Public-domain ebook
by Mayne Reid
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Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #23853.
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I did not do so because I had been treated unkindly at home. On the contrary, I left behind me a fond and indulgent father, a kind and gentle mother, sisters and brothers who loved me, and who lamented for me long after I was gone.
But no one had more cause to regret this act of filial disobedience than I myself. I soon repented of what I had done, and often, in after life, did it give me pain, when I reflected upon the pain I had caused to my kindred and friends.
From my earliest years I had a longing for the sea--perhaps not so much to be a sailor, as to travel over the great ocean, and behold its wonders. This longing seemed to be part of my nature, for my parents gave no encouragement to such a disposition. On the contrary, they did all in their power to beget within me a dislike for a sea life, as my father had designed for me a far different profession. But the counsels of my father, and the entreaties of my mother all proved unavailing. Indeed--and I feel shame in acknowledging it--they produced an effect directly opposite to that which was intended; and, instead of lessening my inclination to wander abroad, they only rendered me more eager to carry out that design! It is often so with obstinate natures, and I fear that, when a boy, mine was too much of this character. Most to desire that which is most forbidden, is a common failing of mankind; and in doing this, I was perhaps not so unlike others.
Certain it is, that the thing which my parents least desired me to feel an interest in--the great salt sea--was the very object upon which my mind constantly dwelt--the object of all my longings and aspirations.
I cannot tell what first imbued me with a liking for the sea, for I had such a liking almost from the years of childhood. I was born upon the sea-shore, and this fact might explain it; for, during my early life, when I was still but a mere child, I used to sit at the window and look with admiring eyes on the boats with their white sails, and the beautiful ships with their tall tapering masts, that were constantly passing and repassing. How could I do otherwise than admire these grand and glorious structures--so strong and so graceful? How could it be otherwise, than that I should imbibe a longing to be on board of them, and be carried afar over yonder bright blue water?
As I grew older, certain books had chanced to fall into my hands, and these related to the sea--they told of lovely lands that lay upon its shores--of strange races of men and animals--of singular plants and trees--of palms and broad-leaved figs--of the banyan and the baobab--of many things beautiful and wonderful. These books strengthened the inclination I already felt to wander abroad over the ocean.
Another circumstance aided in bringing about the climax. I had an uncle who had been an old skipper--that is, the master of a merchant-ship--and it was the delight of this old gentleman to assemble his nephews around him--there was a goodly number of us--and tell us tales of the sea, to which all were ever eager to listen. Many a budget did he deliver by the winter fireside--for, like the storyteller of the "Arabian Nights," a thousand and one tales could he tell--stories of desperate adventures by flood and field--of storms, hurricanes, and shipwrecks--long voyages in open boats--encounters with pirates and Indians--battles with sharks, and seals, and whales bigger than houses--terrible conflicts with wild beasts--as bears, wolves, lions, and tigers! All these adventures had our old uncle encountered, or said he had, which to his admiring audience was pretty much the same thing.
After listening to such thrilling narrations, no wonder I became tired of home, no wonder my natural inclination grew into a passion I could no longer resist. No wonder I ran away to sea.
And I did so at the age of sixteen--the wonder is I did not go sooner, but it was no fault of mine that I did not; for from the time I was able to talk I had been constantly importuning my parents for leave to go. I knew they could easily have found a situation for me, had they been so minded. They could have bound me as an apprentice on board some of the great merchant vessels sailing for India, or they could have entered me in the Royal Navy as a midshipman, for they were not without high interest; but neither father nor mother would lend an ear to my entreaties.
At length, convinced they would never consent, I resolved upon running away; and, from the age of fourteen, had repeatedly offered myself on board the ships that traded to the neighbouring seaport, but I was too small a boy, and none of them would take me. Some of the captains refused because they knew I had not the consent of my parents; and these were the very kind with whom I should have preferred going; since the fact of their being such conscientious men, would have ensured me good treatment. But as these refused to take me I had no other resource but to try elsewhere, and I at length succeeded in striking a bargain with a skipper who had no scruples about the matter, and I was booked as an apprentice. He knew I was about to run away; and more than this, assisted in the design by letting me know the exact day and hour he was to take his departure from the port.
And I was aboard at the time specified; and before any search could have been made for me, or even before I could have been missed, the vessel had tripped her anchor, spread her sails, and carried me off beyond the possibility of pursuit.
I was not twelve hours on board--twelve minutes I might almost say-- before I was completely cured of my sea fever; and I would have parted with the best tooth in my head to have set my legs once more on land again. Almost on embarking I was overhauled by sea-sickness, and in another hour it became so bad that I thought it would have turned me inside out.
Sea-sickness is a malady not pleasant under any circumstances--even to a first-cabin passenger, with a steward to wait upon him, and administer soothing prescriptions and consoling sympathy. How much more painful to a poor friendless boy treated as I was--sworn at by the surly captain-- cursed and cuffed by the brutal mate--jeered and laughed at by the ruffian crew. Oh! it was horrid, and had the ship been sinking under me at that moment I verily believe I should not have made the slightest effort to save myself!
Forty-eight hours, however, gave me relief from the nauseous ailing, for this like many other diseases is often short-lived where it is most violent. In about two days I was able to stand up and move about the decks, and I was made to move about them with a vengeance.
I have above characterised the captain as "surly," the mate "brutal," and the crew a set of "ruffians": I have spoken without exaggeration. With an exception or two, a more villainous gang I never encountered--of course not before that time--for that was not likely; but never since either, and it has several times been the fortune of my life to mix in very questionable and miscellaneous company.
The captain was not only surly, but positively ferocious when drunk or angry, and one or both he generally was. It was dangerous to go near him--at least for me, or any one that was weak and helpless--for it was chiefly upon the unresisting that he ventured his ill-humour.
I was not long on board before I incurred his displeasure by some mistake I could not possibly help--I had a taste of his temper then, and many a one afterwards, for his spite once kindled against anyone was implacable as the hate of a Corsican, and never became allayed.
He was a short, stout, "bluffy" man, with features perfectly regular, but with fat round cheeks, bullet eyes, and nose slightly upturned--a face which is often employed in pictures to typify good-nature, jollity, and an honest heart; but with little propriety is it so employed in my opinion, since under just such smiling faces have I, during a long life's experience, encountered the greatest amount of dishonesty combined with dispositions most cruel and brutal. Such a man was the skipper into whose tender care I had so recklessly thrown myself.
The mate was an echo of his captain. When the one said "no" the other said "no," and when either said "yes," the other affirmed it. The principal difference between them was that the mate did not drink, and perhaps this lengthened, if it did not strengthen, the bond of friendship that existed between them. Had both been drinkers they must have quarrelled at times; but the mate never "tasted" as he affirmed, and when his superior was in his cups this enabled him to bear the abuse which not unfrequently the captain treated him to. In all matters of discipline, or of anything else, he was with the captain, for though brutal he was but a cowardly fellow and ever ready to fawn upon his master, "boot-lick" him as the sailors termed it.
There was a second mate, but this was a very secondary kind of a character, not worth description, and scarcely to be distinguished from the common "hands" over whom he exercised only a very limited control.
There was a carpenter, an old man with a large swollen rum-reddened nose, another crony of the captain's; and a huge and very ugly negro, who was both cook and steward, and who was vile enough to have held office in the kitchen of Pluto. These were the officers of the ship, and for the men, they were, as already stated, as villainous a crew as I ever encountered. There were exceptions--only one or two,--but it was some time before I discovered them.
In such companionship then did I find myself--I just fresh from the tender protection of parents--from the company of kind friends, and associates. Oh! I was well cured of the sea fever, and would have given half my life to be on land again! How I reproached myself for my folly! How I reproached that friend of the family--the old salt--whose visionary adventures had no doubt been the cause of my sea longings! how in my heart I now execrated both him, and his fanciful stories! Would I had never heard them! would that I had never run away to sea!
Repentance had arrived too late to be of any use. I could no longer return--I must go on, and how long? merciful heaven, the prospect was horrible! Months of my painful life were to be endured. Months! nay years,--for I now remembered that the wretch of a captain had caused me to sign some agreement--I had not even read it, but I knew it was an article of indenture; and I was told afterwards that it bound me for years--for five long years--bound me not an apprentice but in reality a slave. A slave for five years to this hideous brute, who might scold me at will, cuff me at will, kick me at will, have me flogged or put in irons whenever the fancy crossed his mind.
There was no retreating from these hard conditions. Filled with bright visions of "life on the ocean wave," I had subscribed to them without pause or thought. My name was down, and I was legally bound. So they told me both captain and mate, and I believed it.
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