The World of Ice | Page 3

said, 'Come at once.'

But your father knows best, lad; and you're a wise son to obey orders
cheerfully, without question. That's another o' my maxims, 'Obey
orders, an' ax no questions.'"
Frederick Ellice, senior, who now approached, whispering words of
consolation into the ear of his weeping sister, might, perhaps, have just
numbered fifty years. He was a fine, big, bold, hearty Englishman, with
a bald head, grizzled locks, a loud but not harsh voice, a rather quick
temper, and a kind, earnest, enthusiastic heart. Like Buzzby, he had
spent nearly all his life at sea, and had become so thoroughly
accustomed to walking on an unstable foundation that he felt quite
uncomfortable on solid ground, and never remained more than a few
months at a time on shore. He was a man of good education and
gentlemanly manners, and had worked his way up in the merchant
service step by step until he obtained the command of a West India
trader.
A few years previous to the period in which our tale opens, an event
occurred which altered the course of Captain Ellice's life, and for a long
period plunged him into the deepest affliction. This was the loss of his
wife at sea under peculiarly distressing circumstances.
At the age of thirty Captain Ellice had married a pretty blue-eyed girl,
who resolutely refused to become a sailor's bride unless she should be
permitted to accompany her husband to sea. This was without much
difficulty agreed to, and forthwith Alice Bremner became Mrs. Ellice,
and went to sea. It was during her third voyage to the West Indies that
our hero Fred was born, and it was during this and succeeding voyages
that Buzzby became "all but a wet-nurse" to him.
Mrs. Ellice was a loving, gentle, seriously-minded woman. She devoted
herself, heart and soul to the training of her boy, and spent many a
pleasant hour in that little, unsteady cabin in endeavouring to instil into
his infant mind the blessed truths of Christianity, and in making the
name of Jesus familiar to his ear. As Fred grew older his mother
encouraged him to hold occasional intercourse with the sailors--for her
husband's example taught her the value of a bold, manly spirit, and she
knew that it was impossible for her to instil that into him--but she was

careful to guard him from the evil that he might chance to learn from
the men, by committing him to the tender care of Buzzby. To do the
men justice, however, this was almost unnecessary, for they felt that a
mother's watchful eye was on the child, and no unguarded word fell
from their lips while he was romping about the forecastle.
When it was time for Fred to go to school, Mrs. Ellice gave up her
roving life and settled in her native town of Grayton, where she resided
with her widowed sister, Amelia Bright, and her niece Isobel. Here
Fred received the rudiments of an excellent education at a private
academy. At the age of twelve, however, Master Fred became restive,
and during one of his father's periodical visits home, begged to be taken
to sea. Captain Ellice agreed; Mrs. Ellice insisted on accompanying
them; and in a few weeks they were once again on their old home, the
ocean, and Fred was enjoying his native air in company with his friend
Buzzby, who stuck to the old ship like one of her own stout timbers.
But this was destined to be a disastrous voyage. One evening, after
crossing the line, they descried a suspicious-looking schooner to
windward, bearing down upon them under a cloud of canvas.
"What do you think of her, Buzzby?" inquired Captain Ellice, handing
his glass to the seaman.
Buzzby gazed in silence and with compressed lips for some time; then
he returned the glass, at the same time muttering the word, "Pirate."
"I thought so," said the captain in a deep, unsteady voice. "There is but
one course for us, Buzzby," he continued, glancing towards his wife,
who, all unconscious of their danger, sat near the taffrail employed with
her needle; "these fellows show no mercy, because they expect none
either from God or man. We must fight to the last. Go, prepare the men
and get out the arms. I'll tell my wife."
Buzzby went forward; but the captain's heart failed him, and he took
two or three rapid, hesitating turns on the quarter-deck ere he could
make up his mind to speak.

"Alice," he said at length abruptly, "yonder vessel is a pirate."
Mrs. Ellice looked up in surprise, and her face grew pale as her eye met
the troubled gaze of her husband.
"Are you quite sure, Frederick?"
"Yes, quite. Would God that I were left alone to--but--nay, do not be
alarmed;