I then went forwards, only to see the men there working like bees. Not a soul even raised his head to glance at me as I passed by.
Adze, the carpenter, was up to his ears in the pump casing, which he had fixed again over the well amidships, after first taking out the valves and fitting new suckers to them. Cuffee, too, was blowing away at the galley fire till his black face looked like that of a red Indian; and, as for Mr Marline, he was in his element, as he always was when overseeing anything connected with the rigging of the ship, enjoying himself to his heart’s content in setting up a jury-mast to take the place of our broken foremast. He had made the men lash the topmast and topgallant-mast to the fragment left of the original spar, securing it with back-stays and preventers on the port and starboard sides before getting up the shrouds. These latter, of course, would have now to be reduced, in order to suit the diminished height of the new mast, whereon the topsail-yard would have to do duty for the old fore-yard, and the topgallant one be transferred into a topsail-yard.
Mr Marline seemed rather proud of his handiwork; so, this made him more conversational than anyone I had yet tried to talk to.
“Ha, Tom,” he said, “you’re just in time to see us cross our yards again—not a bad job, eh?”
“No, sir,” I replied; “have you been long over it?”
“Ever since daylight.”
“And have all of you been equally busy?” I asked.
“Bless you, yes! As for Cuffee, he roused out poor Moggridge early in the middle watch, to help him to fix the galley, bribing him with the promise of some hot coffee. That started the hands; for, the boatswain must needs hail Adze to see after the pumps, and hearing them stirring about, I came on deck and employed the idlers in getting the spars alongside, as the sea was as calm as a pond. Then, I set them to work unreeving the gear and making things snug for setting up our jury-masts, of which this is the first—a downright seamanlike piece of work I call it.”
“So it is, sir,” said I to please him, seeing him looking up at the new foremast admiringly; “and, I suppose, Mr Marline, when you’ve finished rigging this, you’ll begin setting up a new mainmast.”
“Aye, my boy, and a mizzen too after that! You shall see the old barquey spreading her canvas bravely again before I have done with her.”