“mahn, a’am nae carin’ a snap wut ye think aboot ma. a’am a scoetchman, ye ken, fra fogieloan; an’ them ’at disna laik ma th’ wye ah aam, c’n juist dicht ther nebs an’ ma bachle-vamps. tha rampin’, roarin’ lion uv auld scoetland aye gaed his ain wye, an’ a’am thinkin’ ’at maist o’ his weans ’ll dae the same thing. an’ if tha canna dae’t yin day, they’ll dae’t the neist, an’ muckle auld hornie himsel’ winna stap them a’thegither.”
it was a long speech for jock mactavish, our taciturn shipmate aboard the yankee whaling-barque ursus. like several other luckless deep-water sailors, he had been “shanghaied” in san francisco, awaking from the combined effects of a drug that would have killed anybody but a sailor, and sundry ugly blows on the head, to find himself booked for a cruise in a “spouter” for an indefinite length of time, and at a remuneration that none of us were ever able to understand. this was bad enough, in all conscience, but it might easily have been much worse, for the ursus was a really good ship, as whalers go.
at the time when this yarn begins, we had been employing a slackness in the fishing by having a thorough clean up. it was very nearly time, for she was158 beginning to stink so badly that every morsel of food we ate seemed saturated with rancid whale-oil. so we worked, if possible, harder than usual, with sand and ley, to remove the clotted fat from decks, bulwarks, and boats, until on christmas eve she was almost her old clean self again. there remained only the tryworks, but they were certainly in a vile condition of black grease.
at knock-off time (all hands had been working all day) we began discussing our chances of having a merry christmas on the morrow, and, with the usual argumentativeness of sailors, had got a dozen different theories started. but running through them all there seemed to be a fixed idea that no notice whatever would be taken of a day that we all regarded as the one festival of the year which could, by no possible means, be allowed to pass unhonoured.
no, not all, for when the discussion was at its height, conkey, a lithe londoner, whose epithet of cockney had somehow taken this form, suddenly looked straight to where mac was sitting stolidly munching a gigantic fragment of prime east india mess beef (it hadn’t been round cape horn more than four times), and said, “wot d’yer sye, mac? ain’t ’erd from yer. ’ow d’yer feel abart workin’ a crissmuss dye?”
there was an instant silence, while every one fastened his eyes on mac and awaited his answer. slowly, as if the words were being squeezed out of him, he replied, “it disna matter a snuff tae me what wye ’tis. ah belong tae the free kirk o’ scoetland, an’ she159 disna gie ony suppoert tae siccan heathen practusses as th’ obsairvin’ o’ days, an’ months, an’ yeers.”
conkey sprang to his feet full of fury, and, in choicest mile end, informed mac that, “hif ’e thawt ’e wuz blanky well goin’ ter call ’im a bloomin’ ’eathen an’ not goin’ ter git bashed over it, ’e wuz a bigger blank fool then ’e’d ever seen a-smokin’ tea-leaves ter sive terbacker.” to this outburst mac only said what begins this yarn, and, in so saying, brought all hands down on him at once. conkey was restrained from his meditated attack while one after another tried to argue the point with mac, and to convince him that no man who neglected to keep christmas day as a feast of jollity and respite from all work, except under the direst pressure of necessity, could possibly be a christian.
the contract we had on hand, though, was much too large for us. metaphorically speaking, mac wiped the fo’c’sle deck with each of us in succession. his arguments, in the first place, were far too deep for our capacity, had they been intelligible; but couched in the richest aberdeenshire dialect, and bristling with theological terminology utterly foreign to us, we stood no chance. one by one we were reduced to silence. it was broken by conkey, who said finally, “hi don’t know wot ’e bloomin’ well sez, but hi c’n punch ’is hugly carrotty mug for ’im, an’ ’ere goes.”
again we restrained our shipmate’s primitive instincts, while mac slowly rose from his donkey, wiped his sheath-knife deliberately on his pants, put it away, and then, quietly as if it had just occurred to him,160 turned to the raging conkey, saying, “see heer, ma laddie, a’al mak’ y’ an oafer. a’al fecht ye. if ye gie ma a lickin’ a’al hae naethin’ mair tae dae wi’ the business; bud if ah lick you, a’al dae aal ah can tae get, no juist the day aff, but a guid blow-out o’ vittles in the bairgin, altho’ ah misdoot ma muckle ther’s naethin’ aft that ye cud mak’ a decent meal o’. hoo diz that shoot ye?”
for all answer conkey, breaking away from those who had held him, sprang at mac, dealing, as he came, two blows, right and left, like flashes. mac did not attempt to parry them, but seemed to stoop quietly; and suddenly conkey’s heels banged against the beam overhead. immediately afterwards there came the dull thump of his head upon the floor. mac just disengaged himself, and stood waiting till his opponent should feel able or willing to resume.
truly the latter’s head must have been as thick as his courage was high, for, before any of us had begun to offer assistance, he had struggled to his feet, looking a bit dazed, it is true, but evidently as full of fight as ever. he had learned a lesson, however—that caution in dealing with his sturdy adversary was necessary, and that he must accommodate his undoubted boxing powers to new conditions.
in a crouching attitude, and with two arms held bow-wise in front, he moved nearer the rugged, square-set figure of the scotchman, who, as before, stood strictly on the defensive. there was a feint by conkey—we saw mac’s head go down again—but then came a sharp thud and a swinging, sidelong blow from161 conkey, and mac seemed to crumble into a heap, for, as he stooped to repeat his former successful grip, conkey had shot upward his right knee with such force that mac’s nose was a red ruin, and the blow on the ear from conkey’s left could have done mac very little good. so far, the advantage undoubtedly lay with the londoner, but, after a brief spell, mac pulled himself together, and the two clinched again. locked together like a pair of cats, except that they neither bit, scratched, nor made a sound, they writhed all over the fo’c’sle unable to strike, but so equally matched that neither could loose himself. had they been alone, i believe only death would have parted them; but at last, in sheer admiration for the doggedness of their pluck, we laid hold on them and tore them apart, declaring that two such champions ought to be firm friends. as soon as they got their breath, conkey held out his hand, saying, “scotty, me cock, ye’re as good a man as me, but hi’m——hif ye’re a better. if yer think y’are, wy, we’ll just ply the bloomin’ ’and art, but if ye’re satisfied, hi am.” taking the proffered hand, scotty replied, “mahn, a’am no thet petickler. ah haena a pickle o’ ambeeshun tae be thocht a better mahn than ma neebours, neither am ah a godless fule that henkers aefther fechtin’ for fechtin’s sake; but as ye say, we’re baith’s guid’s yin anither, an’ there’s ma han’ upo’ th’ maetter. ah dinna see ’at we’re ony forrader wi’ oor bairgin tho’.”
then a regular clamour of voices arose, all saying the same thing, viz. that the heroes should “pull sticks”—that is, one should hold two splinters of wood162 concealed in his hand with the ends just protruding for the other to choose from, and whichever got the shortest piece should be the loser. it is a time-honoured fo’c’sle way of settling disputes or arranging watches.
they drew, and scotty won. all faces fell at this, for if we were going to make a bold bid for our christmas privileges we needed unity, and especially we wanted such a tough nut as jock mactavish actively enlisted on our side. the winner lifted our gloom by saying quietly, “sae a’m with ye, aefther aal, ut seems.” then, noting the surprise on our faces, he went on, “what’s the differ, think ye, whether ah win at fechtin’ or drawin’. ah said ah’d be with ye if ah won, sae that’s a’ richt.” and, easy in our minds, we separated, the watch below to their bunks, and the rest to their stations.
* * * * *
morning broke in glory, such a day as we see, perhaps, two of during a year in our hard, grey climate at home. after wetting down the decks as usual, the mate gave the order to turn-to at cleaning the tryworks—a step which brought us all up “with a round turn,” as we say. closing together we faced the amazed officer, and mac, stepping a little in advance, said, “div ye no ken, maister winsloe, ’at this is the day o’ days tae all true chreestyin’ men. suner than ah’d dae ae han’s turrn on chrissmus day—except, af coorse, in the wye o’ neceesary seamen’s duties, sic as a trick at the wheel, furrlin’ sail, or the like—ah’d gae ashore this meenut!”
at this we couldn’t help chuckling, for the nearest land was about three miles beneath our keel, vertically, and at least a thousand horizontally. but the mate was like lot’s wife after she looked back. the thing was outside his mental dimension altogether. as the real significance of it filtered through, his eyes gleamed, and, with a yell like a pawnee, he leaped for scotty—and missed him; for scotty was a born dodger, and had an eye like a gull’s. the officer’s spring carried him right into our midst, however; and, with a perfect hurricane of bad words, he struck out right and left as if we were the usual mixed gang of dagoes, dutchmen, and kanakas he had been used to. pluck he certainly did not lack, but his judgment had turned sour.
in a minute he was flat on deck on his face, with conkey sitting on his head, and the rest of us were marching aft to make an end of the matter with the old man. he reached the deck from below just as we arrived; and, although the most unusual sight might well have given him pause, he showed no sign of surprise.
advancing to meet us, he said quietly, “well?” again mac was to the fore, and, facing the stately, impassive figure of the skipper, he said, “we’ve juist daundert aeft, sir, tae wuss ye a murry chrismuss, an’ tae thenk ye in advance-like for the bit extry vittles, an’ maybe a drap o’ somethin’ cheerin’ tae drink ye’re health in an sic an ahspeeshus occashin.”
for an answer the skipper produced from his hip-pocket a revolver, which he pointed straight at scotty’s164 head, while with the other hand he made a comprehensive gesture, which we obeyed by falling back from that dangerous vicinity. as we did so, there was a rioting behind us, and into our midst burst the mate and conkey, fiercely struggling.
in a moment there was as pretty a rough-and-tumble among us as any fighting-man would wish to see, for the harpooners and the other three mates had sprung in from somewhere, and were making up for lost time with vigour.
apart from the struggling crowd the skipper stood fingering his shooting-iron, apparently irresolute—indeed, it was hard to decide for a moment what to do. bloodshed was evidently most distasteful to him, yet there could be no doubt that he would not shrink from it if necessary. but the whole affair was so grotesque, so causeless, that he was undecided how to deal with it, the more especially as his officers were every one mixed inextricably with the crew in a writhing mass.
the problem was solved for him and for us in a most unexpected way. in the midst of the riot there was a tremendous shock, as if the ursus had suddenly struck a rock while going at full speed; but, as she had barely been going through the water at the rate of two knots an hour, that was an impossible explanation. the concussion, whatever it was, flung every man to the deck, and in one moment all thoughts were switched off the conflict with one another and on to this mysterious danger. all hands rushed to the side and looked overboard, to see the blue of the sea streaked with bands of blood, while not twenty feet165 away, on the starboard beam, a huge sperm whale lay feebly exhaling breath that showed redly against the blue of the water. like a trumpet-blast the old man’s voice rang out, “lower ’way boats!” and with catlike celerity every man flew to his station, the falls rattled, and with an almost simultaneous splash three boats took the water.
“hold on, starboard bow boat!” roared the old man again, seeing that there was no need of it, and taking that advantage of keeping it in its place given him by the third mate being a few seconds slower than the others in getting away.
before we had time to realize what a change had come over us all, we were furiously assaulting the monster, but he was in no condition to retaliate. had we left him alone, he must have died in a few minutes, for protruding from the side of his massive head was a jagged piece of timber, showing white and splintered where it had been freshly broken away.
we had little time to speculate upon the strangeness of the occurrence, for suddenly we were aware that urgent signals were being made from the ship; and, leaving one boat to pass the fluke-line ready for hauling our prize alongside, the other two sped back to the ship. arriving alongside, we clambered swiftly on board, to hear the skipper’s deep voice calling, “leave the boats and man the pumps!” a cold shudder ran through us at the words, for in a moment all knew that our ship had received a deadly blow from the wounded whale, and that it was a portion of her that we had seen protruding from his head. and166 we remembered the awful loneliness of that part of the pacific, far away from the track of all ships except an occasional whaler, so occasional that our chances of falling in with one was infinitesimal.
the wind fell to a dead calm. there was not a cloud in the heavens, and the sea in our immediate vicinity was not only smooth, but silky, from the slight oiliness we exuded, so that looking down into it was almost like looking up at the sky. after the first alarm had subsided it was evident that we could have several relays at the pumps, their structure not admitting of more than eight men working conveniently at one time. the skipper stood by with the sounding-rod, waiting, in grim silence, to see whether we or the leak were gaining, when mac, sidling up to him, made some remark that we could not hear. the skipper turned to him and nodded; and immediately we saw our pawky shipmate shedding his two garments. next thing we knew he was climbing over the side, and those of us who were resting mounted the rail and watched him. i have seen kanakas diving for pearl-shell, and malays diving for pearls, but never an olive-skinned amphibian of them all could have held a candle to jock mactavish. he swam about under the ship’s bottom, examining her just as coolly as if in lambeth baths, his wide, open eyes glaring upward through the water with a most uncanny look in them—like the eyes of a man long dead. suddenly he popped up alongside, not at all distressed, and, wringing the water from his nose, mounted the side and approached the skipper.
with one accord the clang of the pumps ceased to hear his words, for we felt that they were a verdict of life or death for all of us. “she’ll be a’ recht, sir,” said he. “ther’s a muckle hole in th’ garburd straake, an’ aboot twenty fit o’ the fause keel awa’; bit a poke fu’ o’ shakins ’ll bung it up brawly wi’ a len’th o’ chain roond her tae keep it in’s plaace.” the pumping was resumed with all the energy of hope renewed, while busy hands made ready a bagful of soft rope-yarns and got up a spare fluke-chain. the bag was made fast in the bight of a rope, which, weighted with a lump of sandstone attached by a slipping lashing of spunyarn, was passed under her bottom. again mac went overboard and guided the plug into its place.
then the chain was passed round her, and placed over the plug by scotty. on deck we hove it taut, and in four hours we had sucked her out.
then the skipper called all hands aft, and said, “boys, ye’re the whitest crowd i’ve ever struck. the best dinner i k’n scare up ’s waitin’ for ye,’n i’ve raided the medsun chest for the only drop of licker thar is aboard. i don’t tech fire-water meself, but i’ll wish ye a merry christmas with all me heart. ther’s only one thing i’d like t’ know; an’ that is, haow a scotchman comes to risk his life for a christmas dinner?” “we’el, cap’n,” drawled mac, “’twus juist a wee bit seekoeloegical expeerimunt.”
time’s up; but i must add that we humoured the old barky back to ’frisco—and we didn’t lose that whale either.