PAGE 5
The Rock
by
“‘So,’ the skipper was saying, ‘you are Red Macklin, are you? I’ve heard of you.’ I also had heard of him; for Red Macklin’s fame was international. He was a bullying, murderous scoundrel who had perhaps killed more sailors than any other first mate on the western ocean, and who, about five years previous, had foolishly shot his captain. To kill a sailor is one thing, to shoot a skipper is another.
“‘Yes, sir,’ answered Mike respectfully. ‘I’ve just finished my time for that gun play on Captain Blaine, and am not likely to repeat it. But my prospects were done for, and I had to ship ‘fore the mast.’
“‘You’re a navigator, of course. Bring your dunnage into the first mate’s room and take his place. Put his dunnage into the second mate’s room, and make that duffer in the scuppers bundle his traps into the forecastle. I want no weaklings aft with me.’
“I scrambled to my feet at this; but–Well, there’s no use detailing the argument that followed. I had to go forward peaceably or lose my prospects, like Red Macklin. And I had chosen the western ocean trade because of what I thought my fitness for it, and because in these short trips a man can the more quickly attract the notice of an owner. And I understood now why Macklin had run from me when he knew I had a gun; why he had licked his shipmates; and the reason of his studied insolence to Mr. Parker and myself. He knew the ways of the packets, and, while avoiding guns and irons, he sought to attract the skipper’s attention to his prowess. I thought it somewhat severe that Mr. Parker, who had put up no kind of a fight, should be kept aft instead of me, until I reflected that Mr. Parker, with two whole fists, might still be good for any man on board except Macklin; while I, with only one, couldn’t lick anybody. It was merely the survival of the fittest, and I was not fit.
“However, I drew comfort from the thought that when my hand got well I could win back my berth in the same manner, and to this end applied at once to the captain for bandages and splints from the medicine chest. He responded like a brother; but earned none of my gratitude, for I considered the medicine chest as furnished out of the Marine Hospital dues, which I had paid for years.
“I had noticed that my pistol and Macklin’s knife had disappeared from the water tank, and supposed that he, as the first act in his new position, had confiscated them. So, as I had no use for a gun while ‘fore the mast, I put the matter from my mind. I meant to sing small, until my hand was well.
“But what followed in that ship shows how little we can depend upon our good resolutions. I was still in the starboard watch, having taken Macklin’s place forward, while he, as mate, had charge of the port watch, and Mr. Parker as second, became my watch officer. So far there had been no friction between Mr. Parker and myself; but now I found the man dead down on me, as though he blamed me for his licking and his change of office.
“One-handed, I was almost useless around decks, and could not steer except in the finest of weather; but this made no difference. I was hounded, cursed, and struck, not only by Parker, but by the skipper and Macklin. Some kind of armed neutrality must have sprung up between Macklin and Parker with regard to me; but I could only ascribe the skipper’s new personal attitude to a distrust of my philosophy, which, while impelling me to make the best of matters, may have seemed to him the calm before the storm. I escaped Macklin’s abuse, however, except in the dog watches, when all hands were on deck.