CHAPTER VI THE WORKING OF THE LAW

"Shake out the reefs and get the foresail on her," called Haley. "Lively, now, we've lost time."

The mate repeated the order; the two available seamen began untying the reef-points, which had been knotted when sail had been shortened in the breeze of the previous day. It was simple enough work, merely the loosening and untying of a series of square knots. Harvey had done the like a hundred times aboard his own sloop. He hastened to a.s.sist, and did his part as quickly as the other two. Jim Adams, somewhat surprised, eyed him curiously.

"You're a right smart youngster, ain't you?" he said, patronizingly.

"Reckon you'll be so mightily pleased you'll come again some time."

There was something so insolent in the tone, so sheer and apparent an exulting in his power to compel the youth to do his bidding, that the blood mounted in Harvey's cheeks, and he felt his pulses beat quicker.

But he went on soberly with his work, and the mate said no more.

Ignorant of all things aboard a vessel, and too weak to work if he had been skilled at it, Tom Edwards stood helplessly by. The humiliation of his repulse at the hands of the captain, and his dismay at the dismal prospect, overwhelmed him. He gazed at the receding sh.o.r.e, and groaned.

The foresail was run up, and with that and the mainsail winged out on opposite sides, the bug-eye ran before the wind at an easy clip. She responded at once to the increased spread of canvas. Her evident sailing qualities appealed to Harvey, and lifted him for the moment out of his apprehension and distress.

"Now you get your breakfas'," said Jim Adams, and the two sailors shuffled aft, followed by Harvey and Tom Edwards. Harvey was hungry, with the keen appet.i.te of youth and health, and he seated himself with a zest at the table in the cabin. But the place would have blunted the appet.i.te of many a hungry man.

It was a vile, stuffy hole, reeking, like the forecastle, with a stale fishy odour, uncleanly and shabby. A greasy smell of cooking came in from the galley. A tin plate and cup and a rusty knife and fork set for each seemed never to have known the contact of soap and water. Jack Harvey recalled the praise which his absent friend, Mr. Jenkins, had bestowed upon the quarters of the schooner, and that young gentleman's disparagement of the comparative accommodations of a bug-eye; and he endorsed the sentiments fully. Compared with the cabin of the schooner, the cabin of the Z. B. Brandt was, indeed, a kennel.

There was little comfort, either, apparently, in the a.s.sociation of the two sailors. The fellow directly opposite Harvey, whom the mate had addressed once that morning as "Jeff," stared sullenly and dully at the youth, with a look that was clearly devoid of interest. He was a heavy set, sluggish man of about thirty-five years, for whom hard work and ill usage had blunted whatever sensibilities he may have once possessed.

Evidently he was willing to bear with the treatment, and the poor food aboard the vessel, for the small wages he would receive at the winter's end.

The other man was slightly more prepossessing, but clearly at present not inclined to any sociability. He had a brighter eye and a face of more expression than his companion; though he, too, under the grinding labour aboard the oyster dredger, had come to toil day by day silently, in dumb obedience to the captain and mate. He was one Sam Black, by name, somewhat taller and larger than his comrade.

These two paid little heed to the new arrivals. It is doubtful if they really took notice of their being there, in the sense that they thought anything about it. Life was a drudgery to them, in which it mattered little whether others shared or not. They scarcely spoke to each other during the meal, and not at all to Harvey or Tom Edwards.

Presently there stepped out of the galley an uncouth, slovenly appearing man, who might have pa.s.sed as a smaller edition of Captain Hamilton Haley, by his features. He was, in fact, of the same name, Haley, and there was some relationship of a remote degree between them, which accounted for his employment aboard the vessel. He was not so stout as his kinsman, however, and more active in his movements.

Whatever may have been the latent abilities of Mr. George Haley in the art of cooking, they were not in evidence, nor required aboard the bug-eye. Jack Harvey and Tom Edwards were now to behold the evidence of that fact.

The cook bore in his hands a greasy wooden box, that had once held smoked fish, and set it down on the table. Just what its contents consisted of was not at first apparent to Harvey. When, however, the two sailors reached over with their forks, speared junks of something from the box and conveyed them to their plates, Harvey followed their example.

He looked at the food for a moment before he made out what it was. It proved to be dough, kneaded and mixed with water, and a mild flavouring of mola.s.ses, and fried in lard. Harvey gazed at the mess in dismay. If it should prove to taste as bad as it looked, it must needs be hard fare.

But he observed that the sailors made away with it hungrily; so he cut off a piece and tasted it. It was, indeed, wretched stuff, greasy and unpalatable. There was nothing else of food forthcoming, however, and he managed to swallow a few more mouthfuls.

The cook came to his aid in slight measure. He reappeared, bringing a pail of steaming, black liquid, the odour of which bore some slight resemblance to coffee. It was what pa.s.sed for coffee aboard the bug-eye, a sorry composition of water boiled with several spoonfuls of an essence of coffee-the flavour of which one might further disguise, if he chose, with a spoonful of black mola.s.ses from a tin can set out by the cook.

Harvey filled his cup with alacrity, hoping to wash down the mess of fried bread with the hot coffee. He made a wry face after one swallow, and looked with dismay at his companion in misery.

"It's awful," he said, "but it's hot. You better drink some of it. It will warm you up."

Tom Edwards put out a shaky hand and conveyed a cup of the stuff to his lips. He groaned as he took a swallow, and set the cup down.

"Beastly!" he exclaimed; and added, "I never did like coffee without cream, anyway."

Harvey laughed, in spite of his own disgust. "The cream hasn't come aboard yet, I guess," he said. "But you drink that down quick. You need it."

Like one obeying an older person, instead of a younger, Tom Edwards did as Harvey urged. He drained the cup at a draught. Then he staggered to his feet again.

"I can't eat that mess," he said. "Oh, but I'm feeling sick. I think I'll go out on deck. It's cold out there, though. I don't know what to do."

He was not long in doubt, however; for, as Harvey emerged on deck, the mate approached.

"You tell that Mister Edwards," he said, "he can jes' lie down on one of them parlour sofas in the fo'-castle till we gets across to Hoopers. Then we'll need him."

Harvey did the errand, and the unhappy Tom Edwards made his way forward once more, and threw himself down in the hard bunk, pale and ill. Harvey returned on deck. The morning was clear, and not cold for November, but the wind sent a chill through his warm sweater, and he beat himself with his arms, to warm up.

"Didn't get you'self any slickers, did you, 'fore you came aboard?"

inquired the mate.

"No, sir," replied Harvey, remembering how the man had cautioned him to address him; "I didn't have a chance. They sailed off with me in the night."

The mate grinned. "That was sure enough too bad," he said, mockingly.

"Well, you see the old man 'bout that. He sells 'em very cheap, and a sight better than they have ash.o.r.e in Baltimore. Awful advantage they take of poor sailors there. Mr. Haley, he'll fit you out, I reckon."

They stepped aft, and the mate made known their errand.

Haley nodded. "He'll need 'em sooner or later," he a.s.sented. "May as well have 'em now, as any time. Take the wheel."

The mate a.s.sumed the captain's seat on the wheel box, and Captain Haley nodded to Harvey to follow him below. He fumbled about in a dark locker and finally drew forth two garments-the trousers and jacket of an oil-skin suit. They were black and frayed with previous wear, their original hue of yellow being discoloured by smears and hard usage.

"There," said Haley, holding up the slickers approvingly, "there's a suit as has been worn once or twice, but isn't hurt any. As good as new, and got the stiffness out of it. Cost you seven dollars to get that suit new in Baltimore. You'll get it for five, and lucky you didn't buy any ash.o.r.e. There's a tarpaulin, too, that you can have for a dollar. I oughtn't to let 'em go so cheap."

Harvey hardly knew whether to be angry or amused. He had not shipped for the money to be earned, to be sure, and the absurd prices for the almost worthless stuff excited his derision. But the gross injustice of the bargain made him indignant, too. He had bought oil-skins for himself, before, and knew that a good suit, new, could be had for about three dollars and a half, and a new tarpaulin for seventy-five cents. But he realized that protest would be of no avail. So he a.s.sented.

"There's a new pair of rubber boots, too," continued Haley, producing a pair that were, indeed, much nearer new than the oil-skins. "Those will cost you five dollars. They're extra reinforced; not much like that slop-shop stuff."

The boots thereupon became Harvey's property; likewise a thin and threadbare old bed quilt, for the bunk in the forecastle, at an equally extortionate price. Then a similar equipment was provided for Harvey's friend, Tom Edwards, the captain a.s.suring Harvey that they would surely fit Edwards, and he could take them forward to him.

Suddenly the captain paused and looked at Harvey shrewdly, out of his cold gray eyes.

"Of course I provide all this for a man, in advance of his wages," he said, "when he comes aboard, like the most of 'em, without a cent; but when he has some money, he has to pay. Suppose he gets drowned-it's all dead loss to me. You got any money?"

Harvey thanked his stars for Tom Edwards's precaution.

"I've got some," he said, and began to feel in his pockets, as though he were uncertain just how much he did have. "Here's five dollars-and let's see, oh, yes, I've got some loose change, sixty-three cents." He brought forth the bill and the coins. Haley pounced on the money greedily. He eyed Harvey with some suspicion, however.

"Turn your pockets out," he said. "I can't afford to take chances. Let's see if you've been holding back any."

Harvey did as he was ordered.

"All right," muttered Haley. But he was clearly disappointed.

"Can that fellow, Edwards, pay?" he asked.

"He told me he hadn't a cent," answered Harvey, promptly. "He was robbed after they got him drugged."

Haley's face reddened angrily.