Beyond the first range of hills,
you descry the sharp pinnacles of the interior; and among these, the
same silent Marling-spike which we so often admired from the other
side of the island.
All alone in the harbour lay the good ship Leviathan. We jumped into
the canoe, and paddled off to her. Though early in the afternoon,
everything was quiet; but upon mounting the side we found four or
five sailors lounging about the forecastle, under an awning. They
gave us no very cordial reception; and though otherwise quite hearty
in appearance, seemed to assume a look of ill-humour on purpose to
honour our arrival. There was much eagerness to learn whether we
wanted to "ship"; and by the unpleasant accounts they gave of the
vessel, they seemed desirous to prevent such a thing if possible.
We asked where the rest of the ship's company were; a gruff old fellow
made answer, "One boat's crew of 'em is gone to Davy Jones's
locker: - went off after a whale, last cruise, and never come back
agin. All the starboard watch ran away last night, and the skipper's
ashore kitching 'em."
"And it's shipping yer after, my jewels, is it?" cried a curly-pated
little Belfast sailor, coming up to us, "thin arrah! my livelies,
jist be after sailing ashore in a jiffy: - the divil of a skipper will
carry yees both to sea, whether or no. Be off wid ye thin, darlints,
and steer clear of the likes of this ballyhoo of blazes as long as ye
live. They murther us here every day, and starve us into the bargain.
Here, Dick, lad, har! the poor divil's canow alongside; and paddle
away wid yees for dear life."
But we loitered awhile, listening to more inducements to ship; and at
last concluded to stay to supper. My sheath-knife never cut into
better sea-beef than that which we found lying in the kid in the
forecastle. The bread, too, was hard, dry, and brittle as glass; and
there was plenty of both.
While we were below, the mate of the vessel called out for someone to
come on deck. I liked his voice. Hearing it was as good as a look at
his face. It betokened a true sailor, and no taskmaster.
The appearance of the Leviathan herself was quite pleasing. Like all
large, comfortable old whalers, she had a sort of motherly
look: - broad in the beam, flush decks, and four chubby boats hanging
at the breast. Her sails were furled loosely upon the yards, as if
they had been worn long, and fitted easy; her shrouds swung
negligently slack; and as for the "running rigging," it never worked
hard as it does in some of your "dandy ships," jamming in the sheaves
of blocks, like Chinese slippers, too small to be useful:
