Home as Found - James Fenimore Cooper (ebook reader wifi txt) 📗

good night, with one of those winning

smiles that rendered his face so brilliantly handsome, and each

retired.

 

Chapter XIX.

 

"Item, a capon, 2_s_. 2_d_. Item, sauce, 4_d_. Item, sack, two

   gallons, 5_s_. 8_d_. Item, bread, a half-penny."

 

SHAKSPEARE.

 

The next day John Effingham made no allusion to the conversation of

the previous night, though the squeeze of the hand he gave Paul, when

they met, was an assurance that nothing was forgotten. As he had a

secret pleasure in obeying any injunction of Eve's, the young man

himself sought Captain Truck, even before they had breakfasted, and,

as he had made an acquaintance with 'the commodore,' on the lake,

previously to the arrival of the Effinghams, that worthy was

summoned, and regularly introduced to the honest ship-master. The

meeting between these two distinguished men was grave, ceremonious

and dignified, each probably feeling that he was temporarily the

guardian of a particular portion of an element that was equally dear

to both. After a few minutes passed, as it might be, in the

preliminary points of etiquette, a better feeling and more confidence

was established, and it was soon settled that they should fish in

company, the rest of the day; Paul promising to row the ladies out on

the lake, and to join them in the course of the afternoon.

 

As the party quitted the breakfast-table, Eve took an occasion to

thank the young man for his attention to their common friend, who, it

was reported, had taken his morning's repast at an early hour, and

was already on the lake, the day by this time having advanced within

two hours of noon.

 

"I have dared even to exceed your instructions, Miss Effingham," said

Paul, "for I have promised the Captain to endeavour to persuade you,

and as many of the ladies as possible, to trust yourselves to my

seamanship, and to submit to be rowed out to the spot where we shall

find him and his friend the commodore riding at anchor."

 

"An engagement that my influence shall be used to see fulfilled. Mrs.

Bloomfield has already expressed a desire to go on the Otsego-Water,

and I make no doubt I shall find other companions. Once more let me

thank you for this little attention, for I too well know your tastes,

not to understand that you might find a more agreeable ward."

 

"Upon my word, I feel a sincere regard for our old Captain, and could

often wish for no better companion. Were he, however, as disagreeable

as I find him, in truth, pleasant and frank, your wishes would

conceal all his faults."

 

"You have learned, Mr. Powis, that small attentions are as much

remembered as important services, and after having saved our lives,

wish to prove that you can discharge _les petits devoirs socials_, as

well as perform great deeds. I trust you will persuade Sir George

Templemore to be of our party, and at four we shall be ready to

accompany you; until then I am contracted to a gossip with Mrs.

Bloomfield in her dressing-room."

 

We shall now leave the party on the land, and follow those who have

already taken boat, or the fishermen. The beginning of the

intercourse between the salt-water navigator and his fresh-water

companion was again a little constrained and critical. Their

professional terms agreed as ill as possible, for when the Captain

used the expression 'ship the oars,' the commodore understood just

the reverse of what it had been intended to express; and, once, when

he told his companion to 'give way,' the latter took the hint so

literally as actually to cease rowing. All these professional

niceties induced the worthy ship-master to undervalue his companion,

who, in the main, was very skilful in his particular pursuit, though

it was a skill that he exerted after the fashions of his own lake,

and not after the fashions of the ocean. Owing to several contre-tems

of this nature, by the time they reached the fishing-ground the

Captain began to entertain a feeling for the commodore, that ill

comported with the deference due to his titular rank.

 

"I have come out with you, commodore," said Captain Truck, when they

had got to their station, and laying a peculiar emphasis on the

appellation he used, "in order to _enjoy_ myself, and you will confer

an especial favour on me by not using such phrases as 'cable-rope,'

'casting anchor,' and 'titivating.' As for the two first, no seaman

ever uses them; and I never heard suchna word on board a ship, as the

last, D----e, sir, if I believe it is to be found in the dictionary,

even."

 

"You amaze me, sir! 'Casting anchor,' and 'cable-rope' are both Bible

phrases, and they must be right."

 

"That follows by no means, commodore, as I have some reason to know;

for my father having been a parson, and I being a seaman, we may be

said to have the whole subject, as it were, in the family. St. Paul--

you have heard of such a man as St. Paul, commodore?--"

 

"I know him almost by heart, Captain Truck; but St. Peter and St.

Andrew were the men, most after my heart. Ours is an ancient calling,

sir, and in those two instances you see to what a fisherman can rise.

I do not remember to have ever heard of a sea-captain who was

converted into a saint."

 

"Ay, ay, there is always too much to do on board ship to have time to

be much more than a beginner in religion. There was my mate, v'y'ge

before last, Tom Leach, who is now master of a ship of his own, had

he been brought up to it properly, he would have made as

conscientious a parson as did his grandfather before him. Such a man

would have been a seaman, as well as a parson. I have little to say

against St. Peter or St. Andrew, but, in my judgment, they were none

the better saints for having been fishermen; and, if the truth were

known, I dare say they were at the bottom of introducing such

lubberly phrases into the Bible, as 'casting-anchor,' and 'cable-

rope."

 

"Pray, sir," asked the commodore, with dignity, "what are _you_ in

the practice of saying, when you speak of such matters; for, to be

frank with you, _we_ always use these terms on these lakes."

 

"Ay, ay, there is a fresh-water smell about them. We say 'anchor,' or

'let go the anchor,' or 'dropped the anchor,' or some such reasonable

expression, and not 'cast anchor,' as if a bit of iron, weighing two

or three tons, is to be jerked about like a stone big enough to kill

a bird with. As for the 'cable-rope,' as you call it, we say the

'cable,' or 'the chain,' or 'the ground tackle,' according to reason

and circumstances. You never hear a real 'salt' flourishing his

'cable-ropes,' and his 'casting-anchors,' which are altogether too

sentimental and particular for his manner of speaking. As for

'ropes,' I suppose you have not got to be a commodore, and need being

told how many there are in a ship."

 

"I do not pretend to have counted them, but I have seen a ship, sir,

and one under full sail, too, and I know there were as many ropes

about her as there are pines on the Vision."

 

"Are there more than seven of these trees on your mountain? for that

is just the number of ropes in a merchant-man; though a man-of-war's-

man counts one or two more."

 

"You astonish me, sir! But seven ropes in a ship?--I should have said

there are seven hundred!"

 

"I dare say, I dare say; that is just the way in which a landsman

pretends to criticise a vessel. As for the ropes, I will now give you

their names, and then you can lay athwart hawse of these canoe

gentry, by the hour, and teach them rigging and modesty, both at the

same time. In the first place," continued the captain, jerking at his

line, and then beginning to count on his fingers--"There is the 'man-

rope;' then come the 'bucket-rope,' the 'tiller-rope,' the 'bolt-

rope,' the 'foot-rope,' the 'top-rope,' and the 'limber-rope.' I have

followed the seas, now, more than half a century, and never yet heard

of a 'cable-rope,' from any one who could hand, reef, and steer."

 

"Well, sir, every man to his trade," said the commodore, who just

then pulled in a fine pickerel, which was the third he had taken,

while his companion rejoiced in no more than a few fruitless bites.

"You are more expert in ropes than in lines, it would seem. I shall

not deny your experience and knowledge; but in the way of fishing,

you will at least allow that the sea is no great school. I dare say,

now, if you were to hook the 'sogdollager,' we should have you

jumping into the lake to get rid of him. Quite probably, sir, you

never before heard of that celebrated fish?"

 

Notwithstanding the many excellent qualities of Captain Truck, he had

a weakness that is rather peculiar to a class of men, who, having

seen so much of this earth, are unwilling to admit they have not seen

it all. The little brush in which he was now engaged with the

commodore, he conceived due to his own dignity, and his motive was

duly to impress his companion with his superiority, which being

fairly admitted, he would have been ready enough to acknowledge that

the other understood pike-fishing much better than himself. But it

was quite too early in the discussion to make any such avowal, and

the supercilious remark of the commodore's putting him on his mettle,

he was ready to affirm that he had eaten 'sogdollagers' for

breakfast, a month at a time, had it been necessary.

 

"Pooh! pooh! man," returned the captain, with an air of cool

indifference, "you do not surely fancy that you have any thing in a

lake like this, that is not to be found in the ocean! If you were to

see a whale's flukes thrashing your puddle, every cruiser among you

would run for a port; and as for 'sogdollagers,' we think little of

them in salt-water; the flying-fish, or even the dry dolphin, being

much the best eating."

 

"Sir," said the commodore, with some heat, and a great deal of

emphasis, "there is but _one_ 'sogdollager' in the world, and he is

in this lake. No man has ever seen him, but my predecessor, the

'Admiral,' and myself."

 

"Bah!" ejaculated the captain, "they are as plenty as soft clams, in

the Mediterranean, and the Egyptians use them as a pan-fish. In the

East, they catch them to bait with, for hallibut, and other middling

sized creatures, that are particular about their diet. It is a good

fish, I own, as is seen in this very circumstance."

 

"Sir," repeated the commodore, flourishing his hand, and waxing warm

with earnestness, "there is but one 'sogdollager' in the universe,

and that is in Lake Otsego. A 'sogdollager' is a salmon trout, and

not a species; a sort of father to all the salmon trout in this part

of the world; a scaly patriarch."

 

"I make no doubt _your_ 'sogdollager' is scaly enough; but what is

the use in wasting words about such a trifle? A whale is the only

fish fit to occupy a gentleman's thoughts. As long as I have been at

sea, I have never witnessed the taking of more than three whales."

 

This allusion happily preserved the peace; for, if there were any

thing in the world for which the commodore entertained a profound,

but obscure reverence, it was for a whale. He even thought better of

a man for having actually seen one, gambolling in the freedom of the

ocean; and his mind became suddenly oppressed by the glory of a

mariner, who had passed his life among such gigantic animals. Shoving

back his cap, the old man gazed steadily at the captain a minute, and

all his displeasure about the 'sogdollagers' vanished, though, in his

inmost mind, he set down all that the other had told him on that

particular subject, as so many parts of a regular 'fish story.'

 

"Captain Truck," he said, with solemnity, "I acknowledge myself to be

but an ignorant and inexperienced man, one who has passed his life on

this lake, which, broad and beautiful as it is, must seem a pond in

the eyes of a seaman like yourself, who have passed your days on the

Atlantic----"

 

"Atlantic!" interrupted the captain contemptuously, "I should have

but a poor opinion of myself, had I seen nothing but the Atlantic!

Indeed, I never can believe I am at sea at all, on the Atlantic, the

passages between New-York and Portsmouth being little more than so

much canalling along a tow-path. If you wish to say any thing about

oceans, talk of the Pacific, or of the Great South Sea, where a man

may run a month with a fair wind, and hardly go from island