The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-07-07 00:00:00

CHAPTER L
IN THZ CALM.

HOT—hot—hot! The sun glowing like a white disc
through the awnings rigged up over the decks' and
simmering the pitch in the seams till it swelled and
oozed out, or formed big tears that glistened on the
cordage.
Not a breath of air; the sails hanging in great
festoons from the yards; and the Zenobia, a finely-
built, full-rigged clipper ship, rising and falling very
slowly, as her tall, taper:masts described small arcs,
urged thereto by the gentle swell of the calm sea,
which lay a burnished mirror far as eye could reach.
It was dangerous even to look at that glistening
waste—that is, to your skin—for it meant a red,
tingling glow, then a sensation of soreness and lastly
an appearance of skin rags wherever the sun had
touched.

"Doctor, why don't you come and sit down, or lie
down, or do nothing somehow ? It puts me in a
profuse perspiration to see you dodging about with
that thermometer." . _ _ _. . ..

" I want to find a good place to hang it in,"
said the person spoken to as "doctor "—a keen,
grey-eyed young man of thirty, slight but strongly
built; and, if not handsome, possessed of a thoroughly
wood-looking English face, shaded by a crisp brown

"What does it stand at, doctor?" said the first
speaker, a man who might have passed for his
brother, from the similarity of build and com-
plexion; though, while the doctor was all eagerness
and animation, the speaker looked heavy and dull—
as if he required stirring up to bring out either his
good or evil qualities which were lying dormant
beneath an imperturbable crust.
"What does it stand at ? " said the doctor—" over
a hundred."

"And how high must it get before your skin
begins to turn to crackling, and you roast?"
"That depends," said the doctor, seriously.
"Keep your pores open, and a constant flow of
rspiration by drinking—"
"Grog P'
"No, no-- water, and the heat the human frame
can bear is something wonderful, as exemplified in
the modern Turkish baths. There is a record of a
man who used, for pay, to undertake to play the
salamander, and would go into a hot baker's oven,
taking with him a candle, which used to melt all
away, while he came out uninjured."
"Don't, doctor," said the speaker—the first
mate. _ _ _

"Don't what?" said the doctor, hanging his ther-
mometer to one of the lashings of the awning, and
then seating himself upon a folding chair beside the
group lolling on the poop deck.
"Don't talk so," said the mate, languidly; "sit
still, 101 l out your tongue, and pant."
"Is he always as idle as this in hot weather,
captain ?" said the doctor' laughing.
Not he," said the captain, a bluff, grizzled man
of fifty—a regular type of the commander of an
emigrant ship. "He comes out of his shell some-
times. _ _

"Not to talk, though," said the mate. "I say,
skipper, do you think the doctor's caught the com-
plaint of the women ?"
"Shouldn't wonder," said the captain; with a
merry twinkle of his eye. "Pass me your tobacco,
Laurent." _ .

=The mate handed his tobacco pouch to the captain.
"I suppose it isn't true, though," said Laurent,
"about so many of the women shamming ill ?"
"What, so that the doctor should come and see
them ?" said the ,captain, laughing. "Oh! I can't
say—ask him."
-"'" Joke away, gentlemen," said the doctor, taking
the pouch, and rolling himself up a delicate cigarette
with deft fingers. "But, I say—seriously though,
captain—if this calm keeps on: we shall be having
some sickness amongst them."
"Don't sound like it," said the captain, taliing his
pipe from his mouth, as the buzz and chatter of
many voices came from the central part of the
vessel, where quite a couple of hundred women
were grouped in every possible attitude—working,
singing, reading, but for the most part talking.
"I never knew anything like the way in which they
can talk."
"I say, doctor,' said Laurent, sending a puff of
blue smoke into the air, as he lay upon his back on
the deck, "feel the skipper's pulse, and prescribe,
there's a good fellow."
The captain stolidly held out his hand, and the
doctor smilingly touched the great muscular wrist.
"Rum, oh, doctor ?--one part to four, eh?" said
the captain.
" No ; one of those bottles of claret, and a lump of
ice," said the doctor.
" Good ! " said Laurent, smiling. "You needn't
feel mine, doctor. Symptoms just the same."
"All right," said the captain. "Here, Saunder-
son, pass the word for the steward."
"Ay, ay, sir," said the sailor addressed, after
getting a big quid out of the way; and word was
passed forward, ship's telegraph fashion man
shouting to man, as if they were half a mile off
instead of a few yards; and the result was that
a lean-looking, uncomfortable man made his ap-
pearance.
"Bottle of claret, Smith, and some ice."
"Ain't none," said the steward, gruffly.
"What, none !" said the captain. "There was
plenty."
"Yes, was," said the steward, shortly.
"Then, what's become of it ?"
"Better ask Mr. Holston," said the steward
sulkily.
" Eh—the ice P" said the doctor. "Oh, yes, I've
had a good deal for some of my patients. I didn't
think I'd so much, though."
"Lots melted every time the store was opened,"
said the steward.
r " Nevermind," said the captain, good-humouredly.
"Get the claret. We're always getting out of some-
thing, doctor, at sea."
" E,,en wind," said Mr. Helston, smiling.
"Ay, even wind," said the captain.
"I say," said the young mate, "I've hit a bright."
"Let's have it," said the captain.
"We've got 300 women on board, and they talk
enough to raise the deck."
" Well " said the captain.
"I propose that we get 'em all brigaded, and set
them to blow the mainsail, and—oh, here's the
claret ! " •
The sulky steward had returned, and cooled the
wine by wrapping it in cloths, and evaporating their
moisture in the sun. Then, and then only, the cork
was drawn with a loud pop, the ruddy claret was
poured out, and the little group sat sipping it, as the
man dozed over the wheel, and the chattering went
on beneath tha awning amidships.