Frank Nelson in the Forecastle. Or, The Sportman's Club Among the Whalers

"Almost twice as large as this one," thought Frank, hardly able to believe his ears. "Whew! I will never sail another foot in the Tycoon after we reach the Sandwich Islands. If a youngster can kick up a row like this, what could a full grown one do? What wouldn't he do if he got mad?"

Frank was greatly relieved to hear one of the men say at that moment that the ship was coming down to pick them up. It was anything but pleasant to be placed in such a situation as that in which he and his companions were placed just then, immersed to their necks in salt water, every wave making a clean breach over them, nothing but a battered boat to keep them afloat, an enraged and ugly whale in close proximity, and a school of hungry sharks expected to arrive every moment. On the contrary, it was a situation well calculated to inspire terror.

The good ship never seemed to move so slowly before, but she came up with them at last, a boat pulled by two men came out to their relief, and in ten minutes more the wrecked boat was on deck in possession of the carpenter, and the exhausted men were in the forecastle, exchanging their wet clothes for dry ones. When Frank went on deck again the whale was in his "flurry," which, upon inquiry, he found to be a sailor's way of saying "death struggle." The mate and his crew had made short work of him, and Frank came up too late to see the lance used. The whale was swimming in a circle at a surprising rate of speed, pounding the sea with his flukes, spouting blood from his blow-hole, and rolling from side to side as if trying to reach his enemies with his jaw. His fury increased for a few seconds, then gradually lessened, and finally the captured monster rolled over and lay motionless on the water. "Fin out!" cried all the sailors on the Tycoon, which was equivalent to saying, "he is dead." Then all joined in a yell of triumph, except Frank. He could not help feeling sorry for the conquered leviathan, who had battled so strongly for his life, and told himself that it was a mean business altogether.

"Men who can torture a beast like that to death and feel no remorse over it, would serve their fellow creatures the same way if they had a good chance," was what he said to himself. "I know now how it comes that the captain and his two mates are so brutal. They have practiced on whales so long that they have no feeling left."

Now came the work of making fast to the whale, which was begun as soon as the ship was brought alongside of it. Frank did not see how it was done, for he was kept busy at something else. When he had leisure to look over the side he found the game secured by a chain, one end of which was fastened just above the tail, and the other led through a hawsehole to the bitts. He could see the whole length of him now, and had it not been for the three harpoons sticking in his back and side, he could hardly have brought himself to believe that it was the same whale that smashed his boat. He looked very much smaller, and the reason was because he had something to compare him with.

And now came the most disagreeable part of a whaleman's duties – the cutting in and trying out. The first consists in removing the blubber from the body of the whale, cutting off the head and bailing out the spermaceti; and the next in rendering out the oil in the try-kettles. Lucas said that, as the day was far spent, the work ought not to be commenced until the next morning. The crew could then have a good night's sleep after their hard work in the boats, and be fresh and ready for the laborious duties before them; but Captain Barclay thought differently. He never cared for the comfort of his men, so he ordered them to begin at once.

How long it took to do the work Frank never knew, for he was too busy and too completely tired out to keep track of the days. The crew was so small that every man was required to handle the blubber as it was hauled aboard by the tackles; and when that was all stowed, and the carcass cut adrift, the watches were lengthened into six (they were often nearer eight) hours each, and the trying out began. Frank did not wonder that the men grew quarrelsome, and that more than one of them had to be driven to his work with a rope's end, being compelled, as they were, to work almost twenty hours out of the twenty-four. He thought often of what he had read concerning the fiendish ingenuity displayed by the Chinese in inventing modes of torture for those who disobey their laws, and told himself that some of them must have served their time in a whale-ship, and there learned by experience the misery to which a person is subjected when deprived of sleep. Frank would not have resented a blow himself now, he was too weak and dispirited; but he would have given all he ever hoped to possess, if he could have lain down in all the oil and dirt of the blubber-room, and had a good sound nap. The work was made harder by the captain's great desire to fill up the hold as soon as possible. He kept the mast-head manned all day by some of the crew who ought to have been allowed to go below to rest, and swore at them roundly because they did not raise another whale; although it is hard to tell what good it would have done if they had discovered a school of them, for in their exhausted condition they never could have endured a lengthened struggle with one. Frank often thought, after it was all over, that the only thing that sustained him during that week, was the sweet, sound sleep he had every time he acted as lookout. Seated on the royal yard, a hundred and more feet in the air, with his back against the stay and a rope passed about his waist to keep him from falling off, he would slumber like a log, leaving the whales, if there were any, to spout in peace. The rest of the crew being equally sleepy and careless, no more whales were raised, and Frank was glad of it.

"I can't stand this, Mr. Gale," said Frank one day, when the third officer came into the blubber-room where he was at work, "and I won't."

"You won't?"

"No, sir. I have never done any soldiering since I have been aboard here, but I shall do it hereafter."

"Do you know that you are talking to the third mate of this ship?" demanded Mr. Gale, who seemed surprised at Frank's strong language.

"I do, sir, and I am not afraid to speak to you more plainly still."

"Why ain't you?"

"Because I know that you will neither get angry at what I say nor repeat it."

"Well, I suppose I ought to give you a good blowing-up for your impudence," said the mate, who had to smile in spite of himself, "but I can't."

"No, of course you can't. You know I have cause to be down on every officer of this ship except you, and that I will some day be in a position to make them smart for it. You know what they have done."

"Well, we'll drop that. It ain't for me to talk about the doings of my superiors. I came down here to tell you something that'll liven you up a bit, may be. We shall sight the Islands in a few days, and the old man is going to put you ashore."

"Good for him," exclaimed Frank, who was wide awake in an instant. "How about Lucas and Barton?"

"Don't talk so loud. The masts, bulkheads and everything else have ears in this ship. I don't know about them. He didn't say."

"They must go if I go," said Frank. "I shall need them for witnesses."

"But you mustn't call any witnesses. If you go ashore at Honolulu, you must keep still and say nothing."

"O, I must! Do you think that's the sort of fellow I am? Must I let a man kidnap me, carry me away from my friends to some out-of-the-way part of the world, and then, in order to gain the liberty of which he has deprived me and which rightfully belongs to me, promise him that he shall go scot free? Must he be allowed to run at large to try the same game upon somebody else, and perhaps abuse and maltreat him until he jumps overboard, as those two men did shortly before you reached Fr'isco? No, sir! He be jerked as high as the strong arm of the law can lift him, and that's pretty high. A thousand dollars fine and a long term in the penitentiary are the rewards that surely await him, and perhaps he can be tried for manslaughter. I am bound to have my liberty, Mr. Gale, and I shall get it without entering into any such agreement as that. If anybody makes promises, it will be Captain Barclay."

Frank, being thoroughly aroused, clattered away in spite of all the officer's attempts to interrupt him. He could not have told why he said what he did toward the last. Perhaps he had a prophetic vision, during which the thrilling scenes that were so soon to be enacted were plainly portrayed. At any rate the words came into his mind, and he uttered them regardless of consequences. He was about to say something more, but an emphatic and warning gesture from the mate stopped him.

Frank looked up and saw Calamity's sinister face peering down the hatchway. His first impulse was to knock him over with the handle of the blubber-knife for playing eavesdropper; but the vacant expression on the man's countenance induced the hope that perhaps he had only just come there, and had heard nothing he could make use of.

"Look here," exclaimed Mr. Gale suddenly, doubling up his huge fist and shaking it at Frank, "I am an officer of this ship and you must respect me, or I'll teach you manners. Put a 'sir' in when you speak to me. As for Cap'n Barclay promising you them boots, I reckon you'll get 'em when this work is done; and if I hand 'em to you you'll get 'em over your head for your impudence!"

"O, is that you down there, Mr. Gale?" exclaimed Calamity. "It is so dark I couldn't see you. The captain wants you on deck."

The officer lingered a moment to add a few words to what he had already said, and then mounted the ladder leading to the deck, while Frank went on separating the fleshy fibres from the blubber.

CHAPTER XII

HOW FRANK SAW THE CONSUL

FRANK knew why it was that Mr. Gale changed his tone and manner so suddenly. It was Calamity's presence that made him do it. The mate knew that if this man had overheard any of the conversation between himself and Frank he would go straight to the captain with it; and it would never do to let the skipper know that one of his officers had been so familiar with a foremast hand. It would not only make it unpleasant for himself, but Frank would most likely be punished for daring to express himself so plainly. Mr. Gale hoped that by speaking roughly and flourishing his fists in the most approved quarter-deck style, he could put Calamity on the wrong scent, and make him believe that he had been taking Frank to task for something. But the eavesdropper understood all that, and was much too smart to be deceived by any such artifice.

"They can't shut up my eyes in no such way as that," said he, with a knowing shake of his head. "I heard it all, and see through their backing and filling as plainly as they do. I've got a chance to square yards with both of them now, and I knew it would come if I only waited long enough and kept my eyes and ears open. That Gentleman Black is so stuck up that he won't notice a common fellow like me, and Mr. Gale jawed me the other day and called me a soldier and a lubber. Won't there be a healthy old row here directly? I guess yes."

There certainly would be if this man was able to bring it about, for he took great delight in such things, especially when he knew that he was out of danger himself. He hunted up the captain without delay, and the latter saw at a glance that he had something to tell him. "What is it, Gardner?" said he. (Behind his back the captain always called him Calamity, and in his heart despised him as cordially as any of the crew did.) "Your face is full of news."

"You said you would put Nelson ashore at the Sandwich Islands if he'd keep still and say nothing, didn't you, cap'n?" began Calamity.

"Yes, I did," replied the skipper, interested at once. "Have you been pumping him?"

"No, but Mr. Gale has, and he says he'll hang you as high as the strong arm of the law can hist you. He can't be hired to keep his mouth shut. He told Mr. Gale so, and him and Mr. Gale were talking mighty familiar and friendly like – too much so, for it don't look well for an officer to do such things."

"What did Mr. Gale say?"

"I didn't hear what he said at first, but I saw him winking and nodding, and when he saw me looking down the hatchway, he began to jaw Nelson about them boots you promised him for raising that whale. But he did it just to fool me."

"Then Nelson is going to hang me, is he?"

"Yes, and he wants Barton and Lucas for witnesses. He says he'll tell the consul everything that's been done aboard this ship, and you shan't be let loose any longer to haze men till they jump overboard."

"Go for'ard; go for'ard," said the captain, hastily.

"Aha!" thought Calamity, as he returned to his duties, "that was a home-thrust. I must say he took it easier than I thought he would. I must say this too for Gentleman Black, that since he's been on board, there haven't been so many men triced up or knocked down with handspikes, and the grub has been better than it ever was before. Now I'll tell you what's the truth," added Calamity, slapping his knee as he leaned over and looked under the try-pots, "Gentleman Black is master here, if he is nothing but a foremast hand, and that's what's the matter. That's the reason the old man takes things so easy, and don't go ripping and tearing around the way he used to. I wonder if I hadn't better make friends with him!"

Meanwhile the work of trying-out went slowly on, and contrary to Calamity's expectations, though not much to his surprise, the captain took no steps to punish Mr. Gale and Frank for the conversation they had had in the blubber-room. Indeed he thought he could see a change in the skipper and in the two mates. The former very rarely went off into one of his fits of rage now, and the mates seemed to treat the men a trifle more like human beings. Every one of the crew noticed it, and Lucas, after sundry winks and nods, told Frank in confidence that something was going to happen very shortly. And sure enough, something did happen, but it was not just what the old sailor thought it would be.

Finally the last barrel of oil was lowered into the hold, and the captain, to the surprise of his men, who had never known him to be guilty of an act of kindness before, sent all the crew except a boatsteerer's watch below to sleep. And a glorious sleep they had too after their days and nights of labor. Frank felt like another person when he came on deck in the morning, and went to work with a light heart to assist in cleaning up the ship. This required perseverance and the outlay of a good deal of strength, but it was done in good time, and when the deck was wiped down and the brightwork cleaned, the Tycoon looked as though she had never been near a whale. By this time land was in plain sight, and Frank and Lucas found opportunity to hold several whispered consultations as to the course they ought to pursue to secure their release. On two points Frank had made up his mind: If he went ashore, Lucas and Barton must be permitted to go also; and he would not purchase his freedom by entering into any agreement whatsoever with the captain of the Tycoon. The last one of these consultations was broken up by the sudden appearance of the third mate.

"Nelson," said he, "the old man wants to see you in the cabin."

"Ay, ay, sir!" replied Frank.

"And you had better take a friend's advice," continued the officer, in a low tone, as the young sailor was about to pass him, "and agree to what he has to propose."

Frank did not say whether he would or not. He wanted first to hear what it was that the captain had to propose. He went into the cabin and found the skipper and his two mates seated at a table there. The former had some shipping articles before him, and the first mate was reading a well-thumbed copy of Bowditch. This was encouraging. If the three officers had been examining the law, they no doubt learned that they were liable to some heavy penalties for what they had done.

"Nelson," said the captain, as Frank came in, "you haven't signed articles yet."

"No, sir," said Frank.

"Well, just put your name to them now," continued the captain, pushing them across the table. "There's a chair and there's a pen."

"I beg to be excused, sir," replied Frank.

"Won't you do it?"

"I'd rather not, sir."

"Suit yourself," said the captain indifferently. "I am only advising you as a friend. You will lose your work if you don't. You can't collect a cent from the ship if you stay aboard of her ten years."

"I am sorry to differ with you, sir, but I know better than that."

"Be careful how you speak," said the captain, starting up in his chair. "I have stood a good deal from you, and you don't want to say too much. You are not talking to Mr. Gale now."

"You haven't stood more than I have, sir," returned Frank. "It is high time I should speak plainly, as I never had the chance before and may never have it again. I know that when seamen are shipped on American whaling vessels without the rate of their pay being specified, they are entitled on their discharge in a foreign port, to the sum of twenty dollars a month as extra wages."

"How do you happen to know so much about law, Nelson?" asked the first mate.

"The way I happen to know so much about these matters is because I read up, expecting at one time to go as consul's clerk to some port in the Mediterranean."

The captain and his mates opened their eyes and looked at one another. Here was a foremast hand who must hold a high social position when he was ashore, else he would not number among his friends those who had influence enough to secure government appointments.

"Then you won't sign these articles?" continued the captain, after thinking a moment.

"By no means, sir. I don't want to go to sea for two or three years. I want to go ashore."

"I am willing you should go, if you will promise not to enter any complaints."

"If I should promise that, captain, I should tell a falsehood, and that is something I'll not do."

"Will a hundred dollars be any inducement to you?"

"Not the slightest."

"A hundred dollars besides your wages, I mean."

"No, sir," repeated Frank. "You are liable for two hundred dollars for every foremast hand aboard this vessel, except Calamity."

"How do you make that out?"

"You carried them to sea without making a contract with them."

"That'll do. You can go on deck," said the captain.

"But before I go, sir, I demand to see the American consul of the first port at which we touch," said Frank.

"Very well, you can see him, but you can't go ashore. If one goes all must go, and the first thing I know the ship will be deserted. I'll bring the consul aboard to see you."

"That will be perfectly satisfactory, sir. Victory!" whispered Frank to himself as he went up the ladder. "The people triumphant! The ring broken all to smash! A captain cowed in his own cabin by a foremast hand! Hurrah for sailors' rights! We're going to see the consul, Lucas!"

"Aha!" exclaimed the old sailor, with an admiring glance at Frank. "I knew you had the brains, sir. But I'm sorry we're going to get off so easy. Me and the rest wanted to see you on that quarter-deck."

"And a pretty figure I'd make up there, wouldn't I?" returned Frank. "I'm glad you didn't have a chance to carry out your plans."

"What do you think of him, any how?" asked the first mate, after Frank had left the cabin.

"I think I've got an elephant on my hands," answered the captain. "I don't want to keep him, and I don't know how to get rid of him. I wish Billings had been in Guinea before he brought him aboard here."

"You don't intend to let him see the consul?"

"Am I as green as that?" cried the skipper. "He's got too smooth a tongue in his head and swings it about too loose and reckless. He and them two men who were shipped with him must be kept close while I am ashore after a crew."

"And what will you do with them then? They can raise a row with one consul as well as another."

"I know it. Shall I turn them adrift in a boat or put them on some vessel bound for the States, or set them ashore on some island, and let them shift for themselves?"

"You might transfer them to Gale's boat, and some day when they are off after a whale, clear out and leave them," suggested the third mate. "Gale is a milk-and-water fellow, and not the man at all to get along with a hard crew."

"Well, I must put one of those plans into execution," said the captain, "and circumstances shall decide which it shall be. I am in as great a hurry to see the last of Nelson as he is to see the last of me. I'd knock him overboard if I had a good chance."

"Don't do that, cap'n," said the mate, hastily. "The first one of us who lays an ugly hand on him is booked for Davy's Locker, sure!"

"That's what I am afraid of," said the captain, who being unable to control himself any longer, began to relieve his mind by swearing. "I know how things are going, and besides, Calamity has kept his eyes and ears open."

Two days after this conversation took place between the captain and his mates, the Tycoon dropped her anchor near the spot where the Stranger lay three days afterward. One of the boats was called away at once, a crew selected for her, and the captain started for the shore. Frank felt jubilant when he saw him go off, but Lucas looked rather down-hearted. "He hasn't got a single one of our friends in that boat, sir," said the sailor.

"Of course not," replied Frank. "He wouldn't take them if he knew who they were, for he wants the first chance at the consul himself."

"Yes, and he'll have the last chance too, sir. We'll never see him."

"Very well, if he doesn't bring him off as he promised, I'll jump overboard and swim ashore. I can make the island very easily. You won't pull a boat in pursuit of me."

"No, sir, and nobody else shall. Neither shall the mudhook be hove up till you've had a chance to say a word for us."

"Nelson, the first mate wants to see you in the cabin," said Mr. Gale, coming forward at this moment. "He is going to offer you something to keep still, and you had better take it."

"If that is all he wants it will be of no use for me to go," answered Frank, "for my mind is made up."

"Go and talk to him, anyhow," said the officer. "Perhaps you can strike some sort of a bargain. I want to see you safe off this craft, and now is your chance, if ever."

"Nelson!" shouted the mate, from the top of the companion ladder.

"Coming, sir," replied Frank.

He went, and was not a little astonished at the reception he met as he entered the cabin. The door was suddenly closed behind him, and before he could think twice he was powerless, his ankles and wrists being heavily ironed. "Not a word out of you," said the first mate, covering Frank's head with a cocked revolver. "You'll find out now who controls this ship – you or her proper officers."

"You ain't as smart as some folks seem to think," said the second mate, with a grin. "If you were bound to blab, why didn't you take the hundred dollars the cap'n offered you, and wait till you got ashore before you began to swing your chin?"

Frank made no reply, and could offer no resistance, as the two mates dragged him out of the cabin along a narrow passageway that led to the hold. They stowed him away among the oil casks and left him to his meditations. This was the way Frank saw the consul at the port of Honolulu.

Having disposed of Frank, the officers made their way back to the cabin, and one of them mounting the companion ladder, called out: "Mr. Gale, tell Lucas that Nelson has got his money, and ask him to come down and get his!"

Lucas came, wondering what arguments the mates had brought to bear upon Frank to work so great a change in his feelings all at once, and when he reached the foot of the ladder he found out what they were – a revolver and a pair of handcuffs. The former held him passive while the irons were slipped on, and then he also was carried to the hold and stowed away, but at such a distance from Frank that the two could hold no conversation. Barton was served in the same manner, and the officers having secured the men of whom they stood the most in fear, breathed freely once more, and told each other that they were still masters of the Tycoon.

The prisoners were kept in the hold almost twelve hours – long enough for the captain to bring his crew of natives on board and get his vessel well out to sea. Then they were released and ordered on deck. Frank was disposed to make the best of his disappointment, knowing that he could not help himself, but Lucas was inclined to smash things. He hunted up his friends as soon as he could – those who had promised to stand by him and Frank through thick and thin – and laid down the law to them in stronger language than we care to quote. "Why, what's the matter?" asked the sailors, as soon as their angry mate gave them a chance to speak. "Where have you been so long?"