Still another source of amusement with many of the passengers is dancing. We have two fiddlers on board the ship, and are therefore well supplied with the necessary music. There is a space between the two houses covering a few square feet, and another space still smaller between the forward house and the windlass, where a small number of persons can crowd through a figure in a dance, and these spaces have been sometimes used for that purpose. I have attempted to take this kind of exercise, but in such a circumscribed space and such a rolling ballroom, I have found the amusement any thing but amusing.
From what I have already recorded of Mr. Johnson, it will be seen that he has been guilty of some indiscretions (to call them by no harsher name) that are not very creditable to him as a man or a Christian. I have now to state a fact, which proves him to be destitute of common honesty. At his particular request I had lent him several sheets of my journal, in which were some passages reflecting on the conduct of Captain J. and the first mate. These passages, he gave me his word, should not be repeated nor revealed. I heard no more about it for several days and until last night, when the reverend gentleman came deliberately to me, and said, that considering all the circumstances of the case, he felt it his duty, notwithstanding his promise, to repeat those obnoxious passages to the captain and mate. He asked me if I had any objection. I replied that it could answer no good purpose; that he very well knew that the captain had repeatedly threatened me with personal violence, and this would only serve to increase his rage, and, perhaps, furnish him with a pretext for putting his threats into execution; and that I would not consent to the disclosure. To all my remonstrances he only replied that his duty impelled him to the course he was about to pursue, and that his conscience would no longer permit him to remain silent. So he left me to perform his duty and quiet his conscience by breaking his word and violating his promise, and making a revelation, which could answer no other purpose than to make mischief, to increase a personal animosity, which was already bitter enough, to prolong a quarrel which it should have been his duty as a Christian minister to allay, and to stir up strife when he should have endeavored to promote conciliation. "Blessed are the peace-makers."
It will be thought that we have a jumble of strange characters in our company, and so indeed we have. Perhaps I have occupied too much space with the bad portion of them. Perhaps, too, I have attached too much importance to the little scrapes and wrangles, of which I have given so many accounts. One might suppose that I had treasured up every quarrel that has occurred during the voyage, and that I delighted in telling them. But it is not so. I would give a correct impression of the voyage, its pleasures and pains; and the record of a portion of our disputes is necessary to this end. But I have omitted more than I have recorded, and I have related others in the fewest words into which I could condense them.
In addition to the ladies whose names have appeared in the progress of this narrative, is Mrs. A. G. B., who is going to join her husband in Stockton. She is a very quiet, and I believe a religious woman. She passes a great part of her time in her state-room, and keeps entirely aloof from all the bickerings that are of such frequent occurrence in the ladies' cabin. She comes on deck after supper to take the air. I have occasionally passed an hour very agreeably with her, enjoying a pleasant sunset and twilight, or talking of friends at home. Her daughter Mary is a pretty girl of seventeen, who reads French, and has a variety of accomplishments. Mrs. B. has two sons on board, one a boy, and the other, a married man, whose wife and daughter, a sprightly little girl of three years, accompany him.
One of the passengers in the main cabin is a deaf-mute, Elisha Osgood, a cabinet-maker. He gave our chaplain a mild reproof for his belligerent propensities a few days since. Learning that Mr. J. had a revolver, he proposed to buy it. Mr. J. refused to sell it; whereupon Osgood wrote upon his slate, "You had better sell your revolver, and buy a bible."
Mr. Gardner, the second mate, is a clever fellow, and is endowed with much more intelligence than the first mate, and is more popular with the passengers and crew, though far from being a favorite with the captain.
There is a quiet good-natured fellow among us, by the name of John F. Dolliff, who loves sport, and is a practical joker. He is possessed of kind, humane feelings withal, and I am indebted to him for many a glass of lemonade, given me in the former part of our voyage, at a time when I was suffering the most tormenting thirst from seasickness. Dolliff's voice bears a great resemblance to that of Captain J., which has given rise to some sport among us. He sometimes orders the stewards to trim the lamp in the binnacle, calls out to the man at the wheel to tell him how the ship heads, and gives a variety of orders, which are generally obeyed. One dark night, after the captain had turned in, he put on his—the captain's—coat and hat, and walked out. He called to the mate, asked several questions about the wind and weather, which were all respectfully answered, and then directed him to reef the top-sails. This order, absurd enough under the circumstances, was not given in nautical style, and while the perplexed mate hesitated, some one who was in the secret laughed, and betrayed the joke.
T. W. Dolliff, a cousin of the above-named, is, or rather was, the most pugnacious man among us, though he exhibited no indications of his pugnacity on board the bark. He was said to be pretty well covered with scars, which he had received in numerous combats. At Talcahuana he fell in with a bully, who was imbued with a great hatred of Yankees, and who challenged any and all who were present to fight him. Dolliff had not had a fight for many months, and was really pining for a little amusement of that sort. This opportunity to indulge in his favorite recreation was too good to be lost, and he readily accepted the challenge. A little space in the room was cleared for the combatants. They took their places, and after a moment's maneuvering, the fellow made a pass at Dolliff, which he parried, and at the same instant he dealt him a blow that laid him sprawling on the floor. The bully got up and prepared for a second encounter, which ended in the same manner. Unwilling to yield, he made a third attempt, and a third time he measured his length upon the floor, when he wisely gave up the contest, acknowledged the superiority of the Yankee, and treated the company.
Within three weeks Dolliff has been attacked with rheumatic pains attended with fever, which have laid him up. He has been removed from the main cabin, where he must have died, had he remained there, and a berth has been provided for him in our room. Every thing that can be, is done to make him comfortable; but our ship is badly supplied with necessaries for the sick. He will, in all probability, have a lingering illness, and he must be taken to a hospital in San Francisco, California, of which he has a great dread.
August 14. One of our passengers, Mr. Gould, has generously treated us to a rich pound-cake. His wife made it in Bangor. It was put into a tin box and soldered up, and on being opened, was found as fresh and sweet as when first baked.