“No, he didn’t,” said Harry, quietly.
“Then you got off easy. Better not say it ag’in, my lad.”
“It’s true.”
“Never mind that. It aint best to tell the truth at all times. You shall spin me the yarn some time when we are snugly stowed away out of earshot, my lad. Now we must go to work.”
Harry accompanied Tom to the deck, and his experience as a sailor commenced.
I do not propose to give a detailed account of what these duties were, as this does not profess to be a sea-story, and will touch the sea only so far as it may prove necessary to make Harry’s position understood. Days passed away, and in accordance with the resolution he had formed our hero attended strictly to duty. Being a smart boy, he very soon mastered the details of his duties, and discharged them in such a manner that no fault could justly be found with him. But Captain Brandon continued to view him with an eye of suspicion. He had not forgotten nor forgiven the bold and defiant manner in which Harry had expressed himself when he first realized that he had been entrapped on board the Sea Eagle. He blamed himself now that he had not inflicted a humiliating punishment upon Harry at the time, and he carefully scrutinized his conduct in order to find a pretext for paying off the old score.
But Harry thus far gave him no opportunity. He had not made any complaints against the captain to any one except Tom Patch, to whom he told his whole story, winning the stout-hearted sailor’s sympathy and friendship. Thus Harry felt that he had one friend on the vessel; nay, two, for the supercargo, of whom mention has already been made, had by no means forgotten the promise he made to our hero to be his friend. He frequently approached him when at work, and conversed with him in a pleasant manner, as with an equal, never putting on an air of condescension, as some in his position would have done.
This intimacy and evident good feeling between the supercargo and our hero, Captain Brandon saw with dissatisfaction. He had tried to cultivate an intimacy with Mr. Weldon himself, from motives of policy, on account of his relationship to the owner of the ship, and the probability that he would some day be himself a member of the firm; but it had not taken the supercargo long to ascertain the real character of the captain, in which he found very little to attract him. So, though he treated Captain Brandon with scrupulous civility, there was a coolness in his manner which effectually precluded any degree of intimacy. The captain saw this and chafed at it. It humiliated him, yet he could not resent it. The young man was studiously polite and respectful, and gave him no cause for complaint. But he saw that his ceremonious politeness melted away when he spoke to Harry Raymond whom he addressed in a cordial, kindly manner which bespoke friendship. Captain Brandon brooded over this, being of a jealous, suspicious temper, and resolved, on the first occasion that presented itself, to take vengeance upon Harry, and thus at once gratify his dislike for our hero and the supercargo.
There was another member of the ship’s crew whom it will be necessary to introduce.
This was Jack Rodman, a boy somewhat older than Harry, and as different from our hero as can well be imagined. He was coarse, ignorant, and vicious, and could swear with as great fluency as any sailor twice his age. He made at first some approaches to intimacy with our hero, but Harry was too disgusted with what he had seen of him to care much about striking up a friendship. On this account Jack bore a grudge against our hero, and would have played some mischievous trick upon him but for Tom Patch’s evident friendship for Harry. Jack was afraid of the stout sailor, and felt compelled to effect his object in an underhand manner.