A LESSON IN CHRISTMAS KEEPING

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1523, 28 February 1901, Page 8

A LESSON IN CHRISTMAS KEEPING

(By Frank T. Bullen, F.R.G.S.) Author of "Tile Cruise of the Cachalot/’ etc. ("M.A.P.”) Morning broke bleakly forbidding on the iron-bound coast of Kerguelen Island. Over the fantastic peaks, flung broadcast as if from the primeval cauldron of the world, hung a grim pall of low, grey-black cloud, so low, indeed, that the sea-birds drifting disconsolately to and fro between barren shore and gale-tossed sea were often hidden from view as if behind a fog-bank, and only their melancholy screams denoted their presence, until they glinted into sight again like huge snow-flakes hesitating to fall. Yet it was the Antarctic mid-sum-mer, it was the breaking of Christmas Day.

As the pale dawn grew less weak, it revealed a tiny encampment, just a few odds and ends of drifting wreckage piled forlornly together, and yielding a dubious shelter to a huddled-up group of fourteen men, sleeping in spite of their surroundings. there were exposed perched upon the snarling teeth of an outlying rock-cluster, the “ribs and trucks” of a small wooden ship, a barquerigged craft of about 400 tons. Her rigging hung in slovenly festoons from the drunkenly standing masts, the yards made more angles with their unstable supports than are known to Euclid, while through many-a jagged gap in her .topsides the mad sea rushed wantonly, as if

elated with its opportunities of marring the handiwork of the daring sea-mas-ters. "

The outlook was certainly sufficiently discomforting; yet, as one by one the sleepers awakened, and with many a grunt and shiver crept forth from their p 11 ’ 1 g \\ cm cl have been clnncult to from the expressions upon their weatherbeaten countenances how Hopeless was tne situation that thev were in. For they came of a breed that'is stronoto endure hardness, that takes its much bitter with little sweet as a matter of course, and, by dint of steady refusal to be dismayed at Fate’s fiercest frowns. m,s bum up for itse;f a most gallon tlvearnea reputation for pluck, endurance, ‘T ] r f UC ?p ! ss throughout the civilised v,oiid. They were Scotch to a man, ruo--ged and stern as the granite of their native Aberdeenshire.

They wer e the crew of the barque Jean--10 of Peterhead, which, while outward bound from Aberdeen to Otao- 0 , Zealand, bad, after long striving against weather extraordinarily sever? B ° f y x ea l’’ been hurled against that ternfic coast during the previous afW 011 ’ • The ! r esca P e shoreward had been as miraculous as fifty per cent, of such escapes are, and, beyond their lives they had saved nothing. So the prospect was unpromising. Nothing could be expected from the break-up of the ship. She was loaded with ironwork of .vanous sorts, and her stores were not m any water-tight cases which might t; 0 T g tbG T asho . re eatable eondied A® la /ge-lnnbed, red-beard-ed skipper, after a keen look round, saidfl n W IS T I V uckle ta e back an’ lili on but Aam thenkm we’ll juist hae 'ome eS hv Tf rSe , lls See if canna get matches ?” kfaS ' Has olly ane S ot ony • R Presently appeared that of these civduf f^ Ut ,\ uvaluable kttle adjuncts to o2f tlo p n t here was , Q ot 01ie among the ciond. But even this- grim discovery appeared to make no great impression and presently the mate, a tall man from Auclnermuchty, with an expressionless face and a voice like "a coo’s,” as lie was T J vo ' n t to say, remarked casually-: 'lf ye’ll scatther aboot an’ see fat ye can fine tae cuik, I’se warrant ye Aa’lt get ye some fire tae cuik it wi/ ” No one spoke another word, but silently they separated foy their quest leaving Mr Lowrie, with his' blank face’ methodically rummaging among the debris. Presently he sat down quietlv with a piece of flat board before him about two feet long by six inches wide. In his hand he held a. piece of broomstick, which m some mysterious way had got included m the flotsam. Tins he whittled at one end into a blunt point, carefullv saving the cuttingsm Ins trousers pocket Then with a steady movement of his stick he commenced to chafe a groove lengthways of b r d ’ +, ddmg occa sionally a pinch tia? 1 fl ° m tle groimcl to assist frac-

hJuLnf t bye tllere was Quite a little heap of brown wood dust collected at one end of the groove. Then getting on ns hnees and grasping his broom-stick-piece energetically in both hands- he PUSM it to and fro in the groove with all ms force and speed, until suddenly he flung away the stick, and stooping over the little' pile of dust he covered it tenderly with both hands hollowed, and bending his head over it breathed

mpoa it most gently. And by imperceptible degrees there arose from it a slender spiral of smoke.

His right hand stole to his pocket and fetched therefrom a few shivers of wood, which he coyly introduced "under the shelter of his other hand, until suddenly the Red Flower blossomed- —-there was fire. Now it only needed feeding to arise gloriously into that gloomy air. 'To this end Mr JLowrie worked like a. China/-. man, until within an hour he had a pile of burning driftwood, four feet high and fully six feet round, sending up. ruuatongues of flame and a column of smoke like a palm tree. - * One by one the adventurers returned with dour faces, empty-handed save for a. eea-bird’s egg or two, a few fronds of seaweed which the bearers insisted was “dulse” (the edible fucus) and’, a brace of birds that looked scarcely enough to furnish ah appetiser for one* . But just as a- stray sunbeam darted -down upon the little gathering s while they .huddled round the grateful Warmth, 'there was a boarse shout. All started, for it was the' skipper’s voice roaring: .' “O’way here an' lend a ban’, ye louris/ Fat’r ye all shtannin there toasting yer taes fur like a pickle o’ weans juist waitin’ on yer mithers tae cry on ye tae come .ben fur yer breakfas’ ?”. The men at once obeyed the familiar command, finding the skipper and the cook wrestling with a huge case, that was eo stoutly built that not- a plank of it Kad come adrift! When they had man-han-dled it over the fugged ground to within reach of-the Warmth the skipper said: ■ “Ah divna ken fats intilt, bit All min’ fine that Mester Broon, fan he shipped it, ©aid it wis somethin’ An wis tae tak’ unco care o’. And so 'jfcwis lasht under til’ s’loori table-. C’wa, le’s open’t; please Ood there may be somethin’ useful inside o’t/

Willing hands/ regardless of the loss of skin from knuckles and arins, wrought at the task; but so stoutly did the case resist their efforts that it was long be-! fore they had stripped off the stout planking and revealed an air-light lining of thick tin. This was attacked with sheath knives, and, after much hacking and breaking of cutlery, yielded and exposed a number of queer-looking parcels most carefully packed. On the top was a letter. It ran as follows:

Dear Jack; —-In full recollection of your curious Scottish prejudice against any celebration of-Christmas, and also of that awful time when you and I Were stranded ok the Campbells, and compelled to suck raw sea-birds’ eggs for our Christmas fare, I have sent you the materials for a good old-fashioned Christmas dinner, as I understand it, being a Cockney of the Cockniest. -I also send you Dickens’s “Christmas Carol” to read after dinner, and if you don't do justice to my loving Christmas Box, I solemnly swear that X will never regard you as a chum again. Here’s wishing you a Merry Christmas, and as jolly a Hogmanay as ever you can get after. Most affectionately yours, John Brown. “Em, ehmm ,; (no written words can adequately represent the peculiar Scottish exclamation that stands for anything you like, being strictly non-committal), “that reads no sae bad: We’ll juist investigate. Fat kaewe here? Et’s a duff, mahn, ou ay, bit it’s a boeny wan.” And, -as-he' spoke, he pulled out of its nest a gorgeous Christinas pudding weighing some twenty-five pounds. Next came an enormous oblong tin case, labelled : “Forthoum and Mason; Special Christmas turkey, stuffed with capon, tongue; and forcemeat,” upon reading which the skipper murmured again : “Ou jay, that's no sae dusty, y© ken/’ Next came a layer of bottles of green peas, alternated with bottles labelled “Turtle Soup.” Other queer tin cases followed, bearing inscriptions Such as “Special mince pies,” “Scotch shortbread,” “American Biscuits I ” —like foamflakes—“Dessert fruits,” “York ham, best quality, ready cooked," and “Bbar’s head.” Finally,* on the ground floor, as it were, was displayed a compact array of pottles, of which six were labelled, “Extra special Scotch whisky,” six “Special port, bin 50/’ two corpulent ones bore, the signature “D.0.M.,” and twelve had bigheaded corks with gold foil adorning them. Followed at last two boxes of. fatlooking cigars, and the book. That gripi assembly looked down upon this tempting array with, their hard features perceptibly softening, while the skipper said : “Weel a’weel. A’ain no* an advocate f&r specialism’ Chrismuss masel, altho’ Ah lark fine tae keep up Hogmanay. But A'am no a bigot, ye ben, an’ A'am thenkin’ that unner. th’ circumstances 'twad juist be flytin' Proveedence no tae accept in a speerut o’ mqderashun siccan coairqe ony, man. Them ’at, disna . approve o’ keepin'' Chrismuss ava cap juist daunder awah .’S far as A’m consairried” —here he deftly, knocked the top off one of , the special Scotch bottles, and, looking round benignantly, said : “Here’s tae wersels, boys, a blessin* on; the giyer o’ th* feast, an' a Merry Chrismuss tae us

Why particularise the proceedings that ensued? Should it not be sufficient to say that no conscientious scruples were entertained by any of those hard-grained! men at this almost compulsory wrecking of their principles. Scarcely ; yet passing notice may he given to the difficulties attendant upon drinking champagne out of bottle necks, , of eating concentrated turtle Boup warmed the- bottle like Pommard, of the total want of order, and ' routine evinced in dealing with the as-

sorted provisions so providentially to hand —and mouth. Especially was this the case with the rotund bottles of Benedictine. One and all agreed that while the contents were “gey an oily-like,” they were “vara seductiv',” and had the effect of making the partakers thereof curiously unreserved and open to conviction as to the general satisfactoriness of things in general. When at last with long drawn sighs the unwonted Christmas keepers sank down upon their stony seats and lit up their aromatic smokes with brands passed from hand to hand, it evidently needed no keen judge of human nature to prophesy that a unanimous vote would be given if asked for as to the desirability of keeping up Christmas English fashion. When all had quietly settled down to the soothing influence of nicotine in its best form, the skipper lifted up his voice and! said : - . “Weel, ma lads, A’am thenkin’ that we Idn dae nae less than gae through the haill reetual. This bmk, ‘A Christmas Carol,’ is eevidently pairt o’ th’ programme, an’ as A’am nae that ongratefu’ I’ll juist read it, fativer it coasts ma.’”, So he opened the volume, and read while the hard lines of the faces softened under the.magic of the Master’s words, and in spite of the -well-worn masks of indifference, an occasional dewdrop of sympathy glittered like a diamond in the furrow of a bronzed visage. «•* r " * * ■ " “Ah wuclna wass tae iriterrup ye, sir,” suddenly interjected an ordinary seaman, “bit Air thoclit ye micht laik tae ken that there’s a vessel j>uisfc lookin’ roun’ the point.” “Man, ye’re - richt, there is that. Weel, A s am neerly throu’, an’ as than auld deevil Scrooge has been eonveencit o’ th’ errour offs ways (as we have) A’am of opinion we ma tak’ th 5 lave o’ th’ story as read. But ’twas a gey guid yarn, was’t no ?” :

By this time the ship of deliverance, having hove to, was getting a boat out. That laborious business over, the boat came at fair speed towards the only practicable landing place until the commiserating face of the officer in charge took on an expression of bewilderment as he noted th© smug complacency on the countenance of the castaways. It did not diminish when the skipper, gravely welcoming him with one hand, field out invitingly a decapitated bottle of extra special Scotch with th© other, saying, with lingering sweetness in his voice: ' - ■ “Mahn, dear, here’s wussin’ ye a Merry Ghristmuss.”