Captain January | Page 7

creation on them rocks, now I tell ye. 'The sea, mountin' to
the welkin's cheek;' ye remember, Pigeon Pie?"
The child nodded eagerly. "Tempest!" she said, "Act I., Scene 2: 'Enter
Prospero and Miranda.' Go on, Daddy!"
"Wal, my Lily Flower," continued the old man. "And the storm went on.
It roared, it bellowed, and it screeched: it thumped and it kerwhalloped.
The great seas would come bunt up agin the rocks, as if they was bound
to go right through to Jersey city, which they used to say was the end of
the world. Then they'd go scoopin' back, as if they was callin' all their
friends and neighbours to help; and then, bang! they'd come at it agin.
The spray was flyin' in great white sheets, and whiles, it seemed as if
the hull island was goin' to be swallowed up then and thar. 'Tain't
nothin' but a little heap o' rocks anyhow, to face the hull Atlantic Ocean
gone mad: and on that heap o' rocks was Januarius Judkins, holdin' on
for dear life, and feelin' like a hoppergrass that had got lost in Niag'ry
Falls."
"Don't say that name, Daddy!" interrupted the child. "You know I don't
like it. Say 'Captain January'!"
"I tell ye, Honeysuckle," said the old man, "I felt more like a sea-cook

than a cap'n that night. A cap'n on a quarter-deck's a good thing; but a
cap'n on a p'int o' rock, out to sea in a northeast gale, might just as well
be a fo'c'sle hand and done with it. Wal, as I was holdin' on thar, I seed
a flash to windward, as wasn't lightning; and next minute kem a sound
as wasn't thunder nor yet wind nor sea."
"The guns! the guns!" cried the child, in great excitement. "The guns of
my poor mamma's ship. And then you heard them again, Daddy?"
"Then I heard them agin!" the old man assented. "And agin! a flash,
and a boom! and then in a minute agin, a flash and a boom! 'Oh, Lord!'
says I. 'Take her by to the mainland, and put her ashore there!' I says;
'cause there's a life-saving station thar, ye know, Blossom, and there
might be some chance for them as were in her. But the Lord had His
views, my dear, the Lord had His views! Amen! so be it! In another
minute there kem a break in the clouds, and thar she was, comin' full
head on, straight for Light Island. Oh! my little Star, that was an awful
thing to see. And I couldn't do nothin', you understand. Not a livin'
airthly thing could I do, 'cept hide my face agin the rock I was clingin'
to, and say, 'Dear Lord, take 'em easy! It's Thy will as they should be
took,' I says, 'and there ain't no one to hender, if so be as they could.
But take 'em easy, good Lord, and take 'em suddin!'"
"And He did!" cried the child. "The good Lord did take 'em sudden,
didn't He, Daddy Captain?"
"He did, my child!" said the old man, solemnly. "They was all home,
them that was goin', in ten minutes from the time I saw the ship. You
know the Roarin' Bull, as sticks his horns out o' water just to windward
of us? the cruelest rock on the coast, he is, and the treacherousest: and
the ship struck him full and fair on the starboard quarter, and in ten
minutes she was kindlin' wood, as ye may say. The Lord rest their souls
as went down in her! Amen!"
"Amen!" said little Star, softly. But she added in an eager tone, "And
now, Daddy, you are coming to me!"
"Pooty soon, Jewel Bright!" said the old man, stroking the gold hair
tenderly. "I'm a-comin' to you pooty soon. 'Twas along about eight
bells when she struck, and none so dark, for the moon had risen. After
the ship had gone down, I strained my eyes through the driving spray,
to see whether anything was comin' ashore. Presently I seed somethin'
black, driftin' towards the rocks: and lo' ye, 'twas a boat bottom side up,

and all hands gone down. Wal! wal! the Lord knew what was right: but
it's wuss by a deal to see them things than to be in 'em yourself, to my
thinkin'. Wal, after a spell I looked agin, and there was somethin' else
a-driftin' looked like a spar, it did: and somethin' was lashed to it. My
heart! 'twas tossed about like a egg-shell, up and down, and here and
thar! 'Twas white, whatever was lashed to it, and I couldn't take my
eyes off'n it. 'It can't be alive!' I says, 'whatever it is!' I says. 'But I'll get
it, if it takes