Charlie Codmans Cruise 8
"Where is Mr. Randall? has he come on board?" he inquired, turning to
the second mate.
"No, sir; I have not seen him this morning," was the reply.
"When he comes on board tell him I wish to see him immediately."
"Very well, sir."
The captain went to his cabin, and about five minutes later the
individual after whom he inquired came aboard. We recognize in him an
old acquaintance; no other than the nocturnal visitor who excited such
fearful apprehensions in the mind of old Peter Manson the miser.
"Where is Captain Brace, Mr. Bigelow?" he inquired of the second mate.
"In the cabin, Mr. Randall. He wishes to see you."
"And I wish to see him, so we can suit each other's convenience. How
long since did he ask for me?"
"Only two or three minutes. He has just gone below."
"Then he hasn't had long to wait."
With these words he hastened to the cabin, where he found the captain
waiting for him.
The subject on which the captain wished to see his first mate was
purely of a professional and technical character, and will not be
likely to interest the reader, and so will be passed over.
When this preliminary matter was disposed of, Randall, with a little
hesitation, remarked: "I have a little favor to ask of you, Captain
Brace."
"Very well, sir; let me know what it is, and if I can conveniently
grant it I will."
"The boy who had engaged to go with us has backed out, having heard
some ridiculous stories about your severity and----"
The captain's brow grew dark with anger as he said:
"The young rascal! I should like to overhaul him! I'd show him what it
is to see service!"
There is very little doubt that the captain would have kept his word.
Randall took care not to inform his superior officer that he had
privately communicated to the mother of the boy intelligence of his
severity, not from any motives of humanity, but simply because his
going would have interfered with his own plans in respect to Charlie.
"We shall not have much time to hunt up a boy if we sail at three
o'clock," said the captain. "I don't see but we must go without one."
"I think I can supply you with one, Captain Brace."
"Ha! who is it?"
"It's a nephew of mine, and the favor I spoke of was that you should
take him in place of the boy we have missed of."
"Humph!" said the captain, "there is one objection I have to taking
relations of the officers. You are expected to be tender of them, and
not order them about as roughly as the rest."
"There won't be any trouble of that sort in this case, Captain Brace,
you may be very sure," said the mate. "Although the boy is my nephew I
don't feel any very extraordinary affection for him."
"I should think not," said the captain, with a grim smile, "from your
efforts to get him a place on board this ship. You're not any more
gentle with boys than I am."
"The fact is, Captain Brace," said Randall, with a smile which evinced
a thorough understanding of the captain's meaning; "the fact is, the
boy is unruly, and they can't do much for him at home, and I thought it
might be well for him to try a voyage or two, _for the benefit of his
health_!"
The mate smiled, and as it was such a joke as the captain could
appreciate, he smiled too.
"Very well, Mr. Randall; if such are your views I have no objection to
his coming on board."
"I had fears," continued the mate, "that his unruly temper would
interfere with his usefulness at home. I felt pretty sure we could soon
cure him of that."
"_Kill or cure_, that is my motto," said the captain.
"Sometimes both," thought Randall, remembering one boy in a previous
voyage who had languished and died under the cruel treatment he
experienced on board.
"Does the boy know he is to go with us?" inquired the captain.
"Bless you, no; not he! He'd make a fuss if he did."
"How do you intend to get him on board, then?"
"I shall invite him to come and see the vessel, and when he is down
below I can take care that he stays there till we are fairly at sea."
"A good plan. What is the youngster's name, Mr. Randall?"
"Jack Randall; named after me."
"Humph! hope he'll do credit to the name," said the captain, grimly. "I
leave in your hands all the steps necessary to securing him. Remember,
if you please, that we shall sail at three."
"I will be on board before that time, sir, and bring my nephew with me."
"Very well, sir."
Of course the reader has conjectured that the Jack Randall, the mate's
nephew, spoken of above, is no other than our young hero, Charlie
Codman.
Poor boy! little does he dream of the plot that is being formed against
him.
VIII.
THE BLUE CHEST.
On leaving the Bouncing Betsey, Mr. John Randall, the estimable mate of
that vessel, bent his steps towards a shop devoted to sailors' clothing
ready-made, with a large variety of other articles such as seamen are
accustomed to require.
It was a shop of very good dimensions, but low studded and rather dark,
the windows, which were few, being in part covered up by articles hung
in front of them.
The proprietor of this establishment was Moses Mellen, a little Jew,
with a countenance clearly indicating his Israelitish descent. His
small black eyes sparkled with the greed of gain, and he had a long,
hooked nose like the beak of a bird, which would not have been
considered too small an appendage for a face of twice the size. He had
one qualification for a successful trader--he seldom or never forgot a
face which he had once seen.
Rubbing his hands with a great show of cordiality, and with his face
wreathed in smiles, the instant he espied Randall he hastened to meet
him.
"Delighted to see you, Mr. Randall," he exclaimed; "perhaps I ought to
say Captain Randall."
"Not yet."
"Ah well, that will come soon. I hope you have had a prosperous voyage."
"Tolerably so, Mr. Mellen."
"Have you just arrived in the city, or have you been here for some
time?"
"Three weeks only, and now I am off again. We sailors don't have a
chance to stop long on dry land, Mr. Mellen."
"Not if they are such capital sailors as my friend, Mr. Randall. But
where are you bound this time?"
"Probably to Valparaiso."
"Anywhere else?"
"Perhaps so. We may go to the Indies or Sandwich Islands before we
return."
"A long voyage,--you will need to be fitted out before you
start,--don't you want something in my line? I sha'n't want much profit
out of an old friend like you."
This, by the way, was what Moses said to pretty much all his customers.
"I shall want a few things. I will pick them out now."
"This way, then."
Randall followed the proprietor to the back of the store, where he
selected a variety of articles, which he ordered sent on board the
Bouncing Betsey immediately.
"Now," said the mate, after his own purchases were completed, "I shall
require a small outfit for a boy who is going out with us."
"If you had brought him with you we could have furnished him at short order."
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