The Strange Adventures of Eric Blackburn | Page 9

I had fully

expected--receiving a cordial invitation to come alongside; "I was
fourth officer of the Saturn, of the Planet Line of steamers running
between London and Melbourne--" and then I stopped, for instead of
listening to me they were all talking together again. At length, when the
life-boat had crept up close under the brigantine's lee quarter, one of the
men came to the rail and, looking down into the boat, remarked:
"All right, mister; come aboard, and welcome. Look out, and I'll heave
ye a line."
A couple of minutes later the life-boat, with her sails lowered, was
alongside, and, climbing the craft's low side, I reached her deck.
"Welcome aboard the Yorkshire Lass, mister," I was greeted by a great
burly specimen of the British "shellback", as I stepped in over the rail.
"Very glad to see ye, I'm sure. But what about your boat? She's a fine
boat and no mistake; but I'm afraid we'll have to let her go adrift. She's
too big for us to hoist her in; we've no place on deck where we could
stow her. But if there's anything of value aboard her we'll have it out,
eh, mister?"
"Certainly," I agreed. "There is still a quantity of preserved provisions
in that locker; there are the two water breakers; there is a life-buoy--and
that is about all. But, look here!" I continued; "if something must be
turned adrift, why not get rid of that long-boat of yours, and hoist in the
life-boat in her place? The latter is very much the better boat of the
two--there is indeed no comparison between them-- and I am sure she
would stow very snugly in your long-boat's chocks."
"Ay," agreed the other, "I believe she would. And, as you say, she's a
lot better than the long-boat; she've got air-chambers, I see, and--in fact
she's a proper life-boat, and she's roomy enough to take all hands of us
if anything should happen. What say, chaps, shall us try it?"
This last to the other men, who had stood around listening to
everything that was said.
The party, five of them in all, slouched over to the rail and stood

looking down into the life-boat with an air of stolid indifference, as she
rose and fell alongside. Then they turned and looked inboard at the
long-boat, which stood upright in chocks, on top of the main hatch,
with the jolly-boat stowed, keel-up, inside her. Finally one of them
said:
"Yah, ve'll do id; she's wort' de drouble. Gome on, poys, led's ged do
vork; we haven'd done moosh dese lasd dwo days, und id von'd hurd us.
Shoomp ub dere, zome of you und ged de sholly-boad oud of dad!"
"Now," thought I, "what sort of a craft is this that I've blundered aboard
of? She's Liberty Hall afloat, by the look of it--Jack as good as his
master! There seems to be something a bit queer here--something that I
can't quite understand at present, but I'll find out what it is before long.
Which of those fellows is the skipper, I wonder--or, if neither of them
is, as I am very much inclined to think, where is he?" And then I
suddenly recalled to mind the question--"Are you a navigator?"--which
had been put to me before I received permission to come aboard. For a
moment I thought of demanding an explanation before permitting the
life-boat to be hoisted in; but I changed my mind and resolved to defer
my investigation until later. I flattered myself that if anything should
prove to be really wrong aboard the brigantine I had wit enough to
enable me to deal with it.
Meanwhile, the five men, having summoned three others from the
forecastle to their assistance, got to work with the exasperating
deliberation characteristic of the British merchant seaman to be found
in the forecastles of small craft; and first of all they got the jolly- boat
down on deck and ran her aft, out of the way; then they cleared out a
number of warps, cork fenders, and other lumber from the long-boat,
lifted her out of her chocks, and finally, unshipping the gangway,
launched her overboard, fisherman-fashion, and dropped her astern,
riding to her painter. Then they got their mast and yard tackles aloft,
arranged the chocks in place on the main hatch, and with a tremendous
amount of fuss, with the assistance of snatch-blocks, the windlass, and
the winch, they contrived to hoist in and stow the life-boat that had
stood me in such good stead for nearly a fortnight. That done, all hands

held another somewhat lengthy and animated pow-wow on the
forecastle-head, at the conclusion of which the man who had given me
permission to come aboard came aft and, pointing to the life-boat,
remarked to