pervade the whole ship, and are to be met with by the dozen in
every nook and corner: swarming down below with their own baggage,
and stumbling over other people’s; disposing themselves comfortably
in wrong cabins, and creating a most horrible confusion by having
to turn out again; madly bent upon opening locked doors, and on
forcing a passage into all kinds of out-of-the-way places where
there is no thoroughfare; sending wild stewards, with elfin hair,
to and fro upon the breezy decks on unintelligible errands,
impossible of execution: and in short, creating the most
extraordinary and bewildering tumult. In the midst of all this,
the lazy gentleman, who seems to have no luggage of any kind – not
so much as a friend, even – lounges up and down the hurricane deck,
coolly puffing a cigar; and, as this unconcerned demeanour again
exalts him in the opinion of those who have leisure to observe his
proceedings, every time he looks up at the masts, or down at the
decks, or over the side, they look there too, as wondering whether
he sees anything wrong anywhere, and hoping that, in case he
should, he will have the goodness to mention it.
What have we here? The captain’s boat! and yonder the captain
himself. Now, by all our hopes and wishes, the very man he ought
to be! A well-made, tight-built, dapper little fellow; with a
ruddy face, which is a letter of invitation to shake him by both
hands at once; and with a clear, blue honest eye, that it does one
good to see one’s sparkling image in. ‘Ring the bell!’ ‘Ding,
ding, ding!’ the very bell is in a hurry. ‘Now for the shore –
who’s for the shore?’ – ‘These gentlemen, I am sorry to say.’ They
are away, and never said, Good b’ye. Ah now they wave it from the
little boat. ‘Good b’ye! Good b’ye!’ Three cheers from them;
three more from us; three more from them: and they are gone.
To and fro, to and fro, to and fro again a hundred times! This
waiting for the latest mail-bags is worse than all. If we could
have gone off in the midst of that last burst, we should have
started triumphantly: but to lie here, two hours and more in the
damp fog, neither staying at home nor going abroad, is letting one
gradually down into the very depths of dulness and low spirits. A
speck in the mist, at last! That’s something. It is the boat we
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Dickens, Charles – American Notes for General Circulation
wait for! That’s more to the purpose. The captain appears on the
paddle-box with his speaking trumpet; the officers take their
stations; all hands are on the alert; the flagging hopes of the
passengers revive; the cooks pause in their savoury work, and look
out with faces full of interest. The boat comes alongside; the
bags are dragged in anyhow, and flung down for the moment anywhere.
Three cheers more: and as the first one rings upon our ears, the
vessel throbs like a strong giant that has just received the breath
of life; the two great wheels turn fiercely round for the first
time; and the noble ship, with wind and tide astern, breaks proudly
through the lashed and roaming water.
CHAPTER II – THE PASSAGE OUT
WE all dined together that day; and a rather formidable party we
were: no fewer than eighty-six strong. The vessel being pretty
deep in the water, with all her coals on board and so many
passengers, and the weather being calm and quiet, there was but
little motion; so that before the dinner was half over, even those
passengers who were most distrustful of themselves plucked up
amazingly; and those who in the morning had returned to the
universal question, ‘Are you a good sailor?’ a very decided
negative, now either parried the inquiry with the evasive reply,
‘Oh! I suppose I’m no worse than anybody else;’ or, reckless of all
moral obligations, answered boldly ‘Yes:’ and with some irritation
too, as though they would add, ‘I should like to know what you see
in ME, sir, particularly, to justify suspicion!’