Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling (e manga reader .txt) đ
- Author: Rudyard Kipling
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âAnd whoâs ever to use the âWeâre Hereâ after this?â said Long Jack to Tom Platt. âI feel as if sheâd made a cathedral av ut all.â
âCathedral!â sneered Tom Platt. âOh, if it had bin even the Fish Câmmission boat instid of this bally-hoo oâ blazes. If we only hed some decency anâ order anâ side-boys when she goes over! Sheâll have to climb that ladder like a hen, anâ weâwe ought to be manninâ the yards!â
âThen Harvey was not mad,â said Penn, slowly, to Cheyne.
âNo, indeedâthank God,â the big millionaire replied, stooping down tenderly.
âIt must be terrible to be mad. Except to lose your child, I do not know anything more terrible. But your child has come back? Let us thank God for that.â
âHello!â cried Harvey, looking down upon them benignly from the wharf.
âI wuz mistook, Harve. I wuz mistook,â said Disko, swiftly, holding up a hand. âI wuz mistook in my jedgments. Ye neednât rub in any more.â
âGuess Iâll take care oâ that,â said Dan, under his breath.
âYouâll be goinâ off naow, wonât ye?â
âWell, not without the balance of my wages, âless you want to have the âWeâre Hereâ attached.â
âThetâs so; Iâd clean forgotâ; and he counted out the remaining dollars. âYou done all you contracted to do, Harve; and you done it âbaoutâs well as if youâd been brought upââ Here Disko brought himself up. He did not quite see where the sentence was going to end.
âOutside of a private car?â suggested Dan, wickedly.
âCome on, and Iâll show her to you,â said Harvey.
Cheyne stayed to talk with Disko, but the others made a procession to the depot, with Mrs. Cheyne at the head. The French maid shrieked at the invasion; and Harvey laid the glories of the âConstanceâ before them without a word. They took them in in equal silenceâstamped leather, silver door-handles and rails, cut velvet, plate-glass, nickel, bronze, hammered iron, and the rare woods of the continent inlaid.
âI told you,â said Harvey; âI told you.â This was his crowning revenge, and a most ample one.
Mrs. Cheyne decreed a meal, and that nothing might be lacking to the tale Long Jack told afterwards in his boardinghouse, she waited on them herself. Men who are accustomed to eat at tiny tables in howling gales have curiously neat and finished manners; but Mrs. Cheyne, who did not know this, was surprised. She longed to have Manuel for a butler; so silently and easily did he comport himself among the frail glassware and dainty silver. Tom Platt remembered the great days on the Ohio and the manners of foreign potentates who dined with the officers; and Long Jack, being Irish, supplied the small talk till all were at their ease.
In the âWeâre Hereâsâ cabin the fathers took stock of each other behind their cigars. Cheyne knew well enough when he dealt with a man to whom he could not offer money; equally well he knew that no money could pay for what Disko had done. He kept his own counsel and waited for an opening.
âI hevnât done anything to your boy or fer your boy excepâ make him work a piece anâ learn him how to handle the hog-yoke,â said Disko. âHe has twice my boyâs head for figgers.â
âBy the way,â Cheyne answered casually, âwhat dâyou calculate to make of your boy?â
Disko removed his cigar and waved it comprehensively round the cabin. âDanâs jest plain boy, anâ he donât allow me to do any of his thinkinâ. Heâll hev this able little packet when Iâm laid by. He ainât noways anxious to quit the business. I know that.â
âMmm! âEver been West, Mr. Troop?â
ââBinâs fer ez Noo York once in a boat. Iâve no use for railroads. No more hez Dan. Salt waterâs good enough fer the Troops. Iâve been âmost everywhereâin the natâral way, oâ course.â
âI can give him all the salt water heâs likely to needâtill heâs a skipper.â
âHaowâs that? I thought you wuz a kinder railroad king. Harve told me so whenâI was mistook in my jedgments.â
âWeâre all apt to be mistaken. I fancied perhaps you might know I own a line of tea-clippersâSan Francisco to Yokohamaâsix of âemâiron-built, about seventeen hundred and eighty tons apiece.
âBlame that boy! He never told. Iâd haâ listened to that, instid oâ his truck abaout railroads anâ ponycarriages.â
âHe didnât know.â
ââLittle thing like that slipped his mind, I guess.â
âNo, I only captâtook hold of the âBlue M.â freightersâMorgan and McQuadeâs old lineâthis summer.â Disko collapsed where he sat, beside the stove.
âGreat Caesar Almighty! I mistrust Iâve been fooled from one end to the other. Why, Phil Airheart he went from this very town six year backâno, sevenâanâ heâs mate on the San Joseâ nowâtwenty-six days was her time out. His sister sheâs livinâ here yet, anâ she reads his letters to my woman. Anâ you own the âBlue M.â freighters?â
Cheyne nodded.
âIf Iâd known that Iâd haâ jerked the âWeâre Hereâ back to port all standinâ, on the word.â
âPerhaps that wouldnât have been so good for Harvey.â
âIf Iâd only known! If heâd only said about the cussed Line, Iâd haâ understood! Iâll never stand on my own jedgments againânever. Theyâre well-found packets. Phil Airheart he says so.â
âIâm glad to have a recommend from that quarter. Airheartâs skipper of the San Jose now. What I was getting at is to know whether youâd lend me Dan for a year or two, and weâll see if we canât make a mate of him. Would you trust him to Airheart?â
âItâs a resk taking a raw boyââ
âI know a man who did more for me.â
âThatâs diffârunt. Look at here naow, I ainât recommendinâ Dan special because heâs my own flesh anâ blood. I know Bank ways ainât clipper ways, but he hainât much to learn. Steer he canâno boy better, if I say itâanâ the restâs in our blood anâ get; but I could wish he warnât so cussed weak on navigation.â
âAirheart will attend to that. Heâll ship as boy for a voyage or two, and then we can put him in the way of doing better. Suppose you take him in hand this winter, and Iâll send for him early in the spring. I know the Pacificâs a long ways offââ
âPshaw! We Troops, livinâ anâ dead, are all around the earth anâ the seas thereof.â
âBut I want you to understandâand I mean thisâany time you think youâd like to see him, tell me, and Iâll attend to the transportation. âTwonât cost you a cent.â
âIf youâll walk a piece with me, weâll go to my house anâ talk this to my woman. Iâve bin so crazy mistook in all my jedgments, it donât seem to me this was like to be real.â
They went blue-trimmed of nasturtiums over to Troopâs eighteen-hundred-dollar, white house, with a retired dory full in the front yard and a shuttered parlour which was a museum of oversea plunder. There sat a large woman, silent and grave, with the dim eyes of those who look long to sea for the return of their beloved. Cheyne addressed himself to her, and she gave consent wearily.
âWe lose one hundred a year from Gloucester only, Mr. Cheyne,â she saidââone hundred boys anâ men; and Iâve come soâs to hate the sea as if âtwuz alive anâ listeninâ. God never made it fer humans to anchor on. These packets oâ yours they go straight out, I take itâ and straight home again?â
âAs straight as the winds let âem, and I give a bonus for record passages. Tea donât improve by being at sea.â
âWhen he wuz little he used to play at keeping store, anâ I had hopes he might follow that up. But soonâs he could paddle a dory I knew that were goinâ to be denied me.â
âTheyâre square-riggers, Mother; iron-built anâ well found. Remember what Philâs sister reads you when she gits his letters.â
âIâve never known as Phil told lies, but heâs too venturesome (like most of âem that use the sea). If Dan sees fit, Mr. Cheyne, he can goâfer all oâ me.â
âShe jest despises the ocean,â Disko explained, âanâ IâI dunno haow to act polite, I guess, er Iâd thank you better.â
âMy fatherâmy own eldest brotherâtwo nephewsâanâ my second sisterâs man,â she said, dropping her head on her hand. âWould you care fer any one that took all those?â
Cheyne was relieved when Dan turned up and accepted with more delight than he was able to put into words. Indeed, the offer meant a plain and sure road to all desirable things; but Dan thought most of commanding watch on broad decks, and looking into far-away harbours.
Mrs. Cheyne had spoken privately to the unaccountable Manuel in the matter of Harveyâs rescue. He seemed to have no desire for money. Pressed hard, he said that he would take five dollars, because he wanted to buy something for a girl. OtherwiseââHow shall I take money when I make so easy my eats and smokes? You will giva some if I like or no? Eh, wha-at?. Then you shall giva me money, but not that way. You shall giva all you can think.â He introduced her to a snuffy Portuguese priest with a list of semi-destitute widows as long as his cassock. As a strict Unitarian, Mrs. Cheyne could not sympathize with the creed, but she ended by respecting the brown, voluble little man.
Manuel, faithful son of the Church, appropriated all the blessings showered on her for her charity. âThat letta me out,â said he. âI have now verâ good absolutions for six monthsâ; and he strolled forth to get a handkerchief for the girl of the hour and to break the hearts of all the others.
Salters went West for a season with Penn, and left no address behind. He had a dread that these millionary people, with wasteful private cars, might take undue interest in his companion. It was better to visit inland relatives till the coast was clear. âNever you be adopted by rich folk, Penn,â he said in the cars, âor Iâll take ânâ break this checkerboard over your head. Ef you forgit your name aginâwhich is Prattâyou remember you belong with Salters Troop, anâ set down right where you are till I come fer you. Donât go tagginâ araound after them whose eyes bung out with fatness, accordinâ to Scripcher.â
But it was otherwise with the âWeâre Hereâsâ silent cook, for he came up, his kit in a handkerchief, and boarded the âConstance.â Pay was no particular object, and he did not in the least care where he slept. His business, as revealed to him in dreams, was to follow Harvey for the rest of his days. They tried argument and, at last, persuasion; but there is a difference between one Cape Breton and two Alabama negroes, and the matter was referred to Cheyne by the cook and porter. The millionaire only laughed. He presumed Harvey might need a body-servant some day or other, and was sure that one volunteer was worth five hirelings. Let the man stay, therefore; even though he called himself
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