The Sandman: His Sea Stories

by William John Hopkins

At last, after dark of the third day, the wind began to be less and the clouds to be more broken, and Captain Sol knew that the storm was over. And he made up his mind that he would get out of that place just as soon as he could, for he thought that, just as likely as not, it would be calm there for some time. And he thought that the sooner he got out of any place where there was likely to be no wind, the better. So he didn't go to bed, but he watched the weather, and he waited. Finally, he thought that the Industry could stand a little more sail.

"Call all hands," he said to the mate, "and get sail on her, little by little. We don't want to loaf around here."

It was two o'clock in the morning, and the mate thought that the sailors would grumble; but he didn't care. "Aye, aye, sir," he said.

And he called all hands, and they came up on deck, grumbling at the captain for routing them up at that time, to make sail, when it was blowing hard enough, anyway. But the mate pretended not to hear them, and he ordered some of the sailors aloft. And the sailors that went aloft shook out the reefs in the topsails; and the sailors that were on deck pulled away at the halliards and at the sheets, but they didn't shout out any chanty.

And the Industry began to sail faster. And pretty soon Captain Sol had the men shake out some other sails and hoist them. And the wind was less, and a star showed. And Captain Sol had the men set more sails, so that the vessel had all that she could stand. Then, pretty soon, more stars showed, and the wind kept on going down. And, by daylight, he had nearly all the sails set, and nothing was to be seen of the Augusta Ramsay. And Captain Sol chuckled to himself, and went down to bed.

He didn't sleep very long but just took a little nap and then he went on deck again. There were two things that bothered him a little, besides the sailing of his vessel, which couldn't be said to bother him at all; for he always did the very best he could. Nobody can do any more than that. And, when he had done the very best he could, Captain Sol didn't worry about what would happen; which was very sensible on Captain Sol's part. And the two things that bothered him were, first, where the Augusta Ramsay was; and, second, the disposition of his crew. It seemed to him that they were likely to make trouble. Captain Sol wasn't afraid of trouble, but he knew that the willingness of the crew made a great difference in the speed that could be got out of a vessel in a long voyage. So he made up his mind that he would attend to the second matter first.

Captain Sol had all hands called; and the men came up unwillingly, and they were very cross with Captain Sol because they thought that he had called them to change the sails again. And they had been up nearly the whole of three nights and wanted to sleep. But Captain Sol called them all aft, and he stood by the railing that was at the edge of the quarter deck and he made them a little speech. He said that the men must know that there was a race between the Augusta Ramsay and the Industry, and that each vessel was trying to be the first to get to the far country, where they both were bound. It was worth something to his owners to have the Industry get there first, and he would promise the crew five dollars apiece if they beat the Augusta Ramsay, even if they only beat her by an hour. And, for every day that they beat her, up to two weeks, he would promise them two dollars apiece. He didn't care about beating her by more than two weeks, because he thought that he would have his cargo aboard, all ready to carry back to Boston, in that time. But there must be no skulking and no unwillingness. Anything of that kind would be severely dealt with, and he would not hesitate to put any man in irons for the rest of the voyage who didn't jump to his duty at the word.

And, when Captain Sol had finished his speech, the men all shouted out a cheer for him and another cheer for Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob. And they weren't grumbly any more but they were glad. And Captain Sol turned away and looked through his glass to see if he could make out the Augusta Ramsay. But he couldn't see any sign of her.

So Captain Sol sailed the Industry across the wide ocean and down around the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean; and he carried sail until it almost cracked the masts, and his crew were as willing as they could be and nobody skulked. But, all that time, there was no sign of the Augusta Ramsay. And they sailed into the wide river and anchored; and Captain Sol sold the things he had brought and bought the things to carry back, and still there was no sign of the Augusta Ramsay.

And he loaded the Industry with the things that he had bought, and he hoisted his anchor and sailed away down the river. And, just as he came to the ocean, there was the Augusta Ramsay sailing in.