Part 19 (1/2)
”We are all intensely interested in knowing your history, and how you came here; but first tell us what you knew about the _Investigator_. You seemed to know about the sailing date.”
”I was booked to sail in her as one of the instructors, but a serious illness, contracted in Africa, from the previous visit there, prevented me from accepting the berth, and she sailed without me.”
”Isn't that a singular coincidence,” exclaimed Ralph. ”My uncle told me that one of his tutors at college, by the name of Varney, would be on the s.h.i.+p, and that is one of the reasons he so strongly urged me to sign for the trip.”
”Your name--what was his name?”
”Stratton; James Stratton?”
”Jim Stratton, the big, healthy, jolly boy! Everybody liked him. And you are his nephew?”
Then turning to Chief the Professor asked: ”Do you remember when and how we captured him?” John looked and tried to recall the incident. ”No, I do not now think of anything which is familiar, nor do I remember seeing him until a moment ago.”
”But if you are not too much exhausted, we would be interested in the history.”
”I do not suppose that my history, previous to reaching the island, would be very interesting, but as you have asked it I will briefly relate it.”
CHAPTER XIV
JOHN'S WONDERFUL STORY
”I was born on the Atlantic seacoast in a small New England town. My parents were the richest people in the community, and it was their ambition, as it was mine, to finish my education at one of the great universities there; but shortly after my entrance as a student the entire fortune of my parents was swept away, and I was compelled to seek employment.
”I was provided with a place in a commercial house in which my guardian was interested, and the only consideration shown me during the six months I remained there was the amount of work they could get out of me.
Like many other boys I ran away, and took a position on a sailing vessel. This was the turning point in my career.
”I was fortunate enough to fall into the hands of a captain who was, undoubtedly, an exception to his cla.s.s, but he had in early years been a pedagogue, and seeing the disposition on my part to make a constant use of his library, of which he had a most wonderful store, he took me from the drudgery, which was my early lot, and made me his a.s.sistant.
”I was a good penman, and before long I was entrusted with the position of recording and entry clerk for the s.h.i.+p, and I took charge of the log, and did things of that kind under his supervision during the long trip to Chinese waters.
”The trip among the western islands occupied two years, and I became an expert skipper as time went on, and many, many hours he and I sat up together and perused the wonderful books he had, and discussed a wide range of subjects which the readings suggested. It was a feast for me, and it was such a pleasure to him, which I know was real and unaffected.
”Three years after my sudden disappearance from New Bedford the s.h.i.+p sailed into the harbor, and the first one to greet us was a beautiful girl, the daughter of the captain, and the first most graceful act of his was to bring her over to me, and I was presented to her.
”I do not know how I ever pa.s.sed the days of the following two weeks.
Everything was a dream to me after I saw her, and I often imagined that the captain knew what my symptoms were. One day he called me to the cabin and said: 'John, how do you feel about signing for another term of three years?' My heart was so full that I answered: 'Why for three years? Make it for as long as I live.' The captain smiled and stroked his beard for a while, and then his countenance changed, and he said, 'John, you know I am blunt and open in all my dealings, and you haven't been treating me in that way.'
”That was the only time in the entire three years he had ever upbraided me, or found any fault, and I was so dumbfounded that I did not know how to answer, and when I recovered and inquired in what manner I had offended him, he replied, 'I did not say you had offended me. But you love Harriet, and I know you do, and you have been trying to hide it from me.'
”How had he learned that she and I loved each other from the moment we first met, and that we saw each other at every opportunity, and made mutual confessions of love? I started to apologize, but he began to smile again, and I knew it was not so serious. 'Yes,' he continued, 'I have charged Harriet with it, and she confessed, so it will not be necessary for you to defend yourself.'
”We were in port for three months, and Harriet told her father that she could not bear to have us both go away, and before the s.h.i.+p sailed we were married, a fine suite of rooms was set aside for our use, and I became the first mate of the s.h.i.+p, as well as the first mate of the most beautiful woman in the world.
”Thus I pa.s.sed a year of the happiest days that it was ever given man to enjoy. Together we gleaned the library for our recreation, and with music and song, it was one continual revel of bliss. But one day we steamed into a plague-infected port, where quarantine regulations in those days were not the best, and before we could take the proper precautions the captain and my wife were stricken.
”The terrible story that followed, the days of ravings, and finally the death of my wife, are too tragic to repeat in detail. The captain recovered, and, singularly, I escaped, and as soon as he had partially recovered I ordered the s.h.i.+p to sail away from that accursed place.
”When the captain recovered he was a changed man. His daughter was the only thing to him in the world, and her happiness had been the greatest delight and pleasure. But now he rarely appeared at meals, and the handling of the s.h.i.+p devolved on me. I could not rouse him sufficiently to learn what course to take or what disposition to make of much of the cargo.