The Cruise of the Shining Light

“I’ll speak with my uncle,” says I, “as you knowed I would.”

I sought my uncle.

“Sir,” says I, “where’s the writing?”

“’Tis in your father’s Bible,” he answered.

I got it from the Book and touched a flaring match to it. “’Tis the end of that, sir,” says I. “You an’ me, sir,” says I, “will be shipmates to the end of the voyage.”

He rose.

“You’re not able, sir,” says I.

“I is!” he declared.

’Twas with difficulty he got to his feet, but he managed it; and then he turned to me, though I could see him ill enough in the dark.

“Dannie, lad,” says he, “I ’low I’ve fetched ye up very well. Ye is,” says he, “a–”

“Hush!” says I; “don’t say it.”

“I will!” says he.

“Don’t!” I pleaded.

“You is,” he declared, “a gentleman!”

The night and the abominable revelations of it were ended for my uncle and me in this way…

And so it came about that the Honorable was troubled no more by our demands, whatever the political necessities that might assail him, whatever the sins of other days, the black youth of him, that might fairly beset and harass him. He was left in peace, to follow his career, restored to the possessions my uncle had wrested from him, in so far as we were able to make restitution. There was no more of it: we met him afterwards, in genial intercourse, but made no call upon his moneybags, as you may well believe. My uncle and I made a new partnership: that of Top & Callaway, of which you may have heard, for the honesty of our trade and the worth of the schooners we build. He is used to taking my hand, upon the little finger of which I still wear the seal-ring he was doubtful of in the days when Tom Bull inspected it. “A D for Dannie,” says he, “an’ a C for Callaway, an’ betwixt the two,” says he, “lyin’ snug as you like, is a T for Top! An’ that’s the way I lies,” says he, “ol’ Top betwixt the Dannie an’ the Callaway. An’ as for the business in trade an’ schooners that there little ol’ damned Chesterfieldian young Dannie haves builded from a paddle-punt, with Judy t’ help un,” says he, “why don’t ye be askin’ me!” And the business I have builded is good, and the wife I have is good, and the children are good. I have no more to wish for than my uncle and wife and children. ’Tis a delight, when the day’s work is done, to sit at table, as we used to do when I was a child, with the geometrical gentleman framed in their tempestuous sea beyond, and to watch my uncle, overcome by Judith’s persuasion, in his old age, sip his dram o’ hot rum. The fire glows, and the maid approves, and my uncle, with his ailing timber comfortably bestowed, beams largely upon us.

“Jus’ a nip,” says he. “Jus’ a wee nip o’ the best Jamaica afore I goes t’ bed.”

I pour the dram.

“For the stomach’s sake, Dannie,” says he, with a gravity that twinkles against his will, “accordin’ t’ the Apostle.”

And we are glad that he has that wee nip o’ rum t’ comfort him…

’Twas blowing high to-day. Tumm, of the Quick as Wink, beat into harbor for shelter. ’Twas good to know that the genial fellow had come into Twist Tickle. I boarded him. ’Twas very dark and blustering and dismally cold at that time. The schooner was bound down to the French shore and the ports of the Labrador. I had watched the clouds gather and join and forewarn us of wind. ’Twas an evil time for craft to be abroad, and I was glad that Tumm was in harbor. “Ecod!” says he, “I been up t’ see the fool. They’ve seven,” says he. “Ecod! think o’ that! I ’low Walrus Liz o’ Whoopin’ Harbor got all she wanted. Seven!” cries he. “Seven kids! Enough t’ stock a harbor! An’ they’s talk o’ one o’ them,” says he, “bein’ trained for a parson.” I think the man was proud of his instrumentality. “I’ve jus’ come from the place,” says he, “an’ he’ve seven, all spick an’ span,” says he, “all shined an’ polished like a cabin door-knob!” I had often thought of it, and now dwelt upon it when I left him. I remembered the beginnings of our lives, and I knew that out of the hopelessness some beauty had been wrought, in the way of the God of us all: which is the moral of my tale.

“Think o’ that!” cries Tumm, of the Quick as Wink.

I did think of it.

“Think o’ that!” he repeated.

I had left Tumm below. I was alone. The night was still black and windy; but of a sudden, as I looked up, the clouds parted, and from the deck of the Quick as Wink I saw, blind of vision as I was, that high over the open sea, hung in the depth and mystery of space, there was a star…

THE END

notes

1

’Twas really “damned t’ port an’ weather” my uncle would have me say; but I hesitate to set it down, lest the more gentle readers of my simple narrative think ill of the man’s dealings with a child, which I would not have them do.

2

Of course, the frequent recurrence of this vulgarity in my narrative is to be regretted. No one, indeed, is more sensible of the circumstance than I. My uncle held the word in affectionate regard, and usefully employed it: ’tis the only apology I have to offer. Would it not be possible for the more delicate readers of my otherwise inoffensive narrative to elide the word? or to supply, on the spur of the moment, an acceptable equivalent, of which, I am told, there is an infinite variety? or (better still) to utter it courageously? I am for the bolder course: ’tis a discipline rich in cultural advantages. But ’tis for the reader, of course, to choose the alternative.

3

My uncle would instantly have thrashed me had I approached an oath (or any other vulgarity) in conversation upon ordinary occasions.

4

I am informed that there are strange folk who do not visualize after the manner of Judith and me. ’Tis a wonder how they conceive, at all!

5

This Sir Harry Airworthy, K.C.M.G., I must forthwith explain, was that distinguished colonial statesman whose retirement to the quiet and bizarre enjoyments of life was so sincerely deplored at the time. His taste for the picturesque characters of our coast was discriminating and insatiable. ’Twas no wonder, then, that he delighted in my uncle, whose familiar companion he was in St. John’s. I never knew him, never clapped eyes on him, that I recall; he died abroad before I was grown presentable. ’Twas kind in him, I have always thought, to help my uncle in his task of transforming me, for ’twas done with no personal responsibility whatsoever in the matter, but solely of good feeling. I owed him but one grudge, and that a short-lived one, going back to the year when I was seven: ’twas by advice o’ Sir Harry that I was made to tub myself, every morning, in the water of the season, be it crusted with ice or not, with my uncle listening at the door to hear the splash and gasp.