Ben Burton | Page 8

quarters, very
much after the fashion of an Irishman riding a donkey at a race. The
Sergeant of Marines, Julian Killock was his name, on seeing the use I
made of my weapon, took it into his head to teach me the broadsword
exercise, which I very soon learnt. The Jollies now began to
contemplate appropriating me to themselves, and thus, as it may be
supposed, made the Blue-jackets somewhat jealous.
"No, no, Tom Sawyer," I remember hearing one of the latter observe,
"you shall not have little Ben to turn into a horse-marine on no account.
He is our'n and cut out for a blue-jacket, and a blue-jacket he will be till
the end of his days."
Still the Jollies were in no way disposed to give up their share of me, to
which they considered they had a right. I was very nearly the cause of a
serious dispute between the two Services. A compromise was at length
entered into by the suggestion of my father, who agreed that the Jollies
might teach me the sword and platoon exercise, while the Blue-jackets
might impart as much nautical knowledge as I was capable of taking in.
But I was speaking of the goat. I was especially fond of mounting
Nanny's back, though she must have found me considerably heavier
than Quacko. However, as I never played her any tricks, which he
constantly had done, she had no objection to carry me. I consequently
took my daily ride round and round the deck, sweeping close round the
mainmast and forward again.
It is not surprising that people should lose their temper under such a
climate as our ship's company was doomed for so many years to endure.
One afternoon, just as the men had finished dinner, it being a dead calm,

the ocean like a sheet of molten lead, smooth as a mirror, the sun's rays
striking down with tremendous force on our decks, making the pitch
hiss and bubble, while one of the midshipmen was frizzling a piece of
beef on a metal plate, that he might declare when he got home, without
injuring his conscience, that it was usual to cook dinners by the heat of
the sun out in China, and the men lay about gasping for breath, I was
brought up by Pat Brady, that, as he said, I might enjoy a breath of air,
only there happened to be none at the moment, and while I, the least
important personage on board thus made my appearance on the upper
regions of our ocean world, so did the most important, the Captain,
come up to look about him, and whistle for a breeze. It did not come
however, although the Captain kept whistling and whistling away till
his cheeks must have ached. Nanny had been let out of her pen to
discuss the remains of an old straw hat, the other part of which had
been given her for her supper the previous evening, when it came into
Pat Brady's head to place me on her back; I, nothing loth, sung out for
my broadsword, with which I began forthwith to whack the hinder
quarters of my long-horned steed. Off she set, but instead of wheeling
round the mainmast, on she galloped along the forbidden district of the
quarter-deck. The Captain just at that moment, with a stamp of his foot,
vexed at his not getting the wished-for wind, turned round, when
Nanny and I, at a furious speed, dashed bolt against him; and the goat,
catching him between the legs by the impetus she had obtained, sent
him sprawling on the deck, and her horns catching in his coat-tails, he
and she and I all went rolling over together. There we lay, the Captain
spluttering and swearing incontinently, though scarcely able in his rage
to utter a word clearly, the goat tugging away to get again on her legs, I
all the time shrieking out lustily for help. The officers, who had been
pacing the other side of the deck, could scarcely for laughter come to
their chiefs assistance, nor could he, from the struggles of the goat, get
again on his legs, for each time he made the attempt the terrified animal
in her efforts to escape his fury once more pulled him down. I however,
had managed to roll out of the way, while my cries, which did not cease,
although I was clear of danger, caught the ears of Toby Kiddle, who
was coming along the main-deck. He sprang up the main hatchway
ladder, and rushing up seized me in his arms. Just then the purser and
surgeon managed to raise up the Captain; not, however, till Nanny had

almost torn off his coat-tails, and finding herself released was
scampering back to the fore-part