The Golden Harpoon — page 5: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

s =~” THE GOLDEN HARPOON, with patches of different sizes and hues as to remind the spectator of ‘“Joseph’s coat of many colours,” and pants of canvas-duck, very coarse, but scrupulously clean, with the bot- toms flowing loosely round a pair of neat, well-fitting pumps. “Good-morning, John Stump,” said Alice, as the sailor lifted his sou’-wester and bowed, scraping his right foot as he did so. . “Jack Stump, if it pleases your pretty lips, miss—-for I always feel as though I was turned wrong side cut when anybody calls me John. Jack’s the name that I’ve always gone by, ever since I was as big as a turtle.” “Oh, very well—Jack Stump it shall be, then. You have something particular to say to me, Jack,” she added, as the seaman sud- denly placed his forefinger ee the side of his flat nose, while his great blue eyes began to roil in his head. ‘Ay, ay,” he said, at last, in a low voice, “Pye been a-trying to get out what I wanted to say to you, sweet lass, but your beaut choked the words in my throat, as a stick o ees put in the mouth of a baby stops its squalling. Such beauty as yours, miss 2 “That will do, Jack,” interrupted Alice, with a gratified smile, for she was too truthful to pretend that the compliment did not please her; “that will do, and I am much obliged to you. But you have aroused my curiosity, and I would thank you to come to the point at once.” “Here it goes, then,” said Stump, speaking in a voice of mysterious confidence, “here it coes, sure enough, which is, that I'm a frieud to you and the captain, and I wish that every- body in the ship was the same.” “Why, how is this, Jack? My father’s crew are all friendly to us, are they not?” “Good grub!” said Stump, in a deep voice, ‘os the first consideration in a whaler. Good officers the second, and good luck the third.’ Them are the three things that wins men’s hearts—them are the things that have won mine. But there are some beings that has the shape of men, and yet they ain’t men for all that—amphibious animals like, that has more of the shark than human natur’ in their cor- porosities, and, believe me, Miss Alice, there are such creatur’s in this barque. Just turn *your pretty eyes forward, young lady—sly-like, as you women knows so well how to do—and look at them five blue-skinned demons standin’ there by the windlass a-whispering and talk- ing together. D’ye see ’em?” “1 do,” replied Alice. “Four New Zea- landers and the Portuguese steward; but what of that?” Stump seized the end of his pigtail with his left fingers, and bringing it over his shoulder, placed his right hand upon it. “Tt’s an honest pigtail, Miss Howard, and I always swear by it on occasions of this kind, when a Bible isn’t handy. And now,” he added, in a solemn voice, “ here goes my oath, which is that them fellows forward are a-plot- ting and hatching to do harm—though what harm exactly, I can’t tell, but I think it’s as well to be prepared.” “Why Jack, how you talk! What ground can you have for these strange suspicions? My father, with all bis officers and the greater part of the crew, away, too,”’ added the young girl, with a shudder. “Ay, ay,” responded the shipkeeper, allow- ing his pigtail to drop to its original position, “and that’s why we must be on our guard. Them demons forward were all laid up with the rheumatiz a while ago, so that they couldn’t goin the boats, and now look at ’em a-standin’ up as well and hearty as you and I. That’s suspicious to begin with. Then again, I overheard one of ’em talking about freeing that quarrelsome mutineer, Tom Lark, who, you know, the skipper put in irons a week ago— because he refused duty—and shut up in the iun. They said something about his. under- standing navigation; and [ couldn’t hear any more because they saw that I was near them a- listening, and they closed their mouths all of a sudden,” 5 “What shall we do? What can we do?” cried Alice, in considerable alarm. “That's a hard question to answer, seeing as I’m all alone without any man to help me. But you may be sartin that Jack Stump will stick to you and do what he can. You had better go below now, and lock the door of your room, while I dodge round and find out some- thing about the plans of the rascals. Of one thing, hows’ever, you may be assured, and it is that the plotters can’t do anything just now, seeing as the wind has gone down, and there isn’t a breath of air stirring, and—ay, ay, Miss Alice, a beautiful morning!” he suddenly added, in a louder tone. “I’ve sailed the sea in every kind of a craft for thirty years, and never knew a finer mornin’ then this. What de you think of that?” Alice opened her blue eyes upon the speaker, surprised by this abrupt change in the thread of his discourse. But in a few moments she understood the cause, for a light footstep sud- denly saluted her ear, and she divined that a third person had passed behind them and taken his position near the rail, not far from the spot they occupied. With woman’s ready tact, sae refrained from turning her head even to get a glimpse of the intruder, and proceeded at once to reply to her companion’s remark. “T am surprised to hear you say so. The weather is not as a general thing very clear in the Okhotsk Sea, I believe.” “Not a bit of it, Miss Alice. There ain't many heavy gales here at this season of the year, it’s true, but there’s plenty of fogs. Just give a sly look at that blue demon, will you, a-listening with all his ears,” continued the speaker, partially turning his head under the pretence of shaking his pigtail. Alice moved closer to the rail, and directing her glances towards the water, contrived to obtain a good view from beneath the corners of her eyes of the individual who stood upon the other side of her. He was a tall New Zealander, with a sinewy Comichboo S com)