Across India Part 7

"This is not a library of romances," said his lords.h.i.+p with a smile, as he took in the encyclopaedias, books of travel, scientific treatises, and geographical works.

"No, sir; they cover a broad range of useful information," replied the commander. "Those of our company who are disposed to read novels supply themselves with that kind of literature. Quite a number of them are lecturers"--

"Lecturers!" exclaimed the distinguished guest. "Then a large number of your pa.s.sengers must be scientific people."

"Not at all, sir; the large majority of them are men and women of good education, and Professor Giroud is a learned Frenchman who has been a lecturer at various colleges and schools. Dr. Hawkes is a leading member of his profession, and is sometimes a lecturer in various medical and surgical inst.i.tutions in New York. Both of these gentlemen are making this voyage to regain their health, injured by over-work."

"You are fortunate in having such men on board," added his lords.h.i.+p.

"But most of our lecturers are persons of fair education, and only three of them have been graduated from the university. We a.s.sign subjects to them some time in advance, and they prepare themselves for the occasion. This gives the unprofessional people an interest in the exercises they would not otherwise have. For example, Mr. Woolridge"--

"I beg pardon, but he is the father of the beautiful young lady who was seated at the table next to Mr. Belgrave, is he not?" interposed Lord Tremlyn.

"The same, sir. At first he considered the lectures a bore; and doubtless they were such to him, for he had been a sporting-man and a yachtsman, though he has since abandoned the races. But I gave him as a subject the horses and other animals of Egypt. He did very well with it in his peculiar way; and since that he is one of the most interested in the lectures,--or perhaps I had better call them simply talks," added the commander.

"Then this voyage will create a new taste for him."

"I have no doubt of it. He is a Fifth Avenue millionaire, and he is able to cultivate any taste he may acquire. Mr. Belgrave is one of our most useful speakers, for he studies his subjects very faithfully. He is a devoted student, speaks French fluently, and gets along very well with Spanish.

This voyage is a college course for him."

"Do your ladies take an interest in these lectures, Captain Ringgold?"

"All of them, though I have a.s.signed a subject to only one of them. They all manifest their interest by asking questions. Like myself, Mrs. Belgrave and Mrs. Blossom are Methodists, while the Woolridge family are Episcopalians, though none of us are bigoted. The sisters of my church are very favorable to religious topics, such as were suggested on the Nile; and when we were near the land of Goshen and the Sinai peninsula Mrs. Belgrave spoke to us in this connection. Mrs. Blossom is one of the "salt of the earth," a very good woman, very religious, and her studies have been confined to the Bible and her denominational newspapers. Her education was neglected, and she is rather tonguey, so that she asks curious questions; but we all esteem her very highly, though her American peculiarities may seem very odd to you."

"I have known similar people in England, and your description of her leads me to respect the lady," replied the t.i.tled gentleman, who appeared to be very democratic so far as homely merit was concerned.

Dr. Hawkes had taken his professional brother in charge, and Louis, Sir Modava, as the commander had Lord Tremlyn, and they were showing them over the s.h.i.+p. We need not follow them or repeat their explanations; but they finally reached the promenade deck, where all the officers were presented to the guests of the steamer. At Conference Hall the three couples met, and the lectures were again commented upon; for this subject was uppermost in the mind of the commander.

"Do you have a lecture to-day, Captain Ringgold?" asked his lords.h.i.+p.

"No, sir; this is Sunday, and we keep the Sabbath in a reasonable manner, and the conference is usually omitted on this day, though when the subject is appropriate for the day the lecture is given. The professor is a Roman Catholic; but we have not had the slightest friction in regard to any man's creed. The owner and voyager in our consort, the white s.h.i.+p abreast of us, whose boat picked up five men of your s.h.i.+p's company, is a Mohammedan, though the captain and his wife are Congregationalists. We have a religious service on board at eleven o'clock, to which your party are invited, though no umbrage will be taken if you prefer to absent yourselves."

"I shall certainly attend," replied his lords.h.i.+p; and his companions said the same. "Have you a chaplain?"

"We have not, and I am obliged to act in that capacity for the want of a better," replied the captain. "We Methodists are all trained to 'speak in meeting,' whether we have the gift or not."

At the appointed time the gong was sounded for divine service, and four whistles were given, that all on board might hear the call. Chairs had been provided for the guests, and all the party were seated when six bells struck. The two engineers of the Travancore were seated on the platform with, the cook, and all the officers and seamen who could be spared stood within hearing.

Most of the party were provided with tune-books, and the captain gave out "The Life-Boat." Books were pa.s.sed to the strangers, and the commander led off in the singing. Lord Tremlyn and Dr. Ferrolan joined in with vigorous ba.s.s voices. Captain Ringgold then followed with an extemporaneous prayer, in which he poured forth his thanks to the G.o.d who rules the sea and the land for the mercy that had spared their brothers from other lands from the mighty power of the raging billows. Instead of reading a printed sermon as usual, he gave an impromptu address relating to the event of the early morning. Its bearing was very religious, and it was as eloquent as it was homely compared with studied discourses.

After the singing of "Nearer, my G.o.d, to thee," the service closed; but the people were invited to keep their seats. Without any explanation of what was to follow, the captain introduced Lord Tremlyn.

"Mr. Commander, and ladies and gentlemen, I am utterly unable to express my high appreciation of the religious service in which we have all a.s.sisted.

It went to my heart, and I am sure we who have been saved from peris.h.i.+ng in the stormy billows joined heartily with him who officiated in giving thanks to G.o.d for our preservation," his lords.h.i.+p began.

"We are all profoundly impressed by the kindness, the unbounded hospitality, which have been extended to us in our unfortunate, I may say our forlorn, condition; and I am sure that not one of us, from the amateur captain of the Travancore, to the coolies who were saved by the Blanche, will ever cease to bless the commander, the officers, the crew, and the pa.s.sengers of the Guardian-Mother for the overwhelming kindness and care they have all bestowed upon us. Though we are not at the festive board, I venture to propose to you the health of Captain Ringgold, as the representative of all to whom we are so gratefully indebted."

"For he's a jolly good fellow!

For he's a jolly good fellow!

For he's a jolly good fellow!

So say we all of us!"

To the astonishment, and perhaps to the disgust, of the two Methodist ladies, Dr. Ferrolan struck up this refrain, singing with a vigor which proved his earnestness. Sir Modava, the engineers, and the cook immediately joined in with him. Dr. Hawkes, Uncle Moses, Mr. Woolridge, and others, because they approved the sentiment of the words, struck in at the second line, and it became a full chorus before the last line was reached.

It is an English custom to follow a toast to a distinguished personage with this refrain, as expressive of the sentiments of the company; and though it was not adapted to Sunday use, it was sincere and heartfelt on the part of all who sang it. Captain Ringgold rose and bowed his thanks, and Lord Tremlyn spoke again:--

"It is very natural that you should desire to know something about the guests who have been so fortuitously cast into your kindly embrace, and especially in regard to the calamity which has made us the recipients of your generous hospitality; and Captain Ringgold gives us this opportunity to gratify your reasonable curiosity. I am no orator, like my brother, the commander of the Guardian-Mother, and I shall call upon my friend and secretary, who has been travelling with me in India for his health, to give you the desired information." Though it was Sunday, even the commander joined in the applause that greeted the doctor when he mounted the rostrum.

"Mr. Commander, and ladies and gentlemen, I beg to inform you that my Lord Tremlyn is quite as capable of speaking for himself as I am for him; but as I am called upon to make this explanation, I shall do so with pleasure. I have the honor to be the secretary of the Right Honorable Viscount Tremlyn, the son of the n.o.ble earl who is Secretary of State for India. He has been on a mission in the interests of his father to obtain certain information, though he holds no official position.

"Sir Modava Rao has held several official positions in India, and is perhaps more familiar with the country and its British and native governments than any other man. He has been travelling with Lord Tremlyn, to a.s.sist him in obtaining the information connected with his unofficial mission. My lord has completed the work a.s.signed to him; but the viceroy wished him to visit the Imam of Muscat unofficially for a certain purpose I am not at liberty to state.

"In a small steam-yacht owned by Sir Modava, the most devoted friend of his lords.h.i.+p, in which he had been all around the peninsula, and up several of its rivers, we embarked for Muscat, and safely reached that country. Then the viscount decided to proceed to Aden, where he had important business; for he intended to return to England by the Euphrates route, in order to inform himself in regard to the navigation of the river. We sailed for Aden, believing we should have the calm and pleasant weather of the north-east monsoon.

"Yesterday we encountered the gale from the south-west, which was very unusual. But the Travancore was an able seaboat, and we went along very well until we were run into by a steamer in the darkness and mist early this morning. The side of the little steamer was stove in, and she began to fill. We put on our life-preservers, and prepared for the worst. We stretched a life-line fore and aft, and listened to the gurgling waters below deck. Suddenly, when she was partly filled with water, she capsized.

We clung to the life-line, which unhitched forward.

"Of course we expected she would go down; but she did not for several hours. We had our life-preservers on, and we made fast the lines forward, which saved us from being washed off the bottom of the vessel. I had a revolver in my pocket, and when I saw the port light of your steamer, I fired it, and we all shouted at the top of our lungs.

"We could hear the air and the water bubbling and hissing under us at times, and it was understood that the confined air above the water in the hull had kept her afloat. But this air had all escaped as the Guardian-mother approached us, and with no warning she went to the bottom.

We were floated by our life-preservers till your boats picked us up, though we were fearfully shaken and tossed about by the waves. Our gallant saviours know how we were rescued--all honor and glory to them!"

The doctor finished his explanation and took his seat.

CHAPTER VIII

AN INTERVIEW IN THE CAPTAIN'S CABIN

"Our log-book indicates that we pa.s.sed a steamer to the northward of us at four bells in the mid-watch," said Captain Ringgold, when Dr. Ferrolan finished his narrative. "She was headed about west by south; and very likely it was the one which ran into the Travancore, for no other was reported."

"She was a vessel of about four hundred tons," added the viscount. "I was in the pilot-house at the time, though the weather was so thick that I could hardly make her out as she slipped off from our starboard bow, and went on her course."

"Didn't she hail you, and offer to stand by you?"

inquired the commander.

"I heard something like a shout coming from her, and in a moment she was beyond hailing-distance. I supposed we were going to the bottom in a few minutes, and had my hands full, so that I had no time to look out for her, though I supposed she would come about and render a.s.sistance; but we did not hear from her again."

"It is possible that she did so, and was unable to find you, for it was very dark, and the sea was very rough," suggested the commander. "But her conduct looks heathenish, and I will warrant that she was not an English steamer; for the British tars never pa.s.s by their fellow-beings on the ocean in distress without rendering a.s.sistance."

"It was a new experience to me," added his lords.h.i.+p, "and perhaps I neglected something I ought to have done."

"I think not; for your first and supreme duty at that time was to look out for the safety of your own vessel," replied Captain Ringgold.

"So far as that was concerned, I believe I did all I could do to repair the mischief," continued the viscount. "The chief engineer reported to me that the side of the yacht was stove in near the bow, and that the water was pouring into the hull. He suggested that a double sailcloth be hauled under the vessel. We had no sails, but we promptly made use of an awning, and we succeeded in drawing it under the bottom, and covering the aperture."