"An' thus 'ull be the loddie," the
skipper said, reaching out a
hesitant hand to the child's cheek.
But the boy drew away from him, sheltering against the mother's
side.
"Och!" she cried, "and he doesna know his own father."
"Nor I hum. Heaven knows I could no a-picked hum out of a crowd,
though he'll be havin' your nose I'm thunkun'."
"An' your own eyes, Donald. Look ut them. He's your own father,
laddie. Kiss hum like the little mon ye are."
But the child drew closer to her, his expression of fear and
distrust growing stronger, and when the father attempted to take
him in his arms he threatened to cry.
The
skipper straightened up, and to
conceal the pang at his heart
he drew out his watch and looked at it.
"Ut's time to go, Annie," he said. "Thot train 'ull be startun'."
He was silent on the train at first, divided between watching the
wife with the child going to sleep in her arms and looking out of
the window at the tilled fields and green unforested hills vague
and indistinct in the driving drizzle that had set in. They had
the
compartment to themselves. When the boy slept she laid him out
on the seat and wrapped him warmly. And when the health of
relatives and friends had been inquired after, and the
gossip of
Island McGill narrated, along with the weather and the price of
land and crops, there was little left to talk about save
themselves, and Captain MacElrath took up the tale brought home for
the good wife from all his world's-end wandering. But it was not a
tale of marvels he told, nor of beautiful flower-lands nor
mysterious Eastern cities.
"What like is Java?" she asked once.
"Full o' fever. Half the crew down wuth ut an' luttle work. Ut
was quinine an' quinine the whole
blessed time. Each marnun' 'twas
quinine an' gin for all hands on an empty
stomach. An' they who
was no sick made ut out to be hovun' ut bad uz the rest."
Another time she asked about Newcastle.
"Coals an' coal-dust - thot's all. No a nice sutty. I lost two
Chinks there, stokers the both of them. An' the owners paid a fine
tull the Government of a hundred pounds each for them. 'We regret
tull note,' they wrut me - I got the letter tull Oregon - 'We
regret tull note the loss o' two Chinese members o' yer crew ot
Newcastle, an' we
recommend greater carefulness un the future.'
Greater carefulness! And I could no a-been more careful. The
Chinks hod forty-five pounds each comun' tull them in wages, an' I
was no a-thunkun' they 'ud run.
"But thot's their way - 'we regret tull note,' 'we beg tull
advise,' 'we
recommend,' 'we canna understand' - an' the like o'
thot. Domned cargo tank! An' they would thunk I could drive her
like a Lucania, an' wi'out burnun' coals. There was thot
propeller. I was after them a guid while for ut. The old one was
iron, thuck on the edges, an' we couldna make our speed. An' the
new one was
bronze - nine hundred pounds ut cost, an' then wantun'
their returns out o' ut, an' me wuth a bod passage an' lossin' time
every day. 'We regret tull note your long passage from Voloparaiso
tull Sydney wuth an average daily run o' only one hundred an'
suxty-seven. We hod expected better results wuth the new
propeller. You should a-made an average daily run o' two hundred
and suxteen.'
"An' me on a wunter passage, blowin' a luvin' gale half the time,
wuth
hurricane force in atweenwhiles, an' hove to sux days, wuth
engines stopped an' bunker coal runnun' short, an' me wuth a mate
thot
stupid he could no pass a shup's light ot night wi'out callun'
me tull the brudge. I wrut an' told 'em so. An' then: 'Our
nautical
adviser" target="_blank" title="n.顾问 =advisor">
adviser suggests you kept too far south,' an' 'We are
lookun' for better results from thot propeller.' Nautical
adviser" target="_blank" title="n.顾问 =advisor">
adviser!
- shore pilot! Ut was the regular
latitude for a wunter passage
from Voloparaiso tull Sydney.
"An' when I come un tull Auckland short o' coal, after lettun' her
druft sux days wuth the fires out tull save the coal, an' wuth only
twenty tons in my bunkers, I was thunkun' o' the lossin' o' time
an' the expense, an' tull save the owners I took her un an' out
wi'out pilotage. Pilotage was no
compulsory. An' un Yokohama, who
should I meet but Captun Robinson o' the Dyapsic. We got a-talkun'
about ports an' places down Australia-way, an' first thing he says:
'Speakun' o' Auckland - of course, Captun, you was never un
Auckland?' 'Yus,' I says, 'I was un there very recent.' 'Oh, ho,'
he says, very angry-like, 'so you was the smart Aleck thot fetched
me thot letter from the owners: "We note item of fufteen pounds
for pilotage ot Auckland. A shup o' ours was un tull Auckland
recently an' uncurred no such
charge. We beg tull
advise you thot
we conseeder thus pilotage an onnecessary expense which should no
be uncurred un the future.'"
"But dud they say a word tull me for the fufteen pounds I saved
tull them? No a word. They send a letter tull Captun Robinson for
no savun' them the fufteen pounds, an' tull me: 'We note item of
two guineas doctor's fee at Auckland for crew. Please explain thus
onusual expunditure.' Ut was two o' the Chinks. I was thunkun'
they hod beri-beri, an' thot was the why o' sendun' for the doctor.
I buried the two of them ot sea not a week after. But ut was:
'Please explain thus onusual expunditure,' an' tull Captun
Robinson, 'We beg tull
advise you thot we conseeder thus pilotage
an onnecessary expense.'
"Dudna I cable them from Newcastle, tellun' them the old tank was
thot foul she needed dry-dock? Seven months out o' drydock, an'
the West Coast the quickest place for foulun' un the world. But
freights was up, an' they hod a
charter o' coals for Portland. The
Arrata, one o' the Woor Line, left port the same day uz us, bound
for Portland, an' the old Tryapsic makun' sux knots, seven ot the
best. An' ut was ot Comox, takun' un bunker coal, I got the letter
from the owners. The boss humself hod signed ut, an' ot the bottom
he wrut un hus own bond: 'The Arrata beat you by four an' a half
days. Am dusappointed.' Dusappointed! When I had cabled them
from Newcastle. When she drydocked ot Portland, there was whuskers
on her a foot long, barnacles the size o' me fust, oysters like
young sauce plates. Ut took them two days afterward tull clean the
dock o' shells an' muck.
"An' there was the motter o' them fire-bars ot Newcastle. The firm
ashore made them heavier than the engineer's speecifications, an'
then forgot tull
charge for the dufference. Ot the last moment,
wuth me
ashore gettun' me clearance, they come wuth the bill:
'Tull error on fire-bars, sux pounds.' They'd been tull the shup
an' MacPherson hod O.K.'d ut. I said ut was strange an' would no
pay. 'Then you are dootun' the chief engineer,' says they. 'I'm
no dootun',' says I, 'but I canna see my way tull sign. Come wuth
me tull the shup. The
launch wull cost ye
naught an' ut 'ull brung
ye back. An' we wull see what MacPherson says.'
"But they would no come. Ot Portland I got the bill un a letter.
I took no notice. Ot Hong-Kong I got a letter from the owners.
The bill hod been sent tull them. I wrut them from Java
explainun'. At Marseilles the owners wrut me: 'Tull extra work un
engine-room, sux pounds. The engineer has O.K.'d ut, an' you have
no O.K.'d ut. Are you dootun' the engineer's
honesty?' I wrut an'
told them I was no dootun' his
honesty; thot the bill was for extra
weight o' fire-bars; an' thot ut was O.K. Dud they pay ut? They
no dud. They must unvestigate. An' some clerk un the office took
sick, an' the bill was lost. An' there was more letters. I got
letters from the owners an' the firm -'Tull error on fire-bars, sux
pounds' - ot Baltimore, ot Delagoa Bay, ot Moji, ot Rangoon, ot
Rio, an' ot Montevuddio. Ut uz no settled yut. I tell ye, Annie,
the owners are hard tull please."
He communed with himself for a moment, and then muttered
indignantly: "Tull error on fire-bars, sux pounds."
"Hov ye heard of Jamie?" his wife asked in the pause.
Captain MacElrath shook his head.
"He was washed off the poop wuth three seamen."
"Whereabouts?"
"Off the Horn. 'Twas on the Thornsby."
"They would be runnun'
homeward bound?"
"Aye," she nodded. "We only got the word three days gone. His
wife is greetin' like tull die."
"A good lod, Jamie," he commented, "but a stiff one ot carryun' on.
I mind me when we was mates together un the Abion. An' so Jamie's
gone."
Again a pause fell, to be broken by the wife.
"An' ye will no a-heard o' the Bankshire? MacDougall lost her in
Magellan Straits. 'Twas only
yesterday ut was in the paper."
"A cruel place, them Magellan Straits," he said. "Dudna thot
domned mate-fellow nigh putt me
ashore twice on the one passage
through? He was a eediot, a lunatuc. I wouldna have hum on the
brudge a munut. Comun' tull Narrow Reach, thuck weather, wuth snow
squalls, me un the chart-room, dudna I guv hum the changed course?
'South-east-by-east,' I told hum. 'South-east-by-east, sir,' says
he. Fufteen munuts after I comes on tull the brudge. 'Funny,'
says thot mate-fellow, 'I'm no rememberun' ony islands un the mouth
o' Narrow Reach. I took one look ot the islands an' yells, 'Putt
your wheel hard a-starboard,' tull the mon ot the wheel. An' ye
should a-seen the old Tryapsic turnun' the sharpest
circle she ever
turned. I waited for the snow tull clear, an' there was Narrow
Reach, nice uz ye please, tull the east'ard an' the islands un the
mouth o' False Bay tull the south'ard. 'What course was ye
steerun'?' I says tull the mon ot the wheel. 'South-by-east, sir,'
says he. I looked tull the mate-fellow. What could I say? I was
thot wroth I could a-kult hum. Four points dufference. Five
munuts more an' the old Tryapsic would a-been funushed.
"An' was ut no the same when we cleared the Straits tull the
east'ard? Four hours would a-seen us guid an' clear. I was forty
hours then on the brudge. I guv the mate his course, an' the
bearun' o' the Askthar Light astern. 'Don't let her bear more tull
the north'ard than west-by-north,' I said tull hum, 'an' ye wull be
all right.' An' I went below an' turned un. But I couldna sleep
for worryun'. After forty hours on the brudge, what was four hours
more? I thought. An' for them four hours wull ye be lettun' the
mate loss her on ye? 'No,' I says to myself. An' wuth thot I got
up, hod a wash an' a cup o' coffee, an' went tull the brudge. I
took one look ot the bearun' o' Askthar Light. 'Twas nor'west-by-
west, and the old Tryapsic down on the shoals. He was a eediot,
thot mate-fellow. Ye could look overside an' see the duscoloration
of the watter. 'Twas a close call for the old Tryapsic I'm tellun'
ye. Twice un thirty hours he'd a-hod her
ashore uf ut hod no been
for me."
Captain MacElrath fell to gazing at the
sleeping child with mild
wonder in his small blue eyes, and his wife sought to
divert him
from his woes.
"Ye remember Jummy MacCaul?" she asked. "Ye went tull school wuth
hus two boys. Old Jummy MacCaul thot hoz the farm beyond Doctor
Haythorn's place."
"Oh, aye, an' what o' hum? Uz he dead?"
"No, but he was after askun' your father, when he sailed last time
for Voloparaiso, uf ye'd been there afore. An' when your father
says no, then Jummy says, 'An' how wull he be knowun a' tull find
hus way?' An' with thot your father says: 'Verry sumple ut uz,
Jummy. Supposun' you was goin' tull the
mainland tull a mon who
luved un Belfast. Belfast uz a bug sutty, Jummy, an' how would ye
be findun' your way?' 'By way o' me tongue,' says Jummy; 'I'd be
askun' the folk I met.' 'I told ye ut was sumple,' says your
father. 'Ut's the very same way my Donald finds the road tull
Voloparaiso. He asks every shup he meets upon the sea tull ot last
he meets wuth a shup thot's been tull Voloparaiso, an' the captun
o' thot shup tells hum the way.' An' Jummy scratches hus head an'
says he understands an' thot ut's a very sumple motter after all."
The
skipper chuckled at the joke, and his tired blue eyes were
merry for the moment.
"He was a thun chap, thot mate-fellow, oz thun oz you an' me putt