Cast Away in the Cold, Page 3

  CHAPTER II.

  Captain John Hardy, Otherwise Ancient Mariner,Otherwise Old Man.

  CAPTAIN HARDY, or Captain John Hardy, or Captain Jack Hardy, or plainCaptain Jack, or simple Captain, as his neighbors pleased to name him,was a famous character in the village. Everybody knew the captain, andeverybody liked him. He was a mysterious sort of person,--here to-dayand there to-morrow,--coming and going all the time, until he fairlytired out the public curiosity and people's patience altogether, so thateven the greatest gossips in the town had to confess at length thatthere was no use trying to make anything of Captain Jack, and theyprudently gave up inquiring and bothering their heads about him; butthey were glad to see him always, none the less.

  The Captain was known as a great talker, and was always, in formeryears, brimful of stories of adventure to tell to any one he met duringhis short visits to the village,--any one, indeed, who would listen tohim; and, in truth, everybody was glad to listen, he talked so well.Many and many a summer evening he spent seated on an old bench in frontof the village inn, reciting tales of shipwrecks, and stories of the seaand land, to the wondering people. Of late years, however, he was notdisposed to talk so much, and was not so often seen at his favoritehaunt. "I'm getting too old," he would say, "to tarry from home afternightfall."

  He had now grown to be fifty-nine years old, although he really lookedmuch more aged, for he bore about him the marks of much hardship andprivation. His hair was quite white, and fell in long silvery locks overhis shoulders, while a heavy snow-white beard covered his breast. Therewas always something in his appearance denoting the sailor. Perhaps itwas that he always wore loose pantaloons,--white in summer, and blue inwinter,--and a sort of tarpaulin hat, with long blue ribbons tied aroundit, the ends flowing off behind like the pennant of a man-of-war.

  Captain Hardy was known to everybody as a generous, warm-hearted, andharmless man; but he was thought to be equally improvident. The poor hada constant friend in him. No beggar ever asked the Captain for ashilling without getting it, if the Captain had a shilling anywhereabout him. Sometimes he had plenty of money, yet when at home he alwayslived in a frugal, homely way. Great was the rejoicing therefore, amonghis friends (and they were many), when it was known that he had fallenin with a streak of good fortune. Having been instrumental in saving theBritish bark _Dauntless_ from shipwreck, the insurance companies hadawarded him a liberal salvage, and it was to secure this that he hadgone away on his last voyage. As soon as he came home he went right offand bought the house which we have before described, with the money hebrought back; and for once got the credit of doing a prudent thing.

  The old man's happiness seemed now complete. "Here," exclaimed he,"Heaven willing, I will bring the old craft to an anchor, and end mydays in peace." But after the excitement of fitting up his house andgrounds, and getting his little yacht in order, had passed over, hebegan to feel a little lonely. He was so far away from the village thathe could not meet his old friends as often as he wished to. We have seenthat he was a great talker; and he liked so much to talk, and thus to"fight his battles over again," as it were, and he had so much to talkabout, that an audience was quite necessary to him. It is notimprobable, therefore, that he looked upon his meeting with William andFred and Alice as a fortunate event for him; and if the children weredelighted, so was he. He was very fond of children, and these werechildren after his own heart. To them the coming story was a greatevent,--how great the reader could scarcely understand, unless he knewhow much every boy in Rockdale was envied by all the other boys, big andlittle, when he was known to have been especially picked out by CaptainHardy to be the listener to some tale of adventure on the sea.