The Cruise of the Dainty

Cruise of the Dainty, by William
H. G. Kingston

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Title: The Cruise of the Dainty Rovings in the Pacific
Author: William H. G. Kingston
Release Date: May 15, 2007 [EBook #21456]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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CRUISE OF THE DAINTY ***

Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England

The Cruise of the Dainty
Rovings in the Pacific
By William H G Kingston.

CHAPTER ONE.
"Never was bothered with a more thorough calm!" exclaimed my
brother Harry, not for the first time that morning, as he and I, in spite of
the sweltering heat, paced the deck of our tight little schooner the
Dainty, then floating motionless on the smooth bosom of the broad
Pacific. The empty sails hung idly from the yards. The dog-vanes
imitated their example. Not the tiniest wavelet disturbed the shining
surface of the ocean, not a cloud dimmed the intense blue of the sky,
from which the sun glared forth with a power that made the pitch in the
seams of the deck bubble up and stick to the soles of our feet, and
though it might have failed to cook a beefsteak in a satisfactory manner,
was rapidly drying some strings of fish hung up in the rigging.
The white men of the crew were gathered forward, in such shade as
they could find, employed under the superintendence of Tom Platt, our
mate, in manufacturing mats, sinnet, rope yarns, or in knotting and
splicing; the dark-skinned natives, of whom we had several on board
similarly engaged, were mostly on the other side of the deck,
apparently indifferent as to whether they were in the shade or sunshine.
Even my brother, the commander of the Dainty, was too impatient to
think much about the broiling we were undergoing, as we walked from
the taffrail to a short distance before the mainmast, where we invariably
turned to face back again; while during the intervals in our conversation,
from an old habit, he whistled vehemently for a breeze, not that in
consequence he really expected it to come.
As we walked with our faces forward I was amused by watching old
Tom, who, marline-spike in hand, was stropping a block, now
inspecting the work of one man, now that of another, and then giving
his attention to a lad, seated on the spars stowed under the long-boat,
engaged in splicing an eye to the end of a rope.
"Is this all right, Mr Platt?" asked the lad, handing the rope to the mate,
who, squirting a mouthful of tobacco juice over the bulwarks, turned it
round and round to examine it critically.

"Ay, t'will do, Dick--wants scraping a bit; let's see how you'll serve it,"
answered old Tom, giving back the rope.
After taking a few more turns my brother stopped. "Do you think, Platt,
that, we shall be long delayed by this provoking calm?" he asked.
"Can't say, Cap'en. Known such to last for the better part of a week in
these latitudes," answered the mate, coming a few steps aft. "Maybe,
though, we'll get a breeze to-morrow, maybe not."
"We are not likely to get it yet, at all events, from the look of the sky,"
said Harry. "We'll rig the awning and persuade Mary and Fanny to
come on deck. They'll be better here than in the close cabin." Just as he
spoke Nat Amiel, his young brother-in-law, appeared at the
companion-hatch.
"Wanted to see if you were asleep, as we have been below all the
morning," he exclaimed. "Well, I declare, it is hot, though it's baking
enough in the cabin to satisfy a salamander."
"We'll soon have some more shade, and then ask the ladies to come on
deck and enjoy it," I answered. "In the meantime hand up a couple of
the folding-chairs, and I'll place some gratings for them to put their feet
on."
Nat dived into the cabin, and the mate calling the men aft we quickly
had an awning rigged to cover the after-part of the deck. Harry then
went below to bring up his wife and her sister. They were by this time
pretty well accustomed to a sea life, as three weeks had passed since we
left Brisbane in Queensland. My brother Harry, who had been a
lieutenant in the navy, had about four years before come out to settle in
the colony, being engaged at the time to Miss Mary