The History of Little Peter, the Ship Boy | Page 6

your first night at sea rather strange to
you."
"Where is the vessel going to?" asked Peter, who fully expected to be
told that it was to the Holy Land, or India, or some of the few other
distant countries of which he had heard.
"We are bound to Newcastle first to take in coals, and it's more than I
can tell you where we shall go after that."
"Is Newcastle in a far-off country?" asked Peter.
"It's a good bit from here," said old Jim; "and if you want to be a sailor,
you will have a fair chance of learning before the voyage is out, and so

take my advice and don't trouble yourself about the matter. Do as I tell
you, just lie down--you would have slept all the sounder if you had
taken the grog, though."
Old Jim was afraid, perhaps, that Peter would get talking to the rest of
the crew, and hear something about Captain Hawkes which might
induce him to go on shore again, the last boy having run from the ship,
though shoeless and penniless, rather than endure the treatment he had
received.
Peter, not suspecting old Jim's motive, sat down on the locker in the
cabin. Not feeling disposed to sleep he took up his Bible, as he had
been accustomed to do when tending sheep on the Springvale downs,
and began to read. Old Jim gazed at him with open eyes. To see a
ship's-boy reading a book, and that book the Bible, as he guessed it to
be, was entirely out of his experience. "He must be a curious chap," he
said to himself; "I don't know that he will suit us, after all; but then he
will soon get all that knocked out of him I have a notion."
Peter, who never failed to pray that God's Holy Spirit would enlighten
his mind when he read the Bible, was so completely absorbed in
perusing the sacred page, that he did not observe old Jim's glances, nor
hear his muttered words. At length, feeling his eyes heavy, he closed
the book and replaced it in his bosom. Then he lay down, as he had
been advised, on the locker, and was soon fast asleep. The fatigue he
had gone through, and the heat of the cabin, made him sleep soundly,
and he did not hear the noise of the men's feet on deck as the warps
were cast off, or their "yeo! yeo! yeos!" as they hoisted the sails.
The captain, who came into the cabin to deposit his papers and several
articles he had brought on board, did not rouse him up, and the Polly
gliding smoothly out of the harbour, was some distance from the land
before he awoke.
The sun, a bright ball of fire setting the heavens all ablaze, was sinking
into the ocean astern when Peter made his way on deck; the coast with
its sandy bays, rocky cliffs, and lofty headlands, their western sides
tinged with a ruddy glow appearing on the left, while the calm ocean of

an almost purple tint with a golden hue cast across it, stretched away to
the right.
Peter felt its beauty and majestic tranquillity far more than he could
have found words to express. The dark sails, the dirty deck, the
begrimed countenances and slovenly dress of the crew contrasted with
the purity of the sky and ocean all around.
The captain and old Jim his mate were standing aft, speaking to each
other. They were apparently talking about him, for they cast their
glances towards where he stood looking round and uncertain what to
do.
He was aroused by the captain shouting to him: "You are one of the
sleeping order, youngster, I see; you have had a long snooze; you will
have to keep your eyes open in future. What is your name?"
"Peter Gray, sir," answered the boy.
"Peter is enough for us," said the captain. "Now go forward; your berth
is in the forepeak, you will understand; and Jim and the cook will find
you work enough. You don't expect to be idle?"
"No, sir," said Peter, "I came to learn to be a sailor."
"They will teach you, and fast enough, too, with a rope's-end if you
don't look sharp about you," said the captain, with a laugh, "and soon
make you dip your hands in the tar-bucket and swash-tub. Have you
got any working duds with you?"
"I don't know what duds mean, sir," answered Peter.
"Not know what duds mean, and you a sailor's son, as you tell me?
Clothes, to be sure," cried the captain, laughing again.
"I have got another suit for Sundays, when I go to church, sir,"
answered Peter.
The captain and old Jim laughed in chorus