The boys could do nothing but look on and laugh, till, tiring at last, the dear old dogs marched solemnly up and deposited their caps—unmarked by teeth—at their feet.
“Couldn’t really help it,” said Nick, apologetically, speaking with eyes and tail.
“And I only did what Nick did,” said Nora, saucily.
The fiddles were hardly ever off the table now, for the sea, if not actually rough, was a bit lumpy, and there was plenty of motion. Hot soup is very nice and nourishing for a sailor’s inside, but when a roll of the ship spills it all into his lap, it is not quite so pleasant.
Charlie, I think, was the better sailor, and though Walt often ventured into the crow’s-nest, he was generally glad enough to get down again. The crow’s-nest swung so, he explained. Well, it is not a very easy job to get there, as it is a cask with a railing at top, hoisted to and fixed but a little way under the main-truck. But no rigging leads right up to it, so you have to squirm up a Jacob’s ladder from the main-top cross-trees, and to do this you must go quarter-way round the mast. This tries the head of a landsman, I can assure you. Most landsmen who had never been on horseback before, would rather make up their minds to ride a buck-jumper than attempt to reach this same crow’s-nest when there is a bit of seaway on, were it never so little.
It isn’t fun—the first day—reaching even to the cross-trees. Then, having run the risk of your life—not being a Blondin—and gained a footing on the lower rungs of the Jacob’s ladder, you cannot help wondering as you scramble up, hanging back downwards half the time, if it will give way with your weight, and which would be the easier way, when you do fall, to meet death—getting smashed up on the ship’s bulwarks or being plunged headlong into the cold sea.
You enter through a trap-hole at the bottom, and though you may feel safe for just a little while, evil, discomforting thoughts return, and you cannot be quite certain whether or not the crow’s-nest is properly secured, or whether, if the wind begins to blow, you won’t be emptied out altogether.
And then comes the going down again. You must not look below, or you may lose your head altogether. Just shut your eyes and open the trap, slue round after that, and make sure of your footing, then cautiously, foot over foot, you may reach the rigging, and afterwards the deck.
In cold weather a spell in the nest is really a terrible experience.
Yet Charlie never feared to face it, any more than he would have funked a ride in a motor car against the wind on a stormy day.