Marjorie Page 14

  CHAPTER XIV

  THE SEA LIFE

  The fair weather with which we were favoured during the early part ofour voyage made the time very delightful and very instructive to me.Indeed, I learnt more during those happy weeks of matters that areproper for a man to know than I had even guessed at in the whole courseof my life. For the Captain, who was an accomplished swordsman, andLancelot, who was a promising pupil, were at great pains to teach me theuse both of the small sword and the broadsword, at which they exercisedme daily upon the deck. Captain Amber had a great regard for Sir WilliamHope of Balcomie's book, wherein I made my daily study, and he orLancelot would make me practise all that I read.

  I was ever apt at picking up all things wherein strength and skillcounted for more than book-learning, and I am glad to think that theyfound me an apt pupil. Indeed, before we had got half-way on our journeyI was almost as pretty a swordsman as Lancelot, and the Captain usedoften to declare that in time I should be better than he himself was.But this, of course, he said only to encourage me, for indeed I think Ihave never seen a better master of his weapon than Captain Amber, andneither I nor Lancelot ever came near him in that art.

  Captain Amber was my teacher in other things than swordcraft. He sethimself with a patience that knew no limit to make me learn such thingsas are useful in the sea life, and indeed he found me an apter pupilthan poor Mr. Davies had ever been able to make of me. He was himselfversed in the mathematical sciences, in navigation, in astronomy,dialling, gauging, gunnery, fortification, the use of the globes, theprojection of the sphere upon any circle, and many another matteressential for the complete sailor, soldier, or navigator and adventurerof any kind.

  He instructed me further in matters military, for, as he said, a stoutman should be able to serve God and his King as well by land as by sea.So he put me through a rare course of martial education, discoursing tome very learnedly on the principles of fortification as they areexpounded by the ingenious Monsieur Vauban, and showing me, in the plansof many and great towns, both French and German, to what perfectiontheir defence may be carried. He showed me how to handle a musket and apike, and the manage of the half-pike joined to the musket, andinstructed me in the drilling of troops and in the forming of a brigadeafter the Swedish method, for which he had a particular affection.

  He harangued me much upon the uses of artillery, illustrating what hesaid by the example of the ship's cannon, until I felt that I shouldonly need a little practice to become a master gunner. And he set forthto me by precept--for here he had no chance of example--drill of cavalryand the importance of that arm in war, and promised me that I shouldlearn to ride when we had reached our Arcadia.

  In all these exercises Lancelot, whose cabin I shared, took his part. Heknew so much more than I did that I feel very sure that my companionshipin these studies was but a drag upon him. Yet he never betrayed theleast impatience with me or with my more sluggish method of acquiringknowledge. Now, as always, he was my true friend. If every day taught memore to admire Captain Marmaduke, every day bade me the more and more tocongratulate myself upon being blessed with such a comrade as Lancelot.

  Nevertheless, the best part of the business was the presence ofMarjorie. She was a true child of the sea. She loved it as if she hadbeen such a mermaiden as old poets fable. She had sailed with her uncleever since she was a little girl. She was as good a sailor as herbrother, and took foul weather as gallantly as fair. For it was not allsmooth sailing, for all our luck. There were squalls and there werestorms; but the Royal Christopher rode the billows bravely, and Marjoriefaced the storm as fearlessly as the oldest hand on board.

  There was one wild night, when we rose and fell in a fury of wind. Shemust needs be on deck, so I fastened her to one of the masts with a ropeand held on next to her while we watched the war of the elements. Therain was strong, and it soaked all the clothes on her body to a pulp;and her long hair floated on the wind, and sometimes flapped across myface and made my blood tingle. She stuck to her post like a man--or, letme say in her honour, like a woman--watching the strife, and every nowand then she would put her lips close to my ear--for the screaming ofthe wind whistled away all words that were not so spoken--and would bidme note some wonder of sky or water. For by this time we were greatfriends, Marjorie and I, and she always treated me as if I were somekinsman of her house instead of what I was, a poor adventurer in thedawn of his first adventure. She liked me I knew from the start becauseLancelot liked me, and because she trusted in Lancelot with the sameimplicit faith that he addressed to her. And where she liked she likedwholly, as a generous man might, giving her friendship freely in thefirm clasp of her hand, in the keen, even greeting of her eyes. It was astrange grace for me to share in that wonderful fellowship of brotherand sister, and I joyed in my fortune and shut my mind against anythought of the sorrow that might come to me from such sweet intercourse.For I knew from the first as I have said that I loved her, and I knew,too, that it would be about as reasonable to fall in love with a star ora dream. Those gentry who write verses, find, as I believe, a kind ofbitter satisfaction in recording their pains in rhyme, but for me therewas no such solace. Yet on that driving night, in that high wind, Iwould have rejoiced to be apprenticed to the poets' guild and skilled tomake some use that might please her of the dumb thoughts that troubledme. As it was it was she who seemed to speak with the speech of angelsand I who listened mumchance.

  She had the rarest gifts and graces for gladdening our voyage. She couldsing, and she could play a guitarra that she had brought from Spain; andoften of fair evenings, when we sat out on the deck, she would sing tous ballads in Spanish and French, and then for me, who was unlettered,she would sing old English ditties, such as 'Barbara Allen' and 'Whenfirst I saw your face,' and many canzonets from out of Mr. WilliamShakespeare's plays, which she always held in high esteem, and I wouldsit and listen in a rapture.

  Once, a long while after, when that Spanish tongue had become asfamiliar to me as it was then unfamiliar, I remember falling into abrawl with a stout fellow in Spain, and getting, as luck would have it,the better of the business, and being within half a mind of ramming myknife into his throat; for my blood was up, and the fellow had meant tokill me if he had had the chance. But even as I made to strike, he,looking up at me, and as cool as if I were doing him a favour, began tosing very softly to himself just one of those very Spanish songs thatMarjorie used to sing of summer evenings on the deck of the RoyalChristopher. And as he sang so, waiting death, in that instant all myrage vanished, and I put aside my weapon and held out my hand to him,and asked his forgiveness and asked his friendship. The man lookedamazed, as well he might; and it was lucky for me that he did not seizethe chance to stab me unawares. But he did not, and we shook hands andparted, and he went his ways never witting that he owed his life to thefairest woman in the whole wide world--at least, that I have ever seen,and I have seen many and many in my time.

  There were two on that ship with whom I did not wish to have anydealings, namely, Barbara and the red-bearded man, Hatchett by name,who was now her husband. However, I saw but little of them, for theykept to their own part of the ship.

  Barbara knew me again, of course, and we saluted each other when we met,as it was of course inevitable that we should meet on board ship. But wedid not meet often, and I was glad to find that I felt no pang when therare meetings did take place. That folly had wholly gone. There--I havewritten those words, but I have no sooner written than I repent them. Itis not a folly for a boy to be honestly in love, as I was in love withBarbara. I was silly, if you please--a moon-struck, calf-loving idiot,if you like--but in all that hot noon of my madness there never was anunclean thought in my mind nor an unclean prompting of the body.However, all that was past and done with. My liver was washed clean ofthat passion; it had not left a spot upon my heart. I have only lovedtwo women in all my life, and when the second love came into my lifethat first fancy was dead and buried, and no other fancy has ever for amoment arisen to trouble my happine
ss.