第29章 IN WHICH OLD FRIENDS MEET(4)

Nor about the parish committee,either.Great fishhooks!the most of us are tickled to death over what you said to Eben Hammond.We think it's a mighty good joke.YOU didn't know,of course,and what you did was done innocent.He!he!he!Did you lay him out,hey?Zebedee,began Captain Daniels,I must say I can't see anything to laugh at.You never could,Elkanah.I remember that time when you and me and some of the fellers home from sea went out sailin'and the boom knocked you overboard with your Sunday clothes on.Lordy,how the rest of us did holler!but you never cracked a smile.If you'd seen yourself when we hauled you in!whiskers runnin'salt water;beaver hat lookin'like a drownded kitten--

There!There!Never mind that.I think you'll find a good many of the society feel as I do,shocked and--hum--ha!--sorry.I'm surprised they haven't been here to say so.I expected them,remarked the minister.

So did I,chimed in Captain Zeb.But I cal'late to know why they ain't been.They're all too busy crowin'over the way Nat Hammond fetched the packet home last night.WHAT?You ain't heard?Great fishhooks!it's the best thing ever--I've heard about it,snapped Elkanah impatiently.Mr.Ellery,I'm glad you realize that your action was a mistake and I will take pains to have that immejitly made plain to--YOU ain't heard,Keziah,have you?broke in Zebedee.Nor you,Mr.Ellery?Well,I must tell you.Here's where I gain a lap on Didama Rogers.Seems the Deborah S.--that's the packet's name,Mr.Ellery--she hauled out of Boston night afore last on the ebb,with a fair wind and sky clear as a bell.But they hadn't much more'n got outside of Minot's 'fore the fog shut down,thicker'n gruel for a sick rich man.The wind held till 'long toward mornin';then she flattened to a dead calm.'Bije Perry,the mate,he spun the yarn to me,and he said 'twas thick and flat as ever he see and kept gettin'no better fast.

They drifted along till noon time and then they was somewheres out in the bay,but that's about all you could say.Zach,he was stewin'and sputterin'like a pair of fried eels,and Lafayette Gage and Emulous Peters--they're Denboro folks,Mr.Ellery,and about sixteen p'ints t'other side of no account--they was the only passengers aboard except Nat Hammond,and they put in their time playin'high low jack in the cabin.The lookout was for'ard tootin'a tin horn and his bellerin'was the most excitin'thing goin'on.After dinner--corned beef and cabbage--trust Zach for that,though it's next door to cannibalism to put cabbage in HISmouth--after dinner all hands was on deck when Nat says:'Hush!'he says.'Don't I hear somethin'?'

They listened,and then they all heard it--all 'cept Zach,who's deef in his larboard ear.

'Stand by!'roars Nat.'It's a squall,dead astern and comin' abilin'!I'll take her,'Bije.You look out for them tops'ls.'

So Nat grabs the wheel and 'Bije tears for'ard and sends the two fo'mast hands aloft on the jump.Zach was skipper,but all he done was race around and holler and trip over his own feet.Oh,he's a prize sailor,he is!Don't talk to me about them Fosters!I--Nobody is talkin'about 'em but you,Zeb,observed Keziah drily.

Go on.How about the squall?

It hit 'em 'fore they got even one tops'l clewed down.That one,the foretops'l 'twas,split to rags.The main tops'l was set,and when the squall struck,the rotten old topmast went by the board 'Kerrash-o!Course splinters flew like all possessed,and one of 'em,about a foot long,sailed past Nat's head,where he stood heavin'his whole weight on the wheel,and lit right on the binnacle,smashin'it to matches.

They say Nat never paid the least attention,no more'n if the chunk of wood had been a June bug buzzin'past.He just held that wheel hard down and that saved the packet.She come around and put her nose dead in the wind just in time.As 'twas,'Bije says there was a second when the water by her lee rail looked right underneath him as he hung onto the deck with finger nails and teeth.

Well,there they was,afloat,but with their upper riggin'gone and the compass smashed flat.A howlin'no'thwester blowin'and fog thick as ever.Zach was a whimperin',fidgetin'old woman,Lafayette and Emulous was prayin'in the scuppers--and that ain't an exercise they're used to,neither--and even 'Bije was mighty shook up and worried--he says he was himself.But Nat Hammond was as cool and refreshin'as the bottom of my well up home.

'Better clear away that mess aloft,hadn't you?'he says to the skipper.

Zach said he guessed so;he wa'n't sure of nothin'.However,they cleared it away,and incidentally 'Bije yanked the prayer meetin' out of the scuppers and set 'em to work.Then Nat suggests gettin' the spare compass and,lo and behold you!there wa'n't any.

Compasses cost money and money's made to keep,so Zach thinks.

So there they was.Wind was fair,or ought to be,but 'twas blowin'hard and so thick you couldn't hardly see the jib boom.Zach he wanted to anchor,then he didn't,then he did,and so on.Nobody paid much attention to him.

'What'll we do,Nat?'says 'Bije.He knew who was the real seaman aboard.

'Keep her as she is,dead afore it,if you ask me,says Nat.'Guess we'll hit the broadside of the cape somewheres if this gale holds.'