Among Malay Pirates | Page 9

enough for his
captains to report altogether unfavorably of him, it was sufficiently so
for them to shrink from recommending him for promotion, and in
consequence he had seen scores of younger men raised over his head.
He had been for some time unemployed before he had joined the
Serpent, and had been appointed to her only because Captain Forest,
who was a friend of his family, had used his interest on his behalf. He
had, however, when he joined, spoken frankly to him.
"I have asked for you, Morrison," he said, "simply for the sake of your
father; but I tell you frankly, that unless my report is a thoroughly
favorable one, you are not likely to be again employed. I was told that

there was nothing special against you, but that in no case since you
passed have you been warmly spoken of. It has been said that you
know your duty well; but they had privately learned that you were fond
of liquor; and although no charge of absolute drunkenness had been
brought against you, it was considered that you would not make a
desirable officer in a higher rank. Now your future depends upon
yourself; if you have the resolution to give up the habit, you may yet
retrieve yourself. If I find that you do so, I shall certainly take the
opportunity of giving you a chance to distinguish yourself, and shall
strongly urge your claim to promotion. If I am not able to do this, you
must make up your mind to be permanently put upon the shelf."
The admonition had not been in vain, and since joining the Serpent
Morrison had made a successful effort to break himself of the habit. He
had very seldom gone ashore, and when he did so, never went alone,
and always returned at an early hour, and without having taken more
than he would have done in the ordinary way on board. He had not,
however, given up his habit of grumbling, and his messmates were so
accustomed to his taking a somber view of everything that his
prognostication as to the nature of their work up the river had but little
effect upon them.
"What do you think, Sandy?" Harry Parkhurst asked the Scotch
assistant surgeon.
"I know nothing about it, except what I have read. They say that the
country is healthy; but it stands to reason that this cannot be so while
you have got rivers with swamps and jungles and such heat as this.
However, we have a good supply of quinine on board, and with that
and our allowance of spirits, I hope that we shan't, as Morrison says,
have half the ship's company down with the fever. It is all in our favor
that we have only just come out, for they say that newcomers can resist
the effects of these tropical rivers much better than those whose
constitution has been weakened by a residence in the country. As to the
sport, I have no desire to kill any animal that does not meddle with me.
My business is all the other way, and if any of you get mauled, I will do
my best to help the doctor to pull you through; but I am very well on

board the ship, and have no desire to go tramping about among the
swamps, whether it be to hunt animals or fight Malays."
"You think that everyone should stick to his last, Sandy," Dick said
with a laugh. "Well, I only wish there were more on board of your
opinion, for that would give more chances to us who like to stretch our
legs ashore for a change."
"I can stretch my legs here if I want to," the Scotchman said quietly,
"and am not anxious to do more. I suppose, if there are expeditions
against the Malays, I shall have to go with them; but the fewer of them
there are the better I shall be pleased."
The talk was more serious aft, where the doctor and first lieutenant
were dining with the captain. It ended by the latter saying, "Well,
Doctor, if what your friend Hassan said be true, we are likely enough to
have our hands pretty full, and shall have to watch this fellow Sehi as
sharply as we do his neighbors. He is not under our protection yet, and
if he sends his prahus down the river to plunder on the coast, as Hassan
says, he is not the sort of character likely to do us credit, and the
position of a British Resident with him would be the reverse of a
pleasant one. However, we must hope that he is not as black as he is
painted. He has evidently put the other chiefs' backs up, and we