in dancing and deportment.
It was in this capacity that he entered the mansion of William W.
Kolderup. As time rolled on his pupils gradually abandoned him, and he
ended by becoming one wheel more in the machinery of the wealthy
establishment.
After all, he was a brave man, in spite of his eccentricities. Everybody
liked him. He liked Godfrey, he liked Phina, and they liked him. He had
only one ambition in the world, and that was to teach them all the
secrets of his art, to make them in fact, as far as deportment was
concerned, two highly accomplished individuals.
Now, what would you think? It was he, this Professor Tartlet, whom
William W. Kolderup had chosen as his nephew's companion during the
projected voyage. Yes! He had reason to believe that Tartlet had not a
little contributed to imbue Godfrey with this roaming mania, so as to
perfect himself by a tour round the world. William W. Kolderup had
resolved that they should go together. On the morrow, the 16th of April,
he sent for the professor to his office.
The request of the nabob was an order for Tartlet. The professor left
his room, with his pocket violin--generally known as a kit--so as to be
ready for all emergencies. He mounted the great staircase of the mansion
with his feet academically placed as was fitting for a dancing-master;
knocked at the door of the room, entered--his body half inclined, his
elbows rounded, his mouth on the grin--and waited in the third position,
after having crossed his feet one before the other, at half their
length, his ankles touching and his toes turned out. Any one but
Professor Tartlet placed in this sort of unstable equilibrium would have
tottered on his base, but the professor preserved an absolute
perpendicularity.
"Mr. Tartlet," said William W. Kolderup, "I have sent for you to tell
you some news which I imagine will rather surprise you."
"As you think best!" answered the professor.
"My nephew's marriage is put off for a year or eighteen months, and
Godfrey, at his own request, is going to visit the different countries
of the old and new world."
"Sir," answered Tartlet, "my pupil, Godfrey, will do honour to the
country of his birth, and--"
"And, to the professor of deportment who has initiated him into
etiquette," interrupted the merchant, in a tone of which the guileless
Tartlet failed to perceive the irony.
And, in fact, thinking it the correct thing to execute an "assemblée,"
he first moved one foot and then the other, by a sort of semi-circular
side slide, and then with a light and graceful bend of the knee, he
bowed to William W. Kolderup.
"I thought," continued the latter, "that you might feel a little regret
at separating from your pupil?"
"The regret will be extreme," answered Tartlet, "but should it be
necessary--"
"It is not necessary," answered William W. Kolderup, knitting his bushy
eyebrows.
"Ah!" replied Tartlet.
Slightly troubled, he made a graceful movement to the rear, so as to
pass from the third to the fourth position; but he left the breadth of a
foot between his feet, without perhaps being conscious of what he was
doing.
"Yes!" added the merchant in a peremptory tone, which admitted not of
the ghost of a reply; "I have thought it would really be cruel to
separate a professor and a pupil so well made to understand each other!"
"Assuredly!--the journey?" answered Tartlet, who did not seem to want to
understand.
"Yes! Assuredly!" replied William W. Kolderup; "not only will his
travels bring out the talents of my nephew, but the talents of the
professor to whom he owes so correct a bearing."
Never had the thought occurred to this great baby that one day he would
leave San Francisco, California, America, to roam the seas. Such an idea
had never entered the brain of a man more absorbed in choregraphy than
geography, and who was still ignorant of the suburbs of the capital
beyond ten miles radius. And now this was offered to him. He was to
understand that -nolens volens- he was to expatriate himself, he himself
was to experience with all their costs and inconveniences the very
adventures he had recommended to his pupil! Here, decidedly, was
something to trouble a brain much more solid than his, and the
unfortunate Tartlet for the first time in his life felt an involuntary
yielding in the muscles of his limbs, suppled as they were by
thirty-five years' exercise.
"Perhaps," said he, trying to recall to his lips the stereotyped smile
of the dancer which had left him for an instant,--"perhaps--am I not--"
"You will go!" answered William W. Kolderup like a a man with whom
discussion was useless.
To refuse was impossible. Tartlet did not even think of such a thing.
What was he in the house? A thing, a parcel, a package to be sent to
every corner of the world. But the projected expedition troubled him not
a little.
"And when am I to start?" demanded he, trying to get back into an
academical position.
"In a month."
"And on what raging ocean has Mr. Kolderup decided that his vessel
should bear his nephew and me?"
"The Pacific, at first."
"And on what point of the terrestrial globe shall I first set foot?"
"On the soil of New Zealand," answered William W. Kolderup; "I have
remarked that the New Zealanders always stick their elbows out! Now you
can teach them to turn them in!"
And thus was Professor Tartlet selected as the travelling-companion of
Godfrey Morgan.
A nod from the merchant gave him to understand that the audience had
terminated. He retired, considerably agitated, and the performance of
the special graces which he usually displayed in this difficult act left
a good deal to be desired. In fact, for the first time in his life,
Professor Tartlet, forgetting in his preoccupation the most elementary
principles of his art, went out with his toes turned in!
CHAPTER V.
IN WHICH THEY PREPARE TO GO, AND AT THE END OF WHICH THEY GO FOR GOOD.
Before the long voyage together through life, which men call marriage,
Godfrey then was to make the tour of the world--a journey sometimes even
more dangerous. But he reckoned on returning improved in every respect;
he left a lad, he would return a man. He would have seen, noted,
compared. His curiosity would be satisfied. There would only remain for
him to settle down quietly, and live happily at home with his wife, whom
no temptation would take him from. Was he wrong or right? Was he to
learn a valuable lesson? The future will show.
In short, Godfrey was enchanted.
Phina, anxious without appearing to be so, was resigned to this
apprenticeship.
Professor Tartlet, generally so firm on his limbs, had lost all his
dancing equilibrium. He had lost all his usual self-possession, and
tried in vain to recover it; he even tottered on the carpet of his room
as if he were already on the floor of a cabin, rolling and pitching on
the ocean.
As for William W. Kolderup, since he had arrived at a decision, he had
become very uncommunicative, especially to his nephew. The closed lips,
and eyes half hidden beneath their lids, showed that there was some
fixed idea in the head where generally floated the highest commercial
speculations.
"Ah! you want to travel," muttered he every now and then; "travel
instead of marrying and staying at home! Well, you shall travel."
Preparations were immediately begun.
In the first place, the itinerary had to be projected, discussed, and
settled.
Was Godfrey to go south, or east, or west? That had to be decided in the
first place.
If he went southwards, the Panama, California and British Columbia
Company, or the Southampton and Rio Janeiro Company would have to take
him to Europe.
If he went eastwards, the Union Pacific Railway would take him in a few
days to New York, and thence the Cunard, Inman, White Star,
Hamburg-American, or French-Transatlantic Companies would land him on
the shores of the old world.
If he went westwards, the Golden Age Steam Transoceanic would render it
easy for him to reach Melbourne, and thence he could get to the Isthmus
of Suez by the boats of the Peninsular and Oriental Company.
The means of transport were abundant, and thanks to their mathematical
agreement the round of the world was but a simple pleasure tour.
But it was not thus that the nephew and heir of the nabob of Frisco was
to travel.
No! William W. Kolderup possessed for the requirements of his business
quite a fleet of steam and sailing-vessels. He had decided that one of
these ships should be "put at the disposal" of Godfrey Morgan, as if he
were a prince of the blood, travelling for his pleasure--at the expense
of his father's subjects.
By his orders the -Dream-, a substantial steamer of 600 tons and 200
horse-power, was got ready. It was to be commanded by Captain Turcott, a
tough old salt, who had already sailed in every latitude in every sea. A
thorough sailor, this friend of tornadoes, cyclones, and typhoons, had
already spent of his fifty years of life, forty at sea. To bring to in a
hurricane was quite child's play to this mariner, who was never
disconcerted, except by land-sickness when he was in port. His
incessantly unsteady existence on a vessel's deck had endowed him with
the habit of constantly balancing himself to the right or the left, or
behind or in front, as though he had the rolling and pitching variety of
St. Vitus's dance.
A mate, an engineer, four stokers, a dozen seamen, eighteen men in all,
formed the crew of the -Dream-. And if the ship was contented to get
quietly through eight miles an hour, she possessed a great many
excellent nautical qualities. If she was not swift enough to race the
waves when the sea was high, the waves could not race over her, and that
was an advantage which quite compensated for the mediocrity of her
speed, particularly when there was no hurry. The -Dream- was brigantine
rigged, and in a favourable wind, with her 400 square yards of canvas,
her steaming rate could be considerably increased.
It should be borne in mind all through that the voyage of the -Dream-
was carefully planned, and would be punctually performed. William W.
Kolderup was too practical a man not to put to some purpose a journey of
15,000 or 16,000 leagues across all the oceans of the globe. His ship
was to go without cargo, undoubtedly, but it was easy to get her down to
her right trim by means of water ballast, and even to sink her to her
deck, if it proved necessary.
The -Dream- was instructed to communicate with the different branch
establishments of the wealthy merchant. She was to go from one market to
another.
Captain Turcott, never fear, would not find it difficult to pay the
expenses of the voyage! Godfrey Morgan's whim would not cost the
avuncular purse a single dollar! That is the way they do business in the
best commercial houses!
All this was decided at long, very secret interviews between William W.
Kolderup and Captain Turcott. But it appeared that the regulation of
this matter, simple as it seemed, could not be managed alone, for the
captain paid numerous visits to the merchant's office. When he came
away, it would be noticed that his face bore a curious expression, that
his hair stood on end as if he had been ruffling it up with fevered
hands, and that all his body rolled and pitched more than usual. High
words were constantly heard, proving that the interviews were stormy.
Captain Turcott, with his plain speaking, knew how to withstand William
W. Kolderup, who loved and esteemed him enough to permit him to
contradict him.
And now all was arranged. Who had given in? William W. Kolderup or
Turcott? I dare not say, for I do not even know the subject of their
discussion. However, I rather think it must have been the captain.
Anyhow, after eight days of interviewing, the merchant and the captain
were in accord, but Turcott did not cease to grumble between his teeth.
"May five hundred thousand Davy Joneses drag me to the bottom if ever I
had a job like this before!"
However, the -Dream- fitted out rapidly, and her captain neglected
nothing which would enable him to put to sea in the first fortnight in
June. She had been into dock, and the hull had been gone over with
composition, whose brilliant red contrasted vividly with the black of
her upper works.
A great number of vessels of all kinds and nationalities came into the
port of San Francisco. In a good many years the old quays of the town,
built straight along the shore, would have been insufficient for the
embarkation and disembarkation of their cargoes, if engineers had not
devised subsidiary wharves. Piles of red deal were driven into the
water, and many square miles of planks were laid on them and formed huge
platforms. A good deal of the bay was thus taken up, but the bay is
enormous. There were also regular landing-stages, with numberless cranes
and crabs, at which steamers from both oceans, steamboats from the
Californian rivers, clippers from all countries, and coasters from the
American seaboard were ranged in proper order, so as not to interfere
one with the other.
It was at one of these artificial quays, at the extremity of Mission
Wharf Street, that the -Dream- had been securely moored after she had
come out of dock.
Nothing was neglected, and the steamer would start under the most
favourable conditions. Provisioning, outfit, all were minutely studied.
The rigging was perfect, the boilers had been tested and the screw was
an excellent one. A steam launch was even carried, to facilitate
communication with the shore, and this would probably be of great
service during the voyage.
Everything was ready on the 10th of June. They had only to put to sea.
The men shipped by Captain Turcott to work the sails or drive the engine
were a picked crew, and it would have been difficult to find a better
one. Quite a stock of live animals, agouties, sheep, goats, poultry,
&c., were stowed between decks, the material wants of the travellers
were likewise provided for by numerous cases of preserved meats of the
best brands.
The route the -Dream- was to follow had doubtless been the subject of
the long conferences which William W. Kolderup had had with his captain.
All knew that they were first bound for Auckland, in New Zealand, unless
want of coal necessitated by the persistence of contrary winds obliged
them to refill perhaps at one of the islands of the Pacific or some
Chinese port.
All this detail mattered little to Godfrey once he was on the sea, and
still less to Tartlet, whose troubled spirit exaggerated from day to day
the dangers of navigation. There was only one formality to be gone
through--the formality of being photographed.
An engaged man could not decently start on a long voyage round the world
without taking with him the image of her he loved, and in return leaving
his own image behind him.
Godfrey in tourist costume accordingly handed himself over to Messrs
Stephenson and Co., photographers of Montgomery Street, and Phina, in
her walking-dress, confided in like manner to the sun the task of fixing
her charming but somewhat sorrowing features on the plate of those able
operators.
It is also the custom to travel together, and so Phina's portrait had
its allotted place in Godfrey's cabin, and Godfrey's portrait its
special position in Phina's room. As for Tartlet, who had no betrothed
and who was not thinking of having one at present, he thought it better
to confide his image to sensitised paper. But although great was the
talent of the photographers they failed to present him with a
satisfactory proof. The negative was a confused fog in which it was
impossible to recognize the celebrated professor of dancing and
deportment.
This was because the patient could not keep himself still, in spite of
all that was said about the invariable rule in studios devoted to
operations of this nature.
They tried other means, even the instantaneous process. Impossible.
Tartlet pitched and rolled in anticipation as violently as the captain
of the -Dream-.
The idea of obtaining a picture of the features of this remarkable man
had thus to be abandoned. Irreparable would be the misfortune if--but
far from us be the thought!--if in imagining he was leaving the new
world for the old world Tartlet had left the new world for the other
world from which nobody returns.
On the 9th of June all was ready. The -Dream- was complete. Her papers,
bills of lading, charter-party, assurance policy, were all in order, and
two days before the ship-broker had sent on the last signatures.
On that day a grand farewell breakfast was given at the mansion in
Montgomery Street. They drank to the happy voyage of Godfrey and his
safe return.
Godfrey was rather agitated, and he did not strive to hide it. Phina
showed herself much the most composed. As for Tartlet he drowned his
apprehensions in several glasses of champagne, whose influence was
perceptible up to the moment of departure. He even forgot his kit, which
was brought to him as they were casting off the last hawsers of the
-Dream-.
The last adieux were said on board, the last handshakings took place on
the poop, then the engine gave two or three turns of the screw and the
steamer was under way.
"Good-bye, Phina!"
"Good-bye, Godfrey!"
"May Heaven protect you!" said the uncle.
"And above all may it bring us back!" murmured Professor Tartlet.
"And never forget, Godfrey," added William W. Kolderup, "the device
which the -Dream- bears on her stern, 'Confide, recte agens.'"
"Never, Uncle Will! Good-bye, Phina!"
"Good-bye, Godfrey!"
The steamer moved off, handkerchiefs were shaken as long as she remained
in sight from the quay, and even after. Soon the bay of San Francisco,
the largest in the world, was crossed, the -Dream- passed the narrow
throat of the Golden Gate and then her prow cleft the waters of the
Pacific Ocean. It was as though the Gates of Gold had closed upon her.
CHAPTER VI.
IN WHICH THE READER MAKES THE ACQUAINTANCE OF A NEW PERSONAGE.
The voyage had begun. There had not been much difficulty so far, it must
be admitted.
Professor Tartlet, with incontestable logic, often repeated,--
"Any voyage can begin! But where and how it finishes is the important
point."
The cabin occupied by Godfrey was below the poop of the -Dream- and
opened on to the dining-saloon. Our young traveller was lodged there as
comfortably as possible. He had given Phina's photograph the best place
on the best lighted panel of his room. A cot to sleep on, a lavatory for
toilet purposes, some chests of drawers for his clothes and his linen, a
table to work at, an armchair to sit upon, what could a young man in his
twenty-second year want more? Under such circumstances he might have
gone twenty-two times round the world! Was he not at the age of that
practical philosophy which consists in good health and good humour? Ah!
young people, travel if you can, and if you cannot--travel all the same!
Tartlet was not in a good humour. His cabin, near that of his pupil,
seemed to him too narrow, his bed too hard, the six square yards which
he occupied quite insufficient for his steps and strides. Would not the
traveller in him absorb the professor of dancing and deportment? No! It
was in the blood, and when Tartlet reached the hour of his last sleep
his feet would be found placed in a horizontal line with the heels one
against the other, in the first position.
Meals were taken in common. Godfrey and Tartlet sat opposite to each
other, the captain and mate occupying each end of the rolling table.
This alarming appellation, the "rolling table," is enough to warn us
that the professor's place would too often be vacant.
At the start, in the lovely month of June, there was a beautiful breeze
from the north-east, and Captain Turcott was able to set his canvas so
as to increase his speed. The -Dream- thus balanced hardly rolled at
all, and as the waves followed her, her pitching was but slight. This
mode of progressing was not such as to affect the looks of the
passengers and give them pinched noses, hollow eyes, livid foreheads, or
colourless cheeks. It was supportable. They steered south-west over a
splendid sea, hardly lifting in the least, and the American coast soon
disappeared below the horizon.
For two days nothing occurred worthy of mention. The -Dream- made good
progress. The commencement of the voyage promised well--so that Captain
Turcott seemed occasionally to feel an anxiety which he tried in vain to
hide. Each day as the sun crossed the meridian he carefully took his
observations. But it could be noticed that immediately afterwards he
retired with the mate into his cabin, and then they remained in secret
conclave as if they were discussing some grave eventuality. This
performance passed probably unnoticed by Godfrey, who understood nothing
about the details of navigation, but the boatswain and the crew seemed
somewhat astonished at it, particularly as for two or three times during
the first week, when there was not the least necessity for the
manoeuvre, the course of the -Dream- at night was completely altered,
and resumed again in the morning. In a sailing-ship this might be
intelligible; but in a steamer, which could keep on the great circle
line and only use canvas when the wind was favourable, it was somewhat
extraordinary.
During the morning of the 12th of June a very unexpected incident
occurred on board.
Captain Turcott, the mate, and Godfrey, were sitting down to breakfast
when an unusual noise was heard on deck. Almost immediately afterwards
the boatswain opened the door and appeared on the threshold.
"Captain!" he said.
"What's up?" asked Turcott, sailor as he was, always on the alert.
"Here's a--Chinee!" said the boatswain.
"A Chinese!"
"Yes! a genuine Chinese we have just found by chance at the bottom of
the hold!"
"At the bottom of the hold!" exclaimed Turcott. "Well, by all
the--somethings--of Sacramento, just send him to the bottom of the sea!"
"All right!" answered the boatswain.
And that excellent man with all the contempt of a Californian for a son
of the Celestial Empire, taking the order as quite a natural one, would
have had not the slightest compunction in executing it.
However, Captain Turcott rose from his chair, and followed by Godfrey
and the mate, left the saloon and walked towards the forecastle of the
-Dream-.
There stood a Chinaman, tightly handcuffed, and held by two or three
sailors, who were by no means sparing of their nudges and knocks. He was
a man of from five-and-thirty to forty, with intelligent features, well
built, of lithe figure, but a little emaciated, owing to his sojourn for
sixteen hours at the bottom of a badly ventilated hold.
Captain Turcott made a sign to his men to leave the unhappy intruder
alone.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"A son of the sun."
"And what is your name?"
"Seng Vou," answered the Chinese, whose name in the Celestial language
signifies "he who does not live."
"And what are you doing on board here?"
"I am out for a sail!" coolly answered Seng Vou, "but am doing you as
little harm as I can."
"Really! as little harm!--and you stowed yourself away in the hold when
we started?"
"Just so, captain."
"So that we might take you for nothing from America to China, on the
other side of the Pacific?"
"If you will have it so."
"And if I don't wish to have it so, you yellow-skinned nigger. If I will
have it that you have to swim to China."
"I will try," said the Chinaman with a smile, "but I shall probably sink
on the road!"
"Well, John," exclaimed Captain Turcott, "I am going to show you how to
save your passage-money."
And Captain Turcott, much more angry than circumstances necessitated,
was perhaps about to put his threat into execution, when Godfrey
intervened.
"Captain," he said, "one more Chinee on board the -Dream- is one Chinee
less in California, where there are too many."
"A great deal too many!" answered Captain Turcott.
"Yes, too many. Well, if this poor beggar wishes to relieve San
Francisco of his presence, he ought to be pitied! Bah! we can throw him
on shore at Shanghai, and there needn't be any fuss about it!"
In saying that there were too many Chinese in California Godfrey held
the same language as every true Californian. The emigration of the sons
of the Celestial Empire--there are 300,000,000 in China as against
30,000,000 of Americans in the United States--has become dangerous to
the provinces of the Far West; and the legislators of these States of
California, Lower California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and even Congress
itself, are much concerned at this new epidemic of invasion, to which
the Yankees have given the name of the "yellow-plague."
At this period there were more than 50,000 Chinese, in the State of
California alone. These people, very industrious at gold-washing, very
patient, living on a pinch of rice, a mouthful of tea, and a whiff of
opium, did an immense deal to bring down the price of manual labour, to
the detriment of the native workmen. They had to submit to special laws,
contrary to the American constitution--laws which regulated their
immigration, and withheld from them the right of naturalization, owing
to the fear that they would end by obtaining a majority in the Congress.
Generally ill-treated, much as Indians or negroes, so as to justify the
title of "pests" which was applied to them, they herded together in a
sort of ghetto, where they carefully kept up the manners and customs of
the Celestial Empire.
In the Californian capital, it is in the Sacramento Street district,
decked with their banners and lanterns, that this foreign race has taken
up its abode. There they can be met in thousands, trotting along in
their wide-sleeved blouses, conical hats, and turned-up shoes. Here, for
the most part, they live as grocers, gardeners, or laundresses--unless
they are working as cooks or belong to one of those dramatic troupes
which perform Chinese pieces in the French theatre at San Francisco.
And--there is no reason why we should conceal the fact--Seng Vou
happened to form part of one of these troupes, in which he filled the
rôle of "comic lead," if such a description can apply to any Chinese
artiste. As a matter of fact they are so serious, even in their fun,
that the Californian romancer, Bret Harte, has told us that he never
saw a genuine Chinaman laugh, and has even confessed that he is unable
to say whether one of the national pieces he witnessed was a tragedy or
a farce.
In short, Seng Vou was a comedian. The season had ended, crowned with
success--perhaps out of proportion to the gold pieces he had amassed--he
wished to return to his country otherwise than as a corpse, for Chinamen
always like to get buried at home and there are special steamers who
carry dead Celestials and nothing else. At all risks, therefore, he had
secretly slipped on board the -Dream-.
Loaded with provisions, did he hope to get through, incognito, a passage
of several weeks, and then to land on the coast of China without being
seen?
It is just possible. At any rate, the case was hardly one for a death
penalty.
So Godfrey had good reason to interfere in favour of the intruder, and
Captain Turcott, who pretended to be angrier than he really was, gave up
the idea of sending Seng Vou overboard to battle with the waves of the
Pacific.
Seng Vou, however, did not return to his hiding-place in the hold,
though he was rather an incubus on board. Phlegmatic, methodic, and by
no means communicative, he carefully avoided the seamen, who had always
some prank to play off on him, and he kept to his own provisions. He
was thin enough in all conscience, and his additional weight but
imperceptibly added to the cost of navigating the -Dream-. If Seng Vou
got a free passage it was obvious that his carriage did not cost William
W. Kolderup very much.
His presence on board put into Captain Turcott's head an idea which his
mate probably was the only one to understand thoroughly.
"He will bother us a bit--this confounded Chinee!--after all, so much
the worse for him."
"What ever made him stow himself away on board the -Dream-?" answered
the mate.
"To get to Shanghai!" replied Captain Turcott. "Bless John and all
John's sons too!"
CHAPTER VII.
IN WHICH IT WILL BE SEEN THAT WILLIAM W. KOLDERUP WAS PROBABLY RIGHT IN
INSURING HIS SHIP.
During the following days, the 13th, 14th, and 15th of June, the
barometer slowly fell, without an attempt to rise in the slightest
degree, and the weather became variable, hovering between rain and wind
or storm. The breeze strengthened considerably, and changed to
south-westerly. It was a head-wind for the -Dream-, and the waves had
now increased enormously, and lifted her forward. The sails were all
furled, and she had to depend on her screw alone; under half steam,
however, so as to avoid excessive labouring.
Godfrey bore the trial of the ship's motion without even losing his
good-humour for a moment. Evidently he was fond of the sea.
But Tartlet was not fond of the sea, and it served him out.
It was pitiful to see the unfortunate professor of deportment deporting
himself no longer, the professor of dancing dancing contrary to every
rule of his art. Remain in his cabin, with the seas shaking the ship
from stem to stern, he could not.
"Air! air!" he gasped.
And so he never left the deck. A roll sent him rolling from one side to
the other, a pitch sent him pitching from one end to the other. He clung
to the rails, he clutched the ropes, he assumed every attitude that is
absolutely condemned by the principles of the modern choregraphic art.
Ah! why could he not raise himself into the air by some balloon-like
movement, and escape the eccentricities of that moving plane? A dancer
of his ancestors had said that he only consented to set foot to the
ground so as not to humiliate his companions, but Tartlet would
willingly never have come down at all on the deck, whose perpetual
agitation threatened to hurl him into the abyss.
What an idea it was for the rich William W. Kolderup to send him here.
"Is this bad weather likely to last?" asked he of Captain Turcott twenty
times a day.
"Dunno! barometer is not very promising!" was the invariable answer of
the captain, knitting his brows.
"Shall we soon get there?"
"Soon, Mr. Tartlet? Hum! soon!"
"And they call this the Pacific Ocean!" repeated the unfortunate man,
between a couple of shocks and oscillations.
It should be stated that, not only did Professor Tartlet suffer from
sea-sickness, but also that fear had seized him as he watched the great
seething waves breaking into foam level with the bulwarks of the
-Dream-, and heard the valves, lifted by the violent beats, letting the
steam off through the waste-pipes, as he felt the steamer tossing like a
cork on the mountains of water.
"No," said he with a lifeless look at his pupil, "it is not impossible
for us to capsize."
"Take it quietly, Tartlet," replied Godfrey. "A ship was made to float!
There are reasons for all this."
"I tell you there are none."
And, thinking thus, the professor had put on his life-belt. He wore it
night and day, tightly buckled round his waist. He would not have taken
it off for untold gold. Every time the sea gave him a moment's respite
he would replenish it with another puff. In fact, he never blew it out
enough to please him.
We must make some indulgence for the terrors of Tartlet. To those
unaccustomed to the sea, its rolling is of a nature to cause some
alarm, and we know that this passenger-in-spite-of-himself had not even
till then risked his safety on the peaceable waters of the Bay of San
Francisco; so that we can forgive his being ill on board a ship in a
stiffish breeze, and his feeling terrified at the playfulness of the
waves.
The weather became worse and worse, and threatened the -Dream- with a
gale, which, had she been near the shore, would have been announced to
her by the semaphores.
During the day the ship was dreadfully knocked about, though running at
half steam so as not to damage her engines. Her screw was continually
immerging and emerging in the violent oscillations of her liquid bed.
Hence, powerful strokes from its wings in the deeper water, or fearful
tremors as it rose and ran wild, causing heavy thunderings beneath the
stern, and furious gallopings of the pistons which the engineer could
master but with difficulty.
One observation Godfrey made, of which at first he could not discover
the cause. This was, that during the night the shocks experienced by the
steamer were infinitely less violent than during the day. Was he then to
conclude that the wind then fell, and that a calm set in after sundown?
This was so remarkable that, on the night between the 21st and 22nd of
June, he endeavoured to find out some explanation of it. The day had
been particularly stormy, the wind had freshened, and it did not appear
at all likely that the sea would fall at night, lashed so capriciously
as it had been for so many hours.
Towards midnight then Godfrey dressed, and, wrapping himself up warmly,
went on deck.
The men on watch were forward, Captain Turcott was on the bridge.
The force of the wind had certainly not diminished. The shock of the
waves, which should have dashed on the bows of the -Dream-, was,
however, very much less violent. But in raising his eyes towards the top
of the funnel, with its black canopy of smoke, Godfrey saw that the
smoke, instead of floating from the bow aft, was, on the contrary,
floating from aft forwards, and following the same direction as the
ship.
"Has the wind changed?" he said to himself.
And extremely glad at the circumstance he mounted the bridge. Stepping
up to Turcott,--
"Captain!" he said.
The latter, enveloped in his oilskins, had not heard him approach, and
at first could not conceal a movement of annoyance in seeing him close
to him.
"You, Mr. Godfrey, you--on the bridge?"
"Yes, I, captain. I came to ask--"
"What?" answered Captain Turcott sharply.
"If the wind has not changed?"
"No, Mr. Godfrey, no. And, unfortunately, I think it will turn to a
storm!"
"But we now have the wind behind us!"
"Wind behind us--yes--wind behind us!" replied the captain, visibly
disconcerted at the observation. "But it is not my fault."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that in order not to endanger the vessel's safety I have had to
put her about and run before the storm."
"That will cause us a most lamentable delay!" said Godfrey.
"Very much so," answered Captain Turcott, "but when day breaks, if the
sea falls a little, I shall resume our westerly route. I should
recommend you, Mr. Godfrey, to get back to your cabin. Take my advice,
try and sleep while we are running before the wind. You will be less
knocked about."
Godfrey made a sign of affirmation; turning a last anxious glance at the
low clouds which were chasing each other with extreme swiftness, he left
the bridge, returned to his cabin, and soon resumed his interrupted
slumbers. The next morning, the 22nd of June, as Captain Turcott had
said, the wind having sensibly abated, the -Dream- was headed in proper
direction.
This navigation towards the west during the day, towards the east during
the night, lasted for forty-eight hours more; but the barometer showed
some tendency to rise, its oscillations became less frequent; it was to
be presumed that the bad weather would end in northerly winds. And so in
fact it happened.
On the 25th of June, about eight o'clock in the morning, when Godfrey
stepped on deck, a charming breeze from the north-east had swept away
the clouds, the sun's rays were shining through the rigging and tipping
its projecting points with touches of fire. The sea, deep green in
colour, glittered along a large section of its surface beneath the
direct influence of its beams. The wind blew only in feeble gusts which
laced the wave-crests with delicate foam. The lower sails were set.
Properly speaking, they were not regular waves on which the sea rose and
fell, but only lengthened undulations which gently rocked the steamer.
Undulations or waves, it is true, it was all one to Professor Tartlet,
as unwell when it was "too mild," as when it was "too rough." There he
was, half crouching on the deck, with his mouth open like a carp fainted
out of water.
The mate on the poop, his telescope at his eye, was looking towards the
north-east.
Godfrey approached him.
"Well, sir," said he gaily, "to-day is a little better than yesterday."
"Yes, Mr. Godfrey," replied the mate, "we are now in smooth water."
"And the -Dream- is on the right road!"
"Not yet."
"Not yet? and why?"
"Because we have evidently drifted north-eastwards during this last
spell, and we must find out our position exactly."
"But there is a good sun and a horizon perfectly clear."
"At noon in taking its height we shall get a good observation, and then
the captain will give us our course."
"Where is the captain?" asked Godfrey.
"He has gone off."
"Gone off?"
"Yes! our look-outs saw from the whiteness of the sea that there were
some breakers away to the east; breakers which are not shown on the
chart. So the steam launch was got out, and with the boatswain and three
men, Captain Turcott has gone off to explore."
"How long ago?"
"About an hour and a half!"
"Ah!" said Godfrey, "I am sorry he did not tell me. I should like to
have gone too."
"You were asleep, Mr. Godfrey," replied the mate, "and the captain did
not like to wake you."
"I am sorry; but tell me, which way did the launch go?"
"Over there," answered the mate, "over the starboard bow,
north-eastwards."
"And can you see it with the telescope?"
"No, she is too far off."
"But will she be long before she comes back?"
"She won't be long, for the captain is going to take the sights himself,
and to do that he must be back before noon."
At this Godfrey went and sat on the forecastle, having sent some one for
his glasses. He was anxious to watch the return of the launch. Captain
Turcott's reconnaissance did not cause him any surprise. It was natural
that the -Dream- should not be run into danger on a part of the sea
where breakers had been reported.
Two hours passed. It was not until half-past ten that a light line of
smoke began to rise on the horizon.
It was evidently the steam launch which, having finished the
reconnaissance, was making for the ship.
It amused Godfrey to follow her in the field of his glasses. He saw her
little by little reveal herself in clearer outline, he saw her grow on
the surface of the sea, and then give definite shape to her smoke
wreath, as it mingled with a few curls of steam on the clear depth of
the horizon.
She was an excellent little vessel, of immense speed, and as she came
along at full steam, she was soon visible to the naked eye. Towards
eleven o'clock, the wash from her bow as she tore through the waves was
perfectly distinct, and behind her the long furrow of foam gradually
growing wider and fainter like the tail of a comet.
At a quarter-past eleven, Captain Turcott hailed and boarded the
-Dream-.
"Well, captain, what news?" asked Godfrey, shaking his hand.
"Ah! Good morning, Mr. Godfrey!"
"And the breakers?"
"Only show!" answered Captain Turcott. "We saw nothing suspicious, our
men must have been deceived, but I am rather surprised at that, all the
same."
"We are going ahead then?" said Godfrey.
"Yes, we are going on now, but I must first take an observation."
"Shall we get the launch on board?" asked the mate.
"No," answered the captain, "we may want it again. Leave it in tow!"
The captain's orders were executed, and the launch, still under steam,
dropped round to the stern of the -Dream-.
Three-quarters of an hour afterwards, Captain Turcott, with his sextant
in his hand, took the sun's altitude, and having made his observation,
he gave the course. That done, having given a last look at the horizon,
he called the mate, and taking him into his cabin, the two remained
there in a long consultation.
The day was a very fine one. The sails had been furled, and the -Dream-
steamed rapidly without their help. The wind was very slight, and with
the speed given by the screw there would not have been enough to fill
them.
Godfrey was thoroughly happy. This sailing over a beautiful sea, under a
beautiful sky, could anything be more cheering, could anything give more
impulse to thought, more satisfaction to the mind? And it is scarcely to
be wondered at that Professor Tartlet also began to recover himself a
little. The state of the sea did not inspire him with immediate
inquietude, and his physical being showed a little reaction. He tried to
eat, but without taste or appetite. Godfrey would have had him take off
the life-belt which encircled his waist, but this he absolutely refused
to do. Was there not a chance of this conglomeration of wood and iron,
which men call a vessel, gaping asunder at any moment.
The evening came, a thick mist spread over the sky, without descending
to the level of the sea. The night was to be much darker than would have
been thought from the magnificent daytime.
There was no rock to fear in these parts, for Captain Turcott had just
fixed his exact position on the charts; but collisions are always
possible, and they are much more frequent on foggy nights.
The lamps were carefully put into place as soon as the sun set. The
white one was run up the mast, and the green light to the right and the
red one to the left gleamed in the shrouds. If the -Dream- was run down,
at the least it would not be her fault--that was one consolation. To
founder even when one is in order is to founder nevertheless, and if any
one on board made this observation it was of course Professor Tartlet.
However, the worthy man, always on the roll and the pitch, had regained
his cabin, Godfrey his; the one with the assurance, the other in the
hope that he would pass a good night, for the -Dream- scarcely moved on
the crest of the lengthened waves.
Captain Turcott, having handed over the watch to the mate, also came
under the poop to take a few hours' rest. All was in order. The steamer
could go ahead in perfect safety, although it did not seem as though
the thick fog would lift.
In about twenty minutes Godfrey was asleep, and the sleepless Tartlet,
who had gone to bed with his clothes on as usual, only betrayed himself
by distant sighs. All at once--at about one in the morning--Godfrey was
awakened by a dreadful clamour.
He jumped out of bed, slipped on his clothes, his trousers, his
waistcoat and his sea-boots.
Almost immediately a fearful cry was heard on deck, "We are sinking! we
are sinking!"
In an instant Godfrey was out of his cabin and in the saloon. There he
cannoned against an inert mass which he did not recognize. It was
Professor Tartlet.
The whole crew were on deck, hurrying about at the orders of the mate
and captain.
"A collision?" asked Godfrey.
"I don't know, I don't know--this beastly fog--" answered the mate; "but
we are sinking!"
"Sinking?" exclaimed Godfrey.
And in fact the -Dream-, which had doubtless struck on a rock was
sensibly foundering. The water was creeping up to the level of the deck.
The engine fires were probably already out below.
"To the sea! to the sea, Mr. Morgan!" exclaimed the captain. "There is
not a moment to lose! You can see the ship settling down! It will draw
you down in the eddy!"
"And Tartlet?"
"I'll look after him!--We are only half a cable from the shore!"
"But you?"
"My duty compels me to remain here to the last, and I remain!" said the
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588
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998
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1000