In the Wilds of Africa | Page 5

he observed
after a long silence. "It is a nasty coast at best. With a breeze we could
work off it, but while this calm lasts we cannot help ourselves from
being carried wherever the current takes us, till we get into water shoal
enough for anchoring. I shall be happier when once we can bring up,
for if we do not, we may, when we little expect it, be driven on shore;
and let me tell you, Andrew, what with the surf and the sharks, few of
us are likely to escape with our lives. I know this coast well, and a
sandy beach, exposed to the whole sweep of the Atlantic, is even more
dangerous than a rocky shore. It must be time again to heave the lead.
Go on deck, Andrew, and see how things are."
I found the passengers seated under an awning, which the mate had
rigged at their request. He himself was walking up and down the deck,
coming the officer in fine style, and endeavouring to make himself
agreeable to the young ladies. He evidently anticipated the moment
when he should have the command; indeed, he seemed to fancy himself
the master already. When I told him that the captain desired me again
to heave the lead, he appeared not to hear me, but continued talking to
Miss Rowley with the insinuating air he knew so well how to assume.
Miss Hyslop took but little notice of him when he addressed her, and
turned away, giving her attention to Bella's lessons, or going on with
any work she might have in hand, for she never was a moment idle. She

was admirably fitted for colonial life; indeed, I may say, for any
position in which she might be placed. If she had become a duchess,
she would not have been an idle one.--I again addressed Mr Kydd. I
told him that the captain wished to have the lead hove.
"The old man is always issuing his orders through you, Mr Crawford,"
he answered at length, in a scornful tone. "I know, I should think, what
ought to be done, and I will do it. And I beg you will not interrupt me
when I am talking to ladies." He added the last sentence in a whisper,
sufficiently loud, however, for Miss Rowley to hear him.
"As the captain has been too ill to take an observation for some time, I
suppose that you know our correct longitude, Mr Kydd. He, at all
events, considers that we are close in with the African coast; and, as
you are aware, it would be a terrible thing to have the brig cast on one
of the sandbanks which lie off it," I remarked.
"No fear of that," he answered scornfully. "We shall have a breeze soon,
probably, and then we will stand to the westward, and run down to the
latitude of Loando. We are not many degrees from that, at all events."
"The captain is a good seaman, and he has his reasons for ordering the
lead to be hove," I answered. "If the calm continues, he wishes us to
anchor as soon as the water shoals sufficiently."
"Shoals sufficiently!" repeated the mate, in the same scornful tone; "we
have no line on board to reach the bottom, I'll warrant." The mate
unintentionally spoke loud enough for the gentlemen to hear him.
"Come, Mr Kydd, I suppose you intend to obey the captain's orders,"
said Captain Hyslop, coming up to where we were standing. "It seems
to me that he has good reason for giving them."
"I believe, sir, that I am chief officer of the Osprey, and that I know my
duty," said the mate. "It is not customary for passengers to interfere
with the navigation of the ship."
"Certainly not, sir," answered Stanley; "but I trust all on board will

obey the captain's orders while he is able to give them."
"That will not be for long," muttered the mate in an undertone. "I
intend to do what is necessary, and I do not see that there is any use to
keep heaving the lead out here almost in mid-ocean."
"But are we in mid-ocean, Mr Kydd? The captain considers that we are
close in with the coast," remarked Stanley.
"Faith, there is going to be a row," I heard Terence O'Brien exclaim to
young Mr Rowley. "See! I would like to be after giving them a poke. It
would be rare fun."
"It would not be rare fun if the captain is right," was the answer.
"Am I to report to Captain Page that you decline heaving the lead, Mr
Kydd?" I said at length, seeing that he made no movement to obey the
order.
"Do as you like, Mr Crawford. I am not