Un capitaine de quinze ans. English Read online

  CHAPTER V.

  DINGO'S SAGACITY.

  Meantime the "Pilgrim" pursued her course, keeping as much as possibleto the east, and before evening closed in the hull of the "Waldeck" wasout of sight.

  Captain Hull still continued to feel uneasy about the constantprevalence of calms; not that for himself he cared much about the delayof a week or two in a voyage from New Zealand to Valparaiso, but he wasdisappointed at the prolonged inconvenience it caused to his ladypassenger. Mrs. Weldon, however, submitted to the detention veryphilosophically, and did not utter a word of complaint.

  The captain's next care was to improvise sleeping accommodation for Tomand his four associates. No room for them could possibly be found inthe crew's quarters, so that their berths had to be arranged under theforecastle; and as long as the weather continued fine, there was noreason why the negroes, accustomed as they were to a somewhat roughlife, should not find themselves sufficiently comfortable.

  After this incident of the discovery of the wreck, life on board the"Pilgrim" relapsed into its ordinary routine. With the wind invariablyin the same direction, the sails required very little shifting; butwhenever it happened, as occasionally it would, that there was anytacking to be done, the good-natured negroes were ever ready to lend ahelping hand; and the rigging would creak again under the weight ofHercules, a great strapping fellow, six feet high, who seemed almost torequire ropes of extra strength made for his special use.

  Hercules became at once a great favourite with little Jack; and whenthe giant lifted him like a doll in his stalwart arms, the child fairlyshrieked with delight.

  "Higher! higher! very high!" Jack would say sometimes.

  "There you are, then, Master Jack," Hercules would reply as he raisedhim aloft.

  "Am I heavy?" asked the child,

  "As heavy as a feather."

  "Then lift me higher still," cried Jack; "as high as ever you canreach."

  And Hercules, with the child's two feet supported on his huge palm,would walk about the deck with him like an acrobat, Jack all the timeendeavouring, with vain efforts, to make him "feel his weight."

  Besides Dick Sands and Hercules, Jack admitted a third friend to hiscompanionship. This was Dingo. The dog, unsociable as he had been onboard the "Waldeck," seemed to have found society more congenial to histastes, and being one of those animals that are fond of children, heallowed Jack to do with him almost anything he pleased. The child,however, never thought of hurting the dog in any way, and it wasdoubtful which of the two had the greater enjoyment of their mutualsport. Jack found a live dog infinitely more entertaining than his oldtoy upon its four wheels, and his great delight was to mount uponDingo's back, when the animal would gallop off with him like arace-horse with his jockey. It must be owned that one result of thisintimacy was a serious diminution of the supply of sugar in thestore-room. Dingo was the delight of all the crew excepting Negoro, whocautiously avoided coming in contact with an animal who showed suchunmistakable symptoms of hostility.

  The new companions that Jack had thus found did not in the least makehim forget his old friend Dick Sands, who devoted all his leisure timeto him as assiduously as ever. Mrs. Weldon regarded their intimacy withthe greatest satisfaction, and one day made a remark to that effect inthe presence of Captain Hull.

  "There you are, then, Master Jack!"]

  "You are right, madam," said the captain cordially; "Dick is a capitalfellow, and will be sure to be a first-rate sailor. He has an instinctwhich is little short of a genius; it supplies all deficiencies oftheory. Considering how short an experience and how little instructionhe has had, it is quite wonderful how much he knows about a ship."

  "Certainly for his age," assented Mrs. Weldon, "he is singularlyadvanced. I can safely say that I have never had a fault to find withhim. I believe that it is my husband's intention, after this voyage, tolet him have systematic training in navigation, so that he may be ableultimately to become a captain."

  "I have no misgivings, madam," replied the captain; "there is everyreason to expect that he will be an honour to the service."

  "Poor orphan!" said the lady; "he has been trained in a hard school."

  "Its lessons have not been lost upon him," rejoined Captain Hull; "theyhave taught him the prime lesson that he has his own way to make in theworld."

  The eyes of the two speakers turned as it were unwittingly in thedirection where Dick Sands happened to be standing. He was at the helm.

  "Look at him now!" said the captain; "see how steadily he keeps his eyeupon the fore; nothing distracts him from his duty; he is as much to bedepended on as the most experienced helmsman. It was a capital thingfor him that he began his training as a cabin-boy. Nothing like it.Begin at the beginning. It is the best of training for the merchantservice."

  "But surely," interposed Mrs. Weldon, "you would not deny that in thenavy there have been many good officers who have never had the trainingof which you are speaking?"

  "True, madam; but yet even some of the best of them have begun at thelowest step of the ladder. For instance, Lord Nelson."

  Just at this instant Cousin Benedict emerged from the stern-cabin, andcompletely absorbed, according to his wont, in his own pursuit, beganto wander up and down the deck, peering into the interstices of thenetwork, rummaging under the seats, and drawing his long fingers alongthe cracks in the floor where the tar had crumbled away.

  "Well, Benedict, how are you getting on?" asked Mrs Weldon.

  "I? Oh, well enough, thank you," he replied dreamily; "but I wish wewere on shore."

  "What were you looking for under that bench?" said Captain Hull.

  "Insects, of course," answered Benedict; "I am always looking forinsects."

  "But don't you know, Benedict," said Mrs. Weldon, "that Captain Hull isfar too particular to allow any vermin on the deck of his vessel?"

  Captain Hull smiled and said,--

  "Mrs Weldon is very complimentary; but I am really inclined to hopethat your investigations in the cabins of the 'Pilgrim' will not beattended with much success."

  Cousin Benedict shrugged his shoulders in a manner that indicated thathe was aware that the cabins could furnish nothing attractive in theway of insects.

  "However," continued the captain, "I dare say down in the hold youcould find some cockroaches; but cockroaches, I presume, would be oflittle or no interest to you."

  "No interest?" cried Benedict, at once warmed into enthusiasm; "why,are they not the very orthoptera that roused the imprecations of Virgiland Horace? Are they not closely allied to the _Periplaneta orientalis_and the American Kakerlac, which inhabit--"

  "I should rather say infest," interrupted the captain.

  "Easy enough to see, sir," replied Benedict, stopping short withamazement, "that you are not an entomologist!"

  "I fear I must plead guilty to your accusation," said the captaingood-humouredly.

  "You must not expect every one to be such an enthusiast in yourfavourite study as yourself." Mrs. Weldon interposed; "but are you notsatisfied with the result of your explorations in New Zealand?"

  "Yes, yes," answered Benedict, with a sort of hesitating reluctance; "Imust not say I was dissatisfied; I was really very delighted to securethat new staphylin which hitherto had never been seen elsewhere than inNew California; but still, you know, an entomologist is always cravingfor fresh additions to his collection."

  While he was speaking, Dingo, leaving little Jack, who was romping withhim, came and jumped on Benedict, and began to fawn on him.

  "Get away, you brute!" he exclaimed, thrusting the dog aside.

  "Poor Dingo! good dog!" cried Jack, running up and taking the animal'shuge head between his tiny hands.

  "Your interest in cockroaches, Mr. Benedict," observed the captain,"does not seem to extend to dogs."

  "It isn't that I dislike dogs at all," answered Benedict; "but thiscreature has disappointed me."

  "How do you mean? You could hardly want to catalogue him with thediptera or hym
enoptera?" asked Mrs Weldon laughingly.

  "Oh, not at all," replied Benedict, with the most unmoved gravity. "ButI understood that he had been found on the West Coast of Africa, and Ihoped that perhaps he might have brought over some African hemiptera inhis coat; but I have searched his coat well, over and over again,without finding a single specimen. The dog has disappointed me," herepeated mournfully.

  "I can only hope," said the captain, "that if you had found anything,you were going to kill it instantly."

  Benedict looked with mute astonishment into the captain's face. In amoment or two afterwards, he said,--

  "I suppose, sir, you acknowledge that Sir John Franklin was an eminentmember of your profession?"

  "Certainly; why?"

  "Because Sir John would never take away the life of the mostinsignificant insect; it is related of him that when he had once beenincessantly tormented all day by a mosquito, at last he found it on theback of his hand and blew it off, saying, 'Fly away, little creature,the world is large enough for both you and me!'"

  "That little anecdote of yours, Mr. Benedict," said the captain,smiling, "is a good deal older than Sir John Franklin. It is told, innearly the same words, about Uncle Toby, in Sterne's 'Tristram Shandy';only there it was not a mosquito, it was a common fly."

  "And was Uncle Toby an entomologist?" asked Benedict; "did he everreally live?"

  "No," said the captain, "he was only a character in a novel."

  Cousin Benedict gave a look of utter contempt, and Captain Hull and MrsWeldon could not resist laughing.

  Such is only one instance of the way in which Cousin Benedictinvariably brought it about that all conversation with him ultimatelyturned upon his favourite pursuit, and all along, throughout themonotonous hours of smooth sailing, while the "Pilgrim" was making herlittle headway to the east, he showed his own devotion to his petscience, by seeking to enlist new disciples. First of all, he tried hispowers of persuasion upon Dick Sands, but soon finding that the youngapprentice had no taste for entomological mysteries, he gave him up andturned his attention to the negroes. Nor was he much more successfulwith them; one after another, Tom, Bat, Actaeon, and Austin had allwithdrawn themselves from his instructions, and the class at last wasreduced to the single person of Hercules; but in him the enthusiasticnaturalist thought he had discovered a latent talent which coulddistinguish between a parasite and a thysanura.

  Hercules accordingly submitted to pass a considerable portion of hisleisure in the observation of every variety of coleoptera; he wasencouraged to study the extensive collection of stag-beetles,tiger-beetles and lady-birds; and although at times the enthusiasttrembled to see some of his most delicate and fragile specimens in thehuge grasp of his pupil, he soon learned that the man's gentle docilitywas a sufficient guarantee against his clumsiness.

  While the science of entomology was thus occupying its two votaries,Mrs. Weldon was giving her own best attention to the education ofMaster Jack. Reading and writing she undertook to teach herself, whileshe entrusted the instruction in arithmetic to the care of Dick Sands.Under the conviction that a child of five years will make a much morerapid progress if something like amusement be combined with hislessons, Mrs. Weldon would not teach her boy to spell by the use of anordinary school primer, but used a set of cubes, on the sides of whichthe various letters were painted in red. After first making a word andshowing it to Jack, she set him to put it together without her help,and it was astonishing how quickly the child advanced, and how manyhours he would spend in this way, both in the cabin and on deck. Therewere more than fifty cubes, which, besides the alphabet, included allthe digits; so that they were of service for Dick Sands' lessons aswell as for her own. She was more than satisfied with her device.

  On the morning of the 9th an incident occurred which could not fail tobe observed as somewhat remarkable. Jack was half lying, half sittingon the deck, amusing himself with his letters, and had just finishedputting together a word with which he intended to puzzle old Tom, who,with his hand sheltering his eyes, was pretending not to see thedifficulty which was being labouriously prepared to bewilder him; allat once, Dingo, who had been gambolling round the child, made a suddenpause, lifted his right paw, and wagged his tail convulsively. Thendarting down upon a capital S, he seized it in his mouth, and carriedit some paces away.

  "Oh, Dingo, Dingo! you mustn't eat my letters!" shouted the child.

  But the dog had already dropped the block of wood, and coming backagain, picked up another, which he laid quietly by the side of thefirst. This time it was a capital V. Jack uttered an exclamation ofastonishment which brought to his side not only his mother, but thecaptain and Dick, who were both on deck. In answer to their inquiry asto what had occurred, Jack cried out in the greatest excitement thatDingo knew how to read. At any rate he was sure that he knew hisletters.

  Dick Sands smiled and stooped to take back the letters. Dingo snarledand showed his teeth, but the apprentice was not frightened; he carriedhis point, and replaced the two blocks among the rest. Dingo in aninstant pounced upon them again, and having drawn them to his side,laid a paw upon each of them, as if to signify his intention ofretaining them in his possession. Of the other letters of the alphabethe took no notice at all.

  "It is very strange," said Mrs. Weldon; "he has picked out S V again."

  "S V!" repeated the captain thoughtfully; "are not those the lettersthat form the initials on his collar?"

  And turning to the old negro, he continued,--

  "Tom didn't you say that this dog did not always belong to the captainof the 'Waldeck'?"

  "To the best of my belief," replied Tom, "the captain had only had himabout two years. I often heard him tell how he found him at the mouthof the Congo."

  "Do you suppose that he never knew where the animal came from, or towhom he had previously belonged?" asked Captain Hull.

  "Never," answered Tom, shaking his head; "a lost dog is worse toidentify than a lost child; you see, he can't make himself understoodany way."

  The captain made no answer, but stood musing; Mrs. Weldon interruptedhim.

  "These letters, captain, seem to be recalling something to yourrecollection.

  "I can hardly go so far as to say that, Mrs. Weldon," he replied; "butI cannot help associating them with the fate of a brave explorer."

  "Whom do you mean? said the lady.

  "In 1871, just two years ago," the captain continued, "a Frenchtraveller, under the auspices of the Geographical Society of Paris, setout for the purpose of crossing Africa from west to east. Hisstarting-point was the mouth of the Congo, and his exit was designed tobe as near as possible to Cape Deldago, at the mouth of the RiverRovouma, of which he was to ascertain the true course. The name of thisman was Samuel Vernon, and I confess it strikes me as somewhat astrange coincidence that the letters engraved on Dingo's collar shouldbe Vernon's initials."

  Jack cried out in the greatest excitement that Dingoknew how to read]

  "Is nothing known about this traveller?" asked Mrs. Weldon.

  "Nothing was ever heard of him after his first departure. It appearsquite certain that he failed to reach the east coast, and it can onlybe conjectured either that he died upon his way, or that he was madeprisoner by the natives; and if so, and this dog ever belonged to him,the animal might have made his way back to the sea-coast, where, justabout the time that would be likely, the captain of the 'Waldeck'picked him up."

  "But you have no reason to suppose, Captain Hull, that Vernon everowned a dog of this description?"

  "I own I never heard of it," said the captain; "but still theimpression fixes itself on my mind that the dog must have been his; howhe came to know one letter from another, it is not for me to pretend tosay. Look at him now, madam! he seems not only to be reading theletters for himself, but to be inviting us to come and read them withhim."

  Whilst Mrs. Weldon was watching the dog with much amusement, DickSands, who had listened to the previous conversation, took theopportunity of asking the ca
ptain whether the traveller Vernon hadstarted on his expedition quite alone.

  "That is really more than I can tell you, my boy," answered CaptainHull; "but I should almost take it for granted that he would have aconsiderable retinue of natives."

  The captain spoke without being aware that Negoro had meanwhile quietlystolen on deck. At first his presence was quite unnoticed, and no oneobserved the peculiar glance with which he looked at the two lettersover which Dingo still persisted in keeping guard. The dog, however, nosooner caught sight of the cook than he began to bristle with rage,whereupon Negoro, with a threatening gesture which seemed halfinvoluntary, withdrew immediately to his accustomed quarters.

  The incident did not escape the captain's observation.

  "No doubt," he said, "there is some mystery here;" and he was ponderingthe matter over in his mind when Dick Sands spoke.

  "Don't you think it very singular, sir, that this dog should have sucha knowledge of the alphabet?"

  Jack here put in his word.

  "My mamma has told me about a dog whose name was Munito, who could readas well as a schoolmaster, and could play dominoes."

  Mrs. Weldon smiled.

  "I am afraid, my child, that that dog was not quite so learned as youimagine. I don't suppose he knew one letter from another; but hismaster, who was a clever American, having found out that the animal hada very keen sense of hearing, taught him some curious tricks."

  "What sort of tricks?" asked Dick, who was almost as much interested aslittle Jack.

  "When he had to perform in public," continued Mrs. Weldon, "a lot ofletters like yours, Jack, were spread out upon a table, and Munitowould put together any word that the company should propose, eitheraloud or in a whisper, to his master. The creature would walk aboutuntil he stopped at the very letter which was wanted. The secret of itall was that the dog's owner gave him a signal when he was to stop byrattling a little tooth-pick in his pocket, making a slight noise thatonly the dog's ears were acute enough to perceive."

  Dick was highly amused, and said,--

  "But that was a dog who could do nothing wonderful without his master."

  "Just so," answered Mrs. Weldon; "and it surprises me very much to seeDingo picking out these letters without a master to direct him."

  Negoro, with a threatening gesture that seemed halfinvoluntary, withdrew immediately to his accustomed quarters.]

  "The more one thinks of it, the more strange it is," said Captain Hull;"but, after all, Dingo's sagacity is not greater than that of the dogwhich rang the convent bell in order to get at the dish that wasreserved for passing beggars; nor than that of the dog who had to turna spit every other day, and never could be induced to work when it wasnot his proper day. Dingo evidently has no acquaintance with any otherletters except the two S V; and some circumstance which we can neverguess has made him familiar with them."

  "What a pity he cannot talk!" exclaimed the apprentice; "we should knowwhy it is that he always shows his teeth at Negoro."

  "And tremendous teeth they are!" observed the captain, as Dingo at thatmoment opened his mouth, and made a display of his formidable fangs.