Jack Tier | Page 7

has to
drag a cab about this big town. My eye! what a horse it is, sir!"
Josh was right, not only as to the gray horse that carried his head
"sorrowful like," but as to the cab and its contents. The vehicle was
soon on the wharf, and in its door soon appeared the short, sturdy
figure of Capt. Spike, backing out, much as a bear descends a tree. On
top of the vehicle were several light articles of female appliances, in the
shape of bandboxes, bags, &c., the trunks having previously arrived in
a cart. Well might that over-driven gray horse appear sorrowful, and
travel with a lowered head. The cab, when it gave up its contents,
discovered a load of no less than four persons besides the driver, all of
weight, and of dimensions in proportion, with the exception of the
pretty and youthful Rose Budd. Even she was plump, and of a
well-rounded person; though still light and slender. But her aunt was a
fair picture of a ship-master's widow; solid, comfortable and buxom.
Neither was she old, nor ugly. On the contrary, her years did not exceed
forty, and being well preserved, in consequence of never having been a
mother, she might even have passed for thirty-five. The great objection
to her appearance was the somewhat indefinite character of her shape,
which seemed to blend too many of its charms into one. The fourth
person, in the fare, was Biddy Noon, the Irish servant and factotum of

Mrs. Budd, who was a pock-marked, red-faced, and red-armed single
woman, about her mistress's own age and weight, though less stout to
the eye.
Of Rose we shall not stop to say much here. Her deep-blue eye, which
was equally spirited and gentle, if one can use such contradictory terms,
seemed alive with interest and curiosity, running over the brig, the
wharf, the arm of the sea, the two islands, and all near her, including
the Alms-House, with such a devouring rapidity as might be expected
in a town-bred girl, who was setting out on her travels for the first time.
Let us be understood; we say town-bred, because such was the fact; for
Rose Budd had been both born and educated in Manhattan, though we
are far from wishing to be understood that she was either very
well-born, or highly educated. Her station in life may be inferred from
that of her aunt, and her education from her station. Of the two, the last
was, perhaps, a trifle the highest.
We have said that the fine blue eye of Rose passed swiftly over the
various objects near her, as she alighted from the cab, and it naturally
took in the form of Harry Mulford, as he stood in the gangway, offering
his arm to aid her aunt and herself in passing the brig's side. A smile of
recognition was exchanged between the young people, as their eyes met,
and the colour, which formed so bright a charm in Rose's sweet face,
deepened, in a way to prove that that colour spoke with a tongue and
eloquence of its own. Nor was Mulford's cheek mute on the occasion,
though he helped the hesitating, half-doubting, half-bold girl along the
plank with a steady hand and rigid muscles. As for the aunt, as a
captain's widow, she had not felt it necessary to betray any
extraordinary emotions in ascending the plank, unless, indeed, it might
be those of delight on finding her foot once more on the deck of a
vessel!
Something of the same feeling governed Biddy, too, for, as Mulford
civilly extended his hand to her also, she exclaimed--"No fear of me,
Mr. Mate--I came from Ireland by wather, and knows all about ships
and brigs, I do. If you could have seen the times we had, and the saas
we crossed, you'd not think it nadeful to say much to the likes iv me."
Spike had tact enough to understand he would be out of his element in
assisting females along that plank, and he was busy in sending what he
called "the old lady's dunnage" on board, and in discharging the

cabman. As soon as this was done, he sprang into the main-channels,
and thence vid the bulwarks, on deck, ordering the plank to be hauled
aboard. A solitary labourer was paid a quarter to throw off the fasts
from the ring-bolts and posts, and everything was instantly in motion to
cast the brig loose. Work went on as if the vessel were in haste, and it
consequently went on with activity. Spike bestirred himself, giving his
orders in a way to denote he had been long accustomed to exercise
authority on the deck of a vessel, and knew his calling to its minuti‘.
The only ostensible difference