"I don't think that I shall be sick," said Rollo.
"You can't tell," said Maria. "Nobody can tell any thing about it beforehand."
In obedience to Maria's directions, Rollo opened the trunk and took out from it all the clothing, both for day and night, which he thought that he and Jennie would require during the voyage. The night dresses he put under the pillows in the berths. The cloaks, and coats, and shawls which might be required on deck in the day he placed on the couches. Those which belonged to him he put in his state room, and those that belonged to Jennie in hers. While engaged in these operations, he pulled up from one of the lower corners of his trunk a small leather purse or bag full of money.
"What shall I do with this?" he asked, holding it up to Maria.
"What is it?" asked Maria.
"Money," said Rollo.
"How much is there?" said Maria.
"I don't know," replied Rollo. "Uncle George put it in here. He said I ought to have some money to carry with me, in case of accidents. I don't suppose it is much."
"You had better count it, then," said Maria, "so as to ascertain how much it is. You and Jane may count it together."
So Rollo and Jane sat down upon the couch, and Rollo poured out the money into Jennie's lap. It was all gold. Maria said that the coins were sovereigns and half sovereigns. The large ones were sovereigns, and the small ones were half sovereigns. Rollo proposed that he should count the sovereigns, and that Jennie might count the half sovereigns. It proved, when the counting was completed, that there were thirty sovereigns and twenty half sovereigns.
"That makes forty sovereigns in all," said Maria. "That is a great deal of money."
"How much is it?" asked Rollo.
"Why, in American money," said Maria, "it makes about two hundred dollars."
"Two hundred dollars!" repeated Rollo, with astonishment. "What could uncle George think I could want of all this money?"
"It was in case of accidents," said Maria. "For example, suppose this ship should be cast away on the coast of Nova Scotia, and all the passengers and baggage be saved, what could you do there without any money."
"Why, I should think that somebody there would take care of us," replied Rollo.
"Yes," said Maria, "I suppose they would; but it is a great deal better to have money of your own. Besides, suppose that when you get to Liverpool, for some reason or other, your father should not be there. Then, having plenty of money, you could go to a hotel and stay there till your father comes. Or you could ask some one of the passengers who is going to London to let you go with him, and you could tell him that you had plenty of money to pay the expenses."
"Yes," said Rollo, "though I don't think there is any doubt that my father will be in Liverpool when we arrive."
"I hope he will be, I am sure," said Maria. "But now, put up the money again in the purse, tie it up securely, and replace it in the trunk. Then you must keep the trunk locked all the time, and keep the key in your pocket."
Rollo felt quite proud of being intrusted with so much money; so he replaced the bag in the trunk with great care, and locked it safely.
"Now," said Maria, "this is your home while you are on board this ship. When you choose, you can come here and be alone; and you can lie down and rest here whenever you are tired. At other times you can ramble about the ship, in all proper places."
"How shall I know what the proper places are?" asked Rollo.
"Why, you will see where the other passengers go," replied Maria; "and wherever you see them go, you can go yourself. That is as good a rule as you can have."
"Well," said Rollo. "And now, Jane, let us go up on deck and see what we can see."
Jane was pleased with this proposal; so she followed Rollo to the deck. Maria said that she would come by and by, but for the present she wished to go and see her brother. She said that she had a brother on board who was quite out of health. He was going to Europe in hopes that the voyage would restore him. At present, however, he was very unwell, and was confined to his berth, and she must go and see him.
So Rollo and Jane went to see if they could find their way up on deck alone. Rollo went before, and Jane followed. They ascended the steep stairs where they had gone up at first, and then walked aft upon the deck until they came to the settees where they had been sitting before the luncheon. They sat down upon one of these settees, where they had a fine view, not only of the wide expanse of sea on every hand, but also of the whole extent of the decks of the ship. They remained here nearly two hours, observing what was going on around them, and they saw a great many things that interested them very much indeed.
The first thing that attracted their attention was the sound of a bell, which struck four strokes very distinctly, and in a very peculiar manner, near where the helmsman stood in steering the ship. This bell has already been mentioned. It hung directly before the helmsman's window, and it had a short rope attached to the clapper of it. The helmsman, or the man at the wheel, as he is sometimes called, from the fact that he steers the ship by means of a wheel, with handles all around the periphery of it, had opened his window just after Rollo and Jane had taken their seats, and had pulled this clapper so as to strike four strokes upon the bell, the strokes being in pairs, thus:-
Ding-ding! Ding-ding!
In a minute afterward, Rollo and Jane heard the sound repeated in precisely the same manner from another bell, that seemed to be far in the forward part of the ship.
Ding-ding! Ding-ding!
"I wonder what that means?" said Rollo.
"I expect it means that it is four o'clock," said Jane.
"I should not think it could be so late as four o'clock," said Rollo.
"I have a great mind to go and ask the helmsman what it means," he added, after a moment's pause.
"No," said Jane, "you must not go."
It is difficult to say precisely why Jane did not wish to have Rollo go and ask the helmsman about the bell, but she had an instinctive feeling that it was better not to do it. So Rollo sat still. His attention was very soon turned away from the bell by Jane's calling out to him to see some sailors go up the rigging. There were regular shrouds, as they are called, that is, ladders formed of ropes, which led up on each side of the masts part way to where the sailors seemed to wish to go. Above the top of the shrouds there were only single ropes, and Rollo wondered what the sailors would do when they came to these. They found no difficulty, however, for when they reached the top of the shrouds they continued to mount by the ropes with very little apparent effort. They would take hold of two of the ropes that were a little distance apart with their hands, and then, curling their legs round them in a peculiar manner below, they would mount up very easily. They thus reached the yard, as it is called, which is a long, round beam, extending along the upper edge of the sail, and, spreading themselves out upon it in a row, they proceeded to do the work required upon the sail, leaning over upon the yard above, and standing upon a rope, which was stretched for the purpose along the whole length of it below.
"I wonder if I could climb up there," said Rollo. "Do you suppose they would let me try?"
"No, indeed!" said Jane, very earnestly; "you must not try, by any means."
"I believe that I could climb up there," said Rollo; "that is, if the vessel would stop rocking to and fro, and hold still."
Presently, however, a boy, who appeared to be about eighteen or nineteen years of age, and who was upon another mast, accomplished a feat which even Rollo himself admitted that he should not dare to undertake. It seemed that he had some operation to perform upon a part of the rigging down some fifteen feet from where he was; so, with a rope hung over his shoulder, he came down hand over hand, by a single rope or cable called a stay, until he reached the place where the work was to be performed. Here he stopped, and, clinging to the rope that he had come down upon with his legs and one hand, he contrived with the other hand to fasten one end of the short rope which he had brought with him to the stay, and then, carrying the other end across, he fastened it to another cable which was near. He then seated himself upon this cross rope as upon a seat, and clinging to his place by his legs, he had his hands free for his work. When he had finished his work he untied the cross rope, and then went up the cable hand over hand a he had come down.