Текст книги "Рыжик-мореплаватель / Ginger, the sailor"

31. On the Lawn

Captain Hank left the house with a large cigar in teeth.

"I want to show you the thing I proud most of all. The ostrich farm."

"And I thought that the thing you proud most of all is playing on the lawn near the swimming pool", – said Serga smiling; he looked at two children who were kicking a big multicoloured ball.

"Yeah! – exclaimed the farmer. "There is no doubt that they are my greatest treasure, my favourite grand sonnies. But I thought you may wish to something extraordinary…"

"So show us something extraordinary!" – approved of his offer the sailors.

"The ostrich is the largest bird in the world" – said Hank on their way to the poultry yard. "One birdie may be weight more than a ram, about 130 kilogramm! Can you imagine this, guys? And it can lay so huge eggs! And their feathers… Even kings wore the feathers of this bird in their hats!"

Ginger had got acquainted with one these birds that day and that was enough for him! Otherwise he would have followed the guests with great pleasure. And add to this Changa also didn’t go with the sailors; by and large she became too lazy recently, and Ginger was not going to risk and fly alone.

He flied up onto the roof of the house and sang selflessly. One could say that a bright red sparrow chirping and twittering, but if you know the birds’ language you would be able to hear a very pithy hymn about Ginger-Navigator, Ginger-a-Very-Brave-Warrior, who had a fight with giant birds and won! As usual.

But even his selfless song could not make him less careful. Ginger was singing and turning his head: up– down, left-right. He knew very well that if a cat or a black kite took him unawares, Ginger’s swan song would be sung.

Turning his head he saw that one of the boys playing on the lawn had dropped the ball into the swimming pool and tried to get it.

Ginger didn’t like human kids. They were always trying to hurt the sparrow, threw stones or sticks, and when they grew up they took the most horrible weapon in the world, the slingshot. That’s why when the child fell down into the water Ginger was not upset very much – let the boy swim a while. But the kid was too young and didn’t swim like others; he was plopping and it was evident that he was flooded.

"What’s that? What’s that?" – worried Ginger. "What for? What for?"

He remembered about Changa and flied down to her.

"The boy is sinking! The boy!" – was twittering excitedly Ginger. "He is cold, cold!"

Changa hadn’t seen her friend being so excited for a long time. She decided that somebody had hurt him; Changa stand up and followed Ginger. On their way they met the other boy who burst into tears.

Changa reached the edge of the swimming pool in immediately and without hesitating jumped into the water.

Newfoundland is called a diver not without reason. Their rude forefathers were taught to save drowning people; that’s why even a not trained dog of this noble breed knows what to do. This is in its blood.

Changa hadn’t been trained for saving people. But she understood that she had to grab ahold of the boy’s skirt and swim towards the land.

With her muzzle lifted up, Changa-the-Diver put the child on the border of the swimming pool and only after that got out herself. The water was draining from the dog. Changa stood up and dry herself like all the dogs do: she shook herself of and the drops flied everywhere.

"The fountain is not bad!" – chirped Ginger.

The splashes reached even Ginger, but it was nothing as against happening nearby. The other boy scared the guests by his screams so much that in a minute everybody was on the lawn shaking and examining the child and clasping the dog. That hustle so worried Ginger that he flied up onto the same roof out of harm’s way.

"Perhaps, I should add one more couplet," – thought the hero and did, because he didn’t like to put such things off.

32. The Australian Eggs

The coming women took the children and the men still stayed on the lawn discussing the events.

"Your grandson must be a sailor, Hank." – said Serga smoking his small pipe."If he did not sink at the age of three, he will never sink."

"It’s a miracle that your dog happened to be nearby." – T could not calm down the farmer. "Let me kiss it!"

He kneeled, hugged the dog’s muzzle and kissed her straight into her nose. Changa was getting free.

"If it were a human, I would ask it what it wants for my grandson’s saving. But the dog couldn’t speak. So I ask you, the friend of main what do you wish." – addressed the old sailor the farmer.

"Have a drink!" – said Serga immediately being approved by laughing sailors. "And, if it doesn’t trouble you much, the Australian eggs for Changa."

"No troubles at all!" – said Captain Hank and ran to give all necessary orders.

There was a fat feast on the ranch house that evening. The host told to bring the expensive wine from the basement, the ram was being roasted, and the women made a great omelet from an egg of the Australian ostrich.

"She likes eggs!" said pleased Serga.

The omelet was decorated by pieces of roasted meat, chilled and brought in a huge dish to the cause of celebration.

It was the first time when somebody paid so much attention to a common ship dog, so Changa was abashed a little. The saved boy petted her and mispronounced:

"Good dog. Eat, eat!"

To tell the truth Changa was not very hungry. But those who lived in her abdomen were constantly asking for food, and the "good dog" didn’t make ask her twice. She gorged that delicious omelet with a storm of applause.

Changa guessed that all that hoopla and tasty food were connected with what had happened in the swimming pool somehow. But she herself didn’t find that to be something outstanding; it was her nature. The only thing which bewildered the wise dog was the absence of the main hero. It was his desert. It was him who raised the alarm.

But Changa couldn’t speak, and the hero had been sleeping under the roof already. So nobody suspected of the sparrow’s part in that story.

It was better for Ginger not to know about his shining merits or he might have felt offence for people for the rest of his life. And what did he actually do? He just woke up the dog.

33. Under The Stairs

Birds wake up together with the sun, and the sun rises very early in December. If it happens in Australia, of course.

Ginger opened his eyes and looked around. He had slept on straw under the roof, but whose the roof was he didn’t remember for the life of his.

The first rule of a sparrow is not to chirp half sleep. A cat may be nearby, and you don’t know the way of escaping.

Ginger left his shelter, sat on the branch, looked round again and only after that chirped. The weather was fine, no predatory birds, no hungry cats; it was high time to sing!

After a short song he decided to have a snatch. Ginger thought that there had to be some kernels near the storehouse where he spent the night.

The sparrow flied down and jumped towards the stairs where people usually lost their kernels.

Under the stairs in the dark somebody peeped. Aha! There was a mouse! It’s not an enemy for a grown-up sparrow, but a competitor. Mice are known to like grain.

The squeak repeated. There was probably a whole family!

"What ill wind has brought you here?" – chirped Ginger. "These voracious creatures won’t live a kernel!"

At that moment he heard a weak dog barking… of Changa. The little sparrow couldn’t make a mistake: there was no other dog in the world who barked so rare and so nice as his friend Changa.

"Wonderful! Wonderful! Have dogs begun to catch mice? Wonderful!" – chirped Ginger with a sneer and jumped bravely under the stairs: where was Changa there couldn’t be a cat.

The big black dog was lying under the stairs and smiling with her tongue flicked out. Some blind wet creatures were crawling on her belly and squeaking; they had much in common with big mice. Changa turned her head and began licking them…

"She is about to eat them!" – thought Ginger and wondered: it was unlike his friend. Sometime when a rat got into their ship and Changa catch it and stifled. But she had never eaten them disdaining. How could she?

"Shame, shame" – chirped Ginger.

But Changa was not going to eat the creatures. On the contrary she was licking them with such love that she had quite forgotten. Multicoloured puppies were crawling on her belly, stumbled upon teats and drank, greedy and thirstily. When everybody found its place and silence closed in, the mother seemed to fall asleep. She looked tired but happy.

And Ginger realized everything.

"Congratulations!" – twittered he and left. He felt again that he hadn’t breakfasted yet and, remembering the previous day flied to the farm.

Having visited the horses, the cows, the sheep, the sparrow ate a little here and there and even accompanied them to the gate. The farmers turned the cattle out and Ginger hurried the lazy-bones:

"Why are hesitating, sleepyheads! Come on, come on! Nobody will touch your feed.»

He dodged a little bit saying that. As soon as the herd left the farm Ginger examined all the feeding racks but only in order to check everything as he had been fat already.

He saw Serga. He was standing on the stairs and smoking his pipe.

"Ah, Red!" – he said catching sight of the sparrow. – "How did you sleep on your new place?"

"Changa has children! Changa has children!" – twittered the sparrow, but the human ear is so odd that even Serga who knew all the languages in the world (so-so) heard only his chirping.

But something in Ginger’s voice cocked the worldly-wise sailor.

"What’s wrong, boy? Tell, tell me and I will try to understand."

"Changa, Changa!" – chirped the sparrow and the sailor UNDERSTOOD!

"Something’s happened to Changa?" – worried the sailor looking around. "She usually meets me in the morning, but I haven’t seen her today yet. That’s strange. May be she has problem with her stomach after the ostriches’ eggs."

"Follow me, follow me!" – twittered Ginger and flied towards the storehouse.

"Upon my soul! It wants to show me something." Said the sailor and toddled the sparrow.

Changa was still on her place; she met the friends by slight snarl.

"Friends! Friends!" – the master calmed her down. "Have you brought them into the world? Are you sick and tired? It’s your first time!"

Serga petted the dog and asked:

"Will you show us your tomboys? We are not going to eat them, don’t worry."

The dog snarled a little bit, but let him touch the puppies.

"Just think of that! They are so spotty!" – smirked the sailor, watching the hatch. "It was that labradour who spoiled the breed. It’s his job!"

Changa was looking at her children and the master’s hand with anxious. But Serga was a kind man, and kindness may be felt through touching. So every pup was pleased by its first meeting with a man.

34. The Return of the Heroes

It’s weird but that case of saving the child got into newspapers. A famous dog club rewarded her by a medal and her master by a prize. So they entered their bulk carrier as heroes. The first was Serga with a large brightly-decorated basket in his hands, and then followed Changa keeping her eyes on the basket with the golden medal on her neck. After them the cheerful sailors were coming each of them with an ostrich egg in a bag. The eggs were gifted by Captain Hank as a keepsake. There was music, journalists photographing that funny procession and gapers waving by their hats and caps everywhere:

"OK, Changa!"

"Very well, Mr. Serga!"

The cook was glad most of all on the board:

"Oh, what the eggs are! Be careful, guys. Bring them here, to the galley."

"Keep the shell as a souvenir."

"I’ll try to do my best! You will have omelette and a souvenir from Australia."

Only Ginger came back with nothing, but even he was noticed:

"You, Red, here you are! Are you OK?"

"Of course, he’s OK. He is a real sea sparrow!"

Only the Boatswain was gloomy. He looked into the basket, petted the puppies and said to Serga:

"You are a good and accurate sailor, of course, but don’t get angry: I will kick your pups over the board if they get under my feet or harm her. You know my nature."

"I know. I will look after them!" – assured him the sailor.

When the boatswain reported about the puppies to the Captain the latest said:

"I hope the boat won’t be a kennel?"

"Sir, no, sir! It will be under my personal control!"

"Show mercy… I can understand the crew. There is few entertainment on the board."

"That’s right."

"Listen… While we are in the roads, let’s a competition among the sailors." – he took his expensive watch off his wrestle. "And here is the prize. From the captain."

35. The Lost Tail

The news about the competition flied the crew around and produced stock-jobbing among those who liked fishing. And there were a lot of the kind. Certainly! Why, it was not a river over the side, nor a village pond, but the boundless ocean. And the fish was not worse.

All day long the sailors were examining their fishing tackle and talking about bait, the spectators were making bets. Generally speaking everybody was preparing.

Ginger liked fish. When the Cook gave Changa a fish head or a tail she shared with the sparrow by her output with pleasure. As usual he ate a little and the rest of food left for the dog.

"Why Ginger is good? Why Ginger is good?" – commented he highly himself. "The best thing is for the friend!"

When Ginger saw the preparations for the Great Fishing he began to fly excitedly from one place into another chirping constantly:

"Fish for Ginger! Fish for Ginger!"

The competitors took their seats on the left side, on the right side, on the bow and on the stern. Everyone chose the place he wished. The cargo got some resemblance with a giant hedgehog, with fishing rods instead of spines. There was a special sing, the fishing rods were up, the baited hooks were in the water and the Great fishing was begun!

Ginger had seen already how the sailors fished. He was awfully upset if a fish escaped, and cheered if she fell on the board. But earlier it had been only on one place and now everywhere.

Poor Ginger! He was flying from one end of the boat to the other, he was tired, hoarse, but was not able to be everywhere.

"Why are you looking? Haul! – chirped he on the left side. "Oh, looser!" "Don’t let it go! Don’t let it go!" – warned he on the bow.

"Fine! Fine!" – twittered the sparrow when he saw a huge fish caught on the right side.

There were many sharp-toothed frights fluttering on the deck and the sparrow cried them winningly:

"What? You don’t like this, do you? But if I fell into the water you’ll eat me in a minute!"

But one by one the fishes fell asleep and the sparrow began to jump snottily among them.

"Ah, here you are pixies! – he chirped. "Why aren’t you snapping by your teeth now?"

Ginger didn’t know about survivability of some fish. And that would have cost his head. Suddenly one of that fish clapped by her tail, straightened out and slapped with her teeth very close to the sparrow. Ginger had escaped a moment before and only his tail – his gorgeous red tail – was in the beast’s teeth.

– Help me! – screamed poor Ginger flushing to the mast. – It is a living thing! It is fresh! – Poor Ginger could have been eaten up by the fish.

It tried to flush up but it could not because it had no tail. That is why it was clumsily taking somersaults in the air and it nearly fell on to the deck.

– What is up? What is up? – twittered a poor thing. -1 am loosing control!!!

On clambering up the mast Ginger looked back. To its horror it found out the lost thing. There was the only lost feather of its tail on the side. Oh, if sparrows could cry, Ginger would break into tears. But birds can not do it. So poor thing could not but give a bitter twittering.

– Who wants me with a bit of the tail? I wish I would be eaten up by that monster.

It was lucky to be on the deck. Ginger could hardly get to its roost, ruffled up its feathers and did not leave it anymore that day. It did not see the end of fishing and awarding the winners.

36. Consolation

The news of a red ship sparrow having been nearly eaten up by a tunny-fish reached Serga. He brought a handful of the best sunflower seeds to Ginger and put them into its rack before the sunset.

"Hey you, tailless thing!" – called it an old sailor. "Have a snack. Do not worry of these silly things! You will have a new better tail."

"It was not my fault! Why?" twittered Ginger bitterly.

"Next time you will not be in a whirl of a lancet fish." said Serga. "You seem to tease it. But this is bad of you! Although it is a predator, it is no good mocking at one's sorrow."

"What shall I do now?" Ginger was depressed still having the seeds.

"You're lucky!" said Serga and sat down on the deck smoking his pipe. "The tunny-fish is the fastest sea fish. It's just as a torpedo! But its mouth isn't so big. If a barracuda or let's say a murena caught you, you would most likely loose your tail. You'd better have a look at a sea devil! Its mouth looks like a cave with its teeth as big as my fourth finger!" exclaimed Serga.

Ginger consoled itself but it had been ashamed of its being tailless. The whole crew seemed to mock at it. Only Changa and its youngs were among those who sympathized with it.

Every morning Serga used to take a basket full of puppies out and put it on the deck under the sparrow's nest. Changa leaned nearby. It seemed to be sleeping. But it gazed at everybody moving towards the basket. Ginger was the only one Changa treated indifferently. It was brave to jump on the basket border and greeted its inhabitants cheerfully.

"Hello! Are you all safe and sound?"

The puppies had grown up being able to see. They had been fluffy and awfully funny. Hearing the sparrow's twittering they reached out their small muzzled for the bird and hurried to it.

"Come to me! Hurry up!" ordered Ginger.

The puppies used to raise up their upper lips. They tried to growl and even bark as big dogs. Their attempts infuriated the sparrow very much.

"How dare you bark at Ginger?" twittered it. "Ginger will do the same with you!"

The puppies were growing before its eyes. Once they succeeded. They all pushed the border Ginger was staying at to turn the basket over.

The sparrow flew up. The puppies fell out of the basket on to the deck. They were screaming and rolling all over until their anxious mother lied down nearby. Seeing their mother's belly the puppies began sucking and got quiet. But Ginger had been flying being indignant with them for a long time.

"What a poorly constructed basket!"

37. The Maklai Shore

The Coral Sea was stormy but the captain of the dry cargo ship was calm and set an example to the crew.

"The Pacific Ocean, my boys, is just called so. But it can be so stormy at times. Experienced sailors know," captain gave a wink at Serga. "But the beginners should get used to it: we are to sail long across the Great Ocean, the sailors call it so."

The night after the storm was more than ever warm and quiet. The crew being free from the watch poured out to the deck. The sailors were playing the guitars and singing about their sweethearts waiting for them. After twittering with the guitar Ginger flew away.

The Sun set and big bright stars appeared in the sky at once. Here, in the Southern hemisphere they differ so much from those in the native place.

"Here it is, the Southern Cross," said captain pointing to the four big stars. "not far from it, my boys, is the constellation of Centaurus. There are marine constellations – the Keel, Sails, the Stern on the other part."

"How do you make them out?"

"My boy!" grinned captain. "It's the electronics that helps you today. But many years ago sailors could rely only on stars, the Sun and lightships. Clouds and fogs were the main obstacles. The clouds used to cover the sky and the stars. So, the sailor is blind in the open sea."

"And now?"

"Today, my boy, it's different. We navigate and there is a satellite high above," he pointed to the sky. "The clouds can't prevent it from proper functioning. It shows the ship location to within a meter."

"Where are we now, captain?"

"Near New Guinea, guys. Meanwhile, this island isn't alien to us," meditated captain. "Mikluho Maklai, a young boy, who had graduated from the Yienna University, stepped ashore in the second half of the 19th century. Can you just think about the atmosphere? A wild shore, tropical forests and the warlike Papuans who had never seen a white man. Maklai was alone being just 25.1 don't know how such a young boy like him could be so tactful and smart. In fact he'd lived on the island for 15 months being respected by the Aborigenes so much. They did not want to part with him. Then Nickolai Nickolaevich visited the Philippines, Indonesia, he worked in Australia, founded his first biological station. But he returned to his favourite country, New Guinea and his friends Papuans again and again. There is a big territory of the shore from the Bay of Astrolabia to the Gulf of Uon named after Maklai."

"He is a great man!" said Serga. "Had he lived with savage people till he died?"

"No, my friends. Being 40, he came back to Russia, published a good book about his travelling. But soon afterwards he died. He was buried at the Volkovo cemetery in St.Petersburg. If you have a chance to be in St.Petersburg, you should visit his grave."

"We will." promised the boatswain. "Though being a scientist, Maklai was an experienced sailor."

"All right, guys. It's high time to go to bed." captain stood up. "We're having a difficult route. We're going to pass by many islands…. You see, it's Oceania."