in. It's this or laying up the ship, my boy.' "To cut a long story short, the installation was carried out, the trials run, and the makers expressed themselves as very pleased with the Minerva's engines. "Then Wilkes set about getting hold of engineers to run them, and found it more difficult than he had anticipated. To run the Minerva' deep sea as opposed to 'coasting,' which Wilkes scorned, he was bound to carry a certificated oilengine man. Now, certificated oil engineers are rare, and mostly sail in big full-powered ships at sixty pounds a month. It is left to ex-chauffeurs and motor mechanics to run the engines of such ships as the Minerva. That is all very well on the coast, but for a long deep sea voyage the Board of Trade insists on a certificated man. "Wilkes was desperate; but there is no getting round the Board of Trade. "At length with much difficulty a compromise was made. Wilkes was allowed to take two uncertificated men to sea with him on condition that he signed an undertaking that the Minerva's engines should only be used in calms or on entering or leaving port. Wilkes signed with mental reservations. "The Chief Engineer, as he liked to be called-a big hulking fellow, dark, and with a ready scowl for all and sundry, -claimed to be a Scotsman, though his name was Connor. His assistant Brown, whose accent was pure Yank, claimed to be an Irishman by reason of his Sinn Fein sympathies. "This curious pair shipped in the Minerva, then, as Chief and Second, and from the outset were not too popular aft with old Wilkes or with Jack Handley either. 66 Whenever Wilkes sat down to meals with them, he couldn't help remembering his agreement with the Board of Trade, and speculating on the ruinous expense incurred in paying and feeding two engineers for doing nothing. This ruined Wilkes' appetite, his digestion, and his temper. "Jack Handley's grouse was different. While he worked with Wilkes in four-hour watches, the engineers did nothing, and had all night in bed. He did not really grudge them that, he thought, but during squalls at night, while they slept soundly, they expected him to close their skylights, while in the daytime they were always wanting awnings rigged and such-like, and, worst of all, they walked the deck of the Minerva in uniforms with polished buttons. He wore dungarees. They sniffed at the Minerva, and bragged about the coasters they'd each been chief of. Coasting boats! Not half the size of the Minerva, and weekly boats at that, and yet they talked disparagingly of the ship. They kept on saying she was rotten, not fit to go to sea in, food bad, no comfort, and a stingy Captain. "Jack couldn't bear that any one but himself should grumble at the ship or at her Captain. "Why didn't you stay on in your coasting dung-barges, then?' said Jack once, driven to exasperation. The Chief looked daggers, clenched his fists, then stood upon his dignity, and walked off stiffly with the Second. "So from the outset the officers were hardly what could be called a band of brothers, and when the wind fell light out off the Western Islands, paradoxically the Captain and the Chief had their first breeze together the first of many others. "The ship was lazing along at a bare three knots, so Wilkes sent down to have the engines started. 'Sorry, Skip,' the Chief came up and said, 'but Brown's just painting out the engine-room this morning, so let the engines rest.' "The Captain was inarticulate with surprise for a minute before he found his voice. 'You start those engines. It's not the time to put on paint at the beginning of a voyage. You'll use it all in no time, and come to me for more. Start the engines, I tell you, and keep 'em running till you're told to stop.' "There's plenty of wind yet, Captain,' said the Chief, quite unabashed, and what about the agreement to run them only when it's calm? You surely don't mean to break an agreement with the Board of Trade?' He winked. "I want those engines running,' said Wilkes; but he knew his position was not the best. "We'll get going after dinner, then,' replied the engineer with a shrug, and with that Wilkes had to be content. "Days passed in monotonous regularity, halcyon semitropical days spoilt only by the attitude of armed neutrality among the after-guard. The weather grew hotter and tempers shorter. The engineers complained of having porridge served for breakfast in the tropics. Then quite suddenly came the first big row aft. "The Chief arrived scowling to breakfast one morning, took one taste of the hated mess of porridge, then with an oath he turned to Wilkes. 6 "The porridge porridge meal meal is mouldy, you d-d old 'Now, Jack Handley had in the old days often broken a lance with Wilkes about the rotten food, and Jack himself was fond of a bit of fun ashore, of which these two engineers were always talking-of Antwerp's cafés and Hamburg's dance-halls; yet for no valid reason as far as he could see his gorge had always risen at them-their manners and their conversation. Besides, he was loyal to old Wilkes. "His pent-up feelings would not now be denied. He rose, and stammering with anger T-take the porridge this way, then,' he threw it full in Connor's face. "A free fight over the table followed. The Second, wildly excited, emptied the tureen of porridge over the two combatants, and, armed with the ladle, leapt to help his Chief. Wilkes blew his whistle prompt ly to summon the steward and the watch on deck to separate the combatants before too much damage could be done. to the one at Trinidad. Wilkes was in that one, in spite of his grey hairs. This row at Trinidad was the direct cause of the autumn shooting that I'm going to get to if you'll have patience with me just a little longer. I'm afraid I've been a bit discursive up to date, but let me have another 'coffin nail,' and if you like I'll get on with the story." "They were separated with difficulty, porridge-bespattered and bloody, each breathing vengeance through a mask of gruel, but eventually were washed and calmed sufficiently for life on board to go on much the same way as before. "But that row was nothing a ship," he added drily. We all agreed, and some one asked Captain Marshall whose part he had played in this drama of the old Minerva. He smiled, and said he might have been the steward. Stewards know everything on board 66 "It was a sweltering day in the Gulf of Paria," continued Marshall; "the Minerva's sails uncovered, shaken out to dry, lay steaming in the heat. The atmosphere was like a hothouse, and faintly over the calm water came the smell of marsh land and of negro dwellings. It was a day to take the energy out of most men, but old Captain Wilkes came out on a lighter from the shore, smiling and rubbing his hands, evidently well pleased with life. "The Minerva had already loaded a good cargo from the Pitch Lake, but Wilkes was bringing out an extra load of oil in barrels which he'd secured for freight at the last moment at an advantageous figure. II. "Jack Handley with the crew and the niggers on the barge set to, and had the barrels inboard and securely lashed on deck along the rail, a score each side. "The barrels took up a good deal of space on deck indeed, and were a rather heavy deck cargo for the time of year, but nothing out of the ordinary; and when Jack Handley heard the freight they were to earn both he and Wilkes retired into the cabin to split a bottle of West Indian rum between them. The rum may have had something to do with the mix-up that ensued, but it was mostly caused by all the ill-feeling of the voyage coming to a head at last and boiling over. "While the Captain and the on mate were hobnobbing in the cabin, there was heard the sound of voices and a shore boat bumped up along the side. The engineers had come board. Brown's nasal voice was heard asking of the infernal regions what all those barrels were doing stowed along the deck, and Connor answering loudly so that all should hear. 'The Captain's overloading the ship, that's what the matter is. The old skinflint can't be content with that what's under hatches, but goes and risks our lives as well.' "This could not be borne, and Wilkes stepped out to face the engineers. There they stood by the after-hatch, sweating in the heat and full of venom, swaying slightly after several 'liveners-up' ashore. The crew were grouped close by pretending to work, but obviously making jobs for themselves so as not to lose a word of what was coming. "Wilkes' first words were to them. 'Get forrard, men, you've finished working here.' 'Set 'em to work away from here,' he whispered to Jack Handley, who had just come out. "Now what's all this trouble?' The Captain turned to Connor. "These barrels lashed on deck are dangerous. I know they are, and so do you. The ship's been overloaded too. The Plimsoll mark's below the water. I saw it as we came on board,' and he looked to his assistant Brown for confirmation. 666 "The Orinoco makes this water fresh, so that of course the mark's below the water,' Captain Wilkes replied. 'Stop this nonsense now and get down aft.' But this was far from what the engineers intended. If the truth were told, they did not relish the idea of going back across the Western Ocean in the old Minerva, and this additional cargo had thoroughly upset them. "You can't make a fool of me. The ship's not safe, I say,' the Chief reiterated. 'I bet the court would say the same,' he scowled vindictively; but look ye here, we'll both say nothing about that mark if you like to pay us off right now and pay our fares back home.' "I never heard of such a thing,' said Wilkes, his anger rising. The ship's all right. It's you white-livered skunks that are afraid to sail in her. A lot the court would listen to you against my word that's been to sea these forty years and more. You'll sail with me if I've got to put you under hatches. I'll stand all the trouble you can make, you pair of There the old man stood, glaring upwards wrathfully at Connor, and roundly cursed the pair of them. The Captain's sparse grey beard was fairly quivering as he delivered himself of winged words which cut and stung. He had borne a great deal up to now, and at last he had completely lost control. "Stow it!' broke in Connor brutally. I've got no ticket to lose. You'll damn well have to fire me after this,' and then he struck the Captain fairly on the mouth with all his body's weight behind the blow. The old man went down, lay crumpled up for a moment, but then was up like lightning and went for his assailant with the energy of a man of half his years. "Luckily for the Captain, Jack Handley came from forward at this moment. Surprised and horror-struck to see old Wilkes' action, he did not wait a moment though, but sailed in madly, striking right and left. The engineers gave ground at this unexpected onslaught, but Connor was a powerful man, and with his Second fighting with him it might have gone hardly with the deck department. Wilkes was weakening visibly. Fortunately the steward came running to his rescue, and between them Brown was overpowered and forced not too unwillingly on his part to discontinue fighting. "What shall I do, sir? Call the crew?' the steward asked. the following day, and but for odds and ends and tightening up some rigging here and there, was lying ready for sea at any moment. The little breath of wind was fair, so Captain Wilkes decided to clear out at once with the engineers on board. Once at sea, if they refused his orders, it would be a serious case of mutiny for them. Certainly they had been diabolically clever now, and with a clever lawyer on their side in court ashore they might make things quite awkward. "There was no excuse for striking the Captain of the ship, but, then, he had given some provocation. Brown would witness that, and might even say the Captain had struck first; besides, the ship had been perhaps a trifle overloaded. The marks would be all right on reaching home, of course, for then the ship would be relieved of all her stores and fuel oil consumed; but now things might be awkward, and anyhow there would be considerable delay, and the engineer had no certificate to lose in any case. Wilkes thought all this out rapidly, and resolved to sail. |