Chapter Three

When Quiggins got back to his cabin he found Jake sitting cross-legged on the floor. Quiggins' cat, a sleek but powerful tabby was in his lap, graciously allowing Jake to caress and stroke him.

He fixed Quiggins with his emerald green eyes and greeted him with a loud purr.

"Hello, Janxie!" the Engineer muttered, stooping to scratch the cat under the chin.

He was surprised to see Jake getting the cat to accept him because he was known to be very temperamental, and tetchy with strangers.

Jake had been making playful gestures to the cat, and Quiggins was reasonably sure he'd heard them mewling at each other as he came through the door.

Jake laid his head cheek by jowl against the cat's: with a start, Quiggins realised that their eye colour was identical.

"Why don't you call him by his proper name, Mr. Quiggins?"

Jake seemed genuinely puzzled, and was evidently asking what he considered an important, serious question.

"What do you mean, Jake? I've always called him Janxie, ever since he came on board! Harwich, I think it was - before you joined the crew, anyway: I'm certain of that much!"

Jake shook his head, firmly and decisively.

"No, Mr. Quiggins, sir, that's not what I meant! Beggin' your pardon, sir, but that ain't his real name! In fact, just before you came in he asked me to present his compliments to you, and ask that you refrain from referring to him by a name which he considers more appropriate ........... "

At this point Jake paused, and exchanged a swift passage of throat noises with the cat, as if seeking approval for what was being said. Apparently satisfied, he continued:

" .......... more happropriate for describing something which he believes would be useful for the task of  cleaning out the heads at the end of a long voyage! Sir, them's his words, sir: exactly what he tol' me to say, I don' even know what the half o' them words mean, so help me Gawd I don't!"

Considering Jake's probable (but at present unconfirmed) age, Quiggins had no difficulty believing the lad, who was plainly terrified that he might have upset the Chief Engineer, and expected to be thrashed for his impudence.

What saved Jake's hide and postponed immediate reprisals was also one and the same thing which Quiggins found difficult if not impossible to believe.

"Did I hear you aright, lad? Did you really just tell me that J ... that the cat spoke to you? And that you've just repeated his exact words, even if you don't understand all of them ? Which, I might add, is something I don't find hard to believe!"

A silent glance passed between boy and cat. Jake nodded, carefully placed the cat on the floor at his side and stood straight before his master, hands clasped before him. The cat sat straight and stiff in a formal pose at Jake's heel.

"By y'r leave Mr. Quiggins, sir! I'm to tell you that his name - his real name - is not something he would ever admit to anyone: but the name he always liked to hear from people before joining us was Tigertail"

As Jake spoke the name his companion mewed loudly, turning a half circle to sit with his back to Quiggins and a perfectly straight tail of equally spaced black and gold rings displayed for close inspection.

Quiggins could only shake his head, amazed and somewhat confused by this unexpected turn of events but in no doubt that Jake had somehow established a link with the ship's cat, whom he had now better get used to addressing ......... addressing?? A cat???? ....

by his "preferred name"  .... and, by the way, how was he going to explain that to Captain Johnny Dupl'eau, self-styled gentleman pirate and scourge of the Irish Sea?

"Tigertail."

"Yes, sir, Mr. Quiggins."

"At ease, sailor: for some reason, I believe what you're telling me - though I can't imagine why! And since we'll be sharing this small cabin for the foreseeable future, you can relax: I won't insist on "Sir" or "Mister" when we're on our own!"
"Do I address you as ‘Quiggins', then ....... sir?"

Quiggins laughed at the involuntary, habitual use of the formal title.

"Yes, Jake: if a blasted cat can insist on withholding its own, personal, private name, I'll be damned if I'll settle for anything less!"

A very brief exchange of mews passed between Jake and cat.

"Well, what was that all about?"

Somewhat to his own surprise, Quiggins found himself automatically accepting the fantastic premise that Jake and Tigertail were understanding each other.

"What was that all about, then?"

"He says he knows your Christian name, and if you want him to prove it he'll tell me. I told him that would be very bad manners, and he said he's sorry, he wouldn't dream of embarrassing you."

"That was a wise move on your part, Jake: you could well become a skilled diplomat if you follow your natural instincts! And you can tell yon Tigertail that .... "

"Your pardon, but you can tell him yourself, you know!"

"Is that right? He understands us perfectly, but you're the only one to understand what he wants to say?"

"That just about sums it up I think, s....... Quiggins."

Self-consciously, but with growing confidence, Quiggins explained in fine detail and with a mariner's instinct for colourful descriptive phrases precisely what he would do to Tigertail if he ever discovered that the cat had been instrumental in making his given name common knowledge amongst the rest of the crew.

Tigertail responded by examining his left front paw throughout this tirade, then walking between Quiggins' legs and purring loudly while rubbing against his calves in an unmistakeable lets-make-friends gesture. It would have been impossible for even the most hard-hearted tyrant to ignore the gesture, or refuse to accept it in the spirit in which it had been offered. For all his bluster, Wilberforce Quiggins was not a hard man: almost involuntarily, he found himself ruffling the fur around Tigertail's neck.

"Apologies would seem to be in order, my feline friend!" he murmured, not without feeling a little self-conscious about addressing a cat. He continued:

"I hope you'll understand that in front of the crew, I cannot be seen to treat you any differently than any other ship's cat! That would be the end of any sort of discipline on board! But you may be assured that in private, and in company with Jake, I will be far more courteous than I have been to date! I shall do my best to understand you if you need something and Jake is not here to .... to act as a ‘go-between'!" he concluded: he had been about to say, ‘translate' but the word didn't seem quite right, somehow.

Tigertail had been sitting at parade-ground attention throughout this. As soon as Quiggins had finished, he blinked twice and purred, loud and clear. It was quite obvious to both the Chief Engineer and the lowly 'prentice that the apology had been accepted.

Turning his head, he exchanged a few throaty noises with Jake.

"He says, you seem a fair man: he accepts your word, he will try his best to make himself understood. He knows you have not deliberately wished to hurt or embarrass him, and in the same manner he has no wish to embarrass you in front of the crew."

"Master Tigertail, if 'twere possible, I would learn your language as well as young Jake."

"He doubts it, but is pleased that you would even wish to try! For the moment, we must be a threesome for proper understanding, but who knows? That may change..... !"