The Middies' Berth

"'Cause it's got to go on nice an' even and not too thick and not too thin. And it smells, as well. You get used to that, though."

And he wished he knew what was going on up there. "You don't suppose they decided they liked the Frog ship better than Terpsy, and decided to all shift into her, do you, sir?" he said, grinning. Patience was one of the thing Marines learned quickly, especially when on duty on the magazine or the spirit room, with only a swinging lantern for company.

"It smells? What of?" He lifted his chin with a curious look on his face. He grinned then:" Oh if they did 't means Terpsy in whole is ours. Might want ter be steerin' her where we please then!" Though they'd probably have gotten lost and even more probably been doing large circles at sea, the thought still sounded like a great adventure.

"As long as they don' go siding with the Frogs! Don't think I want ter spend me life in some Frog prison, I dun'! "

"Wet earth... they call it pipeclay 'cause it's the white clay they make pipes out of. Dunno who thought of puttin' it on leather, though." He grinned. "Where would you want to sail to, if you could go anywhere at all, sir?"

"T' one who wanted yer ter suffer, 'fcourse." He grinned and then lay his head back against the shoulder, finding it his fair posession for now. "Well, didn't sail to too many places like, though of what I read.. I'd like ter go somewhere far n' different. N' perhaps warmer too. N' there ought ter be less rain than here. N' the rain that would fall would have ter be warm.. not like here, which is real cold n' gets yer to the bone .." He imagined a place:" N' you. Where'd ye want ter go?"

"Sounds like the Caribbean, to me, sir. Hot all the time and when it rains, it rains hard but it's warm. An' then it stops rainin' and its dry again soon's you look round, almost. I'd like to go back there, for sure. Better than roundin' the Horn, anyways."

He was feeling a lot more relaxed now, leaning back a bit, with the middy's head resting on his shoulder. He was almost content, which was a surprising discovery to make, considering there was a fight going on somewhere that he had no part in, and was instead doing sentry duty on one of the young gentlemen.

" Tell me 'bout t' Caribbean. .. Please." The last word was hard to say and still felt too foreign on his tongue even once it left his mouth. There were no sounds coming their way, no feet stomping or pitterpattering their way in their direction. Further away he could hear a scream of a man possibly with a nasty injury on him, and from above there were other sounds similar to that, but of men still fighting and snarling as they hacked each other. He could imagine what was going on, though with the silence becoming more sure, he was having a greater trouble doing so.

"What was yer experience like there. What did ye see. Is it real, that ye can get sick real bad there.. n' that there's trouble on ship's bottom too..that it gets all messed up with sea life that starts ter grow on it? Ye know.. t' kind that would make a ship drag quite slow, 'stead of cuttin' t' waves with ease."

Thompson grinned at the questions falling over each other as they left the middy's mouth.

"It's hot, sir - sunny near all the time. And in the rainy season it gets real sticky. And the uniforms don't help, bein' thick wool as they are. And yes, you can get real sick. Lots of men die from fever there, 'specially in the Army. We'm luckier, in the Navy; we can get to sea. And the ships can get real foul with weed, that slows 'em down a lot. It's why they'm coppered, y'see, sir. Helps stop the weed growing. And there's all sorts of fish and things there, too. Like... there's one sort, little, not much bigger'n my hand, that flies. Well, sort of flies. Jumps right out of the water and goes for yards before goin' splash back in again. An' there's sharks, and all sorts."

Flying fish, sharks of all sorts, and the warm climate that would not have you shiver as much as at present. The boy listened and imagined and he chuckled at the mention of the flying fish and decided that fish were not meant to fly and that it would be very strange to see them jump and fly over the ship or over boats. But perhaps it would be easier to catch them that way, just snatch them out of the sky!

"Did any of ye marines get sick, or others on t' ship? Did you go to many ports there? Was it lots different than ports here?" He was interested in knowing more, and it was easier to make his questions. He'd found out so much about and from the private this way and did not even realise that he was learning quite by the way in which he said that people would not learn. Ask, when you don't know.

"The ports is mostly the same, sir. Lots of black folks around though. We was lucky not to really have the fever aboard. Once that gets aboard, you can lose three-quarters of the men, easy. I never been so glad to be a Marine, not an army soldier, as I was out there. And we went to Port Royal and English Harbour, that are the same as any English dockyard only a bit sunnier. And the sea's blue, 'stead of being green or brown."

"Blue.. the sea is different?" He smiled fondly and wondered if they would ever sail to see these wonders or if they were confined to battle in these cold, murky, dark waters which held no pitty upon those that ended in them and engulfed almost as hell did the sinners on the paintings.

Thompson has been a man he had spoken to the longest and had come to sit the closest on Terpsy and perhaps in a long while too. A strange realisation that was, but a pleasant one.

"Yer coat will need some long time of hangin' before it turns out as dry can be." He mused. It looked somewhat entertaining to see two 'people' inside of the Berth, that did nothing but stand and had no arms, no legs to speak of and only hats that looked crooked on their heads. Like them two and their shadows, the two coats standing of it's own.

"s' peaceful here...like a differen' world now..nobody runnin' down ter yell at ye to get above and back on duty.. n' no other middies ter be in the way.. or, yer men."

"Them jackets take hours to dry prop'ly, sir. Won't be really dry for another couple of days, I should think." He grinned at the two mocked-up occupants of the berth. "That were a good idea of yourn, sir. I'd never have thought of doin' that. And the West Indies... yes, the sea is different. It's warm, for one thing. Blue, and very clear, closer in to shore. I 'member we went wooding and watering once, on one of the little islands, and there was so much sand. Proper sort of silver colour, it was. And palm trees, and all sorts of creatures."

"Well.. 'tis one way yer..." He paused and flushed, unsure if he were right to share that secret with Thompson. Especially as it did not bode well for a gentleman to do.

"Do ye think Terpsy will ever sail that way?" He asked, for he wished to see the sands and the palms and enjoy the hot sun and the exploration of the small islands. He wasn't a naturalist, but he was a curious young man when he wasn't a violent, spiteful kind of a lad.

"I dunno, sir. Be nice to see 'em again, though, I will say that. Though the ship goes where the Captain wants, and we don't know where that is till we gets there. An' even if Terpsy don't get there, mebbe you'll see 'em in another ship, when you'm older. Mebbe you'll even go there when you'm captain of your own ship and you've forgotten all about me."

He smiled, still a little surprised that the middy was nestled so comfortably next to him, but liking the companionable conversation they were having - something he'd never have imagined would happen even a few short hours ago. It wasn't so long he'd been standing to rigid attention in front of this lad, after all. Strange old world, he thought to himself.

"Capn'.." He answered with a tone of bitterness in his voice:" Not comin' from this ship. If t' capn' even sends me ter another..." And he'd have changed to a third and he felt he'd have to start all over again from the bottom. Which would only take time but had little hope of result. "..I won' be becomin' a lieutenant on this. ..'m sure t' capn'.... t' capn' n' his lieutenants would be full against sendin' me." He looked up at Thompson and hoped the man would not take his words into account as speaking ill of their officers. He'd felt so at ease around him that he dared to voice his opinion and he was starting to regert this and trying to remind himself that Thompson could use it some day.

Would he?

"Yer think 's easy ter forget a marine whom a middie had leaned against?...yer too peculiar , ter forget so easy. haven' see anyone like yer... not in the red.. well neither in the blue. S' the ones that stand guard all silen' n' stiff that are forgotten, yer know...because them are like puppets... ye see one, ye see two. .n' ye don't know if their faces are different at all, or if it's jus' their clothes. N' with ye marines.. not even that! Maybe how much ye've eaten. See a burlier doll, or one as scrawny n' thin as a pole!"

"I think... And please don't be cross with me for sayin' this, sir. I think that if you listen and look and learn and see how folks do thing here, and try to do things the same as them, even if it don't seem right, least at first, that you'll make a good officer and the Captain'll be proud to send you for the examination. It'll be hard, though, 'cause we do things different from your old ship, but I think you can do it, if you try, and keep tryin'."

He smiled at the middy a little sadly. "I hope you do remember me, though I don't suppose you will. But I know I'll allus 'member you, sir."

"I'll be cross with you sayin' that I can't be a proper good officer, if I don't listen to the Terpsy's... but.." He shook his head. He could not hold it against this man, for he knew not better than what he had learnt on his other ships and he learnt to be a marine, so he knew only enough about that. Or so was what young Mathew thought as he listened on to the private in silence.

He saw the sad smile and he wondered why it was there and if was really for him, or it was for some other reason completely.

"You'll offend me to expect that I ought not to remember you. Thompson. I am still young enough that my memory does not frail and twist and be lost as swift as a hat in a strong wind." He smiled, though he had a frown on him just a moment ago, as if chastising Thompson for making such a horrid assumption. It flattered him, even the opinion of a mere private, what he said was a form of compliment, for which the youth subconsciously strived. "Yer goin' ter be sooner t' one that doesn' remember even his name, ye know! Not me."

"Mebbe, sir. But I ain't so old as all that. Not yet, anyways. An' I didn't mean to say you wouldn't be a good officer if you didn't do things Terpsy's way... I just meant, you'll be a real good officer, one a man could be right proud to serve under if..." He stopped, thinking. "Y'know, sir, you could try it out, as a... as a test. Just try Terpsy's way for a little bit, mebbe a day, and see for yourself whether you like our way, or Confidence's better. See what works best. Just f'r yourself, I mean."

And if anything was going to make the middy snap at him, that would.

A good or a real good officer, it made no difference. The man was insinuating that he would be better if he tried, and he was daring more to suggest that he should try, as if telling him what to do. The boy's eyes darkened some and he turned away. He sat there stiff a moment, well more leant then sat, and shifted up just slightly.

"..Are you trying to tell me what to do... private?" And his voice was angry and cold. "Just a test?.. .as IF I did not know better. " When he averted his gaze to Thompson's his eyes were filled with the fire coming from within: " You may have been on board for 12 years, Private... BUT you have not been a midshipman for a single ONE of them." He hissed angrily:" I have been for two, and I have been a fine gentleman on Confidence! I have been transfered to here and saw that these 'fine' gentlemen here " He said the last with mock amusement: " Are hardly able to button their vests,.. rather than know the ship's way! Kinsella, Chandos.. might even know a thing or two about ships, but discipline?.. they'll be bloody poor lieutenants if they were make it to not fail their test!"

"No, sir, I ain't." I was only tryin' to help you, sir. An' it was only an idea, anyways, Thompson thought. "Sorry if you thought I was sir, I never meant you to think that."

De Guarde was changeable as the wind, almost, and it was going to be hard for him to see that maybe he would have to learn to change. Maybe, if he did get turned before the mast, it would be the making of him, but it would be an awful trial if he couldn't learn to bend, even a little.

Thompson had stiffened, just a little, as De Guarde pulled away from him a bit and turned that cold gaze on him. Well, if the lad didn't want to be helped, there was nothing Thompson could do about it.

"...Then you might watch your words the next time..."He muttered, still stiff and upset. He disliked anybody telling him he were wrong, he loathed if someone did it when he was his superior, but even more if it was someone who by all means was his subordinate atleast by rank if not by station. He was stubbornly confident that what he was doing was the right way, and that any other way was a fool's one. His former captain taught him how things were, a much younger and less experienced ship and captain would surely come to the realisation that his elder and wiser captain knew best!

And it was an insult to think any other way. He finally dropped his stare and glare and looked from Thompson. The fact that the marine was seeing the same on other ships did not count for the Midshipman. Surely the private did not observe things right. " You'll see. ..Time will show,.. who's right." And he was fully convinced it was him.

"Maybe, sir." An' I hope you don't hurt too many more folks first... or get hurt yourself too much, neither. Though it was more than likely that the middy would find himself in a difficult position sooner or later, and would have several unhappy days first. But what didn't kill you made you stronger, as Thwaite and others had said to Thompson, in the Marine's own younger days.

"Not maybe... but, you'll see. "He sounded almost patronizing to the lad, and he patted his shoulder just in the way. He still looked stiff, but he atleast was no longer up right, where he was struggling to keep himself propped in the position and instead rather commandingly retook his earlier one.

"..While we are still here..and you do know Terpsy better than I.. Which are the men that you consider might be a greater prospect to cause danger to a midshipman. ..Sort of t' kind that are more leaning ter be not thinking straight?"

If Thompson had any idea who'd thrown the middy overboard, he'd have spoken to someone already, wouldn't he?

"If... if you'm askin' who chucked you in the drink, sir, I dunno. I was up on deck when it happened, an' didn't see anythin much. Only heard the splash, like. 'M sorry, sir."

And rather than De Guarde, he'd have spoken to Lieutenant Leat or Lieutenant Bush, or someone.

"No, I don't mean who did. I'm sure of others you would have told..else you were playing a cruel game now, talking to me as nice.. and not feeling it." Not something he wasn't used to, though.

"..I mean.. in general like. " He heard the splash. He should've tried to see what happened, who was running away from the railing, or to places. Well, crying over spilt milk really wasn't going to help.

"..what's your mind 'bout them sailors. Who of em had gotten mos' often in trouble, that ye had to stand watch over him, or who's been near prone to do that? Was there any tryin' ter break into the spirit room or otherplace. I'm sure ye marines talk 'bout that.. don't ye?"

"I... I won't help you get anyone into trouble, sir." Thompson spoke softly. "Not even if you gave me a striped shirt at the gratin' for it. T'ain't right, sir."

Why did the middy want to know? He couldn't ask the question, and didn't know if he wanted to know why anyway.