had gone to bed, my dormitory was the scene of acted feats of boarding pirates and other such-like deeds, until the noise made by one party, who with their bolsters represented the British sailors driving the pirates from their last retreat, brought Mr. Poynter on the scene. Then pirates and sailors, friends and foes, scuttled into bed and pretended to be most virtuously asleep; but a threat from the head-master, that if he heard any more noise the promised holiday should be withheld, caused our riotous antics to be discontinued for the night, and our feigned slumbers soon became real ones.

Next morning dawned bright and sunny, and more pleasure was in store for us than I had anticipated; for my brother Willie arrived before the day commenced, and my father had told him to come to Clifton and see that I cleared out from school with all due éclat. When Willie found that Mr. Poynter had given us a holiday, he begged and obtained leave to add some fruit, cakes, and tarts to our dinner, which we were allowed to have in the cricket-field instead of returning to the schoolhouse for it, as was usually the custom.

I was in the eleven, and their most trusted bowler, and to-day it seemed as if I was bound to surpass myself, for wicket after wicket of the fifteen fell before my attack; and when our innings came. I, though I went in sixth, carried my bat out for thirty-five runs. In the second innings of the fifteen I was even more successful than in their first, taking no less than ten wickets for thirty-eight runs. In the end the eleven were victorious by an innings and seventeen runs.

My brother Willie, who had left the school about four years before, was known to several of the older boys, and his stories of what he had actually seen on the coast of Africa, where my father traded, quite eclipsed in interest all that I had told the day before. His sailor dress, bronzed face, and, above all, the tattooing with which his arms were ornamented, were the subjects of admiration of all my schoolfellows, those who had been with him at school seeming to consider themselves as quite above those unfortunates who had joined the school since he had left.

Old Abe drew half a crown from him by saying that he was quite the finest young sailor whom he had ever seen. Indeed Willie, who was now nineteen, and fully five feet ten inches in height, was a picture of what the officer of a smart craft should be. His well-fitting blue clothes with brass anchor buttons suited his athletic figure admirably, while his dark curly hair, brown eyes, and open, smiling face were well calculated to win the affection of all who saw him.

I was delighted with the admiration he elicited, and though I was proud of my success that day in the cricket-field, I was still prouder of my handsome brother, and looked forward to the day when, on my return from some exciting voyage, I might, like him, have stirring tales of adventure to recite to my old chums. I little thought that before I again visited my old school I should pass through so many dangers and perils as fell to my lot.

CHAPTER II.OFF TO SEA.

Next morning, my boxes having been sent down to the coach-office, Willie and I bade good-bye to my schoolfellows, Mrs. Stevens, and old Abe. I found, just before leaving, that Abe had sold my rabbits to Smith for seven shillings and my tumblers to Jones Major for five shillings; so that when I gave him the five shillings which was his allotted share of the money my father had sent me to make presents with, he had made nearly a pound out of me.

Our farewell from Mr. Poynter was last. He gave me much good advice and his blessing, and specially impressed on me what he had told me the day before about the necessity of obedience. “And now,” he said, “I will give you your sailing directions for life. Your brother can tell you that in all strange seas the captain consults his sailing directions in order to avoid shoals and dangers, and find out where there are safe anchorages. Life is a strange sea which has to be navigated by all of us, and the shoals and dangers are sins and temptations. In this Bible you will find directions how you may steer clear of them, and in it also you will find refreshment for your soul when it is weary; and it contains directions how we may all at length attain to that haven for which we all long—the kingdom of heaven. God bless you, my boy; and tell your father that I have great cause to be satisfied with your conduct while under my care, and I trust he may find that his confidence in me has not been misplaced. Good-bye, Frank; and good-bye, Willie. Remember whenever either of you have time to come and see your old schoolmaster, you will be welcome. Remember me to your father. And now you must go, or you will be too late for your coach.”

We said good-bye to Mr. Poynter, and hurried away to the hotel from which the Bristol coach started. We found the horses being put to, and soon we were bowling along for Bristol.

I may now just tell in a few words the history of my family up to this time, so that my readers may understand any allusions that I may make in the course of this narrative of my adventures.

My father was the younger son of a Bristol merchant, and chose at an early age the sea for a profession; and as soon as possible my grandfather got him placed in command of one of the vessels trading between Liverpool and the West Coast of Africa. His only brother on my grandfather’s death left the business and settled down on a small estate in Somersetshire which he had bought; and when my father was away from England it was at his house that my brother and I had usually spent our holidays.

My father had married shortly before the death of my grandfather, and having given up going to sea had taken up his position as a partner in the business. Two years after my birth my mother died, and my father, finding that his home was lonely without her, took command of one of the ships of the firm, his widowed sister Fanny, whose husband, Mr. Carter, had been unfortunate in trade, taking charge of his house and Willie and myself.

For some time my father’s ventures had prospered exceedingly; but there came a time when fire and shipwreck caused him heavy losses, and he found that he had not sufficient capital to employ more ships than the Petrel. At the time this story commences the Petrel had been launched about three years, and in it my father traded to the coast of Africa on his own account. He was already looking forward to the time when he could turn over her command to my brother, and, giving up the toil of a seafaring life, again settle down in his old house at Bristol on the quayside, where he would see the ships arriving and sailing, loading and discharging their cargo, and by his knowledge of trade find means to start me as well as my brother in a ship of my own.

My aunt Fanny was a second mother to Willie and myself, and, though a sailor’s sister, she had a horror of the sea, and often begged my father to give up the Petrel, and earn a living as a merchant, finding some employment for us boys either in his own office or in that of some of his friends, who were numerous and influential. Her entreaties, however, were of little avail; and if my father did at times show signs of yielding to her arguments, Willie and myself were always in favour of a sailor’s life, and carried the day against her.

During the last voyage of the Petrel, my father, having visited Kinsimbo, where he had done a good trade with the natives, went as far south as St. Paul de Loanda, thinking that perchance at Loanda he might more quickly complete his cargo than he could elsewhere.

In this he had been greatly favoured; for a few days after he anchored, David Livingstone, a missionary from South Africa, arrived, having penetrated through countries which up to that time had been unknown, and was accompanied by some men belonging to a tribe called Makololo, who were seeking a market for their ivory. This ivory my father was able to purchase at a rate which returned him a fair profit.

Willie was full of what Livingstone, whom he regarded as a hero, had gone through, and he told me that even better and more exciting than the life of a sailor was that of a traveller and explorer in Africa.

“Only fancy, Frank, herds of elephants to be shot! adventures with lions and all sorts of strange people! Then Livingstone himself, he is loved by the natives, and so doubtless would any man who treated them fairly. Livingstone could well have come home from Loanda, and every one at home would have run after him to hear what he had got to tell; but to all who urged him to return to England he replied that he had promised Sekeletu, the chief of the Makololo, to take his people back to their homes, and that he could not go back from his plighted word. He had an ox which he rode called Sindbad, and it was as good as any horse. I do wish father would let me try to travel in Africa. There are all sorts of people who come down to the coast with ivory and india-rubber to buy guns, brass rods, beads, and calico, and I am sure that a journey into the interior would bring more profit than a dozen voyages to the coast.”

I was quite infected with Willie’s African fever, and listened with a greedy ear to all the stories he told me of hunting and shooting which he had picked up from Livingstone’s men, and of the bravery and devotion Livingstone had shown.

These stories and descriptions of different places that the Petrel had visited in her last voyage made the time seem short, and I was almost sorry when the coach drew up in front of the Admiral Nelson.

“Welcome, Frank,” shouted my father, who was waiting for us. “Here’s Jack Adams,” pointing to a seaman who was standing by; “he will look after your traps, while we will go round by Harris the outfitter’s and give orders about your sea-going kit. And then, after you’ve seen your aunt Fanny, you can go on board the Petrel, and Willie will show you where you’re to sling your hammock. Her stern is hauled to the quay just abreast of our door. There’s no place like Bristol quay for the house of a shipmaster and owner. Now, Will, what sort of report did Mr. Poynter give of the lad?”

“A good one, sir,” he answered. “And he wound up his school-days well by playing cricket as he had never played before yesterday.”

“That’s right, Frank; whatever you do, do it well. And though you won’t have much chance for cricket now, the same qualities which make a boy a good cricket-player are useful to the seaman.”

“O my dear father,” I said, “I am so glad to see you again, and to think that I am to go to sea with you, and not be long months without hearing anything of you or Willie.”

“All right; but I am taking you in my own ship to watch over you and not to pet you. I expect that you, as the captain’s son, will be an example to the other apprentices, and mind that the first thing that you’ve got to learn is to obey orders without any questioning. ‘Obey orders and break owners’ is a downright good maxim.”

“Why, Mr. Poynter told me the same in different words. He said obedience was the thing which was most necessary to me.”

“Yes, lad, and he’s right. Now I have never found you disobedient, and Aunt Fanny says that though you do get into scrapes you are a biddable boy; but you will have many orders given you which are disagreeable to obey, and which seem foolish. Never question them, but obey at once. You will have to obey Willie, now he is second mate, as well as myself and the chief officer. But here is Harris’s shop. Come in and we will look after your kit.”

Mr. Harris, who had known my father for many years, was delighted to see him, and still more pleased when he found that he was to receive a liberal order for my outfit.

It was amusing to see the various things that he said were absolutely necessary for a young gentleman on going to sea, and which, as Willie said, would, if we had taken them all, have freighted the brig; but my father soon put much on one side. Among the chiefest of my delights in Mr. Harris’s shop, after the all-important orders had been given for my jackets of navy blue with brass buttons and my suit of oilskins and south-wester all complete, was the choosing of a telescope ornamented with flags of Marryat’s code and a quadrant, which my father said Willie would have to teach me to use as soon as we got to sea.

From Mr. Harris’s shop we made our way to the house on the quayside; and there Aunt Fanny was waiting to welcome us, and had dinner ready, for which I was well prepared by the drive on the top of the coach from Clifton. But my eagerness to see as much as possible of the Petrel kept me running to the window of the room, which was on the first floor,—the ground floor being used as offices and sample-rooms,—to have a look at her.

My aunt said, “You will see enough of her, Frank; sit still now and eat your dinner. I daresay many a time while you are away you will wish yourself in this old house, and long to have as good a meal as you are now neglecting.”

“Perhaps so, aunt; but I do want to see the Petrel. There is all her cargo coming on shore; and oh, there are such a lot of tusks of ivory.—Father, mayn’t I go and look at them?”

“Directly, my boy. Willie, you must go and relieve Mr. Hammond [the chief officer]; and be careful how you check the things as they are landed. All the ivory is to go to Messrs. King, and I am going to see if they will advance their price on the oil and rubber. Let Jack Adams take charge of Frank, and teach him something of the masts and rigging.”

“O father, I know all the names of the masts, yards, and sails, and can tie lots of sailors’ knots.”

“Good, my boy, but you must learn the use of them; and you cannot go to work to-day as I intend you to, but to-morrow you will have a canvas suit, and then you will begin to really learn to be a sailor.”

Grace being said, I flew downstairs and across to the Petrel, Willie following me in a more leisurely manner suited to his dignity as second mate; and Mr. Hammond gave over to him the work of superintending the discharging cargo; while Jack Adams, who was employed in serving a new set of tacks and sheets, was called from his work to give me my first lesson in practical seamanship.

“You see,” said Jack, “as how in all seamanship and rigging there is a reason; and though many a man is rated A.B. ’cause he can hand, reef, and steer, heave the lead, and sew a seam, he can get no further, ’cause why he don’t know the reason why the helm is put up or down, and only knows his work as Black Bill’s parrot knows how to talk without knowing the meanin’ o’ what he says,—though, maybe, I wrongs old Poll, for as soon as he sees the coppers a-boiling for dinner he sings, ‘Hot potatoes,’ which he never does afore breakfast or tea. But now I wants you to learn why things is; and we will go forward in the ship, and take a look at the bowsprit, for that’s the principal spar in the ship, and on it others depend.”

I went along with Jack Adams, and was soon deep in the mystery of inner and outer gammonings, bob-stays, bowsprit shrouds, and forestay collars. I thought when I had been once through them that I should remember; but Jack was a thorough seaman, and he said as far as an old tarpaulin’s teaching should go I should be one too.

After a time he was satisfied that I understood the names, uses, and places of the various fittings of the bowsprit, and said, “Now, you must larn how they are put in their place and secured. Our gammoning, you see, is covered over with lead, for to presarve it from damage; and you can’t see how it is passed, nor perceive the merits of a thorough-put turn. But there’s the Mohican, belonging to Mr. King, got her bows into the quay, and they are gammoning her bowsprit. Now you can come and see with me the most important piece of work in fitting out a ship, and which must be done judgematically by a good seaman. Bobstays, fore-stays—all your rigging may be well fitted, but if the gammoning is wrong you’ll spring your bowsprit to a sartainty; and why then, you sees, your foremast must follow, and your main-topmast follows that. Gammoning, to my mind, is a sort of thing like the heart of the rigging: when it’s finished, it’s hidden from you; but if it goes, all goes. So your heart you can’t see; but if your heart’s wounded, the man dies. I’m not larned, but you understand what I means.”

“Certainly, Jack. Where is the Mohican? Oh, there—is that she—that ship with a great cask hanging from her bowsprit, and some men heaving at a capstan under her bows?”

“Right. Now we’ll go and have a squint at them, and then you will see how the gammoning’s passed and secured; and if you remembers that, why you’ll have made a good bit of headway.”

We were soon under the bows of the Mohican; and when her mate, who was superintending the work, heard from Jack Adams that I was a son of Captain Baldwin, he told me to come up on the knight-heads, and explained everything to me; and when the men knocked off work, I considered that I thoroughly understood the mystery of gammoning a bowsprit.

My father seemed well pleased when I told him how my afternoon had been passed; and next day, in a canvas suit, I was again put under the charge of Jack, and passed the ball for him while he served the tacks and sheets. Afterwards for several days I worked with him in fitting different parts of the rigging; for my father said the only way to become a sailor was to begin at the beginning, and though I was a skipper’s son, I should put my arm in the tar-pot and slush-bucket as well as the other boys belonging to the Petrel.

At last the cargo which the Petrel had brought home was all discharged, and her hold clean swept; and I was put under the charge of Mr. Hammond, to learn how a hold should be stowed. In the evenings my father showed specimens of the various articles used in the African trade, and told me where each sort of cloth, bead, wire, or what not, was of value, and for what it should be exchanged.

The day came when the holds were stowed and the sails bent, and we were all ready for sea. My father arranged for the pilot to come on board for us to sail the next morning; but, unfortunately, that very same day Mr. Hammond broke his leg, and his berth as mate had to be filled up at a moment’s notice. His place was taken by one Simon Pentlea, a Cornish man, who had capital papers from the master of the last ship he had sailed in, and who was evidently a thorough seaman. But he was as different in manner as possible from the open-hearted, sunny-tempered Mr. Hammond, being a silent, taciturn man, who never seemed to look one straight in the face, but at the same time managed to see all that was going on, and when speaking, one felt as if his shifty eyes were fathoming the very depths of one’s heart and spying out one’s inmost thoughts.

My father had not time to make further inquiries into the antecedents of Mr. Pentlea, who said all his other papers were at his home in an outlying village in Cornwall, where the post seldom went, and that it would be impossible for him to say how soon he would be able to get them; and as he had not sailed out of Bristol before, he could give no references in that town. However, as the papers he had from the master of the British Queen of Liverpool, which had been engaged in the West African trade, said he had given full satisfaction for two years, and fully understood the African trade, and was acquainted with the different anchorages in the Bight of Benin, my father thought himself lucky to be able at once to secure so good a substitute for Mr. Hammond.

Nothing worthy of note happened during our departure, and a fresh easterly wind carried us out of the Bristol Channel, past Lundy, and well out to sea beyond the Admiralty Bank. I was not at all seasick, and I was delighted to see the Petrel, with all her snowy canvas set, slipping through the water, and passing a number of colliers and coasting craft, and I felt very proud of being one of her crew.