"Lay aloft, and help shake out the fore-topsail," said the captain to Noddy, who was standing by the wheel-man, watching the movements of the vessel. "Be lively! What are you staring at?"

The captain's tones were stern and ugly. He had evidently taken another glass of gin since he came on board. He was sufficiently intoxicated to be unreasonable, though he could walk straight, and understood perfectly what he was about. Noddy did not like the harsh tones in which the order was given, and he did not move as lively as he would have done if the words had been spoken pleasantly. He had not yet learned the duty of prompt obedience, be the tones what they may.

He went aloft, and helped the men who were at work on the topsail. As soon as the sheets were hauled home, the captain hailed him from the deck, and ordered him to shake out the fore-top-gallant[142] sail. Noddy had moved so leisurely before, that the command came spiced with a volley of oaths; and the cabin-boy began to feel that he was getting something more than he had bargained for. He shook out the sail, and when the yard had been raised to its proper position, he went on deck again.

The Roebuck was dashing briskly along with a fresh southerly breeze; and if Noddy had not been troubled with a suspicion that something was wrong, he would have enjoyed the scene exceedingly. He had begun to fear that Captain McClintock was a tyrant, and that he was doomed to undergo many hardships before he saw his native land again.

"Don't be troubled, Noddy," said Mollie, in a low tone, as she placed herself by his side at the lee rail. "My father isn't cross very often."

"I don't like to be spoken to in that way," replied he, trying to banish a certain ill feeling which was struggling for expression in his words and manner.

"You mustn't mind that, Noddy. That's the way all sea captains speak."

"Is it?"

"It is indeed, Noddy. You must get used to it as quick as you can."[143]

"I'll try," answered the cabin-boy; but he did not feel much like trying; on the contrary, he was more disposed to manifest his opposition, even at the risk of a "row," or even with the certain prospect of being worsted in the end.

Mollie, hoping that he would try, went aft again. She knew what her father was when partially intoxicated, and she feared that one who was high-spirited enough to face a dozen boys of his own size and weight, as Noddy had done in the street, would not endure the harsh usage of one made unreasonable by drinking. Some men are very cross and ugly when they are partially intoxicated, and very silly and good-natured when they are entirely steeped in the drunkard's cup. Such was Captain McClintock. If he continued his potations up to a certain point, he would pass from the crooked, cross-grained phase to that of the jolly, stupid, noisy debauchee. Entirely sober, he was entirely reasonable.

"Here, youngster!" called the captain, as he stepped forward to the waist, where Noddy was looking over the rail.

"Sir," replied Noddy rather stiffly, and without turning his head.

"Do you hear?" yelled the captain, filled with[144] passion at the contempt with which he was treated by the boy.

"I hear," said Noddy, turning round as slowly as though he had a year in which to complete his revolution.

"Swab up that deck there; and if you don't move a little livelier than you have yet, I'll try a rope's end to your legs."

"No, you won't!" retorted Noddy, sharply, for he could endure a whipping as easily as he could a threat.

"Won't I?" cried the captain, as he seized a piece of rope from one of the belaying pins. "We'll see."

He sprang upon the high-spirited boy, and began to beat him in the most unmerciful manner. Noddy attempted to get away from him, but the captain had grasped him by the collar, and held on with an iron grip.

"Let me alone!" roared Noddy. "I'll knock your brains out if you don't let me alone!"

"We'll see!" gasped Captain McClintock, furious with passion and with gin.

Unfortunately for him, he did see when it was too late; for Noddy had laid hold of a wooden be[145]laying pin, and aimed a blow with it at the head of his merciless persecutor. He did not hit him on the head, but the blow fell heavily on his shoulder, causing him to release his hold of the boy. Noddy, puffing like a grampus from the violence of the struggle, rushed forward to the forecastle.

The captain ordered the sailors to stop him; but either because they were not smart enough, or because they had no relish for the business, they failed to catch him, and the culprit ran out on the bowsprit. The angry man followed him as far as the bowsprit bitts, but prudence forbade his going any farther.

"Come here, you young rascal!" shouted the captain.

"I won't," replied Noddy, as he perched himself on the bight of the jib-stay.

"Come here, I say!"

"I'll go overboard before I go any nearer to you. I'm not going to be pounded for nothing."

"You'll obey orders aboard this vessel," replied the captain, whose passion was somewhat moderated by the delay which kept him from his victim.

"I'm ready to obey orders, and always have been,"[146] answered Noddy, who had by this time begun to think of the consequences of his resistance.

"Will you swab up the deck, as I told you?"

"I will, sir; but I won't be whipped by no drunken man.

"Drunken man!" repeated the captain. "You shall be whipped for that, you impudent young villain!"

The captain mounted the heel of the bowsprit, and was making his way up to the point occupied by the refractory cabin-boy, when Mollie reached the forecastle, and grasped her father in her little arms.

"Don't, father, don't!" pleaded she.

"Go away, Mollie," said he, sternly. "He is impudent and mutinous, and shall be brought to his senses."

"Stop, father, do stop!" cried Mollie, piteously.

He might as well stop, for by this time Noddy had mounted the jib-stay, and was halfway up to the mast head.

"He called me a drunken man, Mollie, and he shall suffer for it!" replied Captain McClintock, in tones so savage that the poor girl's blood was almost frozen by them.[147]

"Stop, father!" said she, earnestly, as he turned to move aft again.

"Go away, child."

"He spoke the truth," replied she, in a low tone, as her eyes filled with tears, and she sobbed bitterly.

"The truth, Mollie!" exclaimed her father, as though the words from that beloved child had paralyzed him.

"Yes, father, you have been drinking again. You promised me last night—you know what you............