Chapter I: Part 1

Off to Sea

The Adventures of Jovial Jack Junker on his Road to Fame

by W.H.G. Kingston

Contents

Chapter I. My Birth and Education. Chapter II. My First Start. Chapter III. Life on the Roarer. Chapter IV. First Experiences of Sailing. Chapter V. Across the Ocean. Chapter VI. We Reach the Flowery Land. Chapter VII. Our Cruise in the Junk. Chapter VIII. A Typhoon and a Shipwreck. Chapter IX. Captured by the Celestials. Chapter X. Liberty Again. Chapter XI. In the Pirate Stronghold. Chapter XII. I Get Promoted.

Chapter One. My Birth and Education.

From my earliest days I have been known as Jovial Jack Junker. I got the name, I believe, from always being in good humour, and seeing the bright side of things. Whatever I ate did me good, and I never had had an hour’s sickness in my life; while if things happened to go wrong one day, I knew they would go right the next. People said I was of a happy disposition; I suppose I was. I always felt inclined to be singing or whistling, and when I did not, it was because I knew I ought to keep silence—in church, for instance, or in the presence of my elders, who happened to be engaged in conversation. Still, I was not born, as the saying is, with a silver spoon in my mouth, nor did I possess any great worldly advantages. I did not trouble myself much about the future, I must confess that. If I got what I wanted, I was contented; if not, I expected to get it the next day or the day after. I could wait; I always found something to amuse me in the meantime. My father was a marine—a man well known to fame, though not the celebrated “Cheeks.” He was known as Sergeant Junker. He had several small sons and daughters—young Junkers—and when I was about twelve years of age, he was left an inconsolable widower by the untimely death of our inestimable mother. She was an excellent woman, and had brought us up, to the best of her ability, in a way to make us good and useful members of society. She was indeed a greater loss to us than to our poor father; for, as my elder brother Simon observed, as he rubbed his eyes, moist with tears, with the back of his hand—

“You see, Jack, father can go and get another wife, as many do; but we can’t get another mother like her that is gone, that we can’t, nohow.”

No more thorough testimony could have been given to the virtues of our mother. She was a superior woman in many respects, and she was of a very respectable family, and had a nice little fortune of her own; but she had the common weakness of her sex, and fell in love with the handsome face of our honest, worthy father, Ben Junker the marine, at the time a private in that noble corps. She did not like his name, but she loved him, and overcame her prejudice. He could, at the period I speak of, scarcely read or write; but she set to work to educate him, and so far succeeded, that, being a very steady man, he rose in due course to be a sergeant. She had the ambition of hoping to see him obtain a commission; but he used to declare that, if he did, nothing would make him more unhappy, as he should feel exactly like a fish out of water. He was thus, at the time of which I am speaking, still a sergeant. Our mother, in consequence of the income she enjoyed, was able to give her children a much better education than we should otherwise probably have obtained. At the time of her death, it would have been difficult to find in our rank of life a more happy, contented, and better-conducted family. Our father, as I have said, was at first inconsolable; but he was of a happy, contented disposition, as it is very necessary that marines, as well as other people, should be—a disposition which I fortunately inherited from him. He took the rough with the smooth in life, as a matter of course. A favourite song of his, which he used to hum, was—

“What’s the use of sighing, While time is on the wing? Oh! what’s the use of crying? Then merrily, merrily sing Fa! la!”

Consequently, as Simon said he knew he would, he began in a short time to look out for another wife; and, unhappily for us, fixed on a widow with a family. She was, however, a very amiable woman; in fact, her great fault was, that she was too amiable, too soft and yielding. She could not manage to rule her own family, and a most uproarious, mutinous set they were. From the time they came to the house there was no peace or quiet for anyone else. They, indeed, soon took to try and rule over us with a high hand. Her girls used to come it over our girls, and her boys over our boys. Brother Simon, who was bigger and stronger than her eldest, more than once threatened that he would thrash them all round, if they had any more nonsense, and that invariably made our poor stepmother burst into tears, and plead so hard for her rebellious offspring, that the good, honest fellow had not the heart to put his threat into execution. At last some of us could stand it no longer. As Simon was old enough, he went one day, without saying anything to anybody, and enlisted in the marines. Bill, our second brother, got our father to apprentice him to a ship-carpenter; and, after no little trouble and coaxing, he promised to let me go on board a man-of-war. He did so, however, very unwillingly.

“You don’t know the sort of life that you will have to lead aboard ship, Jack,” he observed. “Boys afloat are not the happy-go-lucky sort of chaps they seem on shore, let me tell you; but, to be sure, they have got discipline there, which is more than I can say there is to be found in a certain place that you know of.” And my father uttered a deep sigh.

We were walking, one evening after tea, up and down our bit of a garden, while he smoked his pipe. He was allowed to live out of barracks, and we had a small cottage a little way off.

“I don’t know, Jack, but what I should not be sorry, if my company was ordered on service afloat,” he observed, confidentially, after a minute’s silence. “Your new mother is a good woman—a very good woman; about her I made no mistake, though she is not equal, by a long chalk, to her that’s gone; but oh! Jack,” and he sighed again, “I did not take into account those young cubs of hers. They will not rest till they have driven your sisters out of the house, as they have driven the boys; and then—and then—why, I suppose, they will drive me away too!”

My poor father! I sighed at the thoughts of his domestic happiness being so completely destroyed, in consequence of the advice of King Solomon not having been followed—the rod having been spared, and the children spoiled.

The following day, my father being sent on duty to Portsea, took me with him. Soon after we landed, I met, just on the inner end of the Common Hard, an old friend of mine, Dick Lee, a waterman.

“Father,” I said, “if Dick will let me, I’ll stop, and have a pull in his wherry. As I am going to sea, I should like to learn to row better than I now do.”

My father, glad to keep me out of harm’s way, told me that, if Dick wished it, I might remain with him. Well pleased, I ran down the Hard, and jumped into old Dick’s wherry. Dick intended that I should sit in his boat, and just practise with the oars, but I had no notion of that sort; so, casting off the painter, I shoved away from the shore. I kept pulling up and down for some time, and round and round, till my arms ached; when, determining to take a longer voyage, I turned the boat’s head out into the harbour. The tide was running out: I went on very swimmingly, I did not think of that. I had not, however, got very far, when I heard old Dick’s voice shouting to me—

“Come back, Jack, come back, you young jackanapes!”

Dick was in a rage, no doubt about that. I pulled round, and in spite of all my efforts could make no headway. Dick shouted, and swore, but to no purpose. I might have cracked my sinews with pulling, but still the boat would keep drifting down and down, running a great risk of getting athwart-hawse of some of the vessels moored a dozen yards below me. At last, Dick did what he might as well have done at first—stepped into another boat with his mate, and came after me. He soon brought me back as a prize. His temper was in no way soothed, though I cried out, again and again, I could not help it.

“Jump ashore now, lad,” he said, as we touched the Hard. “Next time you’ll do what I tell you you may do. I never said you might go and run the chance of getting the boat stove in, and yourself drownded. I keeps my family in order, whatever other people may do.”

Obeying old Dick, I stood disconsolately on the Hard, while he took his fare on board, and pulled away across to Gosport, without deigning to waste another word on me. However, I soon recovered my spirits, and amused myself making an excursion over the huge logs of timber that occupy a considerable space in that nook of the harbour.

I was running along on the more steady pieces of timber which formed the boundary of the pond, when I saw a boy in a boat, placed very much in the position from which I had just escaped. In vain he attempted to stem the tide. He was evidently not accustomed to a boat. He looked round, and saw that the boat was drifting towards the cable of a vessel moored off the Hard. I shouted out to him to pull hard with his starboard oar; but, instead of so doing, he jumped up, and caught hold of the cable, across which the boat had just then come, letting go at the same time one of his oars, which fell overboard. He now clung to the chain, and the current swept the boat away from under his feet.

“Hold on! hold on, for your life!” I shouted out; but, instead of so doing, he let go, expecting to regain his boat. He tried to swim, but he was evidently a bad swimmer. I looked round. No boat was near. I saw there was every chance of his being drowned. I was a capital swimmer; so, hoping to save the lad, I plunged in, and followed him. Just as I was taking the leap, I caught sight of old Dick, coming across the harbour. I shouted at the very top of my voice, pointing to the place where the boy was floating away. This gave me some hopes that we should be picked up. I soon saw that I had miscalculated the distance, for the boy seemed a very, very long way off. I had very little hopes of helping him, and thought it very likely I should get drowned myself, when I saw a hawser, somewhat slack, stretched across the course down which the boy was drifting. “If he has got any sense, he will catch hold of it,” I thought. How thankful I felt when I saw him grasp it! As I got near, he cried out—

“Help! help! I can hold on no longer!”

“Hold on, whatever you do?” I cried out. “Oh dear! oh dear!” he shouted again, “what will become of the boat? what will become of the boat?”

He was evidently getting somewhat stupid and confused. I redoubled my efforts, and grasping the hawser with one hand, caught hold of his jacket with the other, just as he was relaxing his grasp.

“Now, stupid!” I cried out, “just catch hold of this rope again, and hold on! You don’t want to get drowned, do you?”

“No, I don’t; but you had no business to call me stupid,” he exclaimed, in an indignant tone.

“If you go and get drowned when there’s no need of it, you are stupid,” I answered; “but if you will hold on tight, till Dick comes and takes us off, I will say something for you.”

My arguments had some effect, for hold on tight he did, I helping him by the collar of his jacket. I had enough to do, however, to keep him and myself afloat, as well as to hold on at the same time. It seemed to me that old Dick was a long time coming. At last I shouted out.

“Ay, ay!” answered his well-known voice, and at last I saw the bow of his boat coming round from under the stern of a vessel above us.

No one was on the decks of any of the vessels round us, which was the reason, I suppose, that we were allowed to hang on there so long by ourselves.

“Well, what mischief have you been after?” asked old Dick, as he hauled the other boy and me afterwards out of the water. “Well, you do look like two drownded rats?”

“He has been after no mischief at all!” exclaimed the other boy, who, in spite of his recent alarm, had not lost his spirits.

“He jumped into the water to save my life, and he has saved it; and I am sure my papa and mamma will not think it was any mischief, but will be ready to thank him very heartily, as I do.”

“And who are you, young gentleman?” asked old Dick. “What business had you to be tumbling into the water?”

He had begun to pull up the harbour, I should say, placing us in the stern sheets while he was asking these questions.

“Who am I? you want to know who I am?” said the young gentleman, who was employed in squeezing the wet out of his clothes; “I am Richard Alfred Chesterton Plumb,” answered the boy, standing up and assuming an air of dignity; “and I did not tumble into the water, but my boat got away from me, and I tried to get after it; and that reminds me that she is floating down the harbour; and so, old gentleman, I will just trouble you to go in chace of her and try to bring her back.”

“Ho! ho! ho!” exclaimed old Dick; “some young bantams do crow loud. Howsomdever, there is spirit in the lad, no doubt about that!”

“Well, old man,” again asked the young gentleman, “are you going after my boat?”

Old Dick did not deign an answer; but, looking away down the harbour, espied the boat, and, pulling round, made chase after her. We were soon up to her, and Master Richard, as he called himself, wanted to be put aboard again.

“I can row about till I am dry,” he observed. “What’s the odds?”

However, as there was only one oar remaining, this was an impossibility.

“You will only go and get yourself drownded again,” said the old man, “and catch your death of cold sitting in your wet things into the bargain. So you just come up to my missus, and she will give you a hot cup of tea and dry your duds, and then Jack here and I will see you safe home to your friends.”

I have a notion that old Dick was afraid the young master might forget all about the service which had been rendered him, and having an eye to the main chance, he was resolved that I should receive a reward—he himself hoping probably to obtain some remuneration also for his trouble. On our way back young Master Richard, who was in no way disconcerted, espied the missing oar, which had been caught in an eddy, and drifted in towards the shore. We got hold of it, and he now seemed perfectly happy. We both looked very foolish, I thought, as dripping wet we followed old Dick up to his house. The old woman had our clothes very soon off us, and tumbled us both into their bed. The young gentleman whispered to me that it was not very nice, but I was in no way particular.

“It will not do to be ungrateful. I would bear anything, rather than show I did not like it,” he added, still whispering.

He at last got rather impatient, and singing out, asked Dick if he would go and buy him a new suit at Selby’s, the tailor’s in High Street.

The old man laughed.

“I’ve got no credit there, young gentleman,” he answered. “Maybe, too, your friends would not be quite pleased. Your clothes will be dry enough in time; and, there now, the water’s boiling, and you shall have a bowl of tea hot enough to take the skin off your mouths.”

The steaming liquid was soon brought to us, and after drinking it, Master Richard said he felt as warm and comfortable as he had ever done in his life. He was only anxious to be off. At length, however, the warmth and closeness of the room sent us both off into a sound sleep. We were awoke by old Dick’s voice.

“Well, lads,” he said, “are you ready to put on your clothes, and come along to young master’s friends? I have seen your father, Jack. He knows all about them, and says it is all right. He tells me, Jack,” he whispered, “they’re no end of grand people, so I hope you have stepped into the right boat this time.”

I could not exactly understand the meaning of my old friend’s remarks, but I saw that he was well pleased. Old Mrs Lee pressed some more tea and bread and butter on us, and had a sausage frying in the pan. I was not sorry to get it; but, after taking a few mouthfuls, the young gentleman said he was very grateful, but that he had had enough, and that he expected to find dinner when he got home.

“I could not have eaten another mouthful, even if the old woman had threatened to throw me into the frying-pan,” he observed, as we left the house, “but I did not like to hurt her feelings.”

I had eaten up the remainder of the sausage, so I benefited by Master Richard’s delicacy of stomach.

Chapter Two. My First Start.

We crossed the water to Gosport, and took our way along the road which led past the small row in which we lived. I inquired on my way of old Dick, if he knew who the young gentleman’s father was.

“They say he’s a nabob,” answered old Dick, “but what a nabob is, I’m sure I don’t know, except that he’s a yellow-faced gentleman, with lots of money, and always complaining of his liver.”

Having received this lucid explanation to my question, I rejoined my young companion. I thought I might learn more about the matter from him.

“They say your father is a nabob; is he?” I asked.

“A nabob? No,” he answered. “He is a great deal more important person—he is a brigadier; at least he was in India, and mamma always speaks of him as the Brigadier, and people always talk of her as Mrs Brigadier.”

“Then I suppose you are the young Brigadier?” I said, very naturally.

“No, indeed, I am not,” he answered. “But there is the house. And, I say, I am very much obliged to you, remember, for what you have done for me. I see you are up to joking; but let me advise you not to come any of your jokes over my father, or mamma either. Indeed, you had better rather try it with him than with her. You would think twice before you ever made the attempt again.”

Passing through an iron gateway, we proceeded up to the house, which was some little way from the road. It was low, with a broad verandah round it, and I found was known as Chuttawunga Bungalow. I saw the name on the side-post of the gateway. A tall, dark-skinned man, dressed in white, a broad-rimmed cap on his head, came to the door. He seemed rather doubtful as to admitting old Dick and me.

“Here, Chetta, let us in at once!” exclaimed the young gentleman in an authoritative tone. “These are my friends. They have rendered me an essential service. The boy saved my life when I was drowning, and the old man pulled us both out of the water, when we could not hold on much longer. Where is my papa? And, I say, Chetta, do not go and tell Mrs Brigadier just yet. I would rather have the matter over with one of them first.”

I felt rather awe-struck at having to go into the presence of so great a man, for I had pictured him as a tall, ferocious-looking personage, with a huge moustache and a military air and manner. Great was my astonishment when I saw, seated in an arm-chair, cross-legged, with one foot resting on a foot-stool, a small man with yellow hair, thin cheeks, and habited in a silk dressing-gown and nankeen trousers.

“Why, Richard Alfred Chesterton!” he exclaimed in a sharp, querulous tone, “where have you been all this time? It is as well your mother had to go out, or she would have been thrown into a state of great alarm; and something else, I suspect, too,” he said, in a lower tone.

“Well, papa,” answered Richard, when the brigadier had ceased speaking, “you would not address me harshly, if you knew how very nearly you were having the misery of losing me altogether. It is a long story, so I will not now enter into details. It will be sufficient for you to know that I was in a boat, and that out of that boat I fell into the dangerous current of the harbour; and had it not been for the bravery and gallantry of this young lad whom I have brought with me, I should have been at this moment food for the fish in the Solent sea, or a fit subject for a coroner’s inquest, had my body been discovered.”

The brigadier opened his grey eyes wider and wider, as the boy continued speaking.

“And, papa, we must not forget this old boatman, too, who pulled the boy and me—what’s your name? Ay; Jack Junker—out of the water.” Thus Master Dicky ran on.

“Well, my boy, I am thankful to see you safe, and I wish to express my gratitude to the brave lad, Jack Junker, who saved your life, and to the old man who pulled you out of the water. My friends, I must consult Mrs Brigadier Plumb, how I can best show you my gratitude. I always do consult her on all important matters. Till then I hope you will remain in this house. I am too great an invalid to talk much to you, but my son will do his best to make amends for my deficiencies.”

On this Master Richard went up and whispered something in his father’s ear.

“Will one or two do?” I heard the brigadier ask.

“No, no, father, do it handsomely. To be sure, he ran no risk, but it was the way he did it; and I rather think he looks for some remuneration.”

On this the brigadier shuffled off his chair, and opening his writing-desk, took out a bank note.

“Here, my friend,” he said to old Dick, “I should like to pay you for the loss of time, and the expense you have been put to, for this youngster, so accept these few pounds. I hope to show my sense of what you have done, more heartily by-and-by.”

I saw old Dick’s eyes sparkle. He had probably expected a sovereign at the outside.

“Jack,” he whispered to me, as we left the room, “you are in luck; for, if he pays me five pounds for just picking that young shrimp out of the water, he will certainly do a good deal more for you who saved his life.”

Master Richard soon overtook us, and then insisted on showing us over the house—into the drawing-room, and dining-room, and breakfast-parlour, and into several of the bedrooms, then down into the servants’ hall. I had never been in such a fine house in my life before. And then he took us out into the garden, and walked us all round, showing us the fruit-trees in blossom, and the beautiful flowers.

“My mamma will be home soon,” he observed, “and my two sisters. I want her to see the brigadier first, because, you see, although it was a very fine thing in you to pick me out of the water, I had no business to tumble into it, or, indeed, to be in a boat at all. The brigadier did not see that, but she will. She keeps us all precious strict, I can tell you. I have several brothers—the eldest is in the army, and two are away at school. I have not quite settled what I am going to be. I should not object to go into the navy, but then I should like to be made an admiral or a post-captain at once. I have no particular taste for the army, and as for the law, or several other things, I would as soon dig potatoes, or go shrimping; and thus, you see, the navy is the only profession likely to suit me, or I am likely to suit.”

Old Dick cocked his eye, as he heard young master’s remarks.

“I rather think he must be changed a bit before he is suited to the navy, however much he may think the navy will suit him; and there I have an idea he will be pretty considerably mistaken,” he whispered to me.

The young gentleman had evidently caught the habit of a pompous style of speaking from Mrs Brigadier, as I afterwards discovered. It sounded somewhat ridiculous, especially from the mouth of so small a chap. I had reason to suspect that he now and then, too, made curious mistakes; though of course, not very well able to detect them myself.

At last an open carriage drove up to the door, with a curly-wigged coachman on the box, and two dark-skinned servants standing behind, dressed like the one who had opened the door. Inside was a very tall lady, sitting bolt upright, with two considerably smaller young ladies opposite to her. Young master told old Dick and me not to make any noise, lest she should see us, as we were watching their arrival through the shrubbery. She got out with a dignified air, resting on one of the black servants, and strode into the house. The two young ladies followed demurely in her wake. She was exactly what I should have expected the brigadier to be, only she wore petticoats, and a bonnet instead of a cocked hat. In a short time the servant appeared, and summoned young master into the house. He quickly appeared, and beckoned us from a window to come in. I did not see the meeting of the mother and son, but I know when I entered she stretched out her arms, and gave me a kiss on the brow.

“You have rendered me an essential service, young lad,” she exclaimed, in a voice well calculated to hail the maintop in a gale at sea, or to shout “Advance!” at the head of a regiment in action. “I wish to show my gratitude, but how can I do so?”

“And you—” and she looked towards old Dick, who drew back; and I really heard him say—

“Oh, don’t!”

He thought she was going to salute him as she had me.

“You took them into your boat; you preserved them from catching cold: I am grateful—very grateful!” and I saw her fumble in the deep recesses of a side-pocket.

“My dear,” whispered the brigadier, “I have already bestowed a pecuniary recompense.”

“You have!” she said turning round sharply, “without consulting me?”

This was said in an intended low voice, but I heard it.

“Well,” she said, “money cannot repay you for the service you have performed. But you have found your way to this house. Come again to-morrow, and by that time I will have considered how I can best show my gratitude.”

“Thank you, marm!” answered old Dick, evidently very glad to get away. “Shall I take Jack with me? he lives over on this side, and I can drop him at his home as I go back to Gosport.”

“If you so think fit, my friend,” answered Mrs Brigadier; “and if the boy—by-the-by, what is your name?” she asked.

“Jack Junker,” I replied; and I told her that my father was a sergeant.

“Jack Junker? Yes, if you wish to go, Jack,” she answered. “I also then shall have time to consider how I can best express my gratitude. Farewell?”

She put out her hand, and shook old Dick’s; but I thought, as she spoke to me, her manner was considerably colder than it had been at first. Old Dick and I left the room, and the door was closed behind us.

“I doubt her,” whispered old Dick to me. “I am glad the old gentleman, however, gave me the five pounds. It was handsome in him. But Jack, my boy, I suspect you will have to rest satisfied with having saved the life of a fellow-creature; though, as you were the means of my gaining this, I think I must hand over half to you, as your share.”

To this, of course, I would not consent; and somewhat disappointed, perhaps, I accompanied my old friend through the hall, having the honour of being salaamed to most profoundly by the dark-skinned domestics. We walked slowly, and had not got very far, when I heard footsteps coming behind us. Turning round, I saw Master Richard running with all his might.

“Here, Jack?” he said, “the Brigadier gave me this, and told me to hand it over to you. My mother was out of the room at the time, so do not say anything about it to her. She will show you her gratitude in some other way. I do not mean to say it is as much as I should like to have offered you; but here, be quick I put it into your pocket, or we may be seen from the house.”

“Don’t be a fool, Jack!” said old Dick, seeing I hesitated. “It’s justly yours, boy, and let them settle the matter as they think best.”

“Good-bye, Jack!” said young master, shaking me by the hand. “Good-bye!” he added, taking old Dick’s rough paw. “We are a curious set; but I say, do not refuse anything you can get. If you want any interest exerted, then boldly ask my mother. She will do that in a way which overcomes all difficulties. If she wanted to make me Archbishop of Canterbury, she would work away till she had done it, if she happened to live long enough.”

Old Dick dropped me at my home. There was a tremendous noise going on, created by my stepmother’s children. She was crying out and imploring them to be quiet, and they were squabbling and crying and abusing each other. The big ones had appropriated the little ones’ toys, or other property, and all the poor woman could do they would not restore the articles, while the young ones were crying to get them back, every now and then making a rush at their bigger brothers and sisters, and getting a box on the ear in return. My appearance rather increased than quelled the commotion. Tommy, the biggest, asked me in a threatening way where I had been, and of course I was not going to answer him; so he doubled his fist, and, had I not stood on my guard, he would certainly have hit me, but he thought better of it. Just at that moment my father returned off duty, full of my performances, of which old Dick had told him all particulars. He was very indignant with Tom.

“Is this the way, you young ruffian, you treat a brave lad who has been saving the life of a fellow-creature, and that fellow-creature the son of a brigadier? Do you know what a brigadier is, you young jackanapes, eh?” he exclaimed, giving way for once to anger, of which he was very seldom guilty. His remarks silenced all the party, who, of course, were then eager enough to learn what I had done and what had happened. My poor stepmother embraced me warmly, and tears fell from her eyes as she glanced round on her own disorderly offspring. For the rest of the evening they behaved better.

My father was well pleased on hearing of the brigadier’s gift, for the purse contained ten sovereigns.

“It’s very liberal,” he said; “for though I suppose he thinks his son’s life worth more than that, yet, from what you tell me, no doubt it is as much as he dared to give; yet I can tell you, from what I have heard, that that shrivelled-up yellow-faced old fellow was as plucky an officer as ever saw service.”

My father would not let me go back to the Bungalow.

“You have done your duty, Jack, and you have received a present, which you must lay by for a rainy day; and if the brigadier’s lady wants to show her maternal gratitude, it’s her business to find you out.”

I thought probably that young master would take care to see something more of me. I liked his manner; for although there was a good deal of seeming bombast and pretension about him, I had an idea he was sterling at bottom—a plucky little chap, just as his father had been. This circumstance had in no way put aside my wish to go to sea. I kept talking about it whenever I had an opportunity.

“I see how it is,” sighed my father; “you are right, Jack. The way Tom stood up to you just now showed me that your old home is not as pleasant as it should be.”

“Then you will let me go, will you not, father?” I said.

The fact was, it was a very different thing for him to talk about letting me go, and to ship me off. He hummed and hesitated, and said he thought I had better wait till I was a year older, or till he himself was sent to sea.

“Oh, but that may not be for a long time, father; and what should I do with myself till then?” I exclaimed.

“I am not quite so sure that it will be a long time, Jack,” he answered, with a sigh.

“Once upon a time my only wish was to remain on shore, but times are changed. I don’t want to say a word against my present wife. She is a good woman; an excellent woman; but somehow or other she does not manage to keep the house as quiet as it might be; and those children of hers are terribly unlicked cubs.”

I agreed with him there. “They want to be under the management of Mrs Brigadier for a few months,” I observed; “I rather think that she would not be long in bringing them into order.”

“You are right, Jack. But I have seen her, and with all her perfections, I would not swop my present wife with her on any account.” My father gave a shudder. “Well, Jack,” he said, “there’s an old friend of mine—Sergeant Turbot—whose company has been appointed to the _Roarer_, fitting out for the East India Station, alongside the Topaze sheer hulk.”

“Well, father,” I said, “though I should like to go with you, yet I fancy that ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush;’ and, if you will let me, I’ll go with Sergeant Turbot. He will look after me and keep me out of mischief, and stand my friend, if I want one. I should not like to lose the opportunity.”

“Well, well, I see how it is, home is too hot for you,” sighed my poor father. “To-morrow morning, please Heaven! I will take you on board, and see what Turbot has to say to the matter. If he’s agreeable, why there won’t be much difficulty in getting you rated as one of the boys aboard.”

My father was as good as his word, and at an early hour the next morning we embarked in a wherry, and pulled alongside the _Roarer_. When I got on board, and while standing with my father waiting for Sergeant Turbot, who was on duty, it seemed to me as if every man and boy in the ship had gone stark staring mad, rushing and rolling about, tumbling over each other, shouting and bawling at the top of their voices. Presently I heard a ferocious-looking hairy monster of a man growl out, in a voice loud enough to wake a dozen midshipmen, however fast asleep they might have been, “Up all steerage hammocks?” the shrill sound of his whistle piercing through my head. I had been on board men-of-war before when there was no duty going on, and all was quiet and in order. If I had not had hold of my father’s hand, I think I should have gone down the side again into the wherry. In reality, however, it was only Ned Rawlings performing an ordinary piece of morning duty—as gentle and tender-hearted a fellow as ever stepped, in spite of his gruff voice and hairy face, and the “cat” he had sometimes to wield. I have a notion, that every time he laid on that cat, he felt it as acutely as the culprit on whom it was deservedly inflicted. I still felt something like a fish in a tub, trying to escape the dangers I supposed surrounded me, when Sergeant Turbot came along the main deck. He laughed heartily, till his fat sides shook again, when he saw my affrighted countenance, and my father told him I could not make out the cause of all the uproar.

“Why, the men are pretty quiet,” he observed; “they’re pretty much like this at all times, except when they’re sleeping, or at mess, or at quarters.”

My father told him our object.

“That I will, Junker,” he observed at once. “I am sure you would look after a boy of mine if I had one, and I will look after yours. I cannot teach him much seamanship, but I’ll give a hint to those who can, and I’ll look after him, and see that he gets into no mischief, as long as I am in the ship. We are going out to a somewhat trying climate though, and men of my figure are apt to suffer, I am told.”

He cast a momentary glance over himself. It was fortunate for Sergeant Turbot that he was a marine, and still more that he had not to go aloft. On board ship he could do his duty admirably, but on shore his figure was decidedly against him. He was very stout. It was lucky for me that he was so, for I could always find him when I wanted him. At first, I thought that I could run away from him, if desirable; but in that respect I was mistaken, for he could send after me, and have me back pretty quickly. All being arranged, the sergeant undertook to speak to the first-lieutenant; and he had me and my father up, and asking him a few questions, told him to fill up different papers, which he did forthwith, and I was regularly entered as a boy on board the _Roarer_.

Chapter Three. Life on the Roarer.

I went back with my father, and the remainder of the day was spent by my stepmother in getting my outfit ready. It was an unusually good one, in consequence of the brigadier’s gift.

“I don’t expect to hear much more about that,” observed my father. “There is a good deal of talk about those sort of people; though, to be sure, the old man and the young one have some feeling; still I don’t see what good they could do you, Jack, even if they wished it. I should not wish you put above your station; though, to be sure, your poor dear mother was a lady herself, that she was, every inch of her, and too good for me. However, Jack, there’s one thing I have got to counsel you: do your duty, tell the truth, and never mind the sneers or laughter of those who try to lead you astray. There is One in heaven who will hear your prayers, and don’t you go and forget to tell Him your wants, and ask Him to do what is best for you. And now, my boy, you have my blessing; and I am sure, that good mother of yours—she who’s gone I mean—will be looking down from wherever she is, and watching over you, and praying for you, if so be she has the power; but of that matter, I must own, I have no certain knowledge, only I do think it’s the work she would like to be employed in, anyhow.”

The next morning I took an affectionate farewell of my brothers and sisters, and very far from an affectionate one of the children of my poor stepmother. She herself, however, wept bitterly, as I went out of the house; my father, and a marine he had got from the barracks, carrying my chest. It was not a very big one, as may be supposed. We had got some distance from the house, when who should I see, scampering after us, and well out of breath, than the young Master Richard.

“Oh, Jack!” he exclaimed, “where are you going? I wanted to come yesterday, but could not, because my mother took me to see the Port-Admiral, and all sorts of other naval authorities. I wanted, as I told you, to go to sea, and she seems to think it’s a very good place for me to go to. She says that as I have been so nearly drowned once, I am not likely to be drowned again; that it’s much less expensive than being in the dragoons, and, in fact, she made up her mind that to sea I was to go. Somehow or other she and the naval big-wigs have settled it, and I am to go on board the old _Roarer_, which is to sail, in a short time, for the East Indies.”

“That’s the very ship I have joined,” I answered.

“Is it? How jolly! but are you to be a midshipman?”

“No,” I answered, “I am only rated as a boy on board.”

“Oh! I suppose there is no great difference. I do not know much about a ship, or the ways of a ship. I am to have a fine new uniform, and a dirk, and a chest full of no end of things. Well, we shall know more about it by-and-by; but I was forgetting what I came for. I wanted you to come up to the house. My father wants to talk to you, and my sisters want to see you; to make much of you, I fancy, but that might be a bore. But, I say, let those two soldiers take your chest aboard, and present your compliments to the captain, and say you will come by-and-by.”

My father and his companion, on hearing this, burst out laughing.

“I have a notion, young master,” said my father, “that that would not do for Jack. Much obliged to you all the same; but you are likely to be in one station, and he in another, so I am afraid the kindness you intend him will not do him any good. I promised to take him on board the _Roarer_ this morning, and I shall have to go on duty again very soon; so once more I have to thank you, and wish you good morning!”

Master Plumb seemed rather astonished at this answer.

“Rather a proud chap that soldier,” he said to me. “I should have taken him for an officer, if he had not been carrying the box. Who is it?”

“My father,” I answered.

“Oh, that’s it,” he observed. “Well, Jack, I wish you could come, but if you cannot, I must take your excuses; though I am sure the captain would not be angry, if you sent him a polite message.”

“My father knows better than I do,” I answered; “and I have not seen the captain, so I must go. I am very sorry, for I should like to have come with you.”

Master Richard wrung my hand very warmly, and most unwillingly went back towards his home. How Sergeant Turbot did laugh when we got on board, and my father told him what had happened. He advised me not to give Master Richard’s message. My father, having left me under charge of the sergeant, took his departure. He came on board, however, several times in old Dick’s wherry.

“I don’t ask you to come home, my boy,” he said, “for I have not got the heart to go through that parting business again. Besides, Jack, the home is not as comfortable as it should be. Perhaps, however, when you come back, four or five years hence, things will have mended. And you will not forget your father, Jack, and I’m sure you won’t her that’s gone.”

These remarks were made the last time I saw my worthy father before the ship went out of harbour. I, in time, got accustomed to the ways of a ship, or, rather, to the ways of the men. It was rather curious, at first, to see a number of big fellows standing round a tub or basin, all washing themselves in the same water; one toothbrush, if they were particular enough to have such a thing, and one comb, serving for the whole party. Only a few, however, of the cleanest men used the former article. Still, things were somewhat trying to a young chap. When the ship appeared to have got a little quiet, suddenly, as I was seated near Sergeant Turbot, I heard a sharp whistle and a ferocious growl, which made me jump off the bench. “All hands on deck?” or some such cry, were the words which followed the whistle.

“Who is that growling out?” I asked of the sergeant.

“That is one of our licensed growlers,” was the answer. “It’s his business to growl; he is paid for it. Seamen are fond enough of growling generally, but they get nothing when they do, though they growl till they are hoarse.”

Now, as I said, I had been aboard all sorts of ships in ordinary, or in the dockyard, but never before on board one fitting-out. When, therefore, I stepped on deck after the men, I was perfectly confounded; and the scene of confusion around me—such piping, and swearing, and bawling, and shouting, swaying up yards, getting in guns and stores, and pulling and hauling in all directions. Still, I made the best of it; and, having my eyes about me, kept out of harm’s way, and stood ready to try and do anything I was told to do. This went on till the men knocked off work again, and the hubbub was concentrated on the main and lower decks, especially round the galley-fire, where the cooks were busy serving out dinners to the different messes. “It smells fine, at all events,” I thought to myself, and would have made me hungry, if I had not been so already. Then a marine struck a bell four times double, which made eight bells, and the officer of the watch roared out, “Pipe to dinner!” Didn’t the whistle of the boatswain and his men sound shrilly then! The dishes being arranged on the mess-tables, which were placed in rows along the decks, all hands fell to with a will; and I, among the number, ate my first dinner aboard ship. In about an hour there was another pipe, and the word “Grog!” was bawled out. Each man went to receive his quantum of rum and water. The sergeant said that rum was a bad thing for little boys, and drank mine for me. I now think that he was right. I had as yet seen nothing of Master Plumb, and I began to think that he was not coming after all. This did not concern me, I own, very much; for, as he would be at one end of the ship and I at the other, we should not exchange words very often, and I knew pretty well, from what I had already seen, that he would soon get into the ways of his messmates, and look down upon me, and swear and abuse me, as some of the other young gentlemen were apt to do.

At last all stores were on board, the sails were bent, and, casting off from the old hulk, we hauled out into the stream. The _Roarer_ certainly looked to greater advantage than she had hitherto done. The next day decks were cleared, the men put on clean shirts and trousers, the officers appeared in full fig, and the long-expected captain came up the side.

“Butter won’t melt in his mouth,” I heard one of the seamen near me observe.

“You think so?” remarked Ned Rawlings. “Now do you just get near, and have a look at his eye, and you will sing a different song. It’s not always the rough-and-ready looking chaps, like you and I, Tom, as are the best men for work!”

Our captain certainly did look more fit for a ball-room, or a naval officer in love on the stage, than for the deck of a man-of-war. He was the most polished article about his whole ship. His whiskers were curled; his cheeks were pink; the gold lace on his coat shone with undimmed lustre, not a particle of dust rested on the fine cloth of which it was made, while it fitted with perfection to his well-formed figure. Kid gloves covered his hands, and a fine cambric handkerchief appeared from his breast-pocket. He bowed to the flag, and he bowed to the officers, as he cast a scrutinising glance round the deck. Some of the older officers pulled rather long faces when they saw him. In a short time, he ordered all hands to come aft, and then, in a clear, somewhat soft voice, made a long speech. The sum total of it was, that he was determined to have a crack ship, and a crack crew, and that he did not like to use the lash, but that he did not always do what he liked; still, that he always would have done what he wanted done. The men could not quite make him out, nor could I; but I came to the conclusion, that he was not just the sort of man to whom I should like to carry such a message as Master Plumb had requested me to give.

Next day we went out to Spithead. No signs of my friend. I told Sergeant Turbot that I thought Master Richard Plumb would not come after all.

“Perhaps not,” he answered; “Mrs Brigadier does not like to part from him, or maybe they are washing and combing him, and making him fit to come aboard, which I suppose occupied the time of a certain person who should be nameless, and prevented him joining us till yesterday. Maybe, young master has thought better of the matter, and would rather go for a parson, or one of those chaps as goes to foreign courts to bamboozle the people.”

I, at all events, made up my mind that I should see no more of Master Richard. However, scarcely had I come to this conclusion, than a large wherry came alongside, and a card was sent up for the captain.

“Certainly,” he answered.