Fighting the Whales | Page 4

dear me, you are very
warm; will you take a cup of tea to cool you?"
"Thank you, thank you. With much pleasure, unless, indeed, your son
objects to a `stingy old chap' sitting beside him."
I blushed when he repeated my words, and attempted to make some
apology; but the old gentleman stopped me by commencing to explain
his intentions in short, rapid sentences.
To make a long story short, he offered to look after my mother while I
was away, and, to prove his sincerity, laid down five shillings, and said
he would call with that sum every week as long as I was absent. My
mother, after some trouble, agreed to let me go, and, before that
evening closed, everything was arranged, and the gentleman, leaving
his address, went away.
The sailor had been so much filled with surprise at the suddenness of
all this, that he could scarcely speak. Immediately after the departure of
the old gentleman, he said, "Well, good-bye, mistress, good-bye, Bob,"
and throwing on his hat in a careless way, left the room.

"Stop," I shouted after him, when he had got about half-way down stair.
"Hallo! wot's wrong now?"
"Nothing, I only forgot to ask your name."
"Tom Lokins," he bellowed, in the hoarse voice of a regular boatswain,
"w'ich wos my father's name before me."
So saying, he departed, whistling "Rule Britannia" with all his might.
Thus the matter was settled. Six days afterwards, I rigged myself out in
a blue jacket, white ducks, and a straw hat, and went to sea.
CHAPTER TWO.
AT SEA.
My first few days on the ocean were so miserable that I oftentimes
repented of having left my native land. I was, as my new friend Tom
Lokins said, as sick as a dog. But in course of time I grew well, and
began to rejoice in the cool fresh breezes and the great rolling billows
of the sea.
Many and many a time I used to creep out to the end of the bowsprit,
when the weather was calm, and sit with my legs dangling over the
deep blue water, and my eyes fixed on the great masses of rolling
clouds in the sky, thinking of the new course of life I had just begun. At
such times the thought of my mother was sure to come into my mind,
and I thought of her parting words, "Put your trust in the Lord, Robert,
and read His Word." I resolved to try to obey her, but this I found was
no easy matter, for the sailors were a rough lot of fellows, who cared
little for the Bible. But, I must say, they were a hearty, good-natured set,
and much better, upon the whole, than many a ship's crew that I
afterwards sailed with.
We were fortunate in having fair winds this voyage, and soon found
ourselves on the other side of the line, as we jack-tars call the Equator.

Of course the crew did not forget the old custom of shaving all the men
who had never crossed the line before. Our captain was a jolly old man,
and uncommonly fond of "sky-larking." He gave us leave to do what
we liked the day we crossed the line; so, as there were a number of wild
spirits among us, we broke through all the ordinary rules, or, rather, we
added on new rules to them.
The old hands had kept the matter quiet from us greenhorns, so that,
although we knew they were going to do some sort of mischief, we
didn't exactly understand what it was to be.
About noon of that day I was called on deck and told that old father
Neptune was coming aboard, and we were to be ready to receive him.
A minute after, I saw a tremendous monster come up over the side of
the ship and jump on the deck. He was crowned with sea-weed, and
painted in a wonderful fashion; his clothes were dripping wet, as if he
had just come from the bottom of the sea. After him came another
monster with a petticoat made of sailcloth, and a tippet of a bit of old
tarpaulin. This was Neptune's wife, and these two carried on the most
remarkable antics I ever saw. I laughed heartily, and soon discovered,
from the tones of their voices, which of my shipmates Neptune and his
wife were. But my mirth was quickly stopped when I was suddenly
seized by several men, and my face was covered over with a horrible
mixture of tar and grease!
Six of us youngsters were treated in this way; then the lather was
scraped off with a piece of old hoop-iron, and, after being thus shaved,
buckets of cold water were thrown over us.