Chapter Two.My First Start.We crossed the water to Gosport, and took our way along the road which led past the small row in which we lived. I inquired on my way of old Dick, if he knew who the young gentleman’s father was.“They say he’s a nabob,” answered old Dick, “but what a nabob is, I’m sure I don’t know, except that he’s a yellow-faced gentleman, with lots of money, and always complaining of his liver.”Having received this lucid explanation to my question, I rejoined my young companion. I thought I might learn more about the matter from him.“They say your father is a nabob; is he?” I asked.“A nabob? No,” he answered. “He is a great deal more important person—he is a brigadier; at least he was in India, and mamma always speaks of him as the Brigadier, and people always talk of her as Mrs Brigadier.”“Then I suppose you are the young Brigadier?” I said, very naturally.“No, indeed, I am not,” he answered. “But there is the house. And, I say, I am very much obliged to you, remember, for what you have done for me. I see you are up to joking; but let me advise you not to come any of your jokes over my father, or mamma either. Indeed, you had better rather try it with him than with her. You would think twice before you ever made the attempt again.”Passing through an iron gateway, we proceeded up to the house, which was some little way from the road. It was low, with a broad verandah round it, and I found was known as Chuttawunga Bungalow. I saw the name on the side-post of the gateway. A tall, dark-skinned man, dressed in white, a broad-rimmed cap on his head, came to the door. He seemed rather doubtful as to admitting old Dick and me.“Here, Chetta, let us in at once!” exclaimed the young gentleman in an authoritative tone. “These are my friends. They have rendered me an essential service. The boy saved my life when I was drowning, and the old man pulled us both out of the water, when we could not hold on much longer. Where is my papa? And, I say, Chetta, do not go and tell Mrs Brigadier just yet. I would rather have the matter over with one of them first.”I felt rather awe-struck at having to go into the presence of so great a man, for I had pictured him as a tall, ferocious-looking personage, with a huge moustache and a military air and manner. Great was my astonishment when I saw, seated in an arm-chair, cross-legged, with one foot resting on a foot-stool, a small man with yellow hair, thin cheeks, and habited in a silk dressing-gown and nankeen trousers.“Why, Richard Alfred Chesterton!” he exclaimed in a sharp, querulous tone, “where have you been all this time? It is as well your mother had to go out, or she would have been thrown into a state of great alarm; and something else, I suspect, too,” he said, in a lower tone.“Well, papa,” answered Richard, when the brigadier had ceased speaking, “you would not address me harshly, if you knew how very nearly you were having the misery of losing me altogether. It is a long story, so I will not now enter into details. It will be sufficient for you to know that I was in a boat, and that out of that boat I fell into the dangerous current of the harbour; and had it not been for the bravery and gallantry of this young lad whom I have brought with me, I should have been at this moment food for the fish in the Solent sea, or a fit subject for a coroner’s inquest, had my body been discovered.”The brigadier opened his grey eyes wider and wider, as the boy continued speaking.“And, papa, we must not forget this old boatman, too, who pulled the boy and me—what’s your name? Ay; Jack Junker—out of the water.” Thus Master Dicky ran on.“Well, my boy, I am thankful to see you safe, and I wish to express my gratitude to the brave lad, Jack Junker, who saved your life, and to the old man who pulled you out of the water. My friends, I must consult Mrs Brigadier Plumb, how I can best show you my gratitude. I always do consult her on all important matters. Till then I hope you will remain in this house. I am too great an invalid to talk much to you, but my son will do his best to make amends for my deficiencies.”On this Master Richard went up and whispered something in his father’s ear.“Will one or two do?” I heard the brigadier ask.“No, no, father, do it handsomely. To be sure, he ran no risk, but it was the way he did it; and I rather think he looks for some remuneration.”On this the brigadier shuffled off his chair, and opening his writing-desk, took out a bank note.“Here, my friend,” he said to old Dick, “I should like to pay you for the loss of time, and the expense you have been put to, for this youngster, so accept these few pounds. I hope to show my sense of what you have done, more heartily by-and-by.”I saw old Dick’s eyes sparkle. He had probably expected a sovereign at the outside.“Jack,” he whispered to me, as we left the room, “you are in luck; for, if he pays me five pounds for just picking that young shrimp out of the water, he will certainly do a good deal more for you who saved his life.”Master Richard soon overtook us, and then insisted on showing us over the house—into the drawing-room, and dining-room, and breakfast-parlour, and into several of the bedrooms, then down into the servants’ hall. I had never been in such a fine house in my life before. And then he took us out into the garden, and walked us all round, showing us the fruit-trees in blossom, and the beautiful flowers.“My mamma will be home soon,” he observed, “and my two sisters. I want her to see the brigadier first, because, you see, although it was a very fine thing in you to pick me out of the water, I had no business to tumble into it, or, indeed, to be in a boat at all. The brigadier did not see that, but she will. She keeps us all precious strict, I can tell you. I have several brothers—the eldest is in the army, and two are away at school. I have not quite settled what I am going to be. I should not object to go into the navy, but then I should like to be made an admiral or a post-captain at once. I have no particular taste for the army, and as for the law, or several other things, I would as soon dig potatoes, or go shrimping; and thus, you see, the navy is the only profession likely to suit me, or I am likely to suit.”Old Dick cocked his eye, as he heard young master’s remarks.“I rather think he must be changed a bit before he is suited to the navy, however much he may think the navy will suit him; and there I have an idea he will be pretty considerably mistaken,” he whispered to me.The young gentleman had evidently caught the habit of a pompous style of speaking from Mrs Brigadier, as I afterwards discovered. It sounded somewhat ridiculous, especially from the mouth of so small a chap. I had reason to suspect that he now and then, too, made curious mistakes; though of course, not very well able to detect them myself.At last an open carriage drove up to the door, with a curly-wigged coachman on the box, and two dark-skinned servants standing behind, dressed like the one who had opened the door. Inside was a very tall lady, sitting bolt upright, with two considerably smaller young ladies opposite to her. Young master told old Dick and me not to make any noise, lest she should see us, as we were watching their arrival through the shrubbery. She got out with a dignified air, resting on one of the black servants, and strode into the house. The two young ladies followed demurely in her wake. She was exactly what I should have expected the brigadier to be, only she wore petticoats, and a bonnet instead of a cocked hat. In a short time the servant appeared, and summoned young master into the house. He quickly appeared, and beckoned us from a window to come in. I did not see the meeting of the mother and son, but I know when I entered she stretched out her arms, and gave me a kiss on the brow.“You have rendered me an essential service, young lad,” she exclaimed, in a voice well calculated to hail the maintop in a gale at sea, or to shout “Advance!” at the head of a regiment in action. “I wish to show my gratitude, but how can I do so?”“And you—” and she looked towards old Dick, who drew back; and I really heard him say—“Oh, don’t!”He thought she was going to salute him as she had me.“You took them into your boat; you preserved them from catching cold: I am grateful—very grateful!” and I saw her fumble in the deep recesses of a side-pocket.“My dear,” whispered the brigadier, “I have already bestowed a pecuniary recompense.”“You have!” she said turning round sharply, “without consulting me?”This was said in an intended low voice, but I heard it.“Well,” she said, “money cannot repay you for the service you have performed. But you have found your way to this house. Come again to-morrow, and by that time I will have considered how I can best show my gratitude.”“Thank you, marm!” answered old Dick, evidently very glad to get away. “Shall I take Jack with me? he lives over on this side, and I can drop him at his home as I go back to Gosport.”“If you so think fit, my friend,” answered Mrs Brigadier; “and if the boy—by-the-by, what is your name?” she asked.“Jack Junker,” I replied; and I told her that my father was a sergeant.“Jack Junker? Yes, if you wish to go, Jack,” she answered. “I also then shall have time to consider how I can best express my gratitude. Farewell?”She put out her hand, and shook old Dick’s; but I thought, as she spoke to me, her manner was considerably colder than it had been at first. Old Dick and I left the room, and the door was closed behind us.“I doubt her,” whispered old Dick to me. “I am glad the old gentleman, however, gave me the five pounds. It was handsome in him. But Jack, my boy, I suspect you will have to rest satisfied with having saved the life of a fellow-creature; though, as you were the means of my gaining this, I think I must hand over half to you, as your share.”To this, of course, I would not consent; and somewhat disappointed, perhaps, I accompanied my old friend through the hall, having the honour of being salaamed to most profoundly by the dark-skinned domestics. We walked slowly, and had not got very far, when I heard footsteps coming behind us. Turning round, I saw Master Richard running with all his might.“Here, Jack?” he said, “the Brigadier gave me this, and told me to hand it over to you. My mother was out of the room at the time, so do not say anything about it to her. She will show you her gratitude in some other way. I do not mean to say it is as much as I should like to have offered you; but here, be quick I put it into your pocket, or we may be seen from the house.”“Don’t be a fool, Jack!” said old Dick, seeing I hesitated. “It’s justly yours, boy, and let them settle the matter as they think best.”“Good-bye, Jack!” said young master, shaking me by the hand. “Good-bye!” he added, taking old Dick’s rough paw. “We are a curious set; but I say, do not refuse anything you can get. If you want any interest exerted, then boldly ask my mother. She will do that in a way which overcomes all difficulties. If she wanted to make me Archbishop of Canterbury, she would work away till she had done it, if she happened to live long enough.”Old Dick dropped me at my home. There was a tremendous noise going on, created by my stepmother’s children. She was crying out and imploring them to be quiet, and they were squabbling and crying and abusing each other. The big ones had appropriated the little ones’ toys, or other property, and all the poor woman could do they would not restore the articles, while the young ones were crying to get them back, every now and then making a rush at their bigger brothers and sisters, and getting a box on the ear in return. My appearance rather increased than quelled the commotion. Tommy, the biggest, asked me in a threatening way where I had been, and of course I was not going to answer him; so he doubled his fist, and, had I not stood on my guard, he would certainly have hit me, but he thought better of it. Just at that moment my father returned off duty, full of my performances, of which old Dick had told him all particulars. He was very indignant with Tom.“Is this the way, you young ruffian, you treat a brave lad who has been saving the life of a fellow-creature, and that fellow-creature the son of a brigadier? Do you know what a brigadier is, you young jackanapes, eh?” he exclaimed, giving way for once to anger, of which he was very seldom guilty. His remarks silenced all the party, who, of course, were then eager enough to learn what I had done and what had happened. My poor stepmother embraced me warmly, and tears fell from her eyes as she glanced round on her own disorderly offspring. For the rest of the evening they behaved better.My father was well pleased on hearing of the brigadier’s gift, for the purse contained ten sovereigns.“It’s very liberal,” he said; “for though I suppose he thinks his son’s life worth more than that, yet, from what you tell me, no doubt it is as much as he dared to give; yet I can tell you, from what I have heard, that that shrivelled-up yellow-faced old fellow was as plucky an officer as ever saw service.”My father would not let me go back to the Bungalow.“You have done your duty, Jack, and you have received a present, which you must lay by for a rainy day; and if the brigadier’s lady wants to show her maternal gratitude, it’s her business to find you out.”I thought probably that young master would take care to see something more of me. I liked his manner; for although there was a good deal of seeming bombast and pretension about him, I had an idea he was sterling at bottom—a plucky little chap, just as his father had been. This circumstance had in no way put aside my wish to go to sea. I kept talking about it whenever I had an opportunity.“I see how it is,” sighed my father; “you are right, Jack. The way Tom stood up to you just now showed me that your old home is not as pleasant as it should be.”“Then you will let me go, will you not, father?” I said.The fact was, it was a very different thing for him to talk about letting me go, and to ship me off. He hummed and hesitated, and said he thought I had better wait till I was a year older, or till he himself was sent to sea.“Oh, but that may not be for a long time, father; and what should I do with myself till then?” I exclaimed.“I am not quite so sure that it will be a long time, Jack,” he answered, with a sigh.“Once upon a time my only wish was to remain on shore, but times are changed. I don’t want to say a word against my present wife. She is a good woman; an excellent woman; but somehow or other she does not manage to keep the house as quiet as it might be; and those children of hers are terribly unlicked cubs.”I agreed with him there. “They want to be under the management of Mrs Brigadier for a few months,” I observed; “I rather think that she would not be long in bringing them into order.”“You are right, Jack. But I have seen her, and with all her perfections, I would not swop my present wife with her on any account.” My father gave a shudder. “Well, Jack,” he said, “there’s an old friend of mine—Sergeant Turbot—whose company has been appointed to theRoarer, fitting out for the East India Station, alongside the Topaze sheer hulk.”“Well, father,” I said, “though I should like to go with you, yet I fancy that ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush;’ and, if you will let me, I’ll go with Sergeant Turbot. He will look after me and keep me out of mischief, and stand my friend, if I want one. I should not like to lose the opportunity.”“Well, well, I see how it is, home is too hot for you,” sighed my poor father. “To-morrow morning, please Heaven! I will take you on board, and see what Turbot has to say to the matter. If he’s agreeable, why there won’t be much difficulty in getting you rated as one of the boys aboard.”My father was as good as his word, and at an early hour the next morning we embarked in a wherry, and pulled alongside theRoarer. When I got on board, and while standing with my father waiting for Sergeant Turbot, who was on duty, it seemed to me as if every man and boy in the ship had gone stark staring mad, rushing and rolling about, tumbling over each other, shouting and bawling at the top of their voices. Presently I heard a ferocious-looking hairy monster of a man growl out, in a voice loud enough to wake a dozen midshipmen, however fast asleep they might have been, “Up all steerage hammocks?” the shrill sound of his whistle piercing through my head. I had been on board men-of-war before when there was no duty going on, and all was quiet and in order. If I had not had hold of my father’s hand, I think I should have gone down the side again into the wherry. In reality, however, it was only Ned Rawlings performing an ordinary piece of morning duty—as gentle and tender-hearted a fellow as ever stepped, in spite of his gruff voice and hairy face, and the “cat” he had sometimes to wield. I have a notion, that every time he laid on that cat, he felt it as acutely as the culprit on whom it was deservedly inflicted. I still felt something like a fish in a tub, trying to escape the dangers I supposed surrounded me, when Sergeant Turbot came along the main deck. He laughed heartily, till his fat sides shook again, when he saw my affrighted countenance, and my father told him I could not make out the cause of all the uproar.“Why, the men are pretty quiet,” he observed; “they’re pretty much like this at all times, except when they’re sleeping, or at mess, or at quarters.”My father told him our object.“That I will, Junker,” he observed at once. “I am sure you would look after a boy of mine if I had one, and I will look after yours. I cannot teach him much seamanship, but I’ll give a hint to those who can, and I’ll look after him, and see that he gets into no mischief, as long as I am in the ship. We are going out to a somewhat trying climate though, and men of my figure are apt to suffer, I am told.”He cast a momentary glance over himself. It was fortunate for Sergeant Turbot that he was a marine, and still more that he had not to go aloft. On board ship he could do his duty admirably, but on shore his figure was decidedly against him. He was very stout. It was lucky for me that he was so, for I could always find him when I wanted him. At first, I thought that I could run away from him, if desirable; but in that respect I was mistaken, for he could send after me, and have me back pretty quickly. All being arranged, the sergeant undertook to speak to the first-lieutenant; and he had me and my father up, and asking him a few questions, told him to fill up different papers, which he did forthwith, and I was regularly entered as a boy on board theRoarer.
We crossed the water to Gosport, and took our way along the road which led past the small row in which we lived. I inquired on my way of old Dick, if he knew who the young gentleman’s father was.
“They say he’s a nabob,” answered old Dick, “but what a nabob is, I’m sure I don’t know, except that he’s a yellow-faced gentleman, with lots of money, and always complaining of his liver.”
Having received this lucid explanation to my question, I rejoined my young companion. I thought I might learn more about the matter from him.
“They say your father is a nabob; is he?” I asked.
“A nabob? No,” he answered. “He is a great deal more important person—he is a brigadier; at least he was in India, and mamma always speaks of him as the Brigadier, and people always talk of her as Mrs Brigadier.”
“Then I suppose you are the young Brigadier?” I said, very naturally.
“No, indeed, I am not,” he answered. “But there is the house. And, I say, I am very much obliged to you, remember, for what you have done for me. I see you are up to joking; but let me advise you not to come any of your jokes over my father, or mamma either. Indeed, you had better rather try it with him than with her. You would think twice before you ever made the attempt again.”
Passing through an iron gateway, we proceeded up to the house, which was some little way from the road. It was low, with a broad verandah round it, and I found was known as Chuttawunga Bungalow. I saw the name on the side-post of the gateway. A tall, dark-skinned man, dressed in white, a broad-rimmed cap on his head, came to the door. He seemed rather doubtful as to admitting old Dick and me.
“Here, Chetta, let us in at once!” exclaimed the young gentleman in an authoritative tone. “These are my friends. They have rendered me an essential service. The boy saved my life when I was drowning, and the old man pulled us both out of the water, when we could not hold on much longer. Where is my papa? And, I say, Chetta, do not go and tell Mrs Brigadier just yet. I would rather have the matter over with one of them first.”
I felt rather awe-struck at having to go into the presence of so great a man, for I had pictured him as a tall, ferocious-looking personage, with a huge moustache and a military air and manner. Great was my astonishment when I saw, seated in an arm-chair, cross-legged, with one foot resting on a foot-stool, a small man with yellow hair, thin cheeks, and habited in a silk dressing-gown and nankeen trousers.
“Why, Richard Alfred Chesterton!” he exclaimed in a sharp, querulous tone, “where have you been all this time? It is as well your mother had to go out, or she would have been thrown into a state of great alarm; and something else, I suspect, too,” he said, in a lower tone.
“Well, papa,” answered Richard, when the brigadier had ceased speaking, “you would not address me harshly, if you knew how very nearly you were having the misery of losing me altogether. It is a long story, so I will not now enter into details. It will be sufficient for you to know that I was in a boat, and that out of that boat I fell into the dangerous current of the harbour; and had it not been for the bravery and gallantry of this young lad whom I have brought with me, I should have been at this moment food for the fish in the Solent sea, or a fit subject for a coroner’s inquest, had my body been discovered.”
The brigadier opened his grey eyes wider and wider, as the boy continued speaking.
“And, papa, we must not forget this old boatman, too, who pulled the boy and me—what’s your name? Ay; Jack Junker—out of the water.” Thus Master Dicky ran on.
“Well, my boy, I am thankful to see you safe, and I wish to express my gratitude to the brave lad, Jack Junker, who saved your life, and to the old man who pulled you out of the water. My friends, I must consult Mrs Brigadier Plumb, how I can best show you my gratitude. I always do consult her on all important matters. Till then I hope you will remain in this house. I am too great an invalid to talk much to you, but my son will do his best to make amends for my deficiencies.”
On this Master Richard went up and whispered something in his father’s ear.
“Will one or two do?” I heard the brigadier ask.
“No, no, father, do it handsomely. To be sure, he ran no risk, but it was the way he did it; and I rather think he looks for some remuneration.”
On this the brigadier shuffled off his chair, and opening his writing-desk, took out a bank note.
“Here, my friend,” he said to old Dick, “I should like to pay you for the loss of time, and the expense you have been put to, for this youngster, so accept these few pounds. I hope to show my sense of what you have done, more heartily by-and-by.”
I saw old Dick’s eyes sparkle. He had probably expected a sovereign at the outside.
“Jack,” he whispered to me, as we left the room, “you are in luck; for, if he pays me five pounds for just picking that young shrimp out of the water, he will certainly do a good deal more for you who saved his life.”
Master Richard soon overtook us, and then insisted on showing us over the house—into the drawing-room, and dining-room, and breakfast-parlour, and into several of the bedrooms, then down into the servants’ hall. I had never been in such a fine house in my life before. And then he took us out into the garden, and walked us all round, showing us the fruit-trees in blossom, and the beautiful flowers.
“My mamma will be home soon,” he observed, “and my two sisters. I want her to see the brigadier first, because, you see, although it was a very fine thing in you to pick me out of the water, I had no business to tumble into it, or, indeed, to be in a boat at all. The brigadier did not see that, but she will. She keeps us all precious strict, I can tell you. I have several brothers—the eldest is in the army, and two are away at school. I have not quite settled what I am going to be. I should not object to go into the navy, but then I should like to be made an admiral or a post-captain at once. I have no particular taste for the army, and as for the law, or several other things, I would as soon dig potatoes, or go shrimping; and thus, you see, the navy is the only profession likely to suit me, or I am likely to suit.”
Old Dick cocked his eye, as he heard young master’s remarks.
“I rather think he must be changed a bit before he is suited to the navy, however much he may think the navy will suit him; and there I have an idea he will be pretty considerably mistaken,” he whispered to me.
The young gentleman had evidently caught the habit of a pompous style of speaking from Mrs Brigadier, as I afterwards discovered. It sounded somewhat ridiculous, especially from the mouth of so small a chap. I had reason to suspect that he now and then, too, made curious mistakes; though of course, not very well able to detect them myself.
At last an open carriage drove up to the door, with a curly-wigged coachman on the box, and two dark-skinned servants standing behind, dressed like the one who had opened the door. Inside was a very tall lady, sitting bolt upright, with two considerably smaller young ladies opposite to her. Young master told old Dick and me not to make any noise, lest she should see us, as we were watching their arrival through the shrubbery. She got out with a dignified air, resting on one of the black servants, and strode into the house. The two young ladies followed demurely in her wake. She was exactly what I should have expected the brigadier to be, only she wore petticoats, and a bonnet instead of a cocked hat. In a short time the servant appeared, and summoned young master into the house. He quickly appeared, and beckoned us from a window to come in. I did not see the meeting of the mother and son, but I know when I entered she stretched out her arms, and gave me a kiss on the brow.
“You have rendered me an essential service, young lad,” she exclaimed, in a voice well calculated to hail the maintop in a gale at sea, or to shout “Advance!” at the head of a regiment in action. “I wish to show my gratitude, but how can I do so?”
“And you—” and she looked towards old Dick, who drew back; and I really heard him say—
“Oh, don’t!”
He thought she was going to salute him as she had me.
“You took them into your boat; you preserved them from catching cold: I am grateful—very grateful!” and I saw her fumble in the deep recesses of a side-pocket.
“My dear,” whispered the brigadier, “I have already bestowed a pecuniary recompense.”
“You have!” she said turning round sharply, “without consulting me?”
This was said in an intended low voice, but I heard it.
“Well,” she said, “money cannot repay you for the service you have performed. But you have found your way to this house. Come again to-morrow, and by that time I will have considered how I can best show my gratitude.”
“Thank you, marm!” answered old Dick, evidently very glad to get away. “Shall I take Jack with me? he lives over on this side, and I can drop him at his home as I go back to Gosport.”
“If you so think fit, my friend,” answered Mrs Brigadier; “and if the boy—by-the-by, what is your name?” she asked.
“Jack Junker,” I replied; and I told her that my father was a sergeant.
“Jack Junker? Yes, if you wish to go, Jack,” she answered. “I also then shall have time to consider how I can best express my gratitude. Farewell?”
She put out her hand, and shook old Dick’s; but I thought, as she spoke to me, her manner was considerably colder than it had been at first. Old Dick and I left the room, and the door was closed behind us.
“I doubt her,” whispered old Dick to me. “I am glad the old gentleman, however, gave me the five pounds. It was handsome in him. But Jack, my boy, I suspect you will have to rest satisfied with having saved the life of a fellow-creature; though, as you were the means of my gaining this, I think I must hand over half to you, as your share.”
To this, of course, I would not consent; and somewhat disappointed, perhaps, I accompanied my old friend through the hall, having the honour of being salaamed to most profoundly by the dark-skinned domestics. We walked slowly, and had not got very far, when I heard footsteps coming behind us. Turning round, I saw Master Richard running with all his might.
“Here, Jack?” he said, “the Brigadier gave me this, and told me to hand it over to you. My mother was out of the room at the time, so do not say anything about it to her. She will show you her gratitude in some other way. I do not mean to say it is as much as I should like to have offered you; but here, be quick I put it into your pocket, or we may be seen from the house.”
“Don’t be a fool, Jack!” said old Dick, seeing I hesitated. “It’s justly yours, boy, and let them settle the matter as they think best.”
“Good-bye, Jack!” said young master, shaking me by the hand. “Good-bye!” he added, taking old Dick’s rough paw. “We are a curious set; but I say, do not refuse anything you can get. If you want any interest exerted, then boldly ask my mother. She will do that in a way which overcomes all difficulties. If she wanted to make me Archbishop of Canterbury, she would work away till she had done it, if she happened to live long enough.”
Old Dick dropped me at my home. There was a tremendous noise going on, created by my stepmother’s children. She was crying out and imploring them to be quiet, and they were squabbling and crying and abusing each other. The big ones had appropriated the little ones’ toys, or other property, and all the poor woman could do they would not restore the articles, while the young ones were crying to get them back, every now and then making a rush at their bigger brothers and sisters, and getting a box on the ear in return. My appearance rather increased than quelled the commotion. Tommy, the biggest, asked me in a threatening way where I had been, and of course I was not going to answer him; so he doubled his fist, and, had I not stood on my guard, he would certainly have hit me, but he thought better of it. Just at that moment my father returned off duty, full of my performances, of which old Dick had told him all particulars. He was very indignant with Tom.
“Is this the way, you young ruffian, you treat a brave lad who has been saving the life of a fellow-creature, and that fellow-creature the son of a brigadier? Do you know what a brigadier is, you young jackanapes, eh?” he exclaimed, giving way for once to anger, of which he was very seldom guilty. His remarks silenced all the party, who, of course, were then eager enough to learn what I had done and what had happened. My poor stepmother embraced me warmly, and tears fell from her eyes as she glanced round on her own disorderly offspring. For the rest of the evening they behaved better.
My father was well pleased on hearing of the brigadier’s gift, for the purse contained ten sovereigns.
“It’s very liberal,” he said; “for though I suppose he thinks his son’s life worth more than that, yet, from what you tell me, no doubt it is as much as he dared to give; yet I can tell you, from what I have heard, that that shrivelled-up yellow-faced old fellow was as plucky an officer as ever saw service.”
My father would not let me go back to the Bungalow.
“You have done your duty, Jack, and you have received a present, which you must lay by for a rainy day; and if the brigadier’s lady wants to show her maternal gratitude, it’s her business to find you out.”
I thought probably that young master would take care to see something more of me. I liked his manner; for although there was a good deal of seeming bombast and pretension about him, I had an idea he was sterling at bottom—a plucky little chap, just as his father had been. This circumstance had in no way put aside my wish to go to sea. I kept talking about it whenever I had an opportunity.
“I see how it is,” sighed my father; “you are right, Jack. The way Tom stood up to you just now showed me that your old home is not as pleasant as it should be.”
“Then you will let me go, will you not, father?” I said.
The fact was, it was a very different thing for him to talk about letting me go, and to ship me off. He hummed and hesitated, and said he thought I had better wait till I was a year older, or till he himself was sent to sea.
“Oh, but that may not be for a long time, father; and what should I do with myself till then?” I exclaimed.
“I am not quite so sure that it will be a long time, Jack,” he answered, with a sigh.
“Once upon a time my only wish was to remain on shore, but times are changed. I don’t want to say a word against my present wife. She is a good woman; an excellent woman; but somehow or other she does not manage to keep the house as quiet as it might be; and those children of hers are terribly unlicked cubs.”
I agreed with him there. “They want to be under the management of Mrs Brigadier for a few months,” I observed; “I rather think that she would not be long in bringing them into order.”
“You are right, Jack. But I have seen her, and with all her perfections, I would not swop my present wife with her on any account.” My father gave a shudder. “Well, Jack,” he said, “there’s an old friend of mine—Sergeant Turbot—whose company has been appointed to theRoarer, fitting out for the East India Station, alongside the Topaze sheer hulk.”
“Well, father,” I said, “though I should like to go with you, yet I fancy that ‘a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush;’ and, if you will let me, I’ll go with Sergeant Turbot. He will look after me and keep me out of mischief, and stand my friend, if I want one. I should not like to lose the opportunity.”
“Well, well, I see how it is, home is too hot for you,” sighed my poor father. “To-morrow morning, please Heaven! I will take you on board, and see what Turbot has to say to the matter. If he’s agreeable, why there won’t be much difficulty in getting you rated as one of the boys aboard.”
My father was as good as his word, and at an early hour the next morning we embarked in a wherry, and pulled alongside theRoarer. When I got on board, and while standing with my father waiting for Sergeant Turbot, who was on duty, it seemed to me as if every man and boy in the ship had gone stark staring mad, rushing and rolling about, tumbling over each other, shouting and bawling at the top of their voices. Presently I heard a ferocious-looking hairy monster of a man growl out, in a voice loud enough to wake a dozen midshipmen, however fast asleep they might have been, “Up all steerage hammocks?” the shrill sound of his whistle piercing through my head. I had been on board men-of-war before when there was no duty going on, and all was quiet and in order. If I had not had hold of my father’s hand, I think I should have gone down the side again into the wherry. In reality, however, it was only Ned Rawlings performing an ordinary piece of morning duty—as gentle and tender-hearted a fellow as ever stepped, in spite of his gruff voice and hairy face, and the “cat” he had sometimes to wield. I have a notion, that every time he laid on that cat, he felt it as acutely as the culprit on whom it was deservedly inflicted. I still felt something like a fish in a tub, trying to escape the dangers I supposed surrounded me, when Sergeant Turbot came along the main deck. He laughed heartily, till his fat sides shook again, when he saw my affrighted countenance, and my father told him I could not make out the cause of all the uproar.
“Why, the men are pretty quiet,” he observed; “they’re pretty much like this at all times, except when they’re sleeping, or at mess, or at quarters.”
My father told him our object.
“That I will, Junker,” he observed at once. “I am sure you would look after a boy of mine if I had one, and I will look after yours. I cannot teach him much seamanship, but I’ll give a hint to those who can, and I’ll look after him, and see that he gets into no mischief, as long as I am in the ship. We are going out to a somewhat trying climate though, and men of my figure are apt to suffer, I am told.”
He cast a momentary glance over himself. It was fortunate for Sergeant Turbot that he was a marine, and still more that he had not to go aloft. On board ship he could do his duty admirably, but on shore his figure was decidedly against him. He was very stout. It was lucky for me that he was so, for I could always find him when I wanted him. At first, I thought that I could run away from him, if desirable; but in that respect I was mistaken, for he could send after me, and have me back pretty quickly. All being arranged, the sergeant undertook to speak to the first-lieutenant; and he had me and my father up, and asking him a few questions, told him to fill up different papers, which he did forthwith, and I was regularly entered as a boy on board theRoarer.