The Battle and the Breeze

The Battle and the Breeze, by
R.M. Ballantyne

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Title: The Battle and the Breeze
Author: R.M. Ballantyne
Release Date: November 6, 2007 [EBook #23370]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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The Battle and the Breeze, by R.M. Ballantyne.
CHAPTER ONE.
TOUCHES ON OUR HERO'S EARLY LIFE, EXPERIENCES, AND

ADVENTURES.
Bill Bowls was the most amiable, gentle, kindly, and modest fellow
that ever trod the deck of a man-of-war. He was also one of the most
lion-hearted men in the Navy.
When Bill was a baby--a round-faced, large-eyed, fat-legged baby, as
unlike to the bronzed, whiskered, strapping seaman who went by the
name of "Fighting Bill" as a jackdaw is to a marlinespike--when Bill
was a baby, his father used to say he was just cut out for a sailor; and
he was right, for the urchin was overflowing with vigour and muscular
energy. He was utterly reckless, and very earnest--we might almost say
desperately earnest. Whatever he undertook to do he did "with a will."
He spoke with a will, listened with a will, laughed, yelled, ate, slept,
wrought, and fought with a will. In short, he was a splendid little fellow,
and therefore, as his father wisely said, was just cut out for a sailor.
Bill seemed to hold the same opinion, for he took to the water quite
naturally from the very commencement of life. He laughed with glee
when his mother used to put him into the washtub, and howled with
rage when she took him out. Dancing bareheaded under heavy rain was
his delight, wading in ponds and rivers was his common practice, and
tumbling into deep pools was his most ordinary mishap. No wonder,
then, that Bill learned at an early age to swim, and also to fear nothing
whatever, except a blowing-up from his father. He feared that, but he
did not often get it, because, although full of mischief as an egg is full
of meat, he was good-humoured and bidable, and, like all lion-hearted
fellows, he had little or no malice in him.
He began his professional career very early in life. When in after years
he talked to his comrades on this subject, he used to say--
"Yes, mates, I did begin to study navigation w'en I was about two foot
high--more or less--an' I tell 'e what it is, there's nothin' like takin' old
Father Time by the forelock. I was about four year old when I took my
first start in the nautical way; and p'r'aps ye won't believe it, but it's a
fact, I launched my first ship myself; owned her; commanded and
navigated her, and was wrecked on my first voyage. It happened this

way; my father was a mill-wright, he was, and lived near a small lake,
where I used to splutter about a good deal. One day I got hold of a big
plank, launched it after half an hour o' the hardest work I ever had, got
on it with a bit of broken palm for an oar, an' shoved off into deep
water. It was a splendid burst! Away I went with my heart in my mouth
and my feet in the water tryin' to steady myself, but as ill luck would
have it, just as I had got my ship on an even keel an' was beginnin' to
dip my oar with great caution, a squall came down the lake, caught me
on the starboard quarter, and threw me on my beam-ends. Of coorse I
went sowse into the water, and had only time to give out one awful yell
when the water shut me up. Fortnitly my father heard me; jumped in
and pulled me out, but instead of kicking me or blowin' me up, he told
me that I should have kept my weather-eye open an' met the squall
head to wind. Then he got hold of the plank and made me try it again,
and didn't leave me till I was able to paddle about on that plank almost
as well as any Eskimo in his skin canoe. My good old dad finished the
lesson by tellin' me to keep always in shoal water till I could swim, and
to look out for squalls in future! It was lucky for me that I had learned
to obey him, for many a