Then we smoked in silence until Hawkson’s voice bawled out for eight bells, and a rough-looking Dutchman poked his head below and bellowed the news, receiving an old sea-boot full in the face from Martin for his pains.
The morning had passed rapidly enough, and although tired and sore from the incidents of the past few hours, I was not sorry to go on deck and get a breath of fresh sea air.
CHAPTER VII.
TWO KINDS OF HAND-SHAKES
Mr. Gull, the second mate, was already on deck when we arrived, and I expected to continue our pleasantries of the early morning. He looked hard at us and said nothing, and then I knew Hawkson had put in a word for me, for no second mate could otherwise have resisted the temptation of taking it out of an able-bodied seaman, no matter how able-bodied he might be. I was informed shortly that I was made gunner, and was henceforth in charge of the barque’s battery to see that it was kept in order. But there was no more room aft for any more petty officers. Henry and Watkins occupied the only remaining room, on account of the space occupied by the passengers and their luggage. Jorg, the Finn, I found was the carpenter, but he also had to share the forecastle.
Before going below, Hawkson summoned all hands, and he and Gull went through the old form of choosing the watches.
“Bos’n,” said Hawkson, addressing Richards, “you may muster the men aft.”
“Ay, ay, sir,” said the man-o’-war’s man, and he touched his cap with his hand like in the old days aboard the frigate when I had seen him speak to the officer of the deck.
It was something of a surprise to me, and also to the rest, to find the man who had served under me as second mate as bos’n of that crowd. It made me think that perhaps I might dispute the position with him, for I was a navigator and capable of working the ship’s position to a fairly accurate extent, and old Peter Richards was only a plain able seaman. But I soon saw why he had been chosen. He was a trained man and used to the discipline of a fighting ship, and there were plenty of navigators aft. He was very sober and quiet in his manner this day, and I wondered at it, for I was under the impression he had been fooled into going aboard like the rest of us.
“How is it, Peter,” I asked, as he came near me, “are you going to give me my orders?”
“Yes, and I advise you to obey them without making trouble for yourself,” said he, quietly. “You came into the ship with your eyes wide open. Now stand to it. I told you I’d follow you and take care of you.”