with the rising of the sun the gale had broken, and by the time the party in the cabin left the table, the north-east monsoon was soothing the ocean with its gentle blast. the angry sea was rapidly becoming good-natured again, though the waves were still high enough to give the ship an uneasy motion. but all the party, and no less the trio added to their number, had their sea-legs on, and no reasonable motion disturbed any of them.
the two engineers from the wreck of the travancore had been as carefully looked after as the strangers in the main cabin. they had been supplied with clothing, and they had breakfasted in the mess-room on the best the larder afforded. the third person brought in by the second cutter was the hindu cook of the wrecked steamer; but he spoke english very well, and had been otherwise europeanized. he had been turned over to baldy bickling, the second cook of the ship, who had clothed and fed him, and seemed to be unable to do enough for him.
the three gentlemen in the cabin were as sociable as could be desired; and though it was sunday morning, the scene at the tables had been very animated.
when the meal was finished, the guests at their own request were shown over the ship; and they were not at all reserved in the expression of their admiration at the elegance with which she had been fitted up, and not less at the convenience of all the arrangements.
lord tremlyn was particularly interested in the educational feature of the guardian-mother, as captain ringgold explained his pet scheme in the library, or study, abaft the state-cabin, as it was called on the plan of the vessel prepared by the gentleman for whom she had been built. the guests looked at the titles of the books, considerable additions to which had been made at cairo, alexandria, and elsewhere.
"this is not a library of romances," said his lordship with a smile, as he took in the encyclopædias, 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 passengers 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 institutions 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 lordship.
"but most of our lecturers are persons of fair education, and only three of them have been graduated from the university. we assign 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 assigned 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 titled 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 ship. 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 lordship.
"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 ship abreast of us, whose boat picked up five men of your ship'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 lordship; 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 passed to the strangers, and the commander led off in the singing. lord tremlyn and dr. ferrolan joined in with vigorous bass voices. captain ringgold then followed with an extemporaneous prayer, in which he poured forth his thanks to the god 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 god, 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 assisted. it went to my heart, and i am sure we who have been saved from perishing in the stormy billows joined heartily with him who officiated in giving thanks to god for our preservation," his lordship 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 passengers 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 noble 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 assist him in obtaining the information connected with his unofficial mission. my lord has completed the work assigned 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 lordship, 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.
