None of the visiting skippers had said anything to him about the decision they had come to, so that at the most he only contemplated an enforced holiday for the skipper on shore here while he took the ship for a cruise and came back with a big catch of oil to find the skipper awaiting him in the very prime and vigour of health. These ideas of his were to receive a rude shock that very afternoon.
While all hands were quietly busy and a party ashore were filling casks with water, the soft musical cry of “Sail ho!” was raised. And round the North Head came one of the dandies of the high seas, a British corvette. She had just paid a visit to this out-of-the-way place in the course of a surveying cruise, because—well, because it is necessary in the interests of the world’s commerce that British men-o’-war shall thus patrol the seas and record their observations, an immense duty imposed upon the British Navy which is all too often forgotten by its calumniators, and those who clamour for its starvation and eventual abolition. Poor little one-idea’d men, what a pity it is that their power for harm isn’t limited as is their power for good.
She had not been at anchor very long before Captain Swift of the Coral, deputed by his brother-captains, boarded her and begged that her surgeon would have the goodness to visit the Eliza Adams with him, and give an opinion upon the state of her suffering captain. With that ready courtesy so characteristic of British Naval officers, the request was immediately complied with, and presently Mr. Winsloe saw approaching the Coral’s boat with the captain of the Coral and a Naval officer, who on mounting the side was introduced to him as Doctor Devine of the British warship Fame. Informed of their errand, Mr. Winsloe gravely led the way below, where the doctor made an exhaustive examination of Captain Taber, at the conclusion of which, and after hearing the history of the accident, he gave it as his opinion that it was hardly short of miraculous that Captain Taber was alive at all, but that he certainly would never be able to pursue his calling again.
Captain Taber then, in a firm voice, requested the doctor to tell him how long he had to live. “That, my dear sir, is a question that I would answer you as frankly as you have asked it were it in my power. But I cannot tell. There have been most extensive internal injuries in addition to those that are apparent, and what their effect may be in the future is a matter of conjecture only. You may live to a green old age with great care and attention, and you may only live a week or two. All I can tell you I have told you, and I should certainly advise you to relinquish your command at once and proceed homeward by easy stages and in as much comfort as you can get. I am deeply sorry that I can say nothing more hopeful and pleasant, but I can see that you are a man who is well fortified in the best possible way against any fortune. Good-bye, sir, and may you have a pleasant and easy journey home.” And the genial doctor was taken back to his ship with a story for the wardroom that attracted the deepest attention from his fellows.
He had been gone but a very short time when Captain Taber, having made up his mind, sent for Winsloe and said—
“Now, my dear fellow, I’m going to hand the ship over to you, and hope with all my heart that you’ll have a rattling good time for the rest of the cruise. Everything is in order, and you know quite as much about the affairs of the ship as I do, so there is no need for me to worry you or myself with going over them. Next, I want you to send C. B. to me. I feel that as I cannot travel alone there is no one to whom I could more safely entrust myself than him, and I want to arrange with him.”
Winsloe signified assent, and going on deck passed the word for C. B., telling him that the captain wished to see him. C. B. obeyed on the instant, and seated himself at the captain’s side at his request.
“Christmas,” said the suffering man impressively, “the doctor has confirmed what my friends the captains of the other ships have told me, that I am done, my career as a whaling skipper is over, and I am bound to agree with them; for I mustn’t betray the interests of my owners by spoiling the ship’s voyage. They have also told me that the sooner I get home with as little exertion as may be, the better chance I have of life. Now, I can’t travel alone, and I sent for you to learn whether you are willing to take the burden of an invalid broken man on your young shoulders, and give up your chance of making a good pay-day here. Will you come with me and look after me for such small pay as I am able to offer you, nothing in comparison with what your services are worth; but I am a poor man, and I have a wife and three youngsters in Fairhaven, who will need every cent that I can scrape together for the lean years I see before me?”
It was some little time before C. B. could answer, for, like all real Christians, he was exceedingly tender-hearted, and the sad spectacle of the suffering man before him touched him very deeply. But he recovered himself and answered—
“Captain Taber, I thought you knew how little store my people set by money. I did not come with you with any idea of making money, only that I felt that I must see the world and at the same time earn my own living. And if by doing what you ask I can repay your kindness to me, money need not be mentioned between us as long as I can get food enough to keep me alive and clothing such as is necessary. I shall be glad and proud to serve you with all my ability, and though I may be clumsy at first I hope to learn quickly.”