She
was a small craft, but the skipper was as fine a seaman as one could wish
for, and, in fair weather, an easy man to sail under. Most boys have a
rough time of it when they first go to sea, but, with a strong sense of
what was good for me, I had attached myself to a brawny, good-natured
infant, named Bill Smith, and it was soon understood that whoever hit me
struck Bill by proxy. Not that the crew were particularly brutal, but a
sound cuffing occasionally is held by most seamen to be beneficial to a
lad's health and morals. The only really spiteful fellow among them was
a man named Jem Dadd. He was a morose, sallow-looking man, of about
forty, with a strong taste for the supernatural, and a stronger taste
still for frightening his fellows with it. I have seen Bill almost
afraid to go on deck of a night for his trick at the wheel, after a few
of his reminiscences. Rats were a favourite topic with him, and he would
never allow one to be killed if he could help it, for he claimed for them
that they were the souls of drowned sailors, hence their love of ships
and their habit of leaving them when they became unseaworthy.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25