CHAPTER II
CAPTAIN JACK
“It has been our lot to sail with many captains, not one of whom is fit to be a patch on your back.”—Letter of the Ship’s Company of H.M.S.S. Royalist to Captain W. T. Bate.
All this time the albatross kept dropping down and down like a stone till Jack was quite out of breath, and they fell or flew, whichever you like to call it, straight through one of the great chasms which he had thought were lakes, and he looked down as he sat on the bird’s back to see what the world is like when you hang a good way above it at sunrise.
It was a very beautiful sight; the sheep and lambs were still fast asleep on the green hills, and the sea birds were asleep in long rows upon the ledges of the cliffs, with their heads under their wings.
“Are those young fairies awake yet?” asked the albatross.
“As sound asleep as ever,” answered Jack; “but, Albatross, is not that the sea which lies under us? You are a sea bird, I know, but I am not a sea boy, and I cannot live in the water.”
“Yes, that is the sea,” answered the albatross. “Don’t you observe that it is covered with ships?”
“I see boats and vessels,” answered Jack, “and all their sails are set, but they cannot sail because there is no wind.”
“The wind never does blow in this great bay,” said the bird; “and those ships would all lie there becalmed till they dropped to pieces if one of them was not wanted now and then to go up the wonderful river.”