Captains Courageous by Rudyard Kipling (e manga reader .txt) đ
- Author: Rudyard Kipling
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Harvey asked as he bent to his oars. He felt he was learning to handle them more easily.
âDad ainât mistook this time. Pennâs a sure ânuff loony.â
âNo, he ainât thet exactly, so much ez a harmless ijut. It was this way (youâre rowinâ quite so, Harve), anâ I tell you âcause itâs right you orter know. He was a Moravian preacher once. Jacob Boiler wuz his name, Dad told me, anâ he lived with his wife anâ four children somewheres out Pennsylvania way. Well, Penn he took his folks along to a Moravian meetinââcamp-meetinâ most likeâanâ they stayed over jest one night in Johnstown. Youâve heered talk oâ Johnstown?â
Harvey considered. âYes, I have. But I donât know why. It sticks in my head same as Ashtabula.â
âBoth was big accidentsâthetâs why, Harve. Well, that one single night Penn and his folks was to the hotel Johnstown was wiped out. âDam bust anâ flooded her, anâ the houses struck adrift anâ bumped into each other anâ sunk. Iâve seen the pictures, anâ theyâre dretful. Penn he saw his folk drowned allân a heap âfore he rightly knew what was cominâ. His mind give out from that on. He mistrusted somethinâ hed happened up to Johnstown, but for the poor life of him he couldnât remember what, anâ he jest drifted araound smilinâ anâ wonderinâ. He didnât know what he was, nor yit what he hed bin, anâ thet way he run agin Uncle Salters, who was visitinâ ân Allegheny City. Haâaf my motherâs folks they live scattered inside oâ Pennsylvania, anâ Uncle Salters he visits araound winters. Uncle Salters he kinder adopted Penn, well knowinâ what his trouble wuz; anâ he brought him East, anâ he give him work on his farm.â, âWhy, I heard him calling Penn a farmer last night when the boats bumped. Is your Uncle Salters a farmer?â
âFarmer!â shouted Dan. âThere ainât water enough âtween here anâ Hattârus to wash the furrer-mold offân his boots. Heâs jest everlastinâ farmer. Why, Harve, Iâve seen thet man hitch up a bucket, long towards sundown, anâ set twiddlinâ the spigot to the scuttle-butt sameâs ef âtwas a cowâs bag. Heâs thet much farmer. Well, Penn anâ he they ran the farmâup Exeter way âtwur. Uncle Salters he sold it this spring to a jay from Boston as wanted to build a summer-haouse, anâ he got a heap for it. Well, them two loonies scratched along till, one day, Pennâs churchâheâd belonged to the Moraviansâfound out where he wuz drifted anâ layinâ, anâ wrote to Uncle Salters. âNever heerd what they said exactly; but Uncle Salters was mad. Heâs a âpiscopolian mostlyâbut he jest let âem hev it both sides oâ the bow, âs if he was a Baptist; anâ sez he warnât goinâ to give up Penn to any blame Moravian connection in Pennsylvania or anywheres else. Then he come to Dad, towinâ Penn,âthet was two trips back,âanâ sez he anâ Penn must fish a trip fer their health. âGuess he thought the Moravians wouldnât hunt the Banks fer Jacob Boiler. Dad was agreeable, fer Uncle Salters heâd been fishinâ off anâ on fer thirty years, when he warnât inventinâ patent manures, anâ he took quarter-share in the âWeâre Hereâ; anâ the trip done Penn so much good, Dad made a habit oâ takinâ him. Some day, Dad sez, heâll remember his wife anâ kids anâ Johnstown, anâ then, like as not, heâll die, Dad sez. Donât ye talk abaout Johnstown ner such things to Penn, âr Uncle Salters heâll heave ye overboard.â
âPoor Penn!â murmured Harvey. âI shouldnât ever have thought Uncle Salters cared for him by the look of âem together.â
âI like Penn, though; we all do,â said Dan. âWe ought to haâ give him a tow, but I wanted to tell ye first.â
They were close to the schooner now, the other boats a little behind them.
âYou neednât heave in the dories till after dinner,â said Troop from the deck. âWeâll dress daown right off. Fix table, boys!â
âDeeperân the Whale-deep,â said Dan, with a wink, as he set the gear for dressing down. âLook at them boats that hev edged up sence morninâ. Theyâre all waitinâ on Dad. See âem, Harve?â
âThey are all alike to me.â And indeed to a landsman, the nodding schooners around seemed run from the same mold.
âThey ainât, though. That yaller, dirty packet with her bowsprit steeved that way, sheâs the Hope of Prague. Nick Bradyâs her skipper, the meanest man on the Banks. Weâll tell him so when we strike the Main Ledge. âWay off yonderâs the Dayâs Eye. The two Jeraulds own her. Sheâs from Harwich; fastish, too, anâ hez good luck; but Dad heâd find fish in a graveyard. Them other three, side along, theyâre the Margie Smith, Rose, and Edith S. Walen, all from home. âGuess weâll see the Abbie M. Deering tomorrer, Dad, wonât we? Theyâre all slippinâ over from the shaol oâ âOueereau.â
âYou wonât see many boats tomorrow, Danny.â When Troop called his son Danny, it was a sign that the old man was pleased. âBoys, weâre too crowded,â he went on, addressing the crew as they clambered inboard. âWeâll leave âem to bait big anâ catch small.â He looked at the catch in the pen, and it was curious to see how little and level the fish ran. Save for Harveyâs halibut, there was nothing over fifteen pounds on deck.
âIâm waitinâ on the weather,â he added.
âYeâll have to make it yourself, Disko, for thereâs no sign I can see,â said Long Jack, sweeping the clear horizon.
And yet, half an hour later, as they were dressing down, the Bank fog dropped on them, âbetween fish and fish,â as they say. It drove steadily and in wreaths, curling and smoking along the colourless water. The men stopped dressing-down without a word. Long Jack and Uncle Salters slipped the windlass brakes into their sockets, and began to heave up the anchor; the windlass jarring as the wet hempen cable strained on the barrel. Manuel and Tom Platt gave a hand at the last. The anchor came up with a sob, and the riding-sail bellied as Troop steadied her at the wheel. âUp jib and foresail,â said he.
âSlip âem in the smother,â shouted Long Jack, making fast the jib-sheet, while the others raised the clacking, rattling rings of the foresail; and the foreboom creaked as the âWeâre Hereâ looked up into the wind and dived off into blank, whirling white.
âThereâs wind behind this fog,â said Troop.
It was wonderful beyond words to Harvey; and the most wonderful part was that he heard no orders except an occasional grunt from Troop, ending with, âThatâs good, my son!â
âNever seen anchor weighed before?â said Tom Platt, to Harvey gaping at the damp canvas of the foresail.
âNo. Where are we going?â
âFish and make berth, as youâll find out âfore youâve been a week aboard. Itâs all new to you, but we never know what may come to us. Now, take meâTom PlattâIâd never haâ thoughtââ
âItâs better than fourteen dollars a month anâ a bullet in your belly,â said Troop, from the wheel. âEase your jumbo a grind.â
âDollars anâ cents better,â returned the man-oâ-warâs man, doing something to a big jib with a wooden spar tied to it. âBut we didnât think oâ that when we manned the windlass-brakes on the Miss Jim Buck, 1 outside Beau-fort Harbor, with Fort Macon heavinâ hot shot at our stern, anâ a livinâ gale atop of all. Where was you then, Disko?â
âJest here, or hereabouts,â Disko replied, âearninâ my bread on the deep waters, anâ dodginâ Reb privateers. Sorry I canât accommodate you with red-hot shot, Tom Platt; but I guess weâll come aout all right on wind âfore we see Eastern Point.â
There was an incessant slapping and chatter at the bows now, varied by a solid thud and a little spout of spray that clattered down on the focâsle. The rigging dripped clammy drops, and the men lounged along the lee of the houseâall save Uncle Salters, who sat stiffly on the main-hatch nursing his stung hands.
âGuess sheâd carry staysâl,â said Disko, rolling one eye at his brother.
âGuess she wouldnât to any sorter profit. Whatâs the sense oâ wastinâ canvas?â the farmer-sailor replied.
The wheel twitched almost imperceptibly in Diskoâs hands. A few seconds later a hissing wave-top slashed diagonally across the boat, smote Uncle Salters between the shoulders, and drenched him from head to foot. He rose sputtering, and went forward only to catch another.
âSee Dad chase him all around the deck,â said Dan. âUncle Salters he thinks his quarter shareâs our canvas. Dadâs put this duckinâ act up on him two trips runninâ. Hi! That found him where he feeds.â Uncle Salters had taken refuge by the foremast, but a wave slapped him over the knees. Diskoâs face was as blank as the circle of the wheel.
âGuess sheâd lie easier under staysâl, Salters,â said Disko, as though he had seen nothing.
âSet your old kite, then,â roared the victim through a cloud of spray; âonly donât lay it to me if anything happens. Penn, you go below right off anâ git your coffee. You ought to hev more sense than to bum araound on deck this weather.â
âNow theyâll swill coffee anâ play checkers till the cows come home,â said Dan, as Uncle Salters hustled Penn into the fore-cabin. ââLooks to me likeâs if weâd all be doinâ so fer a spell. Thereâs nothinâ in creation deader-limpsey-idlerân a Banker when she ainât on fish.â
âIâm glad ye spoke, Danny,â cried Long Jack, who had been casting round in search of amusement. âIâd dean forgot weâd a passenger under that T-wharf hat. Thereâs no idleness for thim that donât know their ropes. Pass him along, Tom Platt, anâ weâll larn him.â
ââTainât my trick this time,â grinned Dan. âYouâve got to go it alone. Dad learned me with a ropeâs end.â
For an hour Long Jack walked his prey up and down, teaching, as he said, âthings at the sea that ivry man must know, blind, dhrunk, or asleep.â There is not much gear to a seventy-ton schooner with a stump-foremast, but Long Jack had a gift of expression. When he wished to draw Harveyâs attention to the peak-halyards, he dug his knuckles into the back of the boyâs neck and kept him at gaze for half a minute. He emphasized the difference between fore and aft generally by rubbing Harveyâs nose along a few feet of the boom, and the lead of each rope was fixed in Harveyâs mind by the end of the rope itself.
The lesson would have been easier had the deck been at all free; but there appeared to be a place on it for everything and anything except a man. Forward lay the windlass and its tackle, with the chain and hemp cables, all very unpleasant to trip over; the focâsle stovepipe, and the gurry-butts by the focâsle hatch to hold the fish-livers. Aft of these the foreboom and booby of the main-hatch took all the space that was not needed for the pumps and dressing-pens. Then came the nests of dories lashed to ring-bolts by the quarterdeck; the house, with tubs and oddments lashed all around it; and, last, the sixty-foot main-boom in its crutch, splitting things length-wise, to duck and dodge under every time.
Tom Platt, of course, could not keep his oar out of the business, but ranged alongside with enormous and unnecessary descriptions of sails and spars on the old Ohio.
âNiver mind fwhat he says; attind to me, Innocince. Tom Platt, this bally-hooâs not the Ohio, anâ youâre mixing the bhoy bad.â
âHeâll be ruined for life, beginninâ on a fore-anâ-after this way,â Tom Platt pleaded. âGive him a chance to
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