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Page 90
AFTER THE GALE.
One of the most singular traits observable in the character of some boys
is the willingness, and even the desire, under certain circumstances, to
get into trouble. A young gentleman, feeling that he has been slighted,
or his merit overlooked, permits himself to fall into a mental condition
in which he feels no responsibility for his conduct; in which he
recklessly breaks through all regulations, places himself in an attitude
of opposition to constituted authority, and seems to court the heaviest
penalty which can be inflicted upon him for disobedience, impudence, and
rebellion.
The fourth lieutenant of the Young America had worked himself up to this
disagreeable pitch. He was not only disposed to assume an attitude of
opposition to the principal, who had made the obnoxious regulation which
was the immediate cause of his rebellious condition, but to all who
supported his authority, or willingly submitted to it.
Smoking was a high crime on board the Young America--not in the relation
of the practice to the ship, but to the student. It was condemned, not
simply because it would be offensive in the cabins and steerage, and on
deck, but because it was a bad habit for a boy to acquire. The adult
forward officers, the cooks and the stewards, were allowed to smoke on
the forecastle at certain prescribed hours; but it was a punishable
offence for a student to smoke at any time or in any place, whether on
board or on shore.
Goodwin was indignant at the conduct of his room-mate, for the third
lieutenant was not only opposed to smoking on principle, but the fumes
of tobacco were intensely offensive to him; and there was no doubt that,
in the confined space of the state room, insufficiently ventilated,
while all the openings in the deck were closed during the gale, the
smoke would make him "as sick as a horse." He was a noble-minded, manly
youth, and had all a boy's detestation for tattling and tale-bearing. He
did not like to go on deck and inform the principal of the conduct of
Pelham, but he could not submit to the indignity cast upon him. He went
out into the cabin, and threw himself upon the cushioned divan, under
the stern ports of the ship.
This would have been a very satisfactory place to sleep under ordinary
circumstances; but Goodwin had hardly secured a comfortable position,
before the heavy rolling and pitching of the vessel tumbled him off, and
he measured his length on the cabin floor--a very undignified situation
for a third lieutenant. He picked himself up in the darkness, and tried
it again, but with no better success than before. He had fully intended
to go on deck and inform the principal of the misconduct of Pelham,
which had driven him from his room; but he shrank from the task.
What Goodwin was attempting to do on the divan many of the officers were
striving to do in their berths, though with better success than attended
his efforts. It was not an easy matter to stay in the berths; and this
done, the situation was far from comfortable. Avoiding the rude fall on
the one side, the occupant was rolled over against the partition on the
other side. Sleep, in anything more than "cat naps," was utterly
impracticable, for as soon as the tired officer began to lose himself in
slumber, he was thumped violently against the pine boards, or was roused
by the fear of being tumbled out of his berth.
Mr. Lowington comprehended the situation of the students, and when the
topsails and courses had been reefed, he called up all the stewards, and
sent them through the after cabin and steerage, to ascertain the
condition of the boys, and to give them the benefit of certain
expedients known to old voyagers for such occasions. Jacobs, the steward
of the after cabin, entered to perform his duty. He had no light, not
even a lantern; for fire is so terrible a calamity at sea, that every
lamp was extinguished by the stewards at ten o'clock, and no light was
allowed, except in the binnacle, without the special permission of the
principal Even the captain could not allow a lamp to be lighted after
hours.
Jacobs went to all the state rooms on the port side first, and pulled up
the berth sacks above the front of the bunks, so as to form a kind of
wall, to keep the occupant from rolling out. A bundle of clothing was
placed on the inside of the berth, and the body was thus wedged in, so
as to afford some relief to the unstable form. Pelham's room was the
second one on the starboard side, and Jacobs came to it at last, in his
humane mission. He opened the door, and started back with unfeigned
astonishment to see the lamp lighted, and the fourth lieutenant puffing
his cigar as leisurely as the violent motion of the ship would permit.
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