Will Weatherhelm | Page 8

check those who indulged in it.
I had not been long at sea, though time enough to have any pride I might have possessed knocked out of me, when I was accosted by old Ned Toggles, one of the roughest of the rough hands on board, and generally considered the wit of the crew, with, "And what's your name, youngster? Did any one ever think it worth while to give one to such a shrimp as you?"
"Yes," said I, firing up a little; "I should have thought you knew it by this time."
"Know it! How should I know whether your name is Jack, or Tom, or Bill? Any one on 'em is too good for you, I should think, to look at you," remarked old Toggles, with a grin and a wink at his companions.
"Thank you for nothing," said I, feeling very indignant at the gratuitous insult, as I considered it, thus offered to me. "If you want to know my name, I'll tell it you. It is Willand Wetherholm." The last words I uttered with no little emphasis, while I looked at my shipmates as much as to say, "There! I should like to know who has got as good a name as that!" I saw a grin on the countenance of old Toggles as I spoke.
"Will Weatherhelm!" he ejaculated. "A capital name, lad. Hurrah for Will Weatherhelm. Remember, Will Weatherhelm is to be your name to the end of your days. Come, no nonsense, we'll mark it into you, my boy. Come, give us your arm." What he meant by this I could not tell; but after a little resistance, I found that I must give in. "Come, it's our watch below, and we have plenty of time to spare; we'll set about it at once," said he, taking my arm and baring it up to the elbow. One of the other men then held me while Toggles procured a sharp needle, stuck in a handle, and began puncturing the thick part of my arm between the elbow and wrist. The operation cost me some little pain; but there was no use crying out, so I bore it patiently. When he had done he brought some powdered charcoal or gunpowder, and rubbed it thoroughly over the arm. "There, my lad," said he, "don't go and wash it off, unless you want a good rope's-ending, and you'll see what will come of it."
I waited patiently as I was bid, though my arm smarted not a little, and in three days Toggles told me I might wash as much as I liked. I did wash, and there I found on my arm, indelibly marked, my new name, "Will Weatherhelm!" and at sea, wherever I have been, it has ever since stuck to me.
Note. Weather helm is a sea term. A vessel, when not in perfect trim and too light aft, has a tendency, when on a wind, to luff of her own accord, or to fly up into the wind. To counteract this tendency it is necessary to keep the helm a-weather, and she is then said to carry a weather helm. It is not surprising, therefore, that Toggles should at once catch at my name, and turn it into one which is so familiar to a seaman's ear. Indeed, to this day, I have often to stop and consider which is my proper name, and certainly could not avoid answering to that of Will Weatherhelm.
If one of my old shipmates were to be asked if he knew Willand Wetherholm, he would certainly say, "No; never heard of such a man."
"But don't you remember Will Weatherhelm?"
"I should think so, my boy," would be his reply, and I hope he would say something in my favour.
We had a quick run to the southward till we were somewhere off the latitude of Lisbon, when a gale sprung up from the eastward which drove us off the land, and not only carried every stitch of canvas clear of the bolt-ropes, but very nearly took the masts out of the vessel. It was my watch below when the gale came on, and I was awoke by the terrific blows which the schooner received on her bows; and what with the darkness and the confusion caused by the noise of the sea and the rattling of the blocks aloft, the stamp of feet overhead, and the creaking of the bulk-heads, I fully believed the ship was going down, and that my last moment had come. I thought of my poor old grandmother's warnings, and I would have given anything if I could have recalled my oath and found myself once more safe by her side. "All hands shorten sail!" soon sounded in my ears. I slipped into my clothes in a moment, and hastened on deck.