Captain Bayley's Heir: A Tale of the Gold Fields of California Read online

  CHAPTER VI.

  AT NEW ORLEANS.

  FRANK NORRIS took his way eastward after leaving Westminster. He sleptat a small hotel in the city, and at daybreak walked on to the docks. Hewas careless where he went, so that it was out of England; but he wasdetermined, if possible, to work his passage, so as to leave the sum ofmoney in his pocket untouched until he got to his destination. He wenton board a number of ships and asked the captains if they wanted hands,but on his acknowledgment that he had never been at sea, none of themwould ship him for the outward voyage only. At last he paused before afine ship, the _Mississippi_; a printed placard on the wharf beside hermentioned that the well-known and favourite clipper would sail for NewOrleans on that day. He walked on board and went up to the captain, whowas talking to the first mate, while the latter was superintending thegetting of cargo on board.

  "Do you want a hand, sir?"

  "Well, that depends," the captain said; "I am still two or three handsshort, but they have promised to send me them this morning. Are you asailor?"

  "No, sir; but I can row and sail an open boat, and am ready to makemyself useful. I want to work my passage out."

  "You look an active young fellow," the captain said, "but I don't careabout taking a landsman only for the voyage out; I should have to shipanother hand in your place at New Orleans, and probably have to pay morewages there than I could get one for here. Still, likely enough, theymay send me down at the last moment two or three hands who know no moreabout it than you do, and may not be half so willing to learn as Ishould judge you to be. What do you say, Ephraim; shall we take him?"

  "He looks a likely sort," the mate said.

  "Very well then, it's agreed; you can take off your coat and fall towork at once; I will send down word to the office that I have shippedyou." Frank stripped off his coat and waistcoat, and stowed them, withhis portmanteau, out of the way, and then set to work with a will, thewhiteness of his shirt, and his general appearance, exciting somejeering comments among the other men at work; but the activity andstrength which he showed soon astonished and silenced them.

  By one o'clock the last bale of cargo was stowed, and the hatches puton. The landsmen who had been employed went on shore, and Frank wentforward to the forecastle, with the men, to dinner.

  "Not the sort of grub you have been accustomed to, lad," one of the mensaid.

  "I have eaten worse," Frank said carelessly, "and don't care if I nevereat better. How long do you suppose we shall be before we get to NewOrleans?"

  "It all depends upon the wind," the sailor answered, "may be a month,may be three. Are you going to leave us there?"

  "Yes," Frank said, "I am only working my passage out."

  "It's a roughish place is New Orleans," the sailor said; "the sort ofplace where you want to have a knife or pistol ready at hand. Lor', Ihave seen some rum doings there; it's a word and a blow, I can tell ye."

  "Ah! well," Frank laughed, "I suppose I shall do as well as the rest."

  The voice of the mate was now heard calling to all hands to prepare tocast off. The men had hurried through their dinner, for they knew thatthe time allowed them would be short, and began casting off hawsers,coiling down ropes, and preparing for a start. The bell was ringing, andthe friends of the passengers were saying good-bye. The capstan wasmanned, and the vessel moved slowly away from the quay.

  Five minutes later she was at the dock gates; these swung open, and thevessel slowly made her way through them, and was soon in the river.

  As the men ran aloft to loosen the sails, Frank placed himself next tothe sailor who had spoken to him at dinner, and followed him up theshrouds, and, imitating his actions, he was soon out on the yard haulingaway with the others. When the sails were all set he returned below.

  "Wall done, youngster," the mate said; "I reckon you are about as spryfor a green hand as any I have come across; I had my eye on you, andyou'll do. You go on like that, and you will make a first-rate handafore long."

  There was plenty of work to do as they went down the river. The sailshad to be braced round as the wind took them on different sides in thewinding reaches; the decks were sluiced down, to get rid of the firstcoat of dirt which they had acquired in the docks; ropes had to becoiled and tidied up, and the many articles lying loosely about the deckto be put in their places and lashed in readiness for sea work. The tidemet them just as it was getting dark, and as the wind dropped, and wasnot sufficiently strong to carry the ship against it, the anchor wasdropped a few miles below Gravesend.

  The men were divided into two watches, but all were told that, with theexception of two stationed as an anchor watch, they could turn in tilltide turned. Frank threw himself at once into the bunk which had beenallotted to him. He had not closed an eye the night before, and was wornout by emotion and fatigue, and scarcely had he lain down than he wassound asleep. He had been placed in the starboard watch, and slept tillhe was roughly shaken at four o'clock in the morning.

  "Get up, mate, your watch is called."

  Frank leapt out and made his way on deck. The vessel had been now threehours under weigh. She had passed the Nore, whose light shone brightlyover the stern.

  "The wind is freshening a bit," one of the men said, "we shall be outround the Foreland by dinner-time."

  The voyage was an uneventful one; Frank escaped the first fight in whichnew-comers generally have to take part before they settle down in theirnew sphere. He was thoroughly good-tempered, and fully a match for anyof his messmates in chaff, and he soon became a favourite in thefo'castle. He was always ready to take his share of the work, and wassoon as much at home on the yards as the rest. The change and thenewness of the life were very good for him; he was never alone, and hadno time to think or brood over his troubles, and he was almost sorrywhen the end of the voyage approached.

  "Not a lively-looking shore," the mate said to him as he leaned againstthe bulwark, looking at the low banks of the river a few miles below NewOrleans. "No, even an American may confess that there ain't much beautyabout this river. It's a great river, and a mighty useful one, but itain't beautiful. Now, what are you thinking of doing when you getashore?"

  "I was thinking to begin by getting employment on board a boat of somesort. What I shall do afterwards of course I do not know; but if I canearn my living on the water for a few months, till I have time to lookround and see what is best to be done, I shall be well satisfied. I havegot a few pounds, but I don't want to touch them; they will come inuseful if I want to move, or to buy a horse, or anything of that sort."

  "You will do," the mate said. "You have shown yourself a right-downsharp fellow on board this ship, and I expect you will make your waywhatever you try a hand at. I have taken a fancy to you, and should beglad to do you a good turn if I can. I have been in and out of this portfor some years, and know Orleans pretty tidy, and I can tell you thatthere ain't a port on this side of the water or the other where a fellowcan be put out of the way more promptly than here; there are parts ofNew Orleans which, I tell you, are a sort of hell on earth.

  "There are places you couldn't go into without some one picking aquarrel with you afore you have been in there two minutes, and a quarrelhere means knives out afore you have time to think. On the other hand,Orleans is a place where a steady industrious fellow, with his headscrewed on right, has a good chance of getting on. The trade up theriver is immense, and will be far greater than it is now; and there'spretty well a continent to the west, with openings of all sorts, landand cattle, houses and mining, and trade with Mexico. But I don't see asyou can do better than to follow out your own idea.

  "I know a score of men here who own boats trading up the river, and thefirst time I go ashore I will take you with me and put you in goodhands. The rate of pay ain't high, for it's looked on as easy work;still, a few months at it will open your eyes and put you into the waysof the country, and, once at home, I tell you there's money to be madeon the river, heaps of it, and when it's seen that you are steady, andwilling, and 'cut
e, you will find plenty who will give you a helpinghand. There's no greater place for loafers than New Orleans, and a chapwho will really work will soon make his mark."

  Frank warmly thanked the mate for his offer. The moment the ship castanchor off the town a crowd of negroes came on board and unloaded her,and the crew had comparatively little to do; the three or fourpassengers who had come out in her went on shore at once, but it was notuntil the third afternoon after her arrival that the mate was able toleave the ship.

  "Now, lad," he said to Frank, "jump into the boat along with me, and Iwill see if I can't put you into the groove."

  Keeping along the wharves for some distance, the mate presently entereda small wooden office, telling Frank to wait outside.

  On entering he accosted the only occupant of the place, a man of someforty years of age, who was dressed entirely in white, and was sittingsmoking a huge cigar, with his chair tilted back and his feet on thetable.

  "How are you, Ephraim?" he said, as the mate entered. "I saw your shiphad arrived. Had a good voyage?"

  "First-class," the mate replied; "not very fast, but quiet andcomfortable," and he took a cigar from an open box on the table andlighted it. "I haven't come round for a talk with you now, I have onlyjust come ashore for the first time; but I wanted to speak to you abouta young chap as came out with us. He has worked his passage out, and isabout the smartest young fellow I ever shipped, and has the makings of afirst-class seaman in him, but he doesn't care about stopping at sea.He's of good family in the old country, as one can easily see. I expecthe has got into some scrape, and has had to make a bolt of it; however,that's no business of mine. He's as strong as a horse, and as active asa squirrel; he can handle an oar and sail a boat. I didn't like thethought of his landing here and getting into bad hands, so I thought Iwould come straight to you. He said what he wanted to do was to work onthe river, for a few months at any rate, until he got to know the place.Now I know you have a dozen tugs and a score of barges, and I thoughtyou might set him on at once. He would make a good second hand on one ofyour large boats. If it's but to oblige me, I wish you would put him onboard one with a sober, steady chap of a decent kind; as soon as he getsto know the work and the river, I will guarantee that he will be fit totake charge himself."

  "That's easy enough done, Ephraim," the trader replied, "all exceptfinding the sober and steady decent man to put him under. However, Iwill do my best. Have you got him here?"

  "Yes, he is outside," Ephraim said; and rising, he went to the door andcalled Frank in. "This is the hand I was speaking to you about, Mr.Willcox."

  "Well, young man," the trader said, "I hear you want a berth on board atug or flat. Which would you rather have?"

  "I would prefer to be on a flat,--at any rate for a time, sir," Franksaid; "I am a pretty good hand at sailing or rowing, but I don't knowanything about steamboats."

  "There's not much to learn in that," the trader said; "the work issimply to keep the decks clean, to help to load and unload at eachlanding-place, and to pole off in shallows. However, I will put you onboard a flat. The wages to begin with will be twenty dollars a month andyour keep, if that will suit you."

  "That will do, sir, very well," Frank said. "When shall I come to work?"

  "If you come here this time to-morrow you can go aboard at once. One ofthe flats will go up the first thing in the morning."

  "Thank you, sir, I will be here. I am greatly obliged to you, Mr.Alderson, for your kind recommendation of me."

  "I am glad to have put you into a berth," the mate said. "Now I shouldrecommend you to get on board again soon."

  Frank strolled about the wharves for an hour or two, and then went onboard. Before going on shore the following day, the captain gave him acertificate, saying that he had sailed in the _Mississippi_, and was agood, willing, and reliable hand.

  FRANK'S VISIT TO MR. HIRAM LITTLE'S OFFICE.]

  "You may not intend to go to sea again, but if you should, this will getyou a better berth than if you had applied as a landsman. I am verypleased with your conduct on board the ship, and I am only sorry you areleaving us. I think it's a pity you don't stick to it, for it is clearthat you are well educated, and would be able to pass as a mate as soonas you had been the requisite time at sea. However, you can fall back onthat if you don't get on as well as you expect on shore."

  The mate said good-bye to him warmly.

  "Your employer is one of the very best in the place," said he. "You mustnot suppose he is in a small way because you see him in that littleoffice: he is one of the largest tug and flat owners in New Orleans. Hekeeps his eye on his men, and will push you forward if he sees youdeserve it. He has the name of having the best of captains on the river,and of being one of the best and most liberal of employers. But you mustnot expect much in flat life, you will find the men rough as well as thework."

  "I shan't mind that," Frank said cheerfully; "our own bargemen on theThames are not the most polished of men."

  "And, lad," the mate added, "I should advise you to hand over any moneyyou may have with you to Mr. Willcox; the less money you have in yourpockets the better. You have no occasion for it on the river, and thereare loafers hanging about at every landing who would think nothing ofknocking a man on the head if they thought he had got fifty dollars inhis pocket."

  Frank promised to take his advice, and, with a hearty farewell to themate, and a cordial one to his late shipmates, he put his portmanteauin the boat and was rowed ashore.

  "Oh, here you are," Mr. Willcox said, as he entered; "just give a callto that man you see outside."

  Before doing so, Frank handed over his twenty sovereigns to the trader,asking him to keep them for him, and then went to the door. On a logclose by a tall, gaunt man was sitting smoking a short pipe. Frank askedhim to step in.

  "Hiram," the trader said, "this is the young Britisher who is going asyour second hand. I have good accounts of him as a sailor, so you won'thave to teach him that part of the business. Of course he is new to theriver and its ways."

  "I will put him through," the man said, "and will teach him as much as Iknows myself if he cares to learn."

  "There is no one knows the river better, Hiram; and, as you know, Iwould have given you the command of a steamer long ago if you would havetaken it."

  "No, sir," the man said emphatically, "not for Hiram Little. I have beenon board a flat all my days, and am not going to be hurried along in oneof them puffing things. They have their uses, I am ready enough toallow, when the current is swift and the wind light; I am glad enough ofa cast now and then, but to be always in a bustle and flurry is morethan I could stand. Come along, youngster, with your sack; the boat is aquarter of a mile down."

  Taking up his portmanteau, Frank followed his conductor, who with longstrides led the way along the wharf. Not a word was spoken till theyreached the side of the boat. This was not a flat such as now are ingeneral use, but a large boat some forty feet in length by fourteenwide, almost flat-bottomed, and capable of carrying a cargo of eight orten tons of goods. In the stern was a little cabin some eight feet longfor the captain and his mate. In front was a similar structure for thefour negroes who formed the crew.

  She carried one mast, with a large lug-sail. She had four sweeps, butthese were seldom used. When the wind was fair she ran before it, whenit was foul the mast was lowered; if it fell calm when they were comingdown the stream they drifted with it, if when going up, they eitheranchored or poled her along in the back waters close inshore, or madetheir way up the numerous channels where the stream flowed sluggishly,or tied on behind a tug if one happened to come along.

  Their principal work was to carry up supplies to the various plantationsalong the banks, to trade with the villages, and to bring down produceto New Orleans; for the stopping-places of the steamers were at widedistances apart, and the number of steamers themselves very small incomparison with those now afloat on the great river. At times they madelonger journeys, going up as far as St. Louis; but in that ca
se theywere generally, as Frank afterwards learned, towed up the wholedistance.

  "Hi! Pete, shove that plank ashore," Hiram shouted, and a negro at onceshowed his head above a scuttle in the bow of the boat, and thenemerging, pushed a plank across the fifteen feet of water whichintervened between the flat and the wharf.

  "That's your first lesson, young man," Hiram said. "Never on no accountlay your craft close alongside; thar's river thieves at these landingsas would empty half the cargo if you left the boat for ten minutes, ifthey could step aboard, and these niggers are always asleep the minuteafter you take your eyes off them. So, whether you have got anythingaboard or not, stick to the rule and moor her a bit off the wharf. It'sonly the trouble of dropping the grapnel over on the outside in additionto the hawser ashore, and then there's never no trouble when you getback and have to report as how you have lost some of the bales. It ain'tas how we carry up many things as would pay for taking; soft goods forthe stores up the river mostly goes by steamer, but them as ain'thurried, and likes to keep their dollars in their pockets, has theirgoods up by flats. I have got ten hogsheads of sugar, twenty-four cratesof hardware, some barrels of molasses, and forty casks of spirits onboard, eighty kegs of nails and a ton or two of rice and flour. Wereckon to go up light, and I don't care to have the flat more norhalf-full, for when the river's low and the wind light the less we haveon board the better. Now Pete, let's have tea as soon as may be."

  By this time they had entered the cabin at the stern of the boat. It wasonly about five feet high, but was large and roomy, and Frank saw withpleasure that it was neat and clean, and was an abode infinitelypreferable to the forecastle of the _Mississippi_.

  "Now, lad, that's your side, and this is mine; that's your bunk. I amgiven to tidy ways, having all my life lived in small places, and I hopeas you will fall into my ways; I keeps the cabin tidy myself, and Petenever comes aft here except to bring the food and take it away again; Ican't a-bear niggers messing about a place. Victuals of all sorts isprovided. You can do as you like about liquor. I keeps a keg of rum onboard, and I likes my glass at night; if you likes to join me at thatyou can pay for half the keg, it has not been broached yet. If you wantto drink more nor two glasses a night, ye had best get in yer own stock;if ye don't want to touch it at all, just leave it."

  Frank said he liked a glass of grog at night, and should be glad to joinin the cask, and that he would do his best to keep his side of the cabinas tidy as the other. In a few minutes the negro brought in the meal,which consisted of a steak fried with onions, followed by a large bowlof oatmeal, with a jug of molasses, and the whole was washed down withtea.

  "The stream does not seem to run very rapidly," Frank said, as he andhis companion, having lit their pipes, sat down on the deck above.

  "It varies," Hiram replied; "sometimes it's sluggish, as you see ithere, sometimes it runs like a mill-stream. The art of sailing here isto know the river; for what with its back currents and its eddies, itschannels behind islands and its sandbanks, one who knows it can manageto make his way up, while one who didn't know would be drifting backwardinstead of getting forward. That's what you have got to learn.Fortunately the wind generally blows up the stream; when it don't it's acase of down anchor. There are places where one can hardly get alongunless the wind happens to be unusually strong, and there I generallyget a tow. The boss has got about twenty steamers on the river, so wedon't generally have to wait many hours before one comes along. The tugsis gradually doing away with sailing boats, and in time there won't bemany of our kind of craft left; but they are useful, you see, for smallplaces where the steamers don't stop, and for the rivers which run intothe Mississippi."

  The next morning at daybreak the sail was hoisted, the hawsers thrownoff from the shore, and the flat made her way up the river. Frank wassurprised to see how fast she sailed, although the wind was but light.The work was easy, for the wind was steady and they seldom sailed atnight, the wind generally dropping at sundown. They touched at numerouslittle settlements, and gradually got rid of the cargo with which theyhad started.

  Sometimes they left the main river and sailed for many miles by narrowchannels, where the current, for the most part, was almostimperceptible. They were more than a month from the time they startedbefore they reached the spot at which they were to take in the cargo fortheir return voyage. The flat was then loaded up with grain, which wasput in in bulk and covered with tarpaulin; the boat was now laden downnearly to the water's edge.

  The downward voyage differed widely from that up the river; the sail wasnow seldom used, and instead of skirting the shores they kept inmid-channel, from time to time directing the boat's course by the use ofthe sweeps. The moon was nearly full when they started, and theycontinued their voyage by night as well as day. Hiram and Frank took itby turns to be on watch; but the former was seldom down below, except onthe rare occasions when the river was free from shoals.

  Frank had by this time learned by the ripples on the water to detect theshallows, and could direct the course without assistance; but as soon asthe splash of oars was heard on the water, Hiram was sure to appear ondeck, however short the time since he had retired to rest.

  "You are seeing the river at its best," he was saying one day. "It isabout half-full now; when the water's low, the channel where we can passloaded is often only fifty yards wide, with the water running through itlike a sluice. When the water is in flood there is no fear of shoals,but you have got to look about, for it is full of floating trees andlogs; when these get stuck we call them snags, and if you were to run onone of them the chances are it would knock a hole as big as a cask inher bottom, and down you would go in two or three minutes."