The Sandman: His Ship Stories  by Willliam J. Hopkins

The Little Sol Story

NCE upon a time there was a wide river that ran into the ocean, and beside it was a little city. And in that city was a wharf where great ships came from far countries. And a narrow road led down a very steep hill to that wharf, and anybody that wanted to go to the wharf had to go down the steep hill on the narrow road, for there wasn't any other way. And because ships had come there for a great many years, and all the sailors and all the captains and all the men who had business with the ships had to go on that narrow road, the flagstones that made the sidewalks were much worn.

And in that little city was Captain Jacob's house, where he lived before he moved to Boston; but when he moved to Boston he didn't sell the house but he kept it, for he always hoped that he might live there again, some day. And all the things were left in the house, just the way they had been ever since he was married and Lois and he had got back from the far country in the brig Industry. The little tables inlaid with ebony and ivory were there, and the ugly idols carved out of ivory, and the procession of elephants; and the great teak-wood tables and every other thing but some of the china that had the house and the lake and the people painted on it in blue, and some of the delicate china that Lois used for tea. Lois took some of those things to Boston with her, for she had to use them. And she came down to Captain Jacob's house in the little city as often as she could, for she loved the little city.

Lois had come down to that house, and she had brought little Jacob and little Lois. And then Captain Jacob had come, and Lois had not expected him; but what he came for was to tell little Jacob that he could go to India in the Industry  if he wanted to. And little Jacob had decided that he would go, although he hated to leave his mother and little Lois for such a long time. And the Industry  had sailed away from the wharf in Boston, and Lois and little Lois and Captain Jonathan and Captain Jacob were left behind, on the wharf; but little Jacob was leaning over the rail at the stern, so that he should see his mother and his little sister and his grandfather as long as he could, and he was trying hard not to cry. That was hard work, but he didn't cry, not a single tear, although he couldn't have spoken to save his life, there was such a big lump in his throat. And little Sol was beside him.

Before they had got as far as the islands, his mother and little Lois and his grandfather and his father had faded into a black dot on the wharf, for they were far away then, and he couldn't distinguish one from another nor see what they were doing. And in a little while longer the Industry  had gone behind one of the islands and little Jacob couldn't even see the black dot on the wharf. So he sighed,—a trembling little sigh,—and he swallowed hard two or three times, but he couldn't quite swallow the big lump that was in his throat. And little Sol spoke to him, and he wanted little Jacob to listen to the sailors, who were pulling on the ropes and singing as they pulled. So little Jacob turned away from the rail and from watching the shores and from seeing the water come boiling and bubbling up under the stern, and he smiled at little Sol, but he didn't say anything, for he couldn't speak yet. And he saw the sailors pulling on ropes and he heard the chanty-man begin a new chanty. And they had only been singing that chanty for a few years, because it had only been made up a few years before. Nobody knew who had made it up, but probably it was some chanty-man or other.

The chanty-man began, and all the sailors pulled when it was time to pull.

Then the sailors began to sing:

Then the sailors stopped singing and the chanty-man began again:

Then the sailors sang again:

And that song made little Jacob laugh, because it struck him as a funny song; and the sailors all pulled so jerky when they sang, and they made such a noise and seemed so merry. But, really, it wasn't funny for the poor king of France, for all that had just got through happening. So little Jacob forgot for a while that he felt so sorry to leave his mother and his little sister. And he was amused for a long time with watching the sailors, for they had to change the sails often while the ship was sailing out of the harbor, between the islands; and, before he knew it, it was supper time, and he felt a little bit better, and the lump was gone out of his throat. But when it came to be bed time, the lump was in his throat again, and poor little Jacob cried himself to sleep.

Little Sol didn't feel sorry, because his father was there. He wasn't seasick at all, which can't be explained; but some people never are seasick, and little Sol seemed to be that kind of a person. Little Jacob wasn't that kind. All the next day he was very seasick and too miserable to think about anything at all; but by the day after that, he was able to get up on deck, and, by night, he was very hungry indeed, so that he ate a lot of supper. And Captain Solomon joked with him about his appetite, and about being sick. And little Jacob didn't act like a sick boy, and he could smile and laugh naturally. For he was beginning not to be homesick.

And the Industry  sailed far out into the ocean, as she always did, and then she turned southward. And they had beautiful, bright days, and little Sol soon learned to climb where the sailors went, and in getting up to the crosstrees he didn't try to go through the lubber-holes, not once, but he went around over the edge, the right way. Little Jacob didn't like to watch him, climbing out, over nothing, that way, and he used to shut his eyes when little Sol got to the edge of the crosstrees. And Captain Solomon scolded little Sol and tried to look fierce when he talked to him about the places where he went; but he was really proud of him. And little Sol knew it, and, every day, he would climb to some new place; up the topmasts or out on the yards, or out on the bowsprit. He liked the place on the bowsprit the best of all, because from there he could see the ship sailing, just as if he was not on her, and he could see the wave she made at her bow. He never got tired of watching that wave. It was always the same, yet always different, too; and it was always tumbling over itself and being made over again.

Little Sol soon learned to climb where the sailors went.

It wasn't as easy for little Jacob to do all those things as it seemed to be for little Sol to do them, and little Jacob didn't do them quite so soon as little Sol did them, and he didn't go to all the places where little Sol went. It seemed foolish to little Jacob for a little boy to go out on the foot-ropes of a yard, where the sailors stood when they furled the sails, and it was right over the water, away beyond the ship's side. He didn't want to go out there, and he knew that his father wouldn't want him to go there, either. But he climbed up into the crosstrees, and he didn't go through the lubber-hole, either; not even the first time, although it was hard not to.

When he got up to that part of the rigging he stopped for a few minutes, and then he drew a long breath and he held his breath, and he climbed carefully out, and he got over the edge of the crosstrees. But he didn't look down while he was going over, and his heart beat so hard that it almost choked him. And when he had got up in the crosstrees, he put one arm around the mast and held on to the rigging with the other hand, and gradually his heart got to beating naturally again. Really, he thought, going up to the crosstrees was nothing to be afraid of, and it seemed to be quite safe if you held on with both hands. And you could see such a lot up there,—it was beautiful, with the ship all stretched out below you and the sails glittering all about you in the sunshine. But little Jacob thought that the mast needn't jerk around so much.

And, at last, little Jacob had to go down again, and he didn't quite know how to begin. But he knew that he mustn't go through the lubber-hole, and he didn't want to seem afraid to go down the way he came up; so he stepped to the edge, and he took hold of the rigging that went up like a ladder from the edge of the crosstrees, and he felt about with his foot for the rope to put his foot upon, for he couldn't see it. And he found the rope, and he went down very carefully until he had got to the other part of the rigging where he could stand up straight, and then he was all right.

Captain Solomon had been watching him, and when he had got down, Captain Solomon was smiling a queer kind of a smile. "Well, Jacob," said Captain Solomon, "so you've been up to the main crosstrees."

"Yes, sir," said little Jacob.

"And what did you think of them?" asked Captain Solomon. "Did you get a good view?"

"Oh, yes, sir," said little Jacob, "the view was beautiful. And it is very pretty to have the sails shining all about, in the sun, and the ship looks little, stretched out below. But the mast jerks about awfully. I suppose it jerks worse when it is stormy and blowy."

"Yes," said Captain Solomon, "it does. You'd better not try the crosstrees in bad weather. But weren't you afraid?"

"Yes, sir," said little Jacob. "I was." For little Jacob had been brought up to tell the truth, and he would not say what was not true, even about being afraid.

Captain Solomon looked queer for a minute and he didn't say anything. "Jacob," he said then, "you're a brave boy."

And little Jacob was puzzled by his saying that, for he thought that a boy who was afraid wasn't brave. And he wondered about it a good deal.

"I think I'll go out on the bowsprit, now, sir," he said, "if you have no objection. Sol is there."

"You wait a minute," said Captain Solomon, "and I'll have one of the men fix an easy way for you."

"Thank you, sir," answered little Jacob. "But I think I'd rather go out the way Sol went, if you don't mind."

"All right," said Captain Solomon. "Go ahead."

So little Jacob went out on the bowsprit and sat down beside little Sol. There were some nettings made of rope that kept him from falling off, and the bowsprit was a great big log. And little Jacob and little Sol sat very still there and they watched the wave that the bow made in going through the water, and sometimes little Jacob looked off, under the sail, at the water and the far horizon. And he thought that it was all very beautiful,—like sailing through the air. Away off was another ship, so far that they could see no more of her than her upper sails, and she was going the same way the Industry  was going. But she sailed faster than the Industry. And little Jacob asked little Sol if he knew where that other ship was going.

"Father says," said little Sol, "that she is going to the coast of Africa, most likely, for slaves."

And little Jacob thought about that, but he knew that Captain Solomon couldn't do anything about it, and he knew that a little boy couldn't do anything about it if Captain Solomon couldn't. But he didn't think it was right to make slaves of people just because they couldn't help themselves. And he sat there, watching the waves and the far horizon, for a long time. And that other ship that he had seen, which little Sol said was a slave ship, had got far ahead of the Industry, and little Jacob thought that it was time to go inboard again. But little Sol wouldn't go, for he was having a beautiful time, watching the wave made by the bow, as it tumbled over itself. And the ship was pitching a little, gently rising and falling as the waves caught up with it, and every time it sank deeper it made the wave greater, and every time it rose higher it made the wave less, so that there was hardly any wave.

Then little Jacob went inboard, shinnying carefully along the bowsprit, with one leg on each side, until he got to the deck. But little Sol lay down out there and watched the clouds sailing in the blue sky; for there were a lot of little white clouds that looked like little white hills sailing along. And he watched the great sails of the ship and the tops of the masts going to and fro over the sky as the ship pitched gently, and he thought that it was just like a great enormous bird with white wings that was just behind him, but that never got any nearer. And little Sol lay there, and he heard the hissing sound and the splashing of the bow wave, and he watched the sails and the clouds, and he was very happy indeed; for he loved the ocean. And, perhaps, Captain Solomon had made a mistake in taking little Sol on that voyage, if he didn't want him to go to sea. Captain Solomon was beginning to think that, himself.

And so little Jacob and little Sol did, on all the days that the ship was sailing in the Trade Winds, for they had beautiful weather. But when they began to get out of the Trade Winds, the ship began to pitch and roll a little more. And on that day little Sol had gone up high on the foremast, and he had gone out on the yard of a sail that is very high up. And Captain Solomon saw him just as he had got out to the end of the yard, on the foot-ropes, and he yelled at him; for he was afraid that little Sol would fall, with the ship pitching and rolling so much.

And little Sol heard his father yelling at him, and he was startled and lost his hold, and his foot slipped from the rope, and he did fall, which was just what his father was afraid of. But he fell clear of everything, and he dropped into the water. For the ship was leaning enough so that he could. And when little Sol dropped into the ocean, little Jacob saw him and he was very much worried and he ran to the side, to see where he came up; for little Sol had disappeared entirely, falling all that way down. And Captain Solomon grabbed the first thing that came to his hand, which happened to be the door that opened on the steps that led to the cabin. And he tore the door off its hinges, and threw it overboard for little Sol to hold on to when he came up again. Then he gave orders in a loud voice that made the sailors jump around lively, and the sailors had the yards turned and the ship turning and a boat out almost before little Sol came to the top of the water.

Then little Sol came up, and he shook his head to get the water out of his eyes, just as a dog would do, and he looked about to see where the ship was, and he began to swim. For little Sol could swim very well indeed, and he was not very much frightened, for he knew that his father would stop the ship as soon as he could and come after him. But Captain Solomon yelled at him, and pointed to the door, and little Sol didn't know what he was yelling about, and he raised himself high up in the water to see. Then he saw the door, but he didn't swim to it. He only grinned and shook his head and began to swim again toward the ship, for he saw the boat that the sailors had lowered.

And Captain Solomon jumped into the boat, and some sailors to row, and they rowed as hard as they could to meet little Sol. By that time, Captain Solomon wasn't frightened any more, but only angry. And they met little Sol, and Captain Solomon picked him out of the water by the collar of his jacket, and gave him a hard shake and set him down in the boat. And they picked up the door and came back to the ship, and hoisted up the boat to its place, and the sailors swung the yards around, and the Industry  turned off on her course again.

But Captain Solomon didn't let go of little Sol's jacket. "You come down into the cabin with me," he said.

When little Sol came up on deck again, he walked queerly, and there were tears in his eyes. Little Jacob never knew just what happened in the cabin, but he rather thought that little Sol got a thrashing. At any rate, little Sol didn't climb to such dangerous places again as long as that voyage lasted. And, when little Sol came up, the ship's carpenter was at work upon the cabin door.

And that's all.