The “Hern” was the second timber ship to arrive. Her Norwegian captain’s wife was on board; Captain Belknap mentions her presence as if it were a fortunate and happy thing.
“When I beheld a most beautiful young lady in a boat making for the shore,” Timothy was heard confiding to Hugh, “blushing like a June morning in Indiana, I went and got a hair-cut and a shave.”
“She certainly is a charming person,” Hugh agreed; “goodness is shining from her eyes.”
“They tell over to the ‘Hern’ that she came on board at Algiers, and that the captain has been like a boy with a new sled ever since,” Timothy continued, “which strengthens my belief in the captain’s wife’s goodness.”
One of the Sicilians, who had applied for work as a carpenter and proved utterly unfit for it, had now, with Belknap’s encouragement, set up a barber’s saloon close to the camp. After the “Hern’s” arrival he was much patronized.
The “Hern” was ordered directly to Reggio, where a second camp had been established under the command of Ensign Wilcox. This camp, while smaller than that at Messina, was admirably managed from the first. One morning, while the “Hern” was discharging her cargo, Wilcox was waked at half past five by the news that a big pontoon, their only lighter, that had been loaded the night before, was sinking. Wilcox plunged overboard with a line, hoping to get it made fast ashore and then beach the pontoon before it sank; but as he reached the shore, the lighter went down with a final gurgle, carrying with it half their nails, glass and roofing paper. The boards, doors and other light material went floating about the harbor, and as in Reggio there be land thieves as well as water thieves there was a lively time guarding the floating property. Wilcox was fortunate in finding a diver, who undertook to dive for the precious nails and the other heavy things that had sunk to the bottom of the harbor. Timothy, who had been ordered to Reggio, was deeply moved by the accident. He used every effort to hurry the diver to his work, but for some inexplicable reason the man kept putting it off.
“I have been trying to get that diver started,” Timothy complained. “He can’t talk English but I finally found out he would not go down while it rains. I thought that strange but found out the reason at last; he is afraid to go down lest the man pumping would stop if a heavy shower comes on and let him die for want of air.
“The river pirates is thick as fleas,” Timothy went on; “they are lifting every thing in sight.”
The “river pirates” got away with very little, however, as they were pursued and forced to bring back the stolen articles.
Timothy was anxious that the Reggio camp should lack nothing the Messina camp possessed; he had a great deal to say to Hugh on the subject whenever they met.