Derval Hampton: A Story of the Sea, Volume 2 (of 2)

"A WET SHEET AND A FLOWING SEA."

Another long spell of the sea, including several voyages and some stirring adventures, was before Derval now, with a protracted absence from Britain. The ship was not getting ready for sea, so Captain Talbot was on shore, when a hansom cab deposited Derval and his belongings close by the gangway that led on board, where he was warmly welcomed by Joe Grummet and Harry Bowline.

"So Girtline has left us, Hal?"

"Yes, in bad health."

"And what sort of fellow is his successor?" asked Derval as they descended to the cabin.

"He is simply horrid--a cad, a brute!" exclaimed Bowline. "He is in the hold just now, and if a cask fell out of the slings on his head, it would be a good thing for all on board. He is so different from poor Girtline; he looks like an old pirate, and has stopped our promotion; but you see, Hampton, the owners think us rather young for further advancement yet. Steward, a couple of grogs; the sun is over the fore-yard!"

"When do we sail?"

"I don't exactly know, but I wish we saw Blue Peter up!"

"This Rudderhead--" began Derval, thinking of the mysterious letter.

"You'll have enough of him in time, I doubt not. He has already caused much ill-blood on board."

"How?"

"He plays the tyrant in the Captain's absence; he has stopped the men's grog for next to nothing, though he is seldom quite sober himself; he sent two of the apprentices aloft, and had them lashed to the topgallant shrouds, in sight of all the people; and, like a beast as he is, had the lashings wetted that they might shrink, a trick he must have picked up in the Canton river! He refused Joe Grummet leave, and me too, though there was no duty to do but the anchor-watch," said Bowline, referring to the two or three men appointed to look after a ship while at anchor or in port. "But hush! here he comes lumbering down the companion-ladder--screwed, I have no doubt."

Step by step he came down, his large splay feet, thick legs, the broader part of his person, his great back, short neck, and bullet-like head all appearing in succession. He looked full and scrutinisingly at the new-comer, while Hal, taking off his cap, bowed to each, and said mockingly:

"Mr. Derval Hampton--Mr. Reeve Rudderhead; Mr. Reeve Rudderhead--Mr. Derval Hampton."

The first mate eyed both viciously, particularly Bowline, who finished his grog, and eyeing him defiantly in turn, went slowly on deck, singing as he went a grotesque song:

"We bore away to the Greenland seas till we saw a mighty whale, The tremendous length of which, 'tis said, did reach from the head to the tail, brave boys! The captain on the bowsprit stood, with the mainmast in his hand: 'Overhaul, overhaul! let the main-deck fall, and belay her to the land, brave boys!'"

Mr. Rudderhead meanwhile seated himself on a locker and leisurely proceeded to fill a clay pipe, while quite as leisurely surveying Derval. He was a piratical, bull-dog looking fellow, about forty years of age, with a broad swollen visage, which, where it was not red by grog blossoms and blotches, was covered by cuts and scars, won in fisticuff battles in the vicinity of Wapping or the docks. His figure was powerful and suggestive of enormous brutal strength. His appearance was repugnant and dirty; he wore the kind of uniform prescribed by Curry & Co. for the officers of their ships, but it was evidently a second-hand suit, and was already greasy, foul, and frayed.

As his eyes met those of Derval, the latter felt, "by instinct swift as light," that he was face to face with an enemy--a worse one than Paul Bitts--who was, moreover, the cousin of his hostile step-mother, and no doubt in frequent communication with her.

"Oho!" said he, scraping a match and lighting his pipe; "so you are Derval Hampton, eh?"

"I am, as yet, Mr. Derval Hampton to you, sir," said our hero sharply.

"I beg your pardon, Mister Hampton," said he, lifting his cap impertinently.

"Yes; and I am third mate of this ship."

"I am the first, which you'll find out in time, so let us know each other at once. I am a sharp hand at my duty, and stand no nonsense--so keep a bright look-out, I say!" he added, adopting a bullying tone, as he had evidently been drinking; and he interlarded his conversation with many "strange oaths," which we cannot commit to paper.

"You are, I understand, a cousin of my step-mother?" said Derval, not unwilling to try and conciliate this truculent fellow, with whom his lot would be unluckily cast for some time.

"Yes, first cousin; and she told me to look very particularly after you."

"Indeed--very kind of her! But I can look pretty well after myself, and others too."

"I believe you are apt to cut up rough on occasions, and lay out to windward if you can."

"Indeed!" said Derval, his choler rising.

"And I was to see that you did your duty well, to ship and owners."

"I can do my duty without need of your supervision," said Derval, annoyed still more by the peculiar tone this obnoxious personage adopted.

"And so can I, though I don't belong to the Royal Naval Reserve," said he with a sneer.

"Nor are ever likely to do so, unless you mend your manners and your morals, too."

"What the--what do you know about me or my morals?" demanded Rudderhead, with a black look; "you lubberly haymaker!"

"I can guess much--we guess much about ships that go down, though we may not be certain about them."

"_Down_--what do you mean by or about down--any particular ship?" asked the other hoarsely, and with a terrible oath, while his face grew pale, all save the pimples and blotches, and his eyes glared like those of a rattlesnake.

"I mean precisely what my words infer," replied Derval disdainfully, as he quitted the cabin and went on deck, convinced that he had, by a random speech, probed some dark secret in this man's life, and stung him in some way; and in the time to come he gained a clue to it.

How a woman so refined and lady-like as Mrs. Hampton--for she was both in appearance, unquestionably--came to have such a remarkable kinsman it was difficult to say; but from that hour there was a declared feud between him and Derval, and both were prepared to carry it out to the bitter end.

Derval's indignation was very keen. Through all the years he had been away from home, the tender home-love had never died in his honest and passionate heart. To Finglecombe he had sent all he could give--letters, presents, and many a token of regard; but all in vain; and now she, who had driven him from that home--a luxurious one now--had found him an enemy, and a dangerous one, in the truculent savage, Reeve Rudderhead.

Derval hailed the return of the Captain on board with right good welcome. He was warmly welcomed by the latter, who said:

"I saw by the London Gazette, and other papers, that Her Majesty had, at the request of Lord Oakhampton, given you the Albert Medal for saving his girl's life! Long may you live to wear it, Derval; but now you must, like me, join the Reserve; you'll just be able to manage your training before we sail."