Nat the Naturalist Part 16

Every day I had a long practice with my gun with what uncle said were satisfactory results; and matters had been going on like this for about a fortnight when my uncle said one day:

"Now, Nat, we must have a bit more education, my boy. We shall very often be left to our own resources, and travel from island to island in a boat, which we shall have to manage; so come along and let me see if I cannot make a sailor of you before we start."

In order to do this he took me down to Gravesend, where, in spite of its being a rough day, he engaged a sailing-boat.

"Bit too rough for that, mister, isn't it?" said a rough-looking sailor who stood by with his hands in his pockets.

"It is rough, my man," said my uncle quietly. "Jump in, Nat."

I felt afraid, but I would not show it, and jumped into the boat, which was pushed off, and my uncle at once proceeded to hoist the lug-sail.

"That's right, Nat," he said encouragingly. "I saw that you felt a bit nervous, for your cheeks were white; but that is the way: bravely meet a terror and it shrinks to half its size. I can remember feeling as timid as could be on entering an open boat and pulling off in a choppy sea; but now I know the danger, and how to meet it, I feel as calm and comfortable as you will after a trip or two. Now then, lay hold of that rope and give a pull when I cry 'haul', and we'll soon have a little sail upon her."

I did as he bade me, and, pulling at the rope, the sail was hoisted part of the way with the effect that it ballooned out in an instant, and the boat went sidewise.

"Mind, uncle," I shouted; "the boat's going over;" and I clung to the other side.

"No, it isn't, Nat," he said coolly. "We could heel over twice as much as that without danger. I'll show you. Take another pull here."

"No, no, uncle," I cried, "I'm satisfied; I believe you."

"Take hold of the rope and haul," he shouted; and I obeyed him, with the boat heeling over so terribly that I felt sure that the water would rush over the side.

He laughed as he made fast the rope, and bade me go to the rudder, for I had taken tight hold of the side of the boat.

There was something so quick and decided about Uncle d.i.c.k's way of ordering anyone that I never thought of disobeying him, and I crept to the rudder, while he took his place beside me as the boat danced up and down upon what I, who had never seen the open sea, thought frightful waves.

"Now, Nat," he said, "you see this rope I have here."

"Yes, uncle."

"This is the sheet, as it is called, of the sail, and it runs through that block to make it easier for me to give or take as I want. Now, my boy, here is your first lesson in managing a sailing-boat whether the wind is rough, or as gentle as a breath. Never fasten your sheet, but hold it loose in your hand."

"Why, uncle?" I said, as it seemed to me that it would have saved all the trouble of holding it if it had been tied to the side.

"That's why," he said, as just then the wind increased, so that I clung once more to the side, for the sail was blown so hard that the boat would have gone over enough for the water to rush in if Uncle d.i.c.k had not let the rope run swiftly through his hands, making the sail quite loose, and the boat became upright once more.

"I brought you out on a roughish day, Nat," he continued, "so as to give you a good lesson. Look here, Nat,--if an unskilful rider mounted a spirited horse he would most likely be thrown; and if a person who does not know how to manage a sailing-boat goes out in one on a windy day, the chances are that the boat is capsized, fills, and goes to the bottom. Now, if I had not had hold of the sheet then, and eased off the sail--let it go, as a sailor would call it,--we should have been capsized, and then--"

"What then, uncle?" I said, feeling very nervous indeed.

"We should have gone to the bottom, my boy, and been drowned, for I don't think I could have swum ash.o.r.e from here in my clothes and taken you as well."

"Then--then, hadn't we much better go ash.o.r.e at once, uncle?" I said, looking at him nervously.

"Yes, Nat, I'll take you ash.o.r.e at once if you feel afraid; but before doing so I will tell you that I brought you out here to give you a severe lesson in what boat-sailing with me is likely to be; and I tell you besides, Nat, that I know well how to manage a boat. You have had enough of it, I see, and we will go back."

He made a motion to take the tiller out of my hands, for I was steering as he told me to steer, but I pushed his hand back.

"I thought you were frightened, Nat," he said; and then there was a pause, for I wanted to speak, but the words would not come. At last, though, they did.

"I am frightened, uncle, very much frightened; and this going up and down makes me feel sick."

"All right, then, Nat, we'll go back," he said kindly; but he was watching me all the while.

"No," I gasped, "we won't, and--and," I cried, setting my teeth fast, "I won't be sick."

"But it is dangerous, Nat, my boy," he said; "and we are going straight away into rougher water. Let us go back."

"No," I said, "you brought me out to try me, uncle, and I won't be a coward, not if I die."

He turned his head away for a few minutes, and seemed to be looking at the distant sh.o.r.e, and all the while the little boat rushed through the water at a tremendous rate, the sail bellying out and the gunwale down dangerously near the waves as we seemed to cut our way along.

The feeling of sickness that had troubled me before now seemed to go off, as if my determination had had something to do with it; and in spite of the sensation of dread I could not help liking my position, and the way in which we mastered the waves, as it were, going head on to one that seemed as if it would leap into the boat, but only for us to rise up its slope and then plunge down to meet another, while the danger I had feared minute after minute floated away astern.

When my uncle turned his head he said quietly:

"Nat, my boy, it was dangerous work to come out here with me; but, my boy, it is far more dangerous work to go out on that long voyage with me amongst savages, perhaps; to sail on unknown seas, and to meet perils that we can not prepare to encounter. Do you not think, my boy, you have chosen badly? Come, Nat, speak out. I will not call you a coward, for it would only be natural for you to refuse to go. Come, speak to me frankly. What do you say?"

"Was it dangerous to come out to-day, uncle, in this little boat?"

"Decidedly, my boy. You heard what that old boatman said."

"Yes, uncle. Then why did you come?"

He stared at me for a moment or two, and then said quietly to me, leaning forward so that he could look straight into my eyes.

"To give you a lesson, my boy."

"But you knew you could manage the boat, uncle?"

"Yes, my boy. I have had a good deal of experience in boat-sailing on the great American rivers, and on the sea."

"And you would not mind coming out at a time like this, uncle?"

"No, my boy, certainly not. I have been out years ago with the Yarmouth boatmen in very rough seas indeed."

There was a pause for a time, and then he said again, "Well, Nat, will you give up?"

"No, uncle," I said excitedly, "I don't feel half so frightened. I couldn't help it then."

"You'd have been a strange boy, Nat, if you had helped it," he said laughing; "and I am very glad we came. Now, let me tell you that we are in a very small boat in water quite rough enough to be very dangerous; but knowing what I do, possessing, as I do, the knowledge which is power, Nat, there is not the least danger whatever, and you may rest perfectly a.s.sured that we will get back quite safe."

"Then I've been terribly cowardly, and afraid for nothing, uncle," I said, as I felt horribly ashamed.

"Yes, my boy, but that is generally the case," he said smiling. "You were afraid because you were ignorant. Once you know well what you are about, you feel ashamed of your old cowardice."

"But it's very shocking to be like that, uncle," I said.