“Mrs Bland and Mary will be right glad to see you, Jack, and to give you all the news from home, and you must try to cheer them up by telling them all you have been about, for they have had a trying time of it for some months past. As soon as Captain Hake returns I will get him to allow you to accompany me on board the ‘Lady Alice.’” He then addressed Mr Reece: “Your ship and mine belong to the same owners, and I want as many of your men as can be spared to assist my people in repairing our damages, for we are terribly short-handed. We encountered fearful weather in coming round Cape Horn, when we had the misfortune to lose four men overboard, three more were killed by the only whale we have yet taken, two deserted at Juan Fernandez with the idea of playing Robinson Crusoe, though they’ll very soon get sick of that, and five others are too sick to come on deck. Three days ago we were caught in a gale, and before the hands could shorten sail the topmasts were carried over the side, so you’ll understand that we want all the help we can get.”
“I’ve no doubt that the captain will afford it, sir,” answered Mr Reece; “but we ourselves are sadly wanting in able seamen—we haven’t more than three hands who can be trusted to take the helm with any sea on.”
Medley and I smiled at the mate’s remark, for we believed that we could steer as well as he could, and that there were several others who could do so. A shout from the look-out aloft announced that a whale was killed, and we bore down to meet the boats towing it towards us. The captured whale was nearly eighty feet long, and worth a thousand pounds at least. Our captain was, therefore, in very good humour, and cordially greeted Captain Bland, promising to do all he could to help him, but, of course, till the oil from the whale alongside was stowed away he could spare no hands.
“But you will let my young friend, Jack Kemp, and your other apprentice, Medley, go with me?” said Captain Bland. “They can best be spared at present, and I can trust them to assist my mates in superintending the work.”
The captain demurred to this, as I was especially useful to him. I used to work all his observations, make out his bills for the men, keep the slop-locker in order, serve out the stores, and besides many other duties, act as his barber. My kind friend, however, pressed the point, and at length the captain consented to let us go, accompanied by two of the Kroomen, promising shortly to follow the “Lady Alice” to Charles’ Island, one of the Galapagos.
Medley and I were not long in cleaning ourselves and putting on our Sunday best, and with our working clothes in our bags we stepped into Captain Bland’s boat. By this time the two vessels were some way apart, so that we had a long pull. As we got near the “Lady Alice” I saw Mrs Bland and Mary looking over the side, but they made no signal of recognition, so that it was evident they did not know me; they did not do so even when I stepped on deck. Perhaps I might not have known Mary, for she had grown from a little girl into almost a young woman, and very bright and pleasant she looked, which is better to my mind than what some people call beautiful. I saw her eyes as they turned towards me brighten, while a smile rose on her lips.
“What! haven’t you brought Jack Kemp with you?” asked Mrs Bland of her husband.
“Yes, there he is; I knew him,” cried Mary, springing forward and taking my hand.
Mrs Bland embraced me, as if she were my mother. “I told her I would, Jack,” she said. “She often felt very anxious about you for fear you should get into the rough ways of your shipmates, and be no longer what you once were, a good, affectionate lad. You are not changed, Jack, I hope, though you have grown so big and manly.”
I could nearly have cried, I felt so happy, as I answered, “I hope not, Mrs Bland, and I have to thank my friend Medley here for assisting me to act rightly.”