The Crew of the Water Wagtail

Crew of the Water Wagtail, by
R.M. Ballantyne

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Title: The Crew of the Water Wagtail
Author: R.M. Ballantyne
Release Date: June 6, 2007 [EBook #21710]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE CREW OF THE WATER WAGTAIL, BY R.M. BALLANTYNE
CHAPTER ONE.
A ROUGH BEGINNING.

It is well that mankind cannot pry into the secrets of futurity.
At all events, it is certain that if the crew of the Water Wagtail had
known what was in store for them when they set sail from Bristol, one
fine spring morning at the beginning of the sixteenth century, most of
them would have remained at home--though it is not improbable that,
even with full knowledge of coming events, some of the romantic
among them, and a few of the reckless, might have decided to go on.
Undoubtedly Paul Burns would have scorned to draw back, for he was
a "hero of romance;" an enthusiast of the deepest dye, with an inquiring
mind, a sanguine disposition, and a fervent belief in all things great and
good and grand. He was also a six-footer in his socks, a horse in
constitution, a Hercules in frame, with a hook nose and a hawk eye and
a strong jaw--and all the rest of it. Paul had a good brain, too, and was
well educated--as education went in those days. Yes, there can be little
doubt that even though Paul Burns had been able to see into the future,
he would have deliberately chosen to go on that voyage.
So would Oliver Trench, for Oliver worshipped Paul! He loved him as
if he had been an elder brother. He admired him, afar off, as a rare
specimen of human perfection. He looked up to him, physically as well
as mentally, for Oliver was at that time little more than a boy of
medium size, but bold as a bull-dog and active as a weasel. Yes, we are
safe to say that a revelation of the disasters, dangers, sufferings,
etcetera, in store, would not have deterred Oliver Trench. He would
have gone on that voyage simply because Paul Burns went. That was
reason enough for him. The devotion of Ruth to Naomi was mild
compared with that of Oliver to Paul--if words are a test of feelings--for
Ruth's beautiful language could not compare with the forcible
expressions with which Oliver assured his friend that he would stick to
him, neck or nothing, through thick and thin, to the latest hour of life!
As for the rest of the crew--Big Swinton, Little Stubbs, George Blazer,
Squill, and the like--it was well, as we have said, that they could not
see into the future.
There were forty of them, all told, including the cook and the cabin-boy.

We do not include Paul Burns or Oliver Trench, because the former
was naturalist to the expedition--a sort of semi-scientific freelance; and
the latter, besides being the master's, or skipper's, son, was a
free-and-easy lance, so to speak, whose duties were too numerous to
mention, and too indefinite to understand. Most of the men were what
is expressed by the phrase "no better than they should be." Some of
them, indeed, were even worse than that. The wars of the period had
rendered it difficult to obtain good seamen at that particular time, so
that merchant skippers had to content themselves with whatever they
could get. The crew of the Water Wagtail was unusually bad, including,
as it did, several burglars and a few pickpockets, besides loafers and
idlers; so that, before leaving Bristol, a friend of the skipper, whose
imagination was lively, styled it a crew of forty thieves.
The coast of Norway was the destination of the Water Wagtail. She
never reached the coast of--but we must not anticipate. What her object
was in reference to Norway we cannot tell. Ancient records are silent
on the point.
The object of Paul Burns was to gather general information. At that
period the world was not rich in general information. To discover, to
dare, to do--if need were, to die--was the intention of our big hero. To
be similarly circumstanced in a small way was our little hero's
ambition.
"Goin' to blow," remarked Skipper Trench, on the evening of the day
on which he sailed, as he paced the deck with his hands in his pockets,