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Authors: Dick Sand - a Captain at Fifteen

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"Audaces fortuna juvat"....

but they are quoted incorrectly. The poet said:

"Audentes fortuna juvat"....

It is on the darers, not on the audacious, that Fortune almost always
smiled. The audacious may be unguarded. The darer thinks first, acts
afterwards. There is the difference!

Dick Sand was
audens
.

At fifteen he already knew how to take a part, and to carry out to the
end whatever his resolute spirit had decided upon. His manner, at once
spirited and serious, attracted attention. He did not squander himself
in words and gestures, as boys of his age generally do. Early, at a
period of life when they seldom discuss the problems of existence, he
had looked his miserable condition in the face, and he had promised "to
make" himself.

And he had made himself—being already almost a man at an age when
others are still only children.

At the same time, very nimble, very skilful in all physical exercises,
Dick Sand was one of those privileged beings, of whom it may be said
that they were born with two left feet and two right hands. In that
way, they do everything with the right hand, and always set out with
the left foot.

Public charity, it has been said, had brought up the little orphan. He
had been put first in one of those houses for children, where there is
always, in America, a place for the little waifs. Then at four, Dick
learned to read, write and count in one of those State of New York
schools, which charitable subscriptions maintain so generously.

At eight, the taste for the sea, which Dick had from birth, caused him
to embark as cabin-boy on a packet ship of the South Sea. There he
learned the seaman's trade, and as one ought to learn it, from the
earliest age. Little by little he instructed himself under the
direction of officers who were interested in this little old man. So
the cabin-boy soon became the novice, expecting something better, of
course. The child who understands, from the beginning, that work is the
law of life, the one who knows, from an early age, that he will gain
his bread only by the sweat of his brow—a Bible precept which is the
rule of humanity—that one is probably intended for great things; for
some day he will have, with the will, the strength to accomplish them.

It was, when he was a cabin-boy on board a merchant vessel, that Dick
Sand was remarked by Captain Hull. This honest seaman immediately
formed a friendship with this honest young boy, and later he made him
known to the ship-owner, James W. Weldon. The latter felt a lively
interest in this orphan, whose education he completed at San Francisco,
and he had him brought up in the Catholic religion, to which his family
adhered.

During the course of his studies, Dick Sand showed a particular liking
for geography, for voyages, while waiting till he was old enough to
learn that branch of mathematics which relates to navigation. Then to
this theoretical portion of his instruction, he did not neglect to join
the practical. It was as novice that he was able to embark for the
first time on the "Pilgrim." A good seaman ought to understand fishing
as well as navigation. It is a good preparation for all the
contingencies which the maritime career admits of. Besides, Dick Sand
set out on a vessel of James W. Weldon's, his benefactor, commanded by
his protector, Captain Hull. Thus he found himself in the most
favorable circumstances.

To speak of the extent of his devotion to the Weldon family, to whom he
owed everything, would be superfluous. Better let the facts speak for
themselves. But it will be understood how happy the young novice was
when he learned that Mrs. Weldon was going to take passage on board the
"Pilgrim." Mrs. Weldon for several years had been a mother to him, and
in Jack he saw a little brother, all the time keeping in remembrance
his position in respect to the son of the rich ship-owner. But—his
protectors knew it well—this good seed which they had sown had fallen
on good soil. The orphan's heart was filled with gratitude, and some
day, if it should be necessary to give his life for those who had
taught him to instruct himself and to love God, the young novice would
not hesitate to give it. Finally, to be only fifteen, but to act and
think as if he were thirty, that was Dick Sand.

Mrs. Weldon knew what her
protégé
was worth. She could trust little
Jack with him without any anxiety. Dick Sand cherished this child, who,
feeling himself loved by this "large brother," sought his company.
During those long leisure hours, which are frequent in a voyage, when
the sea is smooth, when the well set up sails require no management,
Dick and Jack were almost always together. The young novice showed the
little boy everything in his craft which seemed amusing.

Without fear Mrs. Weldon saw Jack, in company with Dick Sand, spring
out on the shrouds, climb to the top of the mizzen-mast, or to the
booms of the mizzen-topmast, and come down again like an arrow the
whole length of the backstays. Dick Sand went before or followed him,
always ready to hold him up or keep him back, if his six-year-old arms
grew feeble during those exercises. All that benefited little Jack,
whom sickness had made somewhat pale; but his color soon came back on
board the "Pilgrim," thanks to this gymnastic, and to the bracing
sea-breezes.

So passed the time. Under these conditions the passage was being
accomplished, and only the weather was not very favorable, neither the
passengers nor the crew of the "Pilgrim" would have had cause to
complain.

Meanwhile this continuance of east winds made Captain Hull anxious. He
did not succeed in getting the vessel into the right course. Later,
near the Tropic of Capricorn, he feared finding calms which would delay
him again, without speaking of the equatorial current, which would
irresistibly throw him back to the west. He was troubled then, above
all, for Mrs. Weldon, by the delays for which, meanwhile, he was not
responsible. So, if he should meet, on his course, some transatlantic
steamer on the way toward America, he already thought of advising his
passenger to embark on it. Unfortunately, he was detained in latitudes
too high to cross a steamer running to Panama; and, besides, at that
period communication across the Pacific, between Australia and the New
World, was not as frequent as it has since become.

It then was necessary to leave everything to the grace of God, and it
seemed as if nothing would trouble this monotonous passage, when the
first incident occurred precisely on that day, February 2d, in the
latitude and longitude indicated at the beginning of this history.

Dick Sand and Jack, toward nine o'clock in the morning, in very clear
weather, were installed on the booms of the mizzen-topmast. Thence they
looked down on the whole ship and a portion of the ocean in a largo
circumference. Behind, the perimeter of the horizon was broken to their
eyes, only by the mainmast, carrying brigantine and fore-staff. That
beacon hid from them a part of the sea and the sky. In the front, they
saw the bowsprit stretching over the waves, with its three jibs, which
were hauled tightly, spread out like three great unequal wings.
Underneath rounded the foremast, and above, the little top-sail and
the little gallant-sail, whose bolt-rope quivered with the pranks of
the breeze. The schooner was then running on the larboard tack, and
hugging the wind as much as possible.

Dick Sand explained to Jack how the "Pilgrim," ballasted properly, well
balanced in all her parts, could not capsize, even if she gave a pretty
strong heel to starboard, when the little boy interrupted him.

"What do I see there?" said he.

"You see something, Jack?" demanded Dick Sand, who stood up straight on
the booms.

"Yes—there!" replied little Jack, showing a point of the sea, left
open by the interval between the stays of the standing-jib and the
flying-jib.

Dick Sand looked at the point indicated attentively, and forthwith,
with a loud voice, he cried;

"A wreck to windward, over against starboard!"

*
Chapter III - The Wreck
*

Dick Sand's cry brought all the crew to their feet. The men who were
not on watch came on deck. Captain Hull, leaving his cabin, went toward
the bow.

Mrs. Weldon, Nan, even the indifferent Cousin Benedict himself, came to
lean over the starboard rail, so as to see the wreck signaled by the
young novice.

Negoro, alone, did not leave the cabin, which served him for a kitchen;
and as usual, of all the crew, he was the only one whom the encounter
with a wreck did not appear to interest.

Then all regarded attentively the floating object which the waves were
rocking, three miles from the "Pilgrim."

"Ah! what can that be?" said a sailor.

"Some abandoned raft," replied another.

"Perhaps there are some unhappy shipwrecked ones on that raft," said
Mrs. Weldon.

"We shall find out," replied Captain Hull. "But that wreck is not a
raft. It is a hull thrown over on the side."

"Ah! is it not more likely to be some marine animal—some mammifer of
great size?" observed Cousin Benedict.

"I do not think so," replied the novice.

"Then what is your idea, Dick?" asked Mrs. Weldon.

"An overturned hull, as the captain has said, Mrs. Weldon. It even
seems to me that I see its copper keel glistening in the sun."

"Yes—indeed," replied Captain Hull. Then addressing the helmsman:
"Steer to the windward, Bolton. Let her go a quarter, so as to come
alongside the wreck."

"Yes, sir," replied the helmsman.

"But," continued Cousin Benedict, "I keep to what I have said.
Positively it is an animal."

"Then this would be a whale in copper," replied Captain Hull, "for,
positively, also, I see it shine in the sun!"

"At all events, Cousin Benedict," added Mrs. Weldon, "you will agree
with us that this whale must be dead, for it is certain that it does
not make the least movement."

"Ah! Cousin Weldon," replied Cousin Benedict, who was obstinate, "this
would not be the first time that one has met a whale sleeping on the
surface of the waves."

"That is a fact," replied Captain Hull; "but to-day, the thing is not a
whale, but a ship."

"We shall soon see," replied Cousin Benedict, who, after all, would
give all the mammifers of the Arctic or Antarctic seas for an insect of
a rare species.

"Steer, Bolton, steer!" cried Captain Hull again, "and do not board the
wreck. Keep a cable's length. If we cannot do much harm to this hull,
it might cause us some damage, and I do not care to hurt the sides of
the 'Pilgrim' with it. Tack a little, Bolton, tack!"

The "Pilgrim's" prow, which had been directed toward the wreck, was
turned aside by a slight movement of the helm.

The schooner was still a mile from the capsized hull. The sailors were
eagerly looking at it. Perhaps it held a valuable cargo, which it would
be possible to transfer to the "Pilgrim." We know that, in these
salvages, the third of the value belongs to the rescuers, and, in this
case, if the cargo was not damaged, the crew, as they say, would make
"a good haul." This would be a fish of consolation for their incomplete
fishing.

A quarter of an hour later the wreck was less than a mile from the
"Pilgrim."

It was indeed a ship, which presented itself on its side, to the
starboard. Capsized as far as the nettings, she heeled so much that it
would be almost impossible to stand upon her deck. Nothing could be
seen beyond her masts. From the port-shrouds were banging only some
ends of broken rope, and the chains broken by the cloaks of
white-crested waves. On the starboard side opened a large hole between
the timbers of the frame-work and the damaged planks.

"This ship has been run into," cried Dick Sand.

"There is no doubt of that," replied Captain Hull; "and it is a miracle
that she did not sink immediately."

"If there has been a collision," observed Mrs. Weldon, "we must hope
that the crew of this ship has been picked up by those who struck her."

"It is to be hoped so, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain, Hull, "unless
this crew sought refuge in their own boats after the collision, in case
the colliding vessel should sail right on—which, alas! sometimes
happens."

"Is it possible? That would be a proof of very great inhumanity, Mr.
Hull."

"Yes, Mrs. Weldon. Yes! and instances are not wanting. As to the crew
of this ship, what makes me believe that it is more likely they have
left it, is that I do not see a single boat; and, unless the men on
board have been picked up, I should be more inclined to think that they
have tried to roach the land. But, at this distance from the American
continent, or from the islands of Oceanica, it is to be feared that
they have not succeeded."

"Perhaps," said Mrs. Weldon, "we shall never know the secret of this
catastrophe. Meanwhile, it might be possible that some man of the crew
is still on board."

"That is not probable, Mrs. Weldon," replied Captain Hull. "Our
approach would be already known, and they would make some signals to
us. But we shall make sure of it.—Luff a little, Bolton, luff," cried
Captain Hull, while indicating with his hand what course to take.

The "Pilgrim" was now only three cables' length from the wreck, and
they could no longer doubt that this hull had been completely abandoned
by all its crew.

But, at that moment, Dick Sand made a gesture which imperiously
demanded silence.

"Listen, listen!" said he.

Each listened.

"I hear something like a bark!" cried Dick Sand. In fact, a distant
barking resounded from the interior of the hull. Certainly there was a
living dog there, imprisoned perhaps, for it was possible that the
hatches were hermetically closed. But they could not see it, the deck
of the capsized vessel being still invisible.

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