Overdue | Page 5

four nights ago--'bout three bells in the middle
watch, while it were blowin' hard from the west'ard and we were
runnin' under single-reefed topsails, with a very heavy sea chasin' of us,
the night bein' dark and thick with rain, somebody comes rushin' out of
the poop cabin yellin' like mad, and, afore anybody could stop him,
sprang on to the lee rail, just the fore side of the main riggin', and takes
a header overboard!" More exclamations of astonishment from the
listeners, amid which Polson triumphantly concluded his gruesome
narrative by adding: "Of course we couldn't do nothin', and so the poor
feller were lost. And when Chips and I comed to investigate we found
that the unfortunit man were Mr Masterman, he bein' the only one that
was missin'!"
"Well!" ejaculated the skipper, addressing himself to Mr Moore, our
chief mate; "I've heard a good many queer yarns in my time, of
maritime accident and disaster, but this one tops the lot. The captain
and both mates lost in the same voyage, and, so far as the two last are
concerned, by such queer accidents too! Did you,"--turning to
Polson--"find anything in Mr--what's his name!--Masterman's cabin to
account for his extraordinary behaviour in rushing out on deck and
jumping overboard in the middle of the night?"

"No, sir," answered Polson with much simplicity. "He'd been drinkin' a
goodish bit, and there were a half-empty bottle of rum under his piller;
but--"
"A-ah!" ejaculated the skipper with a whole world of emphasis; "that
may account for a good deal. Well, what happened next?"
"Oh, nothin' else haven't happened, thank God!" exclaimed the
boatswain piously. "But ain't that what I've already told ye quite
enough, sir? What's made it so terrible awk'ard for all hands of us is
that we're now without a navigator, and have lost our reckonin'. So,
after Chips and I had confabulated a bit, we comed to the conclusion
that, knowin' as we was well in the track of ships bound to the east'ard,
the best thing we could do was to heave-to and wait until somethin'
comed along that could spare us somebody to navigate the ship for us
to Sydney. Chips and I are men enough to take care of her--to know
when to make and when to shorten sail--but we don't know nothin'
about navigation, ye see, sir."
"Ay, I see," answered the skipper. "Well, I think you acted very wisely,
boatswain, in heaving-to; I don't know that you could have done
anything better, under the circumstances. But, as to sparing an officer
to navigate you--I have had the misfortune to lose one of my own
mates this voyage, and,"--here his eye happened to fall on me, and he
considered me attentively for several seconds, as though he felt he had
seen me before somewhere, and was trying to remember who I was.
Then his countenance lit up as an idea seemed to strike him, and he
addressed me briskly:
"What d'ye say, Troubridge? You've heard this man's yarn, and
understand the fix that they're in aboard the ship yonder. You are a
perfectly reliable navigator, and a very fair seaman; moreover, the
boatswain says that he and the carpenter are seamen enough to take
care of the ship, which I do not for a moment doubt. Do you feel
inclined to undertake the job of navigating the Mercury from here to
Sydney? It ought to be a very good thing for you, you know. I have no
doubt that the owners--"

I did not wait for him to finish; I knew enough to understand perfectly
well what a splendid thing it would be for me, from a professional point
of view, if I should succeed in safely navigating such a ship as the
Mercury to Sydney; and I had no shadow of doubt of my ability to do
so; I therefore cut in by eagerly expressing my readiness to undertake
the task.
"Then that is all right," remarked the skipper.
Turning to Polson, he said: "This young gentleman is Mr Philip
Troubridge, one of my midshipman-apprentices. He has been with me
for a matter of three years; and he is, as you just now heard me say, an
excellent navigator, and a very good seaman. I have not the least doubt
that he will serve your purpose quite as well as anyone else that you are
at all likely to pick up; and if you care to have him I shall be pleased to
spare him to you. But that is the best that I can do for you; as I told you,
a little while ago, I have lost one of my mates--"
"Say no more, sir; say no more," interrupted Polson. "Your
recommendation's quite sufficient to satisfy me that Mr--er--
Troubridge'll do