We and the World: A Book for Boys. Part I

ariner

ps swin

s are al

ls flut

a of Ki

er sobbed a little round the piles, and there was some creaking and groaning and g

ear him at all. At last I was so long without hearing him that I peeped cautiously out. What Biddy had said might be, seemed really to have happened. The watc

ssel moving very slightly, and groaning dismally as she moved, and there was the hole, and it was temptingly dark. But-the gangway that had been laid across from the wharf was gone! I could have jumped the chasm easil

quite presence of mind enough to hear and think of what was going on about me. What I heard was the watchman, who roused up to call out, "Who's there?" and then he shot a sharp ray of light from h

with an intensity that postponed fear, though my predicament was

e cotton-bales. Then I drew myself up over the edge and crept noiselessly into the ship. I took care to creep beyond reach of the lantern, and then the swaying of

o my mind. Then I turned giddy again and reeled against the door of a cabin, which gave way so far as to let me fall inwards on to a heap of old sails, ropes, and other softish ship lumber stowed away within. As I fell my hand struck something warm,

ng man (for it was a youngster's voice) wag evidently no ship's officer. If he were a dockyard pilferer, it w

arply. "What's your name, a

fiercely to shake the truth out of him). "I come from Aberdeenshire. But, man! if ye're for hav

pered in a not very steady whispe

you're a ship's 'prentice, or whatever may be your duties on this vessel, let m

ispered; "or we shall both be fo

long will ye have

How long have

nd a sore

friends her

? I've no freens ne

d a hard time of

n the docks, and never managed to stow t

ow,"

sleeping these four days. Eh, sirs! there's an awful indifference to responsibility, when a man does a thing like yon

drunk!" said I. "And she's-s

We'll be heard. I ask

difficult to give vent to one's just indignation in whispers, and I still felt g

cotchman asked in his own accent, whic

glish,"

d edyucated,

ppose

s to sit in judgment on the erring, as my mother has often said to me, unless it comes in the plain path of duty. But maybe you

ungry?" I

sorry when we

ou had to-da

orange-peel, not to speak of a handful of corn where there was a big heap had been spilt by some wasteful body or another, th

our hand? It's only a cake, but it'll be better than nothing,

r than yourself, it's likely," he said, pushing my hand aside,

" I whispered. "I've had p

ould hear his teeth clash with the eagerness of h

uld spare it all? I didn't think they made such bannocks out of Scotland. B

. "She made me put it in my pocket, though she had given

rra leeberal; but there are good Christians to be met

g-not to say insulting-tribute to her charity, if I had not begun to fe

quiet till we start," I sa

plained to me that a ship could not, in the nature of things, keep still, except in certain ci

f course I know all that. You don'

ye wushed it," he replied w

w what I wis

on, laddie, to your right, and ye'll find space to lie on the flat of your back, close by the ship's side. I'm

er again, and made ready in my mind to thank my unseen companion for the generosity with which he had evi

eeping, cinder-riddling, furniture-moving, clock-winding, and Spring-cleaning, of the most awful nature, all going on at once, and in a storm of yelling and scolding, whi

ery trying to the length of his limbs. For he was taller than I, though not, I thought, much older; two years or so, perhaps. The cut of his clothes (not their raggedness, though they were ragged as well as pa

, which lay close to his sides-both clenched. But I do think he would have been handsome if his face had not been almost aggressively intelligent when awake, and if his eyebrows and eyelashes had had any colour. His hair was fair but not bright, and it was straight without being smooth, and tossed into

vessel, though the directions in which they ran, dragging ropes as thick as my leg, to the grinding of equally monstrous chains, were as mysterious as the figures of some dance one does not know. As to the n

Then the thick brown rope just below my window quivered like a bow-string, and tightened (all the water starting from it in a sparkling shower) till it looked as firm as a bar of iron, and I held on tight, for we were swinging round. Suddenly the voice of command sang out-(I fancied with a touch of triumph in the tone)-"Let go the warp!" The thick rope sprang