THE Antelope6 had traversed all the waters of the Baie de Chaleur, and the enterprising voyageurs on board had met with many adventures by sea and land; and at length all these were exhausted7, and, as the time drew near for their departure, the question arose where next to go, which question was discussed in full council assembled upon the deck; present Bruce, Arthur, Bart, Tom, Phil, Pat, Captain Corbet, Wade8, and Solomon, Bruce being in the chair—that is to say, on the taffrail. “All you that are in favor of going home, say ‘Ay’,” said Bruce.
There was a dead silence. Not one spoke9.
“That’s not the way to go about it,” said Bart. “It isn’t parliamentary. Let’s do business regularly. Come. I rise, Mr. President, to make a motion. I move that the B. O. W. C. continue their wanderings as long as the holidays last.”
“I second that motion,” cried Phil.
“Gentlemen,” said Bruce, “it has been moved and seconded that the B. O. W. C. continue their wanderings as long as the holidays last. All that are in favor of this motion will please manifest it by saying, ‘Ay.’”
At this there was a universal chorus of “Ay.”
“Contrary minds, ‘No.’”
Silence followed.
“It’s a vote,” said Bruce; “and now all that remains10 to do is to decide upon the direction to be taken.”
Upon this Captain Corbet smiled benignly11, and a glance of approval beamed from his venerable eye. Old Solomon grinned violently, but checked himself in a moment; his grin was drowned in a low chuckle12, and he exclaimed, “De sakes now, chil’en alive, how you do go on! Mos’ make dis ole nigga bust13 hisself to see dese yer mynouvrins.”.
“Look here, boys,” cried Bart, suddenly dropping altogether the “parliamentary” style in which he had last spoken; “what do you say to a cruise around the gulf14? Let’s visit the islands; there are ever so many; some of them are uninhabited, too. It’ll be glorious!”
“Glorious—will it?” cried Tom. “Wait, my boy, till you know as much about uninhabited islands as I do. You don’t catch me putting my foot ashore on anything of that sort.”
“O, well, we needn’t be particular about the inhabitants,” said Arthur. “I go in for islands, head over heels.”
“So do I,” said Phil.
“Be the powers,” said Pat, “but it’s meself that howlds up both hands to that same.”
“Suppose we go to the Magdalen Islands,” said Bruce. “They’re right in the middle of the gulf, and it’s a very queer place, they say.”
“No, no,” said Bart; “if we go anywhere, let’s go to Anticosti. For my part, I’ve always been wild to go to Anticosti. I don’t believe there’s another island in all the world that’s equal to it. It’s cold, bleak15, gloomy, uninhabited, and full of ghosts.”
“Full of fiddlesticks!” exclaimed Arthur. “What do you want of ghosts?”
“Well,” said Bart, placidly16, “for my part, I think there is something uncommonly17 interesting in a haunted island.”
“A haunted island!” repeated Arthur. “Well, my boy, all I’ve got to say is, that if you want anything of that sort, you’ll find the best specimen18 on Sable19 Island; so I propose that we go there at once.”
“Sable Island? Why, man alive, that’s ever so far away!” said Tom. “We’d better wait till we’re on our way home, and leave that for the last; though, for my part, I think we’d better give it a wide berth20. I go in for some of the gulf islands—St. Paul, for instance, or St. Peter.”
“Well, boys,” said Phil, “since you’re all so crazy about islands, why can’t we go to the Bay of Islands at once? We can have our fill of them there, I should think. For my part I’m indifferent. I’m like Tom; I’ve had my turn at a desert island, and have found out the vanity of Robinson Crusoe.”
“Sure, thin,” said Pat, “and whin we’re about it, we’d betther take the biggist island we can find about here, and that same is Newfoundland. Wouldn’t it be betther to begin with that, thin?”
“The fact is, boys,” said Bruce, with the air of a judge or an umpire, “we’ll have to make up our minds to visit all these islands. Each one has his preference, and each one shall be gratified. You, Bart, may see Anticosti; you, Arthur, may see Sable Island; you, Tom, may visit St. Paul and St. Peter; you, Phil, may visit the Bay of Islands; and at the same time you, Pat, may see Newfoundland. Of course, then, I hope to go to the Magdalen Islands. Now, as we are going to visit all these places, and the Magdalen Islands happen to be nearest, we will take them first, while we may visit in turn Anticosti and the others, winding21 up with Sable Island, which may be postponed22 to the last, since it is the farthest off. We may make up our minds, boys, to no end of adventures. We’re all in first-rate training; we are hardened by adventures on sea and on shore; we can live on next to nothing; and I’m only sorry that we’re not a little nearer to the North Pole, so that we might set out now as we are to settle the question forever about the open Polar Sea.”
The extravagant23 notion with which Bruce closed his address was received with shouts of laughter and applause. Then followed a confused conversation. At length they all gathered around Captain Corbet, who had thus far been a listener, and began to question him about the various places which they proposed to visit. The answer of the venerable navigator was not very satisfactory.
“Wal, boys,” said he, “you put me down in any part of old Fundy, an I’m to hum; anywhar’s between the head of old Fundy an Bosting, I know it all be heart; an I engage to feel my way in fog or in darkness, or in snow-storms, backard an forard, year on an year on; but jest about here I’m all agog24. In these here parts I’m a pilgerrim an a stranger, an ain’t particularly to be trusted. But I can navigate25 the Antelope all the same, an fool round in these waters as long as you like. I ain’t got any chart, terrew; but I’ve got an old map of Canady, an kin26 scrape along with that, especially this season of the year. I kin git a ginral leadin idee of the position of places, an work along the old Antelope wharever you want to go. I’m an old man myself, an don’t mind this kerrewsing a bit; in fact, it’s rayther agree’ble. The best of it is, we’re allus sure to fetch up some-whar.”
This frank announcement of Captain Corbet’s ignorance of these seas might have excited disquietude in the bosoms27 of less enterprising lads; but the cruisers of the Antelope had seen and known, and felt and suffered, too much to be easily disturbed. Of Captain Corbet’s confession they thought nothing whatever, nor indeed did it really matter very much to them whether he was acquainted with these waters or not. After all, they were not particular about any destination; any mistakes which he might make would not create any inconvenience to them; and even if, in seeking to reach Newfoundland, he should land them at Cape28 Cod29, they would not much care. Under these circumstances they listened to his words with indifference30, and if they felt any disappointment, it was because they were unable to gain from him any information whatever about the places which they proposed to visit.
Since they could gain no information, they did not waste much more time in conversation, but concluded to set out without delay. And so in a little while the Antelope spread her white wings, and began to walk the waters in her usual style, like a thing of life, and all that. In process of time she reached the entrance of the bay, and then passed out into the gulf.
It was a glorious day. The wind was fair. The Antelope did her best. The sun went down that evening behind the high hills, and before them lay a wide expanse of water. On the following morning they saw land ahead. The land was an island, or a cluster of islands, and all the boys felt certain that it was the Magdalen Islands.
In spite of Captain Corbet’s ignorance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, he had chosen his course very accurately31, for this was indeed their destination. As the schooner drew nearer and nearer, the boys looked with curious eyes upon this remote and isolated32 spot, situated33 in the midst of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and shut out during all the winter months from the rest of the world of man by ice, and storms, and solitude34.
The wind died away after sunrise, and hours passed before they came near enough to think of landing. At length the anchor was dropped, and the boat was made ready to go ashore. From this point they could see this new land to the best advantage. They saw before them an island rising high out of the water, with its green slopes covered with grass, and crowned with trees, and dotted with white houses. Before them there were a cove35 and a sandy beach, upon which boats were drawn36 up. The other islands of the group were shut out from view by this one. Not far away—in fact, not farther than a stone’s throw—there lay another schooner at anchor. Very different was this other schooner from the Antelope. The Antelope, in spite of its many admirable and amiable37 qualities, was not particularly distinguished38 either for size, or strength, or speed, or beauty. In every one of these particulars the other schooner was the exact opposite. It was large; it was evidently new; its lines were sharp and delicate, indicating great speed; its spread of canvas was immense; it was a model of naval39 architecture; while the freshness of its paint, and the extreme neatness which appeared in every part, indicated a far greater care on the part of its master than any which the good and gracious Corbet was ever disposed to exhibit towards his beloved Antelope. On high floated the Stars and Stripes, exhibiting the nationality of the stranger. On her stern the boys could read her name and nation. They saw there, in white letters underneath40 a gold eagle, the words,—
FAWN41-GLOUCESTER.
“On land,” said Bruce, gravely, as he looked at the strange craft, “the Antelope and the Fawn are somewhat alike; but on the sea it strikes me that there is a slight difference.”
The other boys said nothing, but there arose involuntarily in the mind of each a feeling not exactly of envy, but at least a fervent42 wish that the resemblance which Bruce spoke of should exist on the water as well as on the land.
“I suppose it’s a yacht,” said Bart.
“Or a cruiser,” said Arthur.
“Nothin of the kind,” said Captain Corbet. “That thar craft ain’t anythin more than a Gloucester fishing schewner.”
“A fishing schooner?”
“Course; an why not? Why, them Gloucester skippers make themselves comfortable; they know how to do it, tew, an this chap is jest like the rest. He makes himself comfortable, keeps his schewner like a palace or a parlor43, an don’t let even so much as the scale of a red herrin be seen about.”
The boys went ashore in the boat. Bruce then returned for Captain Corbet, who was touched by this small attention. As Bart and the rest waited on the beach, they noticed a small, neat, freshly-painted boat drawn up not far away, which needed not the name of Fawn on the stern to assure them that it could belong to nothing else than the smart schooner. While they were looking at it and admiring it, a man advanced towards them, who regarded them with a puzzled and curious expression.
He was a man of middle age and medium stature44, with clean-shaven face, close-cut hair, and keen gray eye. He wore a dark-blue frock coat and wide-awake hat, and did not seem at all like a seaman45; yet somehow the boys could not help feeling that this very neatly-dressed man must have something to do with the Fawn. He came up to them, and looked at them with a smile.
“Who in thunder are you, anyhow?” he exclaimed, at length. “I can’t make you out at all. You belong to that queer-looking tub out there, I see; but who you are and what you are after is beyond me.”
This style of address struck the boys as being rather uncivil; but the good-natured expression of the stranger’s face showed that no incivility was meant, and won their hearts at once.
“O, well,” said Bart, with a laugh, “you must never judge by appearances, you know. We’re not a fishing vessel46. In fact, we’re a sort of chartered yacht, though we’re a very unpretending sort of yacht, and we don’t go in for show. We’re a schooner, cruising about in a plain, off-hand, homely47 manner for pleasure, and all that sort of thing.”
At this the stranger burst into a shout of laughter, which was so cheery, and so hearty48, and so good-natured, that the boys found it impossible to resist its contagion49, and at length they all joined in also, though why they were laughing, or what they were laughing at, they had not the smallest idea in the world.
“Look here, boys,” exclaimed the stranger, at length, as soon as he had recovered from his laughter; “excuse me, but I can’t help it. I’ll knock under. I cave in. I don’t understand it at all. Have you a looking-glass aboard your tub out there? Has any one of you any idea what he looks like? Or have you ever examined one another?”
At this the boys could not help looking at one another, and at themselves, and at this survey they began to perceive what they had not at all suspected—that they were one and all a most disreputable-looking crowd. Their clothes were torn and stained with mud, and gave signs in every seam and fibre of long scrambles50 through wood and water, and long struggles with the elements. But, in fact, no one of them had thought of this until this moment, when they found themselves confronted and laughed at by this well-dressed stranger.
“It ain’t the shabbiness,” cried the stranger, “that upsets me, but it’s the contrast—such faces looking at me out of such clothes! Do your mothers know you are out? or, in other words, boys, do your parents know the particular way in which you are moving about the world?”
“O, well,” said Bart, “we’re not a vain vessel, you know. We’re only a plain, simple, matter-of-fact potato schooner, out for a holiday, and on the lookout51 for a little fun. We’re not proud, and so, perhaps, being a potato schooner, it’s just as well not to be too particular about clothes. We’ve always been told not to think too much about dress; and besides, this sort of thing is ever so much more convenient for roughing it, you know.”
“Well, boys,” said the stranger, “I dare say you looked very well when you started; and after all, clothes are not the most important thing. At any rate, I’m glad to meet you! How d’ye do, all? I’m glad to see you! How d’ye do? I’d like to know you. My name’s Ferguson, Tobias Ferguson, and I’m skipper of that there craft, the Fawn.”
Saying this, he shook hands with every one of the boys in succession, asked their names, their ages, their place of abode52, the names, occupations, and ages of their parents, and then proceeded to inquire about their adventures thus far, and their intentions in the future. By this time Bruce had returned from the vessel with Captain Corbet, to whom Ferguson at once made himself known; and thus in a short time he had come to be on intimate terms with all the party.
“I just dropped in here to Magdalen,” said he, frankly53, “to fix up the Fawn a bit. ’Tain’t much of a place, any ways. The people air a lot of beggarly, frog-eating Frenchmen, that follow fashions as old as Adam. When Adam delved54 and Eve span, as the old verse says, they had a plough and a spindle, and that thar identical plough and spindle air still in use here among these here French. You can’t make em use anythin else. Why, I’ve been here dozens of times, and I’ve tried, to get em to give up their old-fashioned ways, and be up to the age. I’ve showed em our way of doin things. No go. Not a mite55 of use. Might as well talk to a stone wall. They’ll never get out of the old rut. And see what they’re doin here! Why, only look around you! Magdalen Islands! Why, this locality is one of the most favored on this green earth. In the middle of this gulf, right in the track of ships, it is in a position to enter upon a career of progress that might make this place one of the most flourishing in the world. They might control the whole fish trade; they might originate new modes of fishing. Why, look at me! I’ve tried to get em to start factories, build railroads, steamboats, common schools, hotels, newspapers, electric telegraphs, and other concomitants of our nineteenth century civilization. And what’s the result? Why, nothing. I might as well talk to the wind. Railroads! electric telegraphs! Why, you might as well ask them to build a bridge to the moon! Well, all I can say is, that these here Magdalen Islands won’t ever be anythin till they fall in with the sperrit of the age. Them’s my sentiments.”
“Railroads!” cried Bart. “Why, what could they do with a railroad?”
“Do?” exclaimed Ferguson. “Why, develop their resources, promote trade, facilitate intercourse56, and keep themselves abreast57 with the age.”
“But there are not more than a couple of thousand people on the islands,” said Bart.
“Well, what’s the odds58? So much the more reason for them to be up and doin,” retorted Ferguson, with some warmth. “They’re all as poor as rats; and a railroad is the only thing that can save them from eventooly dyin out.”
The boys looked at the stranger in some perplexity, for they did not know whether he’ could really be in earnest or not. But from Ferguson’s face and manner they could gather nothing whatever. He seemed perfectly59 serious, and altogether in earnest.
“Yes, sir,” he repeated, emphatically, “these here Magdalen Islands’ll never be wuth anythin till they get a railroad. Them’s my sentiments.”
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1
confession
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| n.自白，供认，承认 | |
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isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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disciple
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| n.信徒，门徒，追随者 | |
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antelope
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| n.羚羊；羚羊皮 | |
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exhausted
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| adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的 | |
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wade
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| v.跋涉，涉水；n.跋涉 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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remains
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| n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹 | |
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11
benignly
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| adv.仁慈地，亲切地 | |
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12
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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bust
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| vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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bleak
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| adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的 | |
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placidly
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| adv.平稳地，平静地 | |
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uncommonly
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| adv. 稀罕(极，非常) | |
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18
specimen
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| n.样本，标本 | |
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sable
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| n.黑貂；adj.黑色的 | |
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berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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winding
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| n.绕，缠，绕组，线圈 | |
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postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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extravagant
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| adj.奢侈的；过分的；(言行等)放肆的 | |
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agog
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| adj.兴奋的，有强烈兴趣的； adv.渴望地 | |
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navigate
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| v.航行，飞行；导航，领航 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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bosoms
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| 胸部( bosom的名词复数 )； 胸怀； 女衣胸部（或胸襟）； 和爱护自己的人在一起的情形 | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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cod
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| n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗 | |
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indifference
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| n.不感兴趣，不关心，冷淡，不在乎 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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32
isolated
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| adj.与世隔绝的 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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naval
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| adj.海军的，军舰的，船的 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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fawn
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| n.未满周岁的小鹿；v.巴结，奉承 | |
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42
fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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stature
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| n.（高度）水平，（高度）境界，身高，身材 | |
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seaman
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| n.海员，水手，水兵 | |
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46
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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47
homely
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| adj.家常的，简朴的；不漂亮的 | |
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48
hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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49
contagion
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| n.(通过接触的疾病)传染；蔓延 | |
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50
scrambles
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| n.抢夺( scramble的名词复数 )v.快速爬行( scramble的第三人称单数 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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51
lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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52
abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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53
frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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54
delved
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| v.深入探究，钻研( delve的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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55
mite
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| n.极小的东西；小铜币 | |
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56
intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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57
abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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58
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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59
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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