Boys -- Juvenile fiction; New England -- Juvenile fiction
Yet long before the sailing day arrived I was eager to be off. My
impatience was increased by the fact that my father had purchased for me
a fine little Mustang pony, and shipped it to Rivermouth a fortnight
previous to the date set for our own departure--for both my parents were
to accompany me. The pony (which nearly kicked me out of bed one night
in a dream), and my father's promise that he and my mother would come to
Rivermouth every other summer, completely resigned me to the situation.
The pony's name was Gitana, which is the Spanish for gypsy; so I always
called her--she was a lady pony--Gypsy.
At length the time came to leave the vine-covered mansion among the
orange-trees, to say goodby to little black Sam (I am convinced he was
heartily glad to get rid of me), and to part with simple Aunt Chloe,
who, in the confusion of her grief, kissed an eyelash into my eye, and
then buried her face in the bright bandana turban which she had mounted
that morning in honor of our departure.
I fancy them standing by the open garden gate; the tears are rolling
down Aunt Chloe's cheeks; Sam's six front teeth are glistening like
pearls; I wave my hand to him manfully then I call out “goodby” in a
muffled voice to Aunt Chloe; they and the old home fade away. I am never
to see them again!
Chapter Three--On Board the Typhoon
I do not remember much about the voyage to Boston, for after the first
few hours at sea I was dreadfully unwell.
The name of our ship was the “A No. 1, fast-sailing packet Typhoon.”
I learned afterwards that she sailed fast only in the newspaper
advertisements. My father owned one quarter of the Typhoon, and that is
why we happened to go in her. I tried to guess which quarter of the ship
he owned, and finally concluded it must be the hind quarter--the cabin,
in which we had the cosiest of state-rooms, with one round window in the
roof, and two shelves or boxes nailed up against the wall to sleep in.
There was a good deal of confusion on deck while we were getting under
way. The captain shouted orders (to which nobody seemed to pay any
attention) through a battered tin trumpet, and grew so red in the face
that he reminded me of a scooped-out pumpkin with a lighted candle
inside. He swore right and left at the sailors without the slightest
regard for their feelings. They didn't mind it a bit, however, but went
on singing--
“Heave ho!
With the rum below,
And hurrah for the Spanish Main O!”
I will not be positive about “the Spanish Main,” but it was hurrah for
something O. I considered them very jolly fellows, and so indeed they
were. One weather-beaten tar in particular struck my fancy--a thick-set,
jovial man, about fifty years of age, with twinkling blue eyes and a
fringe of gray hair circling his head like a crown. As he took off his
tarpaulin I observed that the top of his head was quite smooth and flat,
as if somebody had sat down on him when he was very young.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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