Chapter Twenty One.Le Narcisse.My first act on regaining the cutter was to rouse Bob and the boy who officiated as cook on board the “Mouette;” with the object of obtaining from the former any news he might have to impart, and from the latter as substantial a breakfast as the resources of the cutter would permit.I listened to Bob’s story while engaged upon the highly necessary operation of cleansing my person and encasing it once more in “the uniform proper to my rank.” Bobby had very little to tell me; and that little was by no means reassuring. It appeared that a despatch-boat had arrived from Malta on the previous day bringing letters for the fleet; and, among the rest, there had been a couple of epistles for me. Bob had gone on board the “Juno” for whatever letters there might be for the cutter’s crew, and had been ordered by the skipper to request my presence on board. Thereupon master Bob had presented my note informing the skipper of my proposed expedition. Instead of expressing his gratification at my zeal, as Bobby had fully expected he would, it appeared that the skipper had exhibited a very considerable amount of irritation; finally ordering friend Robert somewhat peremptorily back to the cutter, with instructions to send me without fail on board the “Juno” immediately on my return,if(which the skipper seemed to consider highly improbable) I ever succeeded in returning at all.By the time that Summers had brought his story to a close I was ready for the breakfast which meantime had been preparing; and as it was still much too early to present myself before Captain Hood (who seldom appeared before eight bells) I sat down to the meal, with—it must be confessed—a somewhat diminished appetite; hastily skimming through my letters as I munched away at the weevily biscuits. There were two; one from my dear old dad, and one from Sir Peregrine. There was nothing of very special interest in either; my father’s epistle dealing chiefly with a few items of home gossip, such as that farmer Giles of the Glebe had met with an accident in the hunting-field, his colt falling with him and breaking the worthy farmer’s leg—doctor pronounced it a compound fracture; that the wife of Lightfoot, the gamekeeper, had presented her husband with twins once more—two girls this time; mother and twins doing well; that Old Jane Martin had been laid up all the winter with rheumatism, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera; and that finally, all at home were enjoying excellent health, and would be glad if I could find time to write to them a little more frequently. My great-uncle, Sir Peregrine, was not nearly so voluminous in his correspondence as my father—sailors are not as a rule very good correspondents—what he had to say was said in as few words as possible. Two pages of note-paper sufficed the worthy admiral to inform me that he had been intensely gratified at the terms in which my name had been mentioned in connexion with the storming of the Convention Redoubt, and that he was writing per same mail to “his friend Hood” (the admiral, not the captain), asking him to give me as many opportunities as he could of distinguishing myself—“or of getting knocked on the head,” thought I; and that if I needed any cash my drafts upon him would be duly honoured. Also, that he had not been out much during the winter, his old enemy the gout having attacked him so pertinaciously that he had been confined to the house for weeks at a time, moored “stem and stern” before the library fire, like a prison-hulk in Portsmouth Harbour!My letters and my breakfast were got through in about the same time; and as Bob and I emerged from our tiny cabin on to the cutter’s narrow deck the ship’s bells were musically chiming out the eight strokes which proclaimed the end of one watch and the commencement of another. The skipper would, I knew, be stirring by this time, so I jumped into the dinghy, and proceeded on board the frigate.As I stepped in on the “Juno’s” deck, Captain Hood made his appearance at the cabin-door. Touching my hat, I went up and reported myself.“Good morning, Mr Chester,” observed he affably; “I am very glad to see you have come safely out of your escapade. But what do you mean, sir,” (assuming a tone of severity), “by presuming to undertake such an expedition without asking and obtaining permission? It is a manifest breach of discipline, and, as such, must be punished. I placed you in charge of the cutter as a kind of promotion, and by way of reward for your exemplary conduct generally.NowI shall be compelled to deprive you of your command. You will return forthwith to your duty on board the frigate, sir.”“Ay, ay, sir,” I responded, considerably crestfallen. “I am extremely sorry to have incurred your displeasure, sir, I am sure. Iwouldhave asked permission, sir, but I was afraid that, after poor Mr Tupper’s death, it would be refused.”“Very well, Mr Chester. I have no doubt youmeantwell, and therefore I have been lenient in the punishment which your breach of discipline demanded. You have been reprimanded on the quarter-deck, sir, and so we will say nothing more about it. Only I must impress upon you the necessity of being careful to avoid a repetition of the offence. Now come into the cabin and have some breakfast with me, and you can then tell us how you fared among the Frenchmen. If you have not already breakfasted, Mr Annesley,” (to the first lieutenant, who at this moment approached), “I shall be glad to have the pleasure of your company.”So saying, the skipper turned on his heel, and led the way into the cabin, where we found the table well provided with a variety of good things highly provocative of appetite in a midshipman, even though he might have partaken of one breakfast already within an hour.As soon as we had seated ourselves, and were supplied from the stock of delicacies before us,—“Now,” said the skipper, “overhaul your log, Mr Chester, and let us hear how you managed to conduct your difficult enterprise. That young scamp, Summers, told me all about your gallant capture,” (with just the faintest possible ironical emphasis on the wordgallant) “of the unfortunate fishermen, so you may as well commence at the point where you left the cutter in their boat.”In obedience to this command I at once proceeded with my story, giving a detailed account of everything that had happened from the time of leaving the cutter to the moment of my return.My auditors evinced the greatest interest in my narration, and were mightily tickled when I described the manner in which I had been relieved of my fish by the condescending cook and the friendly corporal. Their interest increased when I described my imprisonment in and the mode of escape from my dungeon; and when I had finished they both congratulated me very heartily upon what Captain Hood called “the resolution and courage” which I had exhibited. “It was a remarkably narrow squeak, Mr Chester,” remarked the skipper, “and I hope it will be a warning to you not to unnecessarily expose yourself to danger for the future. When duty calls it is of course quite another thing; and I am perfectly willing to give you credit for a desire in the present instance to perform a very important service. I have already reprimanded you for the breach of discipline which you committed in undertaking this expedition without first obtaining leave; let me now express my satisfaction with the way in which—apart from that—you have conducted yourself. You have succeeded in obtaining information which, I believe, will be of great value to the admiral, and I will endeavour so to represent your conduct to him as that he shall view it in a favourable light. Now, if you have finished breakfast, you had better go on board the cutter and transfer your chest and hammock to the frigate, and by-and-by I will take you on board the flag-ship and introduce you to the admiral, when you can make your report.”Accepting this as a hint to be off about my business, I rose, and making my bow, left the cabin.On reaching the deck I found that the whole of the inmates of the midshipmen’s berth, already apprised by the loquacious Bob of my escapade, were anxiously awaiting my reappearance, to learn all particulars, including the result of my private interview with the skipper. Briefly informing them, however, that I had been ordered to rejoin the frigate, and postponing all further information until a more convenient season, I hurried down over the side, and stepping into the cockleshell of a dinghy pulled on board the “Mouette,” where master Bob received my narration with a show of sympathy which thinly veiled his exultation at being left in sole command of the cutter.Somehow I did not greatly regret the change. I was beginning to tire of the cramped accommodation on board the “Mouette;” and although I had been formally reprimanded for my “breach of discipline” I was acute enough to see that my conduct had, after all, made a favourable impression upon the skipper, and that I had, on the whole, risen, rather than fallen, in his estimation.Hurriedly bundling my few belongings together and stowing them away in the boat, I shook hands with Bob, and was soon once more on board the “Juno.”I had barely time to trim myself up a bit, when a message was brought me to the effect that the skipper’s gig was alongside, and only waited my presence on board to shove off for the admiral’s ship.The “Victory” was lying at no great distance from us, and we were soon alongside.I followed the skipper up the side-ladder, and found myself in the presence of the admiral, who was taking a constitutional up and down the quarter-deck in company with Sir Hyde Parker and Vice-Admiral Hotham from the “Britannia.”Captain Hood immediately joined company (I remaining discreetly in the background, in accordance with previous instructions), and in the course of a minute or two the party, no doubt in consequence of a suggestion from the skipper, retired to the cabin.In about twenty minutes afterwards I was sent for.I entered the cabin with, I must confess, some slight degree of trepidation; for the admiral was a very queer sort of man in some respects, and one never knew in what light he would be likely to view such an exploit as mine. I had known of his having disrated more than one luckless mid for a far less heinous offence than so serious a breach of discipline as that of which I had been guilty; and disrating was the one thing which presented itself to me as more objectionable than anything else in the shape of punishment—except flogging; but I built my hopes upon the skipper’s good offices; and the result showed that I had no grounds for fear.On entering, I was invited to take a chair which Lord Hood pointed out, and then, waiting until the cabin-door was shut, he rested his elbows on the table, and supporting his chin upon his hands, looked across at me and said—“Your captain informs me, young gentleman, that, understanding I was anxious to obtain information respecting the condition of the enemy in Bastia, you voluntarily undertook a most hazardous journey thither, and were enabled, during your stay in the town, to make observations of considerable value. I should like to hear from your own lips a detailed narrative of the adventure.”Thus commanded, I once more told my story, Lord Hood interrupting me from time to time to jot down memoranda in his note-book. When I had concluded my narration the admiral thanked me heartily for the “very important service” which I had rendered, and I was also complimented by my audience upon “the skill and intrepidity” with which I had carried out the reconnoissance. Taking these last remarks as a polite intimation that the interview was at an end, I bowed and withdrew. A few minutes afterwards the admiral’s boat was ordered, and as soon as she was manned, Lord Hood, Sir Hyde Parker, and the skipper got into her, and pulled away for the British lines on shore—Captain Hood directing me, as he passed down the side, to take his gig back to the frigate.On the following day a flag of truce was sent into the town negotiations were opened, and on the 22nd of May, 1794, the garrison capitulated on very favourable terms to themselves.From this date I find nothing in my diary worthy of remark until we come to the reduction of Calvi on the 10th of August following. I was at the time recovering from an attack of low fever, and had been off duty for some four or five weeks.On the evening of the capture I was walking slowly up and down the poop, when Captain Hood came up the poop-ladder and very kindly inquired after my health. I replied that I was getting rapidly stronger, and should be very glad when the doctor would allow me to return to duty.“Ah! yes,” said he, “I daresay you will. Very irksome to be idling about the decks all day. I should think change of air would do you good.”“I believe it would, sir,” I replied, thinking from his manner of speaking that he had a proposal of some sort to make.“Yes, no doubt about it,” returned the skipper. “And you would like it? Then be so kind as to find Mr Malcolm,” (the surgeon), “and ask him to step into my cabin for a moment, if he is disengaged.”Certain now that there was something in the wind, I lost no time in hunting up the worthy medico and delivering the skipper’s message, which I supplemented by a request upon my own account, that if any proposal were made to send me away upon another expedition, the doctor would kindly throw no difficulties in the way.To which the canny Scotchman replied,—“Before makin’ any sic a promise, I’ll just bide a wee and speir a few particulars anent the nature o’ the said expedition, laddie. If it’s o’ a nature to prove benefecial to your health—why then I’m no saying but what I may be induced to do what I can to forward your views; but no’ itherwise.”I watched him into the cabin, and then “stood off and on” outside upon the quarter-deck, awaiting his reappearance.I had not long to wait. In less than five minutes he came out upon the quarter-deck, and seeing me, beckoned me to approach.“It’s a’ right, laddie,” said he, “just gang ben til him,”—pointing to the cabin—“and tak’ your instructions. It’s just the vera thing I wad hae prescribed for you had it been possible to hae had the prescription mad’ up. But ye’ll no gang oot o’ the ship until ye hae been to me for a wee drappie pheesic ye maun tak’ along wi’ ye, d’ye mind?”I promised the kind-hearted old fellow I would be sure to do his bidding and then joyously entered the cabin.“Sit down, Mr Chester,” said the skipper, when I made my appearance. I took the chair which he had indicated, and he then proceeded,—“The admiral has some important despatches to send away, which he is anxious should reach England as speedily as possible. The ‘Vigilant’ will take them hence to Gibraltar, and the admiral there will be requested to despatch a frigate with them for the rest of the journey, as Lord Hood thinks the ‘Vigilant’ scarcely fit to cross the Bay of Biscay. The only question has been who to send with them, as there is still a great deal to be done before the fleet can leave the island, and there are no officers to spare. Lord Hood mentioned the matter to me, and I immediately thought of you. You will have nothing to do but simply navigate the craft to Gibraltar, which, I learn, you are quite able to do; and it will be a pleasant change for you—beneficial, too, Malcolm says. There is only one thing I feel called upon to suggest to you, and that is—caution. Recollect that you are a despatch-boat, not a cruiser; and letnothingwhich you can possibly avoid tempt you to delay the delivery of the despatches or endanger their safety. You are very young for such a trust, I know; but you seem to have as much tact and discretion as a good many of your seniors, and I see no reason why you should not execute the service satisfactorily. At all events I have answered for you, and I trust you will do all you can to justify my good opinion of you. You had better shift your traps over to the ‘Vigilant’ at once, and then proceed on board the admiral’s ship for the despatches and your instructions, as he is anxious for you to sail at once.”I thanked the skipper heartily both for the thoughtfulness and consideration which had procured for me the change of air which seemed needed for my complete recovery, and also for the confidence in me which such a commission argued; and I promised him most earnestly that the safe delivery of the despatches should be my paramount care.“That’s right, Mr Chester,” said he, as I rose to leave the cabin. “Before I say good-bye, I may as well mention that I have been greatly pleased with your conduct ever since you first joined the ship. I consider you a most promising young officer; you have conducted yourself extremely well on more than one trying occasion, and I have procured this little commission for you in the hope that it will afford you still another opportunity of acquiring credit and advancing your interests. I wish you a quick and prosperous passage, and shall be glad to see your safe return. And as long as you continue to conduct yourself well, you may count upon me as a friend, willing to do all that is possible to aid you. Now—good-bye! and take care of yourself.”So saying, he shook hands heartily with me, and then, flinging himself back once more in his chair, he turned to a number of papers which littered his table; while I made my way out upon deck, scarcely knowing whether I stood upon my head or my heels, so overjoyed was I at the prospect of the trip.In less than an hour afterwards I was on board the “Vigilant,” with the despatch-box safely stowed away in the most secret hiding-place I could find, and my instructions in my breast-pocket.The night was lovely, not the faintest breath of air ruffled the surface of the glassy waters, in whose dark mysterious depths glittered a perfect reflection of every star which beamed in the blue-black vault overhead. So perfect was the stillness of nature that we could hear, with the utmost distinctness, the songs of the men on board the different ships, and even the talking and laughing on board those in our more immediate vicinity; and when we rigged out our sweeps to sweep the craft into the offing, where I hoped we might the sooner catch a breeze, their roll and rattle seemed almost unbearably loud in contrast with the quiet which prevailed around us.Having a good strong crew on board, I kept them at the sweeps for a couple of hours, by which time we had gained an offing of about eight miles, when I ordered the sweeps to be laid in and the canvas to be set. Shortly afterwards the moon rose, and, bringing up a nice little southerly breeze with her, we were soon slipping through the water, close-hauled on the port tack, and laying well up on our course for old Gib.The skipper had been considerate enough to send with me another midshipman, a quiet, steady, and gentlemanly lad named Harold Smellie, a year younger than myself, and a boatswain’s mate named Tom Hardy, a very superior and well-educated man for his position, a prime seaman, and thoroughly reliable in every way. These two I put in charge of the watches, and then, having seen that everything was satisfactory on deck and in the look of the weather, I went below and tumbled into my hammock, leaving of course the stereotyped charge to be called in the event of anything “turning up” out of the usual way.On awaking next morning, I found that the breeze had freshened very considerably during the night, so much so indeed that when I went on deck the “Vigilant” was tearing through it with her lee-rail under, although the lateens were reefed to their utmost capacity. There was a very awkward jump of a sea on already, and it was fast increasing; but the light beamy little craft, although she tossed the spray in blinding showers from her weather-bow right aft and out over her lee quarter, never shipped a drop of green water, and I was highly delighted at her excellent sea-going qualities. I thought, however, that she would take the seas much more easily if she were relieved of the strain and leverage aloft of her long heavy swaying yards; I therefore had the lateens taken in and the lugs substituted for them, and was rewarded for my trouble by finding my anticipations amply realised.The wind continued to increase all through the morning, and by noon it was blowing quite a fresh gale, with a correspondingly heavy sea.At five p.m. the lookout reported a sail about two points on our weather-bow.“What do you make her out to be?” demanded I.“She looks large enough for a frigate,” replied the man; “but I shall have a better sight of her in a few minutes, sir; she is steering this way.”“I say, Chester, suppose it’s a frigate from Gibraltar with despatches for the admiral; what will you do?” exclaimed young Smellie, as we stood together by the weather-bulwarks, hanging on to the main-rigging.“There is only one thing that wecando, and that is, exchange despatches, and each return as quickly as possible to our respective starting-points. It will be a great bore if we are obliged to cut short our cruise; but our despatches are urgent, and our duty plainly is to forward them with all possible speed; and as this vessel, if she prove to be a frigate, will almost certainly be a much faster craft than ourselves, we shall be in duty bound to put our despatch-box on board of her.”“How will you get them on board?” inquired my companion. “It would be a very ticklish business to launch a boat in this sea.”“We must get near enough, if possible, to effect the exchange without the aid of a boat,” returned I. “With care on both sides I think it might be safely managed. What does the stranger look like by this time?” I continued to the lookout.“Seems to me that he has a very Frenchified look about him, sir,” replied he.“Phew! I hope not,” said I to Smellie. “Lend me your glass a moment, will you? Mine is down below. I think I’ll take a trip aloft and see what I can make out about him.”I accordingly went aloft to the fore-yard, and sitting astride it, close to the parrals, took as good a look at the fast-approaching craft as the swaying of the yard and the lively motion of the little “Vigilant” would permit.I remained there for quite ten minutes, and by the end of that time felt perfectly satisfied as to her nationality. She was French, from her truck downwards, without a doubt.This was an extremely awkwardrencontre, and one which I scarcely expected. Indeed, our own frigates were at that time so thoroughly scouring the Mediterranean, particularly that portion of it lying between Gibraltar and Malta, that an enemy’s ship was almost the last object we might expect to see.“I’m afraid we’re in a mess here,” said I to Smellie, as I joined him aft, by the companion. “That fellow is a Frenchman, and he has the weather-gage, to say nothing of his ability to sail round and round us in this weather, if we took to our heels. Now, the question is, how can we hoodwink him and slip through his fingers?”“Perhaps we could personate some other craft of about our size and rig,” suggested little Smellie doubtfully.“Um! possibly. Let’s get the French navy list, and just run through it. If there’s anything at all like ourselves we shall soon find it.”My companion dived down below, and in less than a minute afterwards returned with the list and the French signal-book.We turned it over together, and presently came upon a craft named the “Vidette,” which seemed, from her description, to be almost a sister-ship to the “Vigilant.” We accordingly determined to assume her name during the communications which would soon pass between us and the frigate. The French ensign was bent on, and we then turned up the “Vidette’s” number, and bent these flags also on the halliards, after which we could do nothing but wait.Suddenly a thought struck me. There were several old red nightcaps still on board, which had been found when the vessel fell into our hands. These I at once routed out, and made each man on deck don one instead of his sou’-wester; we were then effectually disguised, as the rest of our clothing was concealed by the oilskins which we were wearing to protect ourselves from the drenching spray.We had scarcely finished our preparations when Smellie, who was watching the frigate through his telescope, reported that our unwelcome neighbour had hoisted the tricolour, which was of course a polite request that we would show the colour ofourbunting.“Run up the ensign and number,” said I to the men who were stationed at the signal-halliards; and away went the bunting fluttering aloft, the flags all abroad, in the lubberly fashion which prevailed at that time in the French navy.In a few seconds our signal was read; and, in response, up went the frigate’s number, which little Smellie read out as it was going aloft. “Private signal pennant. Eight, two, seven, four.”“Run up the answering pennant,” said I to the signal-man, as I turned up the number in the signal-book.“Le Narcisse” was the name corresponding to this number; and I was about to turn up the navy list, to learn what particulars I could respecting the craft, when my companion exclaimed, “More bunting. White flag with blue cross, diagonal. Three, nine, nought, one.”We acknowledged the signal, and, on turning it up, found that it was a request to “Round-to under my lee: wish to communicate with you.”This brought the signalling to a close; and in about a quarter of an hour afterwards, we rounded-to on the frigate’s lee beam, while that craft laid her main-topsail to the mast.As soon as the two craft were within hailing distance a dapper little figure, dressed in the full uniform of a French naval captain, leaped into the mizzen-rigging with all the activity of a monkey, and, raising his hat slightly in salute (which I of course scrupulously returned), gave a preliminary flourish or two with a speaking-trumpet almost as big as himself, and then, applying it to his lips squeaked out, in French of course, in a shrill falsetto which set all our people on the broad grin,—“‘Vidette ahoy!’ Are you the guarda-costa of that name?”“Ay, ay, monsieur,” I briefly replied.“Oh! very well,” said he. “I am Citizen Alphonse Latour, captain of ‘Le Narcisse’ frigate, in the service of the French Republic. Whither are you bound?”“We are cruising to the southward and eastward on the lookout for an English fleet which is reported to be somewhere hereabouts,” I replied, with a mischievous desire to see what effect the mention of an English fleet would have upon him.“An English fleet!Hereabouts!! diable!!!” he exclaimed. “I should like to fall in with them. I hope, however,theywill not fall in with my prize. Ah! Good!! Listen, monsieur, I fell in with and captured an English merchantman yesterday, with a valuable cargo on board. You shall oblige me by going on until you fall in with him—he is only about one hundred miles south-east of us—and you shall escort him into Toulon; while as for ‘Le Narcisse’—parbleu, she will remain here in waiting for the accursed English fleet, and fight them all when they shall arrive. Is it not so?”“Your orders shall have my best attention, monsieur,” I replied; “and I trust you will not have to wait long for the English. I have the honour to wish you a very good day.”We raised our hats and bowed simultaneously; the little French captain scrambled down out of the rigging; I sprang off the low rail on to the deck; and we filled away upon our course once more, leaving the fire-eating Frenchman with his topsail still to the mast, waiting for “the accursed English.”Little Smellie and I enjoyed a good laugh over therencontre, now that it was past and we had escaped undetected; and we united in a cordial hope that the gallant little skipper of “Le Narcisse” would have his wish for a meeting with the English speedily gratified.He had, as we subsequently found out, but the result could scarcely have been satisfactory to him; for when next I saw Malta “Le Narcisse” was in harbour there, a prize.At six o’clock next morning we were fortunate enough to fall in with the prize—a barque of about 800 tons, loaded with various products of the East, forming, as Captain Alphonse Latour had truly remarked, a very valuable cargo—she had been steering a course which threw her fairly into our arms, so to speak; and, as the weather had moderated, and the sea gone down a good deal we simply ran her on board, drove the astonished French prize crew below, and took possession.On instituting a search, we found that the astute skipper of “Le Narcisse” had taken out the entire crew except the second mate and three hands—whom he had left on board to assist in working the ship—so as to prevent all possibility of a rising and a recapture. We transferred the Frenchmen to the “Vigilant;” put eight of our own men on board, in charge of young Smellie; and then made sail in company for Gibraltar. As, however, the “Vigilant” sailed two feet to the barque’s one, we had run her completely out of sight by noon; and we could only hope that she would reach the Rock in safety—which she luckily did, and we of the “Vigilant” ultimately netted a good round sum in the shape of prize-money on her account.About three p.m. on the same day as that on which we took our prize, we made another sail dead to windward, steering the same way as ourselves, but rather edging down upon us. We must have sighted each other simultaneously; for, while still examining him with my telescope, I saw him bear up upon a course evidently intended to cut us off. The “Vigilant,” however, continued to steer the same course as before; my intention being to try the same trick with him—in the event of his being a Frenchman—which had succeeded so well with “Le Narcisse”; and if he was an Englishman, I had of course nothing to fear.In about another hour we had neared each other sufficiently to permit of our colours being seen; and no sooner was this the case than the stranger flew her ensign—the English—and fired a gun for us to heave-to. I at once obeyed; and in about twenty minutes afterwards she rounded-to within pistol-shot to windward of us and lowered a boat.The day being fine I was of course in my ordinary uniform; and I could not wholly conceal a smile at the look of disappointment and disgust which overspread the features of the officer in charge, as the boat approached sufficiently near to permit of his seeing that, whatever the ship might be, the crew were English.I awaited him at the lee gangway; and on his stepping up out of the boat, raised my hat in due form, a salute which he very gracefully returned.“Well, young gentleman,” said he, “what craft have you here, pray, and where are you bound to?”I told him briefly what we were, and so on; and in reply to his questions, gave him a short account of the way in which the “Vigilant” had come into our hands, at which he seemed much interested.“Well,” said he, when I had finished the story, “I must say I am sorry you are not French; for we should then have had an opportunity of making a prize of some sort, even though you would have been but very small fry; butanythingwill be fish which comes to our net now. We have been knocking about here for nearly a month, and never a sign of a Frenchman have we seen during the whole time.”“Indeed!” said I, “youhavebeen unlucky; but I hope your luck has now changed at last. Though you cannot make a prize of us, I think I can put you on the track of one.”“Ah! do you indeed? Come, that’s a great deal better,” said he, in a very different tone from that which had characterised his conversation hitherto. “My dear boy, pray let us have your news without further ado.”I accordingly described to him our meeting with “Le Narcisse,” and mentioned Captain Alphonse Latour’s enthusiastic and patriotic determination to await on that spot the approach of the “accursed English;” concluding my story by giving the exact latitude and longitude of the place where our meeting with “Le Narcisse” took place.When I had given him all particulars he rose to take his leave.“Good-bye,” said he, “and accept, through me, the thanks of Captain Lacey, the officers, and the whole ship’s company of the ‘Diamond’ for the very valuable information you have afforded us. I only hope Monsieur Latour was sincere in his resolve; we will not keep him waiting very long. A pleasant passage to you and I hope your prize will get safely in. Lucky young dog, you are, and no mistake.”“Good-bye,” I returned. “I wish you a speedy and pleasant meeting with Monsieur Latour.”And with another shake of the hand we parted. Poor fellow! he little knew what lay before him. The “Diamond” actually found “Le Narcisse” cruising about the spot I had indicated, and one of the shot of the Frenchman’s first broadside took his head off.Four days afterwards we anchored at Gibraltar just in time to hear the evening gun, having been favoured, during the entire passage, with a wind which permitted us to lay our course with every thread of canvas drawing to its utmost.
My first act on regaining the cutter was to rouse Bob and the boy who officiated as cook on board the “Mouette;” with the object of obtaining from the former any news he might have to impart, and from the latter as substantial a breakfast as the resources of the cutter would permit.
I listened to Bob’s story while engaged upon the highly necessary operation of cleansing my person and encasing it once more in “the uniform proper to my rank.” Bobby had very little to tell me; and that little was by no means reassuring. It appeared that a despatch-boat had arrived from Malta on the previous day bringing letters for the fleet; and, among the rest, there had been a couple of epistles for me. Bob had gone on board the “Juno” for whatever letters there might be for the cutter’s crew, and had been ordered by the skipper to request my presence on board. Thereupon master Bob had presented my note informing the skipper of my proposed expedition. Instead of expressing his gratification at my zeal, as Bobby had fully expected he would, it appeared that the skipper had exhibited a very considerable amount of irritation; finally ordering friend Robert somewhat peremptorily back to the cutter, with instructions to send me without fail on board the “Juno” immediately on my return,if(which the skipper seemed to consider highly improbable) I ever succeeded in returning at all.
By the time that Summers had brought his story to a close I was ready for the breakfast which meantime had been preparing; and as it was still much too early to present myself before Captain Hood (who seldom appeared before eight bells) I sat down to the meal, with—it must be confessed—a somewhat diminished appetite; hastily skimming through my letters as I munched away at the weevily biscuits. There were two; one from my dear old dad, and one from Sir Peregrine. There was nothing of very special interest in either; my father’s epistle dealing chiefly with a few items of home gossip, such as that farmer Giles of the Glebe had met with an accident in the hunting-field, his colt falling with him and breaking the worthy farmer’s leg—doctor pronounced it a compound fracture; that the wife of Lightfoot, the gamekeeper, had presented her husband with twins once more—two girls this time; mother and twins doing well; that Old Jane Martin had been laid up all the winter with rheumatism, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera; and that finally, all at home were enjoying excellent health, and would be glad if I could find time to write to them a little more frequently. My great-uncle, Sir Peregrine, was not nearly so voluminous in his correspondence as my father—sailors are not as a rule very good correspondents—what he had to say was said in as few words as possible. Two pages of note-paper sufficed the worthy admiral to inform me that he had been intensely gratified at the terms in which my name had been mentioned in connexion with the storming of the Convention Redoubt, and that he was writing per same mail to “his friend Hood” (the admiral, not the captain), asking him to give me as many opportunities as he could of distinguishing myself—“or of getting knocked on the head,” thought I; and that if I needed any cash my drafts upon him would be duly honoured. Also, that he had not been out much during the winter, his old enemy the gout having attacked him so pertinaciously that he had been confined to the house for weeks at a time, moored “stem and stern” before the library fire, like a prison-hulk in Portsmouth Harbour!
My letters and my breakfast were got through in about the same time; and as Bob and I emerged from our tiny cabin on to the cutter’s narrow deck the ship’s bells were musically chiming out the eight strokes which proclaimed the end of one watch and the commencement of another. The skipper would, I knew, be stirring by this time, so I jumped into the dinghy, and proceeded on board the frigate.
As I stepped in on the “Juno’s” deck, Captain Hood made his appearance at the cabin-door. Touching my hat, I went up and reported myself.
“Good morning, Mr Chester,” observed he affably; “I am very glad to see you have come safely out of your escapade. But what do you mean, sir,” (assuming a tone of severity), “by presuming to undertake such an expedition without asking and obtaining permission? It is a manifest breach of discipline, and, as such, must be punished. I placed you in charge of the cutter as a kind of promotion, and by way of reward for your exemplary conduct generally.NowI shall be compelled to deprive you of your command. You will return forthwith to your duty on board the frigate, sir.”
“Ay, ay, sir,” I responded, considerably crestfallen. “I am extremely sorry to have incurred your displeasure, sir, I am sure. Iwouldhave asked permission, sir, but I was afraid that, after poor Mr Tupper’s death, it would be refused.”
“Very well, Mr Chester. I have no doubt youmeantwell, and therefore I have been lenient in the punishment which your breach of discipline demanded. You have been reprimanded on the quarter-deck, sir, and so we will say nothing more about it. Only I must impress upon you the necessity of being careful to avoid a repetition of the offence. Now come into the cabin and have some breakfast with me, and you can then tell us how you fared among the Frenchmen. If you have not already breakfasted, Mr Annesley,” (to the first lieutenant, who at this moment approached), “I shall be glad to have the pleasure of your company.”
So saying, the skipper turned on his heel, and led the way into the cabin, where we found the table well provided with a variety of good things highly provocative of appetite in a midshipman, even though he might have partaken of one breakfast already within an hour.
As soon as we had seated ourselves, and were supplied from the stock of delicacies before us,—
“Now,” said the skipper, “overhaul your log, Mr Chester, and let us hear how you managed to conduct your difficult enterprise. That young scamp, Summers, told me all about your gallant capture,” (with just the faintest possible ironical emphasis on the wordgallant) “of the unfortunate fishermen, so you may as well commence at the point where you left the cutter in their boat.”
In obedience to this command I at once proceeded with my story, giving a detailed account of everything that had happened from the time of leaving the cutter to the moment of my return.
My auditors evinced the greatest interest in my narration, and were mightily tickled when I described the manner in which I had been relieved of my fish by the condescending cook and the friendly corporal. Their interest increased when I described my imprisonment in and the mode of escape from my dungeon; and when I had finished they both congratulated me very heartily upon what Captain Hood called “the resolution and courage” which I had exhibited. “It was a remarkably narrow squeak, Mr Chester,” remarked the skipper, “and I hope it will be a warning to you not to unnecessarily expose yourself to danger for the future. When duty calls it is of course quite another thing; and I am perfectly willing to give you credit for a desire in the present instance to perform a very important service. I have already reprimanded you for the breach of discipline which you committed in undertaking this expedition without first obtaining leave; let me now express my satisfaction with the way in which—apart from that—you have conducted yourself. You have succeeded in obtaining information which, I believe, will be of great value to the admiral, and I will endeavour so to represent your conduct to him as that he shall view it in a favourable light. Now, if you have finished breakfast, you had better go on board the cutter and transfer your chest and hammock to the frigate, and by-and-by I will take you on board the flag-ship and introduce you to the admiral, when you can make your report.”
Accepting this as a hint to be off about my business, I rose, and making my bow, left the cabin.
On reaching the deck I found that the whole of the inmates of the midshipmen’s berth, already apprised by the loquacious Bob of my escapade, were anxiously awaiting my reappearance, to learn all particulars, including the result of my private interview with the skipper. Briefly informing them, however, that I had been ordered to rejoin the frigate, and postponing all further information until a more convenient season, I hurried down over the side, and stepping into the cockleshell of a dinghy pulled on board the “Mouette,” where master Bob received my narration with a show of sympathy which thinly veiled his exultation at being left in sole command of the cutter.
Somehow I did not greatly regret the change. I was beginning to tire of the cramped accommodation on board the “Mouette;” and although I had been formally reprimanded for my “breach of discipline” I was acute enough to see that my conduct had, after all, made a favourable impression upon the skipper, and that I had, on the whole, risen, rather than fallen, in his estimation.
Hurriedly bundling my few belongings together and stowing them away in the boat, I shook hands with Bob, and was soon once more on board the “Juno.”
I had barely time to trim myself up a bit, when a message was brought me to the effect that the skipper’s gig was alongside, and only waited my presence on board to shove off for the admiral’s ship.
The “Victory” was lying at no great distance from us, and we were soon alongside.
I followed the skipper up the side-ladder, and found myself in the presence of the admiral, who was taking a constitutional up and down the quarter-deck in company with Sir Hyde Parker and Vice-Admiral Hotham from the “Britannia.”
Captain Hood immediately joined company (I remaining discreetly in the background, in accordance with previous instructions), and in the course of a minute or two the party, no doubt in consequence of a suggestion from the skipper, retired to the cabin.
In about twenty minutes afterwards I was sent for.
I entered the cabin with, I must confess, some slight degree of trepidation; for the admiral was a very queer sort of man in some respects, and one never knew in what light he would be likely to view such an exploit as mine. I had known of his having disrated more than one luckless mid for a far less heinous offence than so serious a breach of discipline as that of which I had been guilty; and disrating was the one thing which presented itself to me as more objectionable than anything else in the shape of punishment—except flogging; but I built my hopes upon the skipper’s good offices; and the result showed that I had no grounds for fear.
On entering, I was invited to take a chair which Lord Hood pointed out, and then, waiting until the cabin-door was shut, he rested his elbows on the table, and supporting his chin upon his hands, looked across at me and said—
“Your captain informs me, young gentleman, that, understanding I was anxious to obtain information respecting the condition of the enemy in Bastia, you voluntarily undertook a most hazardous journey thither, and were enabled, during your stay in the town, to make observations of considerable value. I should like to hear from your own lips a detailed narrative of the adventure.”
Thus commanded, I once more told my story, Lord Hood interrupting me from time to time to jot down memoranda in his note-book. When I had concluded my narration the admiral thanked me heartily for the “very important service” which I had rendered, and I was also complimented by my audience upon “the skill and intrepidity” with which I had carried out the reconnoissance. Taking these last remarks as a polite intimation that the interview was at an end, I bowed and withdrew. A few minutes afterwards the admiral’s boat was ordered, and as soon as she was manned, Lord Hood, Sir Hyde Parker, and the skipper got into her, and pulled away for the British lines on shore—Captain Hood directing me, as he passed down the side, to take his gig back to the frigate.
On the following day a flag of truce was sent into the town negotiations were opened, and on the 22nd of May, 1794, the garrison capitulated on very favourable terms to themselves.
From this date I find nothing in my diary worthy of remark until we come to the reduction of Calvi on the 10th of August following. I was at the time recovering from an attack of low fever, and had been off duty for some four or five weeks.
On the evening of the capture I was walking slowly up and down the poop, when Captain Hood came up the poop-ladder and very kindly inquired after my health. I replied that I was getting rapidly stronger, and should be very glad when the doctor would allow me to return to duty.
“Ah! yes,” said he, “I daresay you will. Very irksome to be idling about the decks all day. I should think change of air would do you good.”
“I believe it would, sir,” I replied, thinking from his manner of speaking that he had a proposal of some sort to make.
“Yes, no doubt about it,” returned the skipper. “And you would like it? Then be so kind as to find Mr Malcolm,” (the surgeon), “and ask him to step into my cabin for a moment, if he is disengaged.”
Certain now that there was something in the wind, I lost no time in hunting up the worthy medico and delivering the skipper’s message, which I supplemented by a request upon my own account, that if any proposal were made to send me away upon another expedition, the doctor would kindly throw no difficulties in the way.
To which the canny Scotchman replied,—
“Before makin’ any sic a promise, I’ll just bide a wee and speir a few particulars anent the nature o’ the said expedition, laddie. If it’s o’ a nature to prove benefecial to your health—why then I’m no saying but what I may be induced to do what I can to forward your views; but no’ itherwise.”
I watched him into the cabin, and then “stood off and on” outside upon the quarter-deck, awaiting his reappearance.
I had not long to wait. In less than five minutes he came out upon the quarter-deck, and seeing me, beckoned me to approach.
“It’s a’ right, laddie,” said he, “just gang ben til him,”—pointing to the cabin—“and tak’ your instructions. It’s just the vera thing I wad hae prescribed for you had it been possible to hae had the prescription mad’ up. But ye’ll no gang oot o’ the ship until ye hae been to me for a wee drappie pheesic ye maun tak’ along wi’ ye, d’ye mind?”
I promised the kind-hearted old fellow I would be sure to do his bidding and then joyously entered the cabin.
“Sit down, Mr Chester,” said the skipper, when I made my appearance. I took the chair which he had indicated, and he then proceeded,—
“The admiral has some important despatches to send away, which he is anxious should reach England as speedily as possible. The ‘Vigilant’ will take them hence to Gibraltar, and the admiral there will be requested to despatch a frigate with them for the rest of the journey, as Lord Hood thinks the ‘Vigilant’ scarcely fit to cross the Bay of Biscay. The only question has been who to send with them, as there is still a great deal to be done before the fleet can leave the island, and there are no officers to spare. Lord Hood mentioned the matter to me, and I immediately thought of you. You will have nothing to do but simply navigate the craft to Gibraltar, which, I learn, you are quite able to do; and it will be a pleasant change for you—beneficial, too, Malcolm says. There is only one thing I feel called upon to suggest to you, and that is—caution. Recollect that you are a despatch-boat, not a cruiser; and letnothingwhich you can possibly avoid tempt you to delay the delivery of the despatches or endanger their safety. You are very young for such a trust, I know; but you seem to have as much tact and discretion as a good many of your seniors, and I see no reason why you should not execute the service satisfactorily. At all events I have answered for you, and I trust you will do all you can to justify my good opinion of you. You had better shift your traps over to the ‘Vigilant’ at once, and then proceed on board the admiral’s ship for the despatches and your instructions, as he is anxious for you to sail at once.”
I thanked the skipper heartily both for the thoughtfulness and consideration which had procured for me the change of air which seemed needed for my complete recovery, and also for the confidence in me which such a commission argued; and I promised him most earnestly that the safe delivery of the despatches should be my paramount care.
“That’s right, Mr Chester,” said he, as I rose to leave the cabin. “Before I say good-bye, I may as well mention that I have been greatly pleased with your conduct ever since you first joined the ship. I consider you a most promising young officer; you have conducted yourself extremely well on more than one trying occasion, and I have procured this little commission for you in the hope that it will afford you still another opportunity of acquiring credit and advancing your interests. I wish you a quick and prosperous passage, and shall be glad to see your safe return. And as long as you continue to conduct yourself well, you may count upon me as a friend, willing to do all that is possible to aid you. Now—good-bye! and take care of yourself.”
So saying, he shook hands heartily with me, and then, flinging himself back once more in his chair, he turned to a number of papers which littered his table; while I made my way out upon deck, scarcely knowing whether I stood upon my head or my heels, so overjoyed was I at the prospect of the trip.
In less than an hour afterwards I was on board the “Vigilant,” with the despatch-box safely stowed away in the most secret hiding-place I could find, and my instructions in my breast-pocket.
The night was lovely, not the faintest breath of air ruffled the surface of the glassy waters, in whose dark mysterious depths glittered a perfect reflection of every star which beamed in the blue-black vault overhead. So perfect was the stillness of nature that we could hear, with the utmost distinctness, the songs of the men on board the different ships, and even the talking and laughing on board those in our more immediate vicinity; and when we rigged out our sweeps to sweep the craft into the offing, where I hoped we might the sooner catch a breeze, their roll and rattle seemed almost unbearably loud in contrast with the quiet which prevailed around us.
Having a good strong crew on board, I kept them at the sweeps for a couple of hours, by which time we had gained an offing of about eight miles, when I ordered the sweeps to be laid in and the canvas to be set. Shortly afterwards the moon rose, and, bringing up a nice little southerly breeze with her, we were soon slipping through the water, close-hauled on the port tack, and laying well up on our course for old Gib.
The skipper had been considerate enough to send with me another midshipman, a quiet, steady, and gentlemanly lad named Harold Smellie, a year younger than myself, and a boatswain’s mate named Tom Hardy, a very superior and well-educated man for his position, a prime seaman, and thoroughly reliable in every way. These two I put in charge of the watches, and then, having seen that everything was satisfactory on deck and in the look of the weather, I went below and tumbled into my hammock, leaving of course the stereotyped charge to be called in the event of anything “turning up” out of the usual way.
On awaking next morning, I found that the breeze had freshened very considerably during the night, so much so indeed that when I went on deck the “Vigilant” was tearing through it with her lee-rail under, although the lateens were reefed to their utmost capacity. There was a very awkward jump of a sea on already, and it was fast increasing; but the light beamy little craft, although she tossed the spray in blinding showers from her weather-bow right aft and out over her lee quarter, never shipped a drop of green water, and I was highly delighted at her excellent sea-going qualities. I thought, however, that she would take the seas much more easily if she were relieved of the strain and leverage aloft of her long heavy swaying yards; I therefore had the lateens taken in and the lugs substituted for them, and was rewarded for my trouble by finding my anticipations amply realised.
The wind continued to increase all through the morning, and by noon it was blowing quite a fresh gale, with a correspondingly heavy sea.
At five p.m. the lookout reported a sail about two points on our weather-bow.
“What do you make her out to be?” demanded I.
“She looks large enough for a frigate,” replied the man; “but I shall have a better sight of her in a few minutes, sir; she is steering this way.”
“I say, Chester, suppose it’s a frigate from Gibraltar with despatches for the admiral; what will you do?” exclaimed young Smellie, as we stood together by the weather-bulwarks, hanging on to the main-rigging.
“There is only one thing that wecando, and that is, exchange despatches, and each return as quickly as possible to our respective starting-points. It will be a great bore if we are obliged to cut short our cruise; but our despatches are urgent, and our duty plainly is to forward them with all possible speed; and as this vessel, if she prove to be a frigate, will almost certainly be a much faster craft than ourselves, we shall be in duty bound to put our despatch-box on board of her.”
“How will you get them on board?” inquired my companion. “It would be a very ticklish business to launch a boat in this sea.”
“We must get near enough, if possible, to effect the exchange without the aid of a boat,” returned I. “With care on both sides I think it might be safely managed. What does the stranger look like by this time?” I continued to the lookout.
“Seems to me that he has a very Frenchified look about him, sir,” replied he.
“Phew! I hope not,” said I to Smellie. “Lend me your glass a moment, will you? Mine is down below. I think I’ll take a trip aloft and see what I can make out about him.”
I accordingly went aloft to the fore-yard, and sitting astride it, close to the parrals, took as good a look at the fast-approaching craft as the swaying of the yard and the lively motion of the little “Vigilant” would permit.
I remained there for quite ten minutes, and by the end of that time felt perfectly satisfied as to her nationality. She was French, from her truck downwards, without a doubt.
This was an extremely awkwardrencontre, and one which I scarcely expected. Indeed, our own frigates were at that time so thoroughly scouring the Mediterranean, particularly that portion of it lying between Gibraltar and Malta, that an enemy’s ship was almost the last object we might expect to see.
“I’m afraid we’re in a mess here,” said I to Smellie, as I joined him aft, by the companion. “That fellow is a Frenchman, and he has the weather-gage, to say nothing of his ability to sail round and round us in this weather, if we took to our heels. Now, the question is, how can we hoodwink him and slip through his fingers?”
“Perhaps we could personate some other craft of about our size and rig,” suggested little Smellie doubtfully.
“Um! possibly. Let’s get the French navy list, and just run through it. If there’s anything at all like ourselves we shall soon find it.”
My companion dived down below, and in less than a minute afterwards returned with the list and the French signal-book.
We turned it over together, and presently came upon a craft named the “Vidette,” which seemed, from her description, to be almost a sister-ship to the “Vigilant.” We accordingly determined to assume her name during the communications which would soon pass between us and the frigate. The French ensign was bent on, and we then turned up the “Vidette’s” number, and bent these flags also on the halliards, after which we could do nothing but wait.
Suddenly a thought struck me. There were several old red nightcaps still on board, which had been found when the vessel fell into our hands. These I at once routed out, and made each man on deck don one instead of his sou’-wester; we were then effectually disguised, as the rest of our clothing was concealed by the oilskins which we were wearing to protect ourselves from the drenching spray.
We had scarcely finished our preparations when Smellie, who was watching the frigate through his telescope, reported that our unwelcome neighbour had hoisted the tricolour, which was of course a polite request that we would show the colour ofourbunting.
“Run up the ensign and number,” said I to the men who were stationed at the signal-halliards; and away went the bunting fluttering aloft, the flags all abroad, in the lubberly fashion which prevailed at that time in the French navy.
In a few seconds our signal was read; and, in response, up went the frigate’s number, which little Smellie read out as it was going aloft. “Private signal pennant. Eight, two, seven, four.”
“Run up the answering pennant,” said I to the signal-man, as I turned up the number in the signal-book.
“Le Narcisse” was the name corresponding to this number; and I was about to turn up the navy list, to learn what particulars I could respecting the craft, when my companion exclaimed, “More bunting. White flag with blue cross, diagonal. Three, nine, nought, one.”
We acknowledged the signal, and, on turning it up, found that it was a request to “Round-to under my lee: wish to communicate with you.”
This brought the signalling to a close; and in about a quarter of an hour afterwards, we rounded-to on the frigate’s lee beam, while that craft laid her main-topsail to the mast.
As soon as the two craft were within hailing distance a dapper little figure, dressed in the full uniform of a French naval captain, leaped into the mizzen-rigging with all the activity of a monkey, and, raising his hat slightly in salute (which I of course scrupulously returned), gave a preliminary flourish or two with a speaking-trumpet almost as big as himself, and then, applying it to his lips squeaked out, in French of course, in a shrill falsetto which set all our people on the broad grin,—
“‘Vidette ahoy!’ Are you the guarda-costa of that name?”
“Ay, ay, monsieur,” I briefly replied.
“Oh! very well,” said he. “I am Citizen Alphonse Latour, captain of ‘Le Narcisse’ frigate, in the service of the French Republic. Whither are you bound?”
“We are cruising to the southward and eastward on the lookout for an English fleet which is reported to be somewhere hereabouts,” I replied, with a mischievous desire to see what effect the mention of an English fleet would have upon him.
“An English fleet!Hereabouts!! diable!!!” he exclaimed. “I should like to fall in with them. I hope, however,theywill not fall in with my prize. Ah! Good!! Listen, monsieur, I fell in with and captured an English merchantman yesterday, with a valuable cargo on board. You shall oblige me by going on until you fall in with him—he is only about one hundred miles south-east of us—and you shall escort him into Toulon; while as for ‘Le Narcisse’—parbleu, she will remain here in waiting for the accursed English fleet, and fight them all when they shall arrive. Is it not so?”
“Your orders shall have my best attention, monsieur,” I replied; “and I trust you will not have to wait long for the English. I have the honour to wish you a very good day.”
We raised our hats and bowed simultaneously; the little French captain scrambled down out of the rigging; I sprang off the low rail on to the deck; and we filled away upon our course once more, leaving the fire-eating Frenchman with his topsail still to the mast, waiting for “the accursed English.”
Little Smellie and I enjoyed a good laugh over therencontre, now that it was past and we had escaped undetected; and we united in a cordial hope that the gallant little skipper of “Le Narcisse” would have his wish for a meeting with the English speedily gratified.
He had, as we subsequently found out, but the result could scarcely have been satisfactory to him; for when next I saw Malta “Le Narcisse” was in harbour there, a prize.
At six o’clock next morning we were fortunate enough to fall in with the prize—a barque of about 800 tons, loaded with various products of the East, forming, as Captain Alphonse Latour had truly remarked, a very valuable cargo—she had been steering a course which threw her fairly into our arms, so to speak; and, as the weather had moderated, and the sea gone down a good deal we simply ran her on board, drove the astonished French prize crew below, and took possession.
On instituting a search, we found that the astute skipper of “Le Narcisse” had taken out the entire crew except the second mate and three hands—whom he had left on board to assist in working the ship—so as to prevent all possibility of a rising and a recapture. We transferred the Frenchmen to the “Vigilant;” put eight of our own men on board, in charge of young Smellie; and then made sail in company for Gibraltar. As, however, the “Vigilant” sailed two feet to the barque’s one, we had run her completely out of sight by noon; and we could only hope that she would reach the Rock in safety—which she luckily did, and we of the “Vigilant” ultimately netted a good round sum in the shape of prize-money on her account.
About three p.m. on the same day as that on which we took our prize, we made another sail dead to windward, steering the same way as ourselves, but rather edging down upon us. We must have sighted each other simultaneously; for, while still examining him with my telescope, I saw him bear up upon a course evidently intended to cut us off. The “Vigilant,” however, continued to steer the same course as before; my intention being to try the same trick with him—in the event of his being a Frenchman—which had succeeded so well with “Le Narcisse”; and if he was an Englishman, I had of course nothing to fear.
In about another hour we had neared each other sufficiently to permit of our colours being seen; and no sooner was this the case than the stranger flew her ensign—the English—and fired a gun for us to heave-to. I at once obeyed; and in about twenty minutes afterwards she rounded-to within pistol-shot to windward of us and lowered a boat.
The day being fine I was of course in my ordinary uniform; and I could not wholly conceal a smile at the look of disappointment and disgust which overspread the features of the officer in charge, as the boat approached sufficiently near to permit of his seeing that, whatever the ship might be, the crew were English.
I awaited him at the lee gangway; and on his stepping up out of the boat, raised my hat in due form, a salute which he very gracefully returned.
“Well, young gentleman,” said he, “what craft have you here, pray, and where are you bound to?”
I told him briefly what we were, and so on; and in reply to his questions, gave him a short account of the way in which the “Vigilant” had come into our hands, at which he seemed much interested.
“Well,” said he, when I had finished the story, “I must say I am sorry you are not French; for we should then have had an opportunity of making a prize of some sort, even though you would have been but very small fry; butanythingwill be fish which comes to our net now. We have been knocking about here for nearly a month, and never a sign of a Frenchman have we seen during the whole time.”
“Indeed!” said I, “youhavebeen unlucky; but I hope your luck has now changed at last. Though you cannot make a prize of us, I think I can put you on the track of one.”
“Ah! do you indeed? Come, that’s a great deal better,” said he, in a very different tone from that which had characterised his conversation hitherto. “My dear boy, pray let us have your news without further ado.”
I accordingly described to him our meeting with “Le Narcisse,” and mentioned Captain Alphonse Latour’s enthusiastic and patriotic determination to await on that spot the approach of the “accursed English;” concluding my story by giving the exact latitude and longitude of the place where our meeting with “Le Narcisse” took place.
When I had given him all particulars he rose to take his leave.
“Good-bye,” said he, “and accept, through me, the thanks of Captain Lacey, the officers, and the whole ship’s company of the ‘Diamond’ for the very valuable information you have afforded us. I only hope Monsieur Latour was sincere in his resolve; we will not keep him waiting very long. A pleasant passage to you and I hope your prize will get safely in. Lucky young dog, you are, and no mistake.”
“Good-bye,” I returned. “I wish you a speedy and pleasant meeting with Monsieur Latour.”
And with another shake of the hand we parted. Poor fellow! he little knew what lay before him. The “Diamond” actually found “Le Narcisse” cruising about the spot I had indicated, and one of the shot of the Frenchman’s first broadside took his head off.
Four days afterwards we anchored at Gibraltar just in time to hear the evening gun, having been favoured, during the entire passage, with a wind which permitted us to lay our course with every thread of canvas drawing to its utmost.
Chapter Twenty Two.“In the Bay of Biscay, ho!”My instructions were to see the admiral without the delay of a single moment, should we happen to arrive at any hour when the worthy chief might be reasonably supposed to be out of his bed; I accordingly had the boat lowered, and proceeded to the shore the instant that our anchor was let go.When I reached the admiral’s house, I found him busy at the entertainment of a party of “sodger officers” from the garrison.I was shown into his private room; and in a few minutes the gallant old veteran stumped in on his wooden leg, and saluted me with,—“Well, youngster, whose cat is dead now? Are you aware that I very strongly object to be troubled after business hours, unless the matter happens to be one of very great importance?”“I must apologise for intruding upon you at so late an hour, sir,” I replied; “but my instructions are that I should not lose a moment in placing in your hands the despatches from Lord Hood of which I have the honour to be the bearer.”“Youhave the honour! Despatches from Lord Hood? The d—?” he exclaimed. “Do you mean to say thatyouhave charge of the despatch-boat signalled this evening?”“I do sir, certainly,” I rather resentfully replied. The somewhat contemptuous emphasis he laid on the wordyouslightly nettled me.“What, in the name of—um! um! What’s your name, pray, young gentleman?” said he.“Ralph Chester, midshipman, of the frigate ‘Juno,’ at your service, sir,” I replied.“Ralph Chester, eh? Of the ‘Juno.’ Ah! um! Let me see. Um! Your name seems familiar to me. Where did I hear it before?Musthave heard it before, somewhere; never make mistakes about names;never. Wheredid I hear it before, eh, youngster?”“It is quite impossible for me to say, sir,” I replied. “The only way in which an officer in your high position is likely to become acquainted with the name of an obscure midshipman is, it seems to me, through the Gazette.”“Gazette? Gazette? Oh, ay; to be sure. Yes, yes; certainly; that was it. ‘Juno’—Captain Hood—of course. And are you the lad who distinguished himself so conspicuously at the storming of the Convention Redoubt?”“I was named in the despatches in connection with that affair, sir,” I modestly replied.“Then I congratulate you most heartily, my boy,” said he, shaking hands with me vigorously, and changing his hitherto gruff and somewhat churlish demeanour for one of almost paternal cordiality. “Ha! ha! you made the whole service your debtor that night, by helping your skipper to get into the breach before the red-coat. The rascals! They like to ‘top the officer’ over us, and claim to be the more useful arm of the service; but you gave us the pull on them that night, my boy, and no mistake. Poor Dundas! How awfully disgusted he must have felt. But—sit down, and let me see your despatches—we can talk afterwards.”I produced my box, and handed to him the letter from Lord Hood which was addressed to himself.He hastily tore open the envelope, and soon ran over the few lines which formed the contents of the letter.“Can’t do it,” he exclaimed, testily, crumpling up the letter in his hand. “Haven’t a single frigate at my disposal; not even a corvette nor a despatch-boat—nothing, in fact, but my own barge. Sheer impossibility; so there’s an end of it. Why, in the name of all that’s ridiculous, could he not send one of his own frigates, so that these confounded despatches might have gone straight on? Much more sensible than to send them here in a little hooker which is not fit to cross the Bay of Biscay.Whyis she not fit, eh? What’s the matter with her?”“There is nothing the matter with her, sir; nothing whatever,” I replied. “It is only an idea of Lord Hood’s that she is unfit to cross the Bay. She, no doubt, appears to him a mere boat, compared with the ‘Victory,’ butIshould have no hesitation whatever about taking her across the Bay, or across the Atlantic itself, for that matter.”“Ah! Is that the case?” he quickly returned. “Um! um! That is a possible way out of the difficulty. Look here. I’ve a few red-coats in the other room, spending the evening with me; I shall be very glad to have the pleasure of your company for the remainder of the evening, if you will join us, young gentleman. I can give you a bed here; and to-morrow I will go on board this little hooker of yours with you, and see for myself whether or no she seems fit to make the trip to England.”We accordingly adjourned to the dining-room, where we found some dozen or so of military men seated round the table, discussing their wine and cigars, chatting over the events of the war, and bewailing their own ill-luck in being shut up in Gibraltar instead of sharing in the miseries and glories (?) of the field.I was introduced by the admiral to his guests as one fresh from the seat of the operations in Corsica, and was welcomed cordially and freely plied with questions of all kinds, to some of which, by-the-bye, I found it rather difficult to reply without exciting a feeling of jealousy in the breasts of the red-coats.Fortunately, however, the evening passed without the occurrence of any incident of a disagreeable character; and at a late, or, more strictly speaking, at an early, hour next morning I turned in, so thoroughly tired that I felt scarcely able to remain awake until I had undressed.About 7:30 a knock sounded at my door, and a voice announced—in tones which struck me as being somewhat tremulous with suppressed laughter—“Your shaving-water, sir.” Now, I may as well confess that at this particular period of my life the one subject upon which, above all others, I was most sensitive was shaving. I shaved with the most scrupulous regularity every morning; but it was done furtively, so far, at least as my elders were concerned. In the presence of my fellow-mids, the act was performed openly and with all due ceremony and solemnity—allthe mids on board the “Juno” shaved—but I had noticed, upon more than one occasion, that any reference in the hearing of my elders to the punctuality with which I performed this duty was invariably received by them with a silence more eloquent than words, and with an expression of ironical incredulity which could only be adequately atoned for by the shedding of their heart’s blood. Therefore I had ceased to refer to a subject the mention of which was invariably followed by much annoyance, and hence the preternatural sensitiveness which caused me to suspect, rather than to absolutely detect, a quiver of suppressed laughter in the voice of the man who on this morning awoke me with the announcement of “Your shaving-water, sir.”The temporary irritation arising out of this painful and humiliating suspicion had one good result, however; it effectually awoke me and enabled me to promptly turn out; while, but for it, the late hours of the previous night might otherwise have caused me to doze off again, and so become guilty of the quite unpardonable offence of keeping an admiral waiting.As it was, I was dressed and down in the breakfast-room so promptly that the admiral rather keptmewaiting; which was quite a different matter. By eleven o’clock however, we were on board the “Vigilant;” and after going carefully through and over the craft—accompanied by myself, Tom Hardy, and the carpenter’s mate—the old boy came to the conclusion that she was strong enough to go round the world if required, and that he therefore need have no hesitation whatever about ordering us to proceed to England forthwith.He would, however, he said, take it upon himself to detain us until evening; by which time he would have ready some despatches of his own, which he wished to forward.We utilised the time by filling up provisions and water; a task which was left to the superintendence of Tom Hardy, while Smellie and I had a scramble through the gun-galleries and to the telegraph-station at the summit of the Rock; and just as the sunset-gun boomed out on the evening air we weighed and stood out of the bay, with a light north-easterly breeze, passing Tarifa Point shortly before midnight.By breakfast-time on the morning but one following, we were abreast of Cape Saint Vincent. Eighteen hours later, we made the Rock of Lisbon; and, on the fifth day out from Gibraltar, finding ourselves in the latitude of Cape Finisterre, we hauled up to the northward and eastward for Ushant; and entered the Bay of Biscay.So far, all had gone well. We had been favoured with fine weather, and winds which, while somewhat inclined to be light and variable, had still allowed us to lay our course, and we had really made a very fair passage up to this point.But we had scarcely entered the notorious Bay of Biscay when the aspect of affairs began to change.The first omen of evil revealed itself in a steadily and rather rapidly falling barometer. The wind for the previous twenty-four hours had been moderate, and steady at about east, but toward evening it became fitful, now dying away until the roll of the ship caused the canvas to flap heavily against the masts, and anon freshening up again for a few minutes, quite to a seven-knot breeze. Then it would drop once more; and nothing would be heard but the heavy flap of the canvas, the creak of the spars, theswishof the water as it lapped in over our bulwarks—the craft rolling gunwale-under—and a low weird moaning of pent-up wind, which teemed to be imprisoned in a heavy cloud-bank rapidly piling itself up on the north-western horizon. The sky, which had been clear all day, became overspread with a canopy of dirty lead-coloured vapour, between which and ourselves soon appeared small ragged patches of fast-flying scud. The moaning sound became louder and more weird and dismal in tone; while the sea—its surface curiously agitated by waves which leaped up and subsided without any apparent cause—grew black as ink.Fortunately, we had ample and unmistakable notice of the impending change; and we fully availed ourselves of it by making every possible preparation for the expected gale, and adopting every possible precaution for the safety of our craft.Our first act was to take in and secure our lofty lateen-canvas by getting the yards down on deck and firmly lashing them there; we then set a storm-jib and a leg-of-mutton mizzen, just to steady the craft and place her under command when the breeze should come. This done, we divided our crew into two parties, one of which, under the gunner’s mate, secured the guns with extra breechings, while the other, under Hardy, battened down everything, and put extra lashings upon the booms and boats.We were ready in excellent time; all our preparations being complete a good half-hour before the breeze came.At length, about the time of sunset, a sudden break appeared in the mass of cloud piled up to the north-westward, revealing a long narrow strip of fiery copper-coloured sky; and at the same instant the wind, which had hitherto blown in fitful gusts, died completely away.“Here it comes!” was the exclamation which issued simultaneously from a dozen throats, as the eyes of the more watchful caught the glare of the tawny streak of sky away on our port beam; and even as we spoke the roar of the wind became apparent; and far away on the verge of the horizon we caught a glimpse of the whitening water, as it was lashed into foam by the first mad fury of the approaching squall.“Port your helm! Hard over with it!” I exclaimed; “and stand by to brail up the mizzen if she fails to pay off.”We had at the wheel one of the best helmsmen on board, a cool, smart, active topman; and, almost before the words were out of my mouth, he sent the wheel spinning hard over with a single jerk of his muscular arm, while Hardy mustered some three or four hands at the mizzen-brails.The squall, however, furious as it was at its commencement, had spent its greatest strength before it reached us; and when it struck the “Vigilant” it came with merely sufficient force to lay her down to her bearings for a moment, when she gathered way, and, answering her helm at once, paid off before it, and began to surge away to leeward at the rate of about six knots.The squall proved to be merely the precursor of a strong but steady gale from the north-west: and as soon as this became sufficiently apparent we hauled our wind once more and hove the craft to on the larboard tack under her jib and mizzen. This arrangement, while it promised to be the best that could be made for the safety of the ship and our own comfort, also enabled us to drift along at the rate of about three knots an hour on our proper course.We found that under her short canvas the little “Vigilant,” with her flat and beamy build, sharp lines, and flaring bow, laid-to admirably, riding as lightly and almost as dry as a seagull over the mountainous sea which rapidly got up under the influence of the gale.I remained on deck long enough to thoroughly satisfy myself upon this point, and then, leaving the deck in charge of Hardy (who had the watch), with one man to tend the wheel, and two others on the lookout, I sent the remainder of the hands below to get a good meal with plenty of strong hot coffee; while little Smellie and I sat down to our own almost equally humble spread in the small but cosy cabin.The change from the cold wet sloppy deck, with its accompaniments of darkness, driving spray, and frequent rain-squalls, to the dry warm comfort of the cabin, lighted up with the brilliant rays of its single handsome swinging-lamp, its carpeted floor and well-cushioned lockers, was agreeable in the extreme; and the sound of the gale, as it roared overhead and shrieked through the rigging, the patter and drip of the rain on the deck, and the occasional heavy “swish” of the drenching spray-showers, served but to increase the feeling of comfort which we enjoyed. We spent some time, after the table was cleared, in consulting the chart, interspersed with frequent references to the book of sailing directions, and when we tired of these a book apiece served to wile away the time until midnight, when Smellie had to turn out once more and take charge of the deck. As the eight strokes upon the bell proclaimed the expiration of the first watch, we donned our oilskins and repaired to the deck in company.The wind had been steadily increasing from the commencement of the gale, and was now blowing so heavily that every time the “Vigilant” rose upon the crest of a sea she careened almost gunwale-to, even with the scanty shred of canvas under which she was hove-to. The sea, moreover, had increased with as great rapidity as the wind, and was now running tremendously high, breaking from time to time in a manner which made me somewhat uneasy. Still, the little craft was behaving beautifully and making excellent weather of it; not a drop of anything heavier than spray having come on board her so far. The night was as dark as a wolf’s mouth, there being no moon, and the sky remaining obscured by an impenetrable canopy of heavy black cloud-vapour which was darkest about the horizon, against which the phosphorescent wave-crests reared themselves portentously in startling relief. The intense darkness was my greatest source of anxiety, for we were directly in the track of outward-bound ships, and the wind was blowing from a quarter which, while not exactly fair, was sufficiently free to enable them to keep going, and that too at a speed which would send a ship of any size right over us almost without her crew knowing anything about it. We had, of course, our lights in their places, and brightly burning; but we were so frequently hidden in the trough of the sea that a very bright lookout would be needed to discover us in time to avoid a collision, which was then, as it is now, the thing I most dread at sea—excepting fire. It seems needless to say that a bright lookout was kept on board the “Vigilant” that night; a man on each cat-head, two in the waist—one on the weather and one on the lee side—and our two selves aft were kept constantly on the alert; and with these precautions I was obliged to rest satisfied. As it happened, our elaborate precautions proved unnecessary, for not a single sail passed us during the night; and at four o’clock next morning, when the watch was relieved, I went below and turned in, as the sky appeared to be lightening up a trifle, and I knew that it would be daylight in a short time.When I went on deck again at seven bells (7:30 a.m.) things looked pretty much as I had left them, excepting that the sea had continued to get up and was now running higher than I had ever seen it before. Our little craft was tossed about on its angry surface lightly as a withered leaf; now rising up as though about to take flight into the midst of the rushing storm-wrack overhead, and anon plunging down the steep sides of the watery hills as though intent on reaching the very ocean’s bed itself. It was very exciting, as well, it must be confessed, as somewhat trying to the nerves, to stand on the deck and watch the approach of the mountainous seas, rushing with threatening upreared crest upon the little craft, as though determined to engulf her. But, by watchful attention to the helm, her bows always met them at a safe angle, and away they would sweep past us, harmless, but hissing and seething in impotent fury.According to custom, Tom Hardy had charge of the deck while Smellie and I were below at breakfast. On our returning to the deck at the conclusion of the meal, he joined us to remark that he was under the impression he had once or twice heard the sound of firing to windward.“Surely not,” said little Smellie; “you must be mistaken, Mr Hardy,” (we alwaysMisteredTom, to his intense gratification, now that he had charge of a watch). “What ships could possibly fight in this weather?”“Depends on the course they happen to be steering, sir,” responded Tom. “It’s poorish weather for a fight, I’ll allow; but if one ship happens to be chasing t’other, and they’m both running before it, both bow and stern-chasers might be worked, heavy as the sea is. Besides, it looks a deal worse to us, afloat here in this cock-boat, than ’twould if we was aboard the old ‘Juno,’ for instance; and a’ter all—hark! didn’t you hear anything just then, gentlemen?”The boom of a gun, muffled by the roar of the gale, but still heard with sufficient distinctness to render the sound unmistakable, at that moment broke upon the ear.I pulled out my watch and noted the time. “Now listen for the next report!” I exclaimed; “perhaps it is a ship in distress.”But it was immediately evident that it could be nothing of that sort, for even as I spoke, another report came floating down upon the wings of the gale, and then two others in quick succession.Tom Hardy sprang into the main-rigging, and, going aloft as far as our short masts would permit, stood for nearly a minute, swaying about with the roll and pitch of the vessel, his eyes shaded by one hand, gazing eagerly to windward.“Here they comes!” he hailed; “one a’ter t’other. Two frigates, seemin’ly; and one on ’em’s a Frenchman all over—the chap that’s leadin’; t’other’s of course one of our ships.”“How are they steering?” I hailed.“Straight for us as ever they can come, sir,” replied Tom, as he nimbly descended the rigging again, and swung himself off the low rail to the deck.Ten minutes afterwards the upper spars of the leading ship were in sight from the deck, when we rose upon the crest of a sea, and in another five minutes both craft were visible. The firing continued briskly on both sides, the rapidly-increasing distinctness of the reports testifying to the speed with which the chase was hurrying along.From the moment that the frigates became visible from the deck, our telescopes remained glued to our eyes, so to speak, and it was not long before we were able to distinguish that both were flying their colours, the leading ship showing the tricolour, and the other the white ensign.“I say, Chester!” exclaimed little Smellie; “what a lark! Can’t we have a flying shot at Johnnie as he goes past. Who knows? Perhaps we might knock away one of his spars and so help our own craft to get alongside. My eye! ain’t they carrying on, too; topgallant-s’ls and stunsails on both sides. What a strain upon their spars and rigging! Cut away a brace or a backstay, now, aboard that Frenchman, and away would go a whole heap of his canvas. What a splendid craft she is! It is a true saying, if ever there was one, that ‘The French know how to build ships, and the English how to sail them!’ What do you say, Chester; shall we have a shot at him as he goes by?”“And have his whole broadside poured into us by way of sayingthankee,” dryly remarked Hardy.“I doubt whether he has his broadside guns cleared away, yet,” I remarked; “and even if he has we are a very small target to fire at. I feel half inclined to take a shot at him if we get a good chance. At all events, you may clear away the long nine and load it; we can then be governed by circumstances.”No sooner said than done. The men set to work with all the glee of a parcel of school-boys intent upon some piece of mischief, and in a very short time the long nine-pounder mounted amidships was ready for service and loaded.In the meantime pursuer and pursued continued their rapid flight down before the wind; both ships staggering along under a press of canvas which clearly indicated the alarm of the one and the determination of the other. As we stood watching them in breathless interest, the weather cleared somewhat; the dense canopy of cloud which had obscured the heavens for many hours broke up into rifts which permitted an occasional watery gleam of sunshine to penetrate through and light up the scene, glancing in streaks and patches here and there upon the mountain-surges, and changing their dull leaden hue into a dirty green, and shimmering for a moment upon the snowy canvas and bright copper of one or other of the frigates, only to fade away next instant and leave the picture, as it was before, a dull lifeless grey.By the time that the French ship had approached to within a mile of us, it became evident that if we both continued on our respective courses, without any alteration in our speeds, we should pass within perilous proximity of each other; the “Vigilant’s” fore-sheet was therefore let draw and the helm righted, so that we might forge ahead and cross the flying craft at a safe distance.She was yawing about most frightfully, sheering first to port and then to starboard in a manner which seemed every moment to threaten that she would broach-to. Should such an accident occur in the then condition of the weather the total dismasting of the ship would be the least calamity which could reasonably be expected to follow; while it was far more probable that she would either capsize or founder stern foremost. The steering of the English ship was in marked contrast to this, though she also sheered about to a certain extent; still, it was so trifling in comparison with that of the Frenchman, that it appeared to us as though the Englishman was gaining upon the chase more by superior helmsmanship than by the possession of any advantage over him in point of actual speed.As the French frigate continued to sweep down towards us I became exceedingly anxious; for it now seemed as though we had delayed a trifle too long the act of filling away upon the “Vigilant,” and that, at our low rate of speed, we should be unable to draw out of her immediate path. The ship, now distant not more than half a mile, came surging on, with her broad expanse of canvas fully distended by the following gale, and straining at the stout spars and tough hemp rigging as though it would tear the very masts themselves out of the hull and come flying down to leeward like cobwebs before a summer breeze; or as though, when the ship rose upon the ridge of a sea, lifting her fore-foot and some forty feet of her keel clear out of the water, she would take flight, and, leaving the sea altogether, soar away upon her canvas pinions like a startled sea-fowl. She was rolling heavily, so much so indeed that we more than once saw her dip her stunsail-boom-ends alternately on the port and starboard sides into the water.At length, as we rose to the crest of one mountainous sea, which had completely hidden the French ship from us, up to her very royal-mast-heads, we saw her surging madly forward upon the breast of the one which followed it, the hissing foam-crest which pursued her rearing itself high and threateningly above her taffrail, while the ship herself, with her port gunwale deep buried in the water, was taking a desperate and uncontrollable sheer to starboard which we saw in a moment would hurl her crashing into the little “Vigilant” somewhere about the mainmast.A cry, something between a yell and a shriek of horror and dismay, burst simultaneously from the lips of our crew as this awful danger burst upon us; and, in a momentary panic, a general rush was made by all hands to that part of the vessel which appeared likely to receive the annihilating blow, with the intention of making a spring for life at the frigate’s bowsprit and headgear. Even the helmsman was so infected by the sight that, abandoning the wheel, he too joined in the rush.There was no time for remonstrance. Smellie and I were standing near the companion at the moment, watching the approach of the Frenchman; and as the rush took place I seized him by the arm, and, shouting in his ear, “Cut the mizzen-sheet!” sprang to the wheel, and with frantic energy whirled it hard up. By the greatest good luck the helmsman had already put the wheel a spoke or two over as the crest of the sea swept under us, so that we were actually paying-off at the moment that I took the wheel. This fact, combined with the additional amount of helm which I gave her, and the lightning-like rapidity with which little Smellie whipped out his keen pocket-knife and drew it across the straining strands of the mizzen-sheet, saved the “Vigilant.” The mizzen flogged itself to ribbons in a moment, while the foresail paid our bows broad off, and, filling powerfully at the same time, dragged us clear by the bare skin of our teeth. The frigate rushed foaming past our stern, so closely that the surge from her port bow dashed in over our taffrail, and the leach of her lower stunsail, catching the head of our mizzen-mast, buckled the spar until the port shrouds parted, when, luckily for us,crackwent her stunsail-boom and her lower and fore-topmast stunsail began to thrash about so wildly, that they promised to give her crew their hands full to get in the sails without injury to any of the men.Passing each other in such disagreeably close proximity, we had of course a perfect view of the French frigate, and a most superb craft she certainly was. A bran-new ship, to all appearance: she seemed to have been at sea scarcely long enough to wash the varnish off her teak and mahogany deck-fittings. The planks of her deck were almost snow-white, and some little taste and trouble appeared to have been expended in a successful effort to impart a graceful effect to the decorations about the front of her spacious poop, beneath the over-hanging pent-house of which appeared her handsome steering-wheel, with four men hard—a great dealtoohard, it seemed to me—at work at it. She showed eighteen ports of a side, all closed, and carried her due proportion of carronades on her forecastle and quarter-deck. Her masts, magnificent sticks, and her short stout yards were bending like fishing-rods under the tremendous strain of her new canvas, which appeared as though it had not yet fully stretched into its proper shape; and every rope was coiled down in its proper place with the most scrupulous neatness. But, oh! the confusion and jabber and excitement of her crew. As she shaved past us, every man on deck jumped upon the hammock-rail and had his separate say to us—whether it were a word of caution, of congratulation at our escape from being run down, or of objurgation, it was quite impossible to tell; but, from the threatening character of their actions, I judged it to be the latter. There was only one calm individual among the whole, and he was the first lieutenant. He stood by the mizzen-rigging on the port side, clinging to a belaying-pin, and he vouchsafed us not so much as a passing glance, his whole attention being given to his spars and rigging, on which he kept his eyes anxiously fixed. The skipper, on the other hand, seemed to be more excited than any one else. When my eye lighted upon him he was grasping the poop-rail with his right hand and shaking his left fist at us. Just then our eyes met, when, to my surprise and disgust, he turned to a marine near him and pointed at me, at the same time apparently giving the man an order. The fellow raised his piece and fired, and the next instant I felt a violent blow accompanied by a sharp burning pain in my left arm, which dropped helplessly at my side, broken between the elbow and the shoulder.All this passed in a single moment of time; the next instant we were vividly recalled to a sense of our own danger. As we rose upon the next wave our port quarter was exposed to its advancing crest, and there was only time to shout to all hands to “Hold on for your lives!” before it came hissing up, and, arching over us quite six feet above our low bulwarks, tumbled on board, a regular comber, filling us to the gunwale, bursting in the companion-doors, flooding the cabin, smashing one of our boats to atoms, and washing away everything that was not securely lashed. By something approaching a miracle, none of the men were swept overboard; and as soon as I had ascertained this by a hasty glance round the deck, directly I got my head above water, I gave the order for the fore-lug to be loosed and set. The men wanted no second bidding; they knew that if we got pooped a second time it would be all over with us; and in an incredibly short space of time we had the sail set, and were bowling away to leeward after the Frenchman.Our position was now very much the reverse of an enviable one; as, being compelled for safety’s sake to run dead before it, we were exactly in the line of fire between the two ships, which continued to bang away at each other from time to time, quite regardless of the possible consequences to us; and their shot came hissing past us and over us so closely that it was manifestly imperative upon us to shift our berth without loss of time. Giving orders, therefore, that the spare mizzen should be bent and set, and the craft brought to once more—but on the starboard tack this time, so as to afford us an opportunity to knot the shrouds on the larboard side, carried away by the French frigate—I left little Smellie and Tom Hardy on deck to see to its execution; and, summoning the assistant-surgeon to my aid, retired below to have my wounded arm coopered up.My friend Sawbones had just arrived at that stage of his operations which required him to torture me almost beyond my powers of endurance by grinding the two broken bone-ends together to get them in proper position, when we felt a violent concussion, accompanied by a loud explosion on deck, speedily followed by vociferous cheering; and the next moment down trundled that young scamp Smellie, his face beaming all over with a broad grin, as he exclaimed,—“Hurrah, Chester, I’ve done it! Did itmyself, Hardy will tell you so.”“Didwhat, for goodness’ sake?” groaned I, as the medico, under the influence of a terrific roll, gave my arm a most awful wrench. “What did you fire for?”“Fired at the Frenchman, of course,” replied he, somewhat disconcerted. “I understood that you agreed we should have a shot at him, so we gave him one from long Tom. I pointed the gun myself; and—only fancy!—knocked away his mizzen-topmast, which brought down his main-topgallant-mast with it; and there he is now in a pretty mess. My eye!thatwas a close one,” he added, as a twelve-pound shot sung close over our heads, without hitting anything however.“It sounds remarkably as though he were anxious to return the compliment, if he can,” said I. “You had better go on deck again and hurry the men up with that mizzen; and round-to as soon as you possibly can. If one of those shot happen to plump on board us we shall probably have cause to remember the circumstance.”The lad darted up the companion-way again, three stairs at a time; and very shortly afterwards I heard him shout down to me,—“I say, Chester, the mizzen is bent and all ready for setting; shall we hoist away?”“Watch for a good opportunity,” I shouted back, “and as soon as it comes, down with your helm, and sway up the sail at the same time.”“Ay, ay; we will do so,” was the response.A few minutes elapsed; and then I felt the little craft rising up, up, up, until it seemed as though she were about to turn a summersault with us; there was athudat her stern, and a heavyswishof water on her deck as the crest of the sea struck her and broke over the taffrail, and then Tom Hardy’s voice exclaimed,—“Now—now’syour time, sir! Jam your helm hard-a-port, you Dick! hard over with it, man; that’s your sort. Now, sway away upon these here mizzen halliards; down with your fore-lug; ease up the fore-sheet there, for’ard; up with the mizzen, lads; bowse itwellup; that’s well; belay. Haul your fore-sheet over to wind’ard, and make fast. There! that’s capital. Now let’s see what we can do to these here shrouds.”From all of which, and the altered character of the little craft’s motion, I learned that the ticklish manoeuvre of rounding-to had been safely executed.A quarter of an hour afterwards the medico finished me off, and I was able, with Hardy’s assistance, to go on deck again and take a look round before turning into my hammock to nurse my wounded arm.We were now hove-to upon the starboard tack, with our head to the southward; the English frigate had passed us, and was by this time some two miles to leeward, on our port quarter, the Frenchman still leading, though he had lost ground considerably, and he seemed yet to be in the thick of his trouble with the wreck of his spars. The bow and stern-chasers of the two ships were still playing merrily away, but without any very marked result, as far as we could see; and shortly afterwards we lost sight of both ships in the thick weather to leeward, and saw no more of them.We were not long in getting our larboard mizzen shrouds knotted and set up afresh; and as soon as this was done we watched our chance and wore round once more, with our head to the northward—I remaining on deck to watch the operation—after which I was glad to get into my hammock and seek relief to my wounded fin.
My instructions were to see the admiral without the delay of a single moment, should we happen to arrive at any hour when the worthy chief might be reasonably supposed to be out of his bed; I accordingly had the boat lowered, and proceeded to the shore the instant that our anchor was let go.
When I reached the admiral’s house, I found him busy at the entertainment of a party of “sodger officers” from the garrison.
I was shown into his private room; and in a few minutes the gallant old veteran stumped in on his wooden leg, and saluted me with,—
“Well, youngster, whose cat is dead now? Are you aware that I very strongly object to be troubled after business hours, unless the matter happens to be one of very great importance?”
“I must apologise for intruding upon you at so late an hour, sir,” I replied; “but my instructions are that I should not lose a moment in placing in your hands the despatches from Lord Hood of which I have the honour to be the bearer.”
“Youhave the honour! Despatches from Lord Hood? The d—?” he exclaimed. “Do you mean to say thatyouhave charge of the despatch-boat signalled this evening?”
“I do sir, certainly,” I rather resentfully replied. The somewhat contemptuous emphasis he laid on the wordyouslightly nettled me.
“What, in the name of—um! um! What’s your name, pray, young gentleman?” said he.
“Ralph Chester, midshipman, of the frigate ‘Juno,’ at your service, sir,” I replied.
“Ralph Chester, eh? Of the ‘Juno.’ Ah! um! Let me see. Um! Your name seems familiar to me. Where did I hear it before?Musthave heard it before, somewhere; never make mistakes about names;never. Wheredid I hear it before, eh, youngster?”
“It is quite impossible for me to say, sir,” I replied. “The only way in which an officer in your high position is likely to become acquainted with the name of an obscure midshipman is, it seems to me, through the Gazette.”
“Gazette? Gazette? Oh, ay; to be sure. Yes, yes; certainly; that was it. ‘Juno’—Captain Hood—of course. And are you the lad who distinguished himself so conspicuously at the storming of the Convention Redoubt?”
“I was named in the despatches in connection with that affair, sir,” I modestly replied.
“Then I congratulate you most heartily, my boy,” said he, shaking hands with me vigorously, and changing his hitherto gruff and somewhat churlish demeanour for one of almost paternal cordiality. “Ha! ha! you made the whole service your debtor that night, by helping your skipper to get into the breach before the red-coat. The rascals! They like to ‘top the officer’ over us, and claim to be the more useful arm of the service; but you gave us the pull on them that night, my boy, and no mistake. Poor Dundas! How awfully disgusted he must have felt. But—sit down, and let me see your despatches—we can talk afterwards.”
I produced my box, and handed to him the letter from Lord Hood which was addressed to himself.
He hastily tore open the envelope, and soon ran over the few lines which formed the contents of the letter.
“Can’t do it,” he exclaimed, testily, crumpling up the letter in his hand. “Haven’t a single frigate at my disposal; not even a corvette nor a despatch-boat—nothing, in fact, but my own barge. Sheer impossibility; so there’s an end of it. Why, in the name of all that’s ridiculous, could he not send one of his own frigates, so that these confounded despatches might have gone straight on? Much more sensible than to send them here in a little hooker which is not fit to cross the Bay of Biscay.Whyis she not fit, eh? What’s the matter with her?”
“There is nothing the matter with her, sir; nothing whatever,” I replied. “It is only an idea of Lord Hood’s that she is unfit to cross the Bay. She, no doubt, appears to him a mere boat, compared with the ‘Victory,’ butIshould have no hesitation whatever about taking her across the Bay, or across the Atlantic itself, for that matter.”
“Ah! Is that the case?” he quickly returned. “Um! um! That is a possible way out of the difficulty. Look here. I’ve a few red-coats in the other room, spending the evening with me; I shall be very glad to have the pleasure of your company for the remainder of the evening, if you will join us, young gentleman. I can give you a bed here; and to-morrow I will go on board this little hooker of yours with you, and see for myself whether or no she seems fit to make the trip to England.”
We accordingly adjourned to the dining-room, where we found some dozen or so of military men seated round the table, discussing their wine and cigars, chatting over the events of the war, and bewailing their own ill-luck in being shut up in Gibraltar instead of sharing in the miseries and glories (?) of the field.
I was introduced by the admiral to his guests as one fresh from the seat of the operations in Corsica, and was welcomed cordially and freely plied with questions of all kinds, to some of which, by-the-bye, I found it rather difficult to reply without exciting a feeling of jealousy in the breasts of the red-coats.
Fortunately, however, the evening passed without the occurrence of any incident of a disagreeable character; and at a late, or, more strictly speaking, at an early, hour next morning I turned in, so thoroughly tired that I felt scarcely able to remain awake until I had undressed.
About 7:30 a knock sounded at my door, and a voice announced—in tones which struck me as being somewhat tremulous with suppressed laughter—“Your shaving-water, sir.” Now, I may as well confess that at this particular period of my life the one subject upon which, above all others, I was most sensitive was shaving. I shaved with the most scrupulous regularity every morning; but it was done furtively, so far, at least as my elders were concerned. In the presence of my fellow-mids, the act was performed openly and with all due ceremony and solemnity—allthe mids on board the “Juno” shaved—but I had noticed, upon more than one occasion, that any reference in the hearing of my elders to the punctuality with which I performed this duty was invariably received by them with a silence more eloquent than words, and with an expression of ironical incredulity which could only be adequately atoned for by the shedding of their heart’s blood. Therefore I had ceased to refer to a subject the mention of which was invariably followed by much annoyance, and hence the preternatural sensitiveness which caused me to suspect, rather than to absolutely detect, a quiver of suppressed laughter in the voice of the man who on this morning awoke me with the announcement of “Your shaving-water, sir.”
The temporary irritation arising out of this painful and humiliating suspicion had one good result, however; it effectually awoke me and enabled me to promptly turn out; while, but for it, the late hours of the previous night might otherwise have caused me to doze off again, and so become guilty of the quite unpardonable offence of keeping an admiral waiting.
As it was, I was dressed and down in the breakfast-room so promptly that the admiral rather keptmewaiting; which was quite a different matter. By eleven o’clock however, we were on board the “Vigilant;” and after going carefully through and over the craft—accompanied by myself, Tom Hardy, and the carpenter’s mate—the old boy came to the conclusion that she was strong enough to go round the world if required, and that he therefore need have no hesitation whatever about ordering us to proceed to England forthwith.
He would, however, he said, take it upon himself to detain us until evening; by which time he would have ready some despatches of his own, which he wished to forward.
We utilised the time by filling up provisions and water; a task which was left to the superintendence of Tom Hardy, while Smellie and I had a scramble through the gun-galleries and to the telegraph-station at the summit of the Rock; and just as the sunset-gun boomed out on the evening air we weighed and stood out of the bay, with a light north-easterly breeze, passing Tarifa Point shortly before midnight.
By breakfast-time on the morning but one following, we were abreast of Cape Saint Vincent. Eighteen hours later, we made the Rock of Lisbon; and, on the fifth day out from Gibraltar, finding ourselves in the latitude of Cape Finisterre, we hauled up to the northward and eastward for Ushant; and entered the Bay of Biscay.
So far, all had gone well. We had been favoured with fine weather, and winds which, while somewhat inclined to be light and variable, had still allowed us to lay our course, and we had really made a very fair passage up to this point.
But we had scarcely entered the notorious Bay of Biscay when the aspect of affairs began to change.
The first omen of evil revealed itself in a steadily and rather rapidly falling barometer. The wind for the previous twenty-four hours had been moderate, and steady at about east, but toward evening it became fitful, now dying away until the roll of the ship caused the canvas to flap heavily against the masts, and anon freshening up again for a few minutes, quite to a seven-knot breeze. Then it would drop once more; and nothing would be heard but the heavy flap of the canvas, the creak of the spars, theswishof the water as it lapped in over our bulwarks—the craft rolling gunwale-under—and a low weird moaning of pent-up wind, which teemed to be imprisoned in a heavy cloud-bank rapidly piling itself up on the north-western horizon. The sky, which had been clear all day, became overspread with a canopy of dirty lead-coloured vapour, between which and ourselves soon appeared small ragged patches of fast-flying scud. The moaning sound became louder and more weird and dismal in tone; while the sea—its surface curiously agitated by waves which leaped up and subsided without any apparent cause—grew black as ink.
Fortunately, we had ample and unmistakable notice of the impending change; and we fully availed ourselves of it by making every possible preparation for the expected gale, and adopting every possible precaution for the safety of our craft.
Our first act was to take in and secure our lofty lateen-canvas by getting the yards down on deck and firmly lashing them there; we then set a storm-jib and a leg-of-mutton mizzen, just to steady the craft and place her under command when the breeze should come. This done, we divided our crew into two parties, one of which, under the gunner’s mate, secured the guns with extra breechings, while the other, under Hardy, battened down everything, and put extra lashings upon the booms and boats.
We were ready in excellent time; all our preparations being complete a good half-hour before the breeze came.
At length, about the time of sunset, a sudden break appeared in the mass of cloud piled up to the north-westward, revealing a long narrow strip of fiery copper-coloured sky; and at the same instant the wind, which had hitherto blown in fitful gusts, died completely away.
“Here it comes!” was the exclamation which issued simultaneously from a dozen throats, as the eyes of the more watchful caught the glare of the tawny streak of sky away on our port beam; and even as we spoke the roar of the wind became apparent; and far away on the verge of the horizon we caught a glimpse of the whitening water, as it was lashed into foam by the first mad fury of the approaching squall.
“Port your helm! Hard over with it!” I exclaimed; “and stand by to brail up the mizzen if she fails to pay off.”
We had at the wheel one of the best helmsmen on board, a cool, smart, active topman; and, almost before the words were out of my mouth, he sent the wheel spinning hard over with a single jerk of his muscular arm, while Hardy mustered some three or four hands at the mizzen-brails.
The squall, however, furious as it was at its commencement, had spent its greatest strength before it reached us; and when it struck the “Vigilant” it came with merely sufficient force to lay her down to her bearings for a moment, when she gathered way, and, answering her helm at once, paid off before it, and began to surge away to leeward at the rate of about six knots.
The squall proved to be merely the precursor of a strong but steady gale from the north-west: and as soon as this became sufficiently apparent we hauled our wind once more and hove the craft to on the larboard tack under her jib and mizzen. This arrangement, while it promised to be the best that could be made for the safety of the ship and our own comfort, also enabled us to drift along at the rate of about three knots an hour on our proper course.
We found that under her short canvas the little “Vigilant,” with her flat and beamy build, sharp lines, and flaring bow, laid-to admirably, riding as lightly and almost as dry as a seagull over the mountainous sea which rapidly got up under the influence of the gale.
I remained on deck long enough to thoroughly satisfy myself upon this point, and then, leaving the deck in charge of Hardy (who had the watch), with one man to tend the wheel, and two others on the lookout, I sent the remainder of the hands below to get a good meal with plenty of strong hot coffee; while little Smellie and I sat down to our own almost equally humble spread in the small but cosy cabin.
The change from the cold wet sloppy deck, with its accompaniments of darkness, driving spray, and frequent rain-squalls, to the dry warm comfort of the cabin, lighted up with the brilliant rays of its single handsome swinging-lamp, its carpeted floor and well-cushioned lockers, was agreeable in the extreme; and the sound of the gale, as it roared overhead and shrieked through the rigging, the patter and drip of the rain on the deck, and the occasional heavy “swish” of the drenching spray-showers, served but to increase the feeling of comfort which we enjoyed. We spent some time, after the table was cleared, in consulting the chart, interspersed with frequent references to the book of sailing directions, and when we tired of these a book apiece served to wile away the time until midnight, when Smellie had to turn out once more and take charge of the deck. As the eight strokes upon the bell proclaimed the expiration of the first watch, we donned our oilskins and repaired to the deck in company.
The wind had been steadily increasing from the commencement of the gale, and was now blowing so heavily that every time the “Vigilant” rose upon the crest of a sea she careened almost gunwale-to, even with the scanty shred of canvas under which she was hove-to. The sea, moreover, had increased with as great rapidity as the wind, and was now running tremendously high, breaking from time to time in a manner which made me somewhat uneasy. Still, the little craft was behaving beautifully and making excellent weather of it; not a drop of anything heavier than spray having come on board her so far. The night was as dark as a wolf’s mouth, there being no moon, and the sky remaining obscured by an impenetrable canopy of heavy black cloud-vapour which was darkest about the horizon, against which the phosphorescent wave-crests reared themselves portentously in startling relief. The intense darkness was my greatest source of anxiety, for we were directly in the track of outward-bound ships, and the wind was blowing from a quarter which, while not exactly fair, was sufficiently free to enable them to keep going, and that too at a speed which would send a ship of any size right over us almost without her crew knowing anything about it. We had, of course, our lights in their places, and brightly burning; but we were so frequently hidden in the trough of the sea that a very bright lookout would be needed to discover us in time to avoid a collision, which was then, as it is now, the thing I most dread at sea—excepting fire. It seems needless to say that a bright lookout was kept on board the “Vigilant” that night; a man on each cat-head, two in the waist—one on the weather and one on the lee side—and our two selves aft were kept constantly on the alert; and with these precautions I was obliged to rest satisfied. As it happened, our elaborate precautions proved unnecessary, for not a single sail passed us during the night; and at four o’clock next morning, when the watch was relieved, I went below and turned in, as the sky appeared to be lightening up a trifle, and I knew that it would be daylight in a short time.
When I went on deck again at seven bells (7:30 a.m.) things looked pretty much as I had left them, excepting that the sea had continued to get up and was now running higher than I had ever seen it before. Our little craft was tossed about on its angry surface lightly as a withered leaf; now rising up as though about to take flight into the midst of the rushing storm-wrack overhead, and anon plunging down the steep sides of the watery hills as though intent on reaching the very ocean’s bed itself. It was very exciting, as well, it must be confessed, as somewhat trying to the nerves, to stand on the deck and watch the approach of the mountainous seas, rushing with threatening upreared crest upon the little craft, as though determined to engulf her. But, by watchful attention to the helm, her bows always met them at a safe angle, and away they would sweep past us, harmless, but hissing and seething in impotent fury.
According to custom, Tom Hardy had charge of the deck while Smellie and I were below at breakfast. On our returning to the deck at the conclusion of the meal, he joined us to remark that he was under the impression he had once or twice heard the sound of firing to windward.
“Surely not,” said little Smellie; “you must be mistaken, Mr Hardy,” (we alwaysMisteredTom, to his intense gratification, now that he had charge of a watch). “What ships could possibly fight in this weather?”
“Depends on the course they happen to be steering, sir,” responded Tom. “It’s poorish weather for a fight, I’ll allow; but if one ship happens to be chasing t’other, and they’m both running before it, both bow and stern-chasers might be worked, heavy as the sea is. Besides, it looks a deal worse to us, afloat here in this cock-boat, than ’twould if we was aboard the old ‘Juno,’ for instance; and a’ter all—hark! didn’t you hear anything just then, gentlemen?”
The boom of a gun, muffled by the roar of the gale, but still heard with sufficient distinctness to render the sound unmistakable, at that moment broke upon the ear.
I pulled out my watch and noted the time. “Now listen for the next report!” I exclaimed; “perhaps it is a ship in distress.”
But it was immediately evident that it could be nothing of that sort, for even as I spoke, another report came floating down upon the wings of the gale, and then two others in quick succession.
Tom Hardy sprang into the main-rigging, and, going aloft as far as our short masts would permit, stood for nearly a minute, swaying about with the roll and pitch of the vessel, his eyes shaded by one hand, gazing eagerly to windward.
“Here they comes!” he hailed; “one a’ter t’other. Two frigates, seemin’ly; and one on ’em’s a Frenchman all over—the chap that’s leadin’; t’other’s of course one of our ships.”
“How are they steering?” I hailed.
“Straight for us as ever they can come, sir,” replied Tom, as he nimbly descended the rigging again, and swung himself off the low rail to the deck.
Ten minutes afterwards the upper spars of the leading ship were in sight from the deck, when we rose upon the crest of a sea, and in another five minutes both craft were visible. The firing continued briskly on both sides, the rapidly-increasing distinctness of the reports testifying to the speed with which the chase was hurrying along.
From the moment that the frigates became visible from the deck, our telescopes remained glued to our eyes, so to speak, and it was not long before we were able to distinguish that both were flying their colours, the leading ship showing the tricolour, and the other the white ensign.
“I say, Chester!” exclaimed little Smellie; “what a lark! Can’t we have a flying shot at Johnnie as he goes past. Who knows? Perhaps we might knock away one of his spars and so help our own craft to get alongside. My eye! ain’t they carrying on, too; topgallant-s’ls and stunsails on both sides. What a strain upon their spars and rigging! Cut away a brace or a backstay, now, aboard that Frenchman, and away would go a whole heap of his canvas. What a splendid craft she is! It is a true saying, if ever there was one, that ‘The French know how to build ships, and the English how to sail them!’ What do you say, Chester; shall we have a shot at him as he goes by?”
“And have his whole broadside poured into us by way of sayingthankee,” dryly remarked Hardy.
“I doubt whether he has his broadside guns cleared away, yet,” I remarked; “and even if he has we are a very small target to fire at. I feel half inclined to take a shot at him if we get a good chance. At all events, you may clear away the long nine and load it; we can then be governed by circumstances.”
No sooner said than done. The men set to work with all the glee of a parcel of school-boys intent upon some piece of mischief, and in a very short time the long nine-pounder mounted amidships was ready for service and loaded.
In the meantime pursuer and pursued continued their rapid flight down before the wind; both ships staggering along under a press of canvas which clearly indicated the alarm of the one and the determination of the other. As we stood watching them in breathless interest, the weather cleared somewhat; the dense canopy of cloud which had obscured the heavens for many hours broke up into rifts which permitted an occasional watery gleam of sunshine to penetrate through and light up the scene, glancing in streaks and patches here and there upon the mountain-surges, and changing their dull leaden hue into a dirty green, and shimmering for a moment upon the snowy canvas and bright copper of one or other of the frigates, only to fade away next instant and leave the picture, as it was before, a dull lifeless grey.
By the time that the French ship had approached to within a mile of us, it became evident that if we both continued on our respective courses, without any alteration in our speeds, we should pass within perilous proximity of each other; the “Vigilant’s” fore-sheet was therefore let draw and the helm righted, so that we might forge ahead and cross the flying craft at a safe distance.
She was yawing about most frightfully, sheering first to port and then to starboard in a manner which seemed every moment to threaten that she would broach-to. Should such an accident occur in the then condition of the weather the total dismasting of the ship would be the least calamity which could reasonably be expected to follow; while it was far more probable that she would either capsize or founder stern foremost. The steering of the English ship was in marked contrast to this, though she also sheered about to a certain extent; still, it was so trifling in comparison with that of the Frenchman, that it appeared to us as though the Englishman was gaining upon the chase more by superior helmsmanship than by the possession of any advantage over him in point of actual speed.
As the French frigate continued to sweep down towards us I became exceedingly anxious; for it now seemed as though we had delayed a trifle too long the act of filling away upon the “Vigilant,” and that, at our low rate of speed, we should be unable to draw out of her immediate path. The ship, now distant not more than half a mile, came surging on, with her broad expanse of canvas fully distended by the following gale, and straining at the stout spars and tough hemp rigging as though it would tear the very masts themselves out of the hull and come flying down to leeward like cobwebs before a summer breeze; or as though, when the ship rose upon the ridge of a sea, lifting her fore-foot and some forty feet of her keel clear out of the water, she would take flight, and, leaving the sea altogether, soar away upon her canvas pinions like a startled sea-fowl. She was rolling heavily, so much so indeed that we more than once saw her dip her stunsail-boom-ends alternately on the port and starboard sides into the water.
At length, as we rose to the crest of one mountainous sea, which had completely hidden the French ship from us, up to her very royal-mast-heads, we saw her surging madly forward upon the breast of the one which followed it, the hissing foam-crest which pursued her rearing itself high and threateningly above her taffrail, while the ship herself, with her port gunwale deep buried in the water, was taking a desperate and uncontrollable sheer to starboard which we saw in a moment would hurl her crashing into the little “Vigilant” somewhere about the mainmast.
A cry, something between a yell and a shriek of horror and dismay, burst simultaneously from the lips of our crew as this awful danger burst upon us; and, in a momentary panic, a general rush was made by all hands to that part of the vessel which appeared likely to receive the annihilating blow, with the intention of making a spring for life at the frigate’s bowsprit and headgear. Even the helmsman was so infected by the sight that, abandoning the wheel, he too joined in the rush.
There was no time for remonstrance. Smellie and I were standing near the companion at the moment, watching the approach of the Frenchman; and as the rush took place I seized him by the arm, and, shouting in his ear, “Cut the mizzen-sheet!” sprang to the wheel, and with frantic energy whirled it hard up. By the greatest good luck the helmsman had already put the wheel a spoke or two over as the crest of the sea swept under us, so that we were actually paying-off at the moment that I took the wheel. This fact, combined with the additional amount of helm which I gave her, and the lightning-like rapidity with which little Smellie whipped out his keen pocket-knife and drew it across the straining strands of the mizzen-sheet, saved the “Vigilant.” The mizzen flogged itself to ribbons in a moment, while the foresail paid our bows broad off, and, filling powerfully at the same time, dragged us clear by the bare skin of our teeth. The frigate rushed foaming past our stern, so closely that the surge from her port bow dashed in over our taffrail, and the leach of her lower stunsail, catching the head of our mizzen-mast, buckled the spar until the port shrouds parted, when, luckily for us,crackwent her stunsail-boom and her lower and fore-topmast stunsail began to thrash about so wildly, that they promised to give her crew their hands full to get in the sails without injury to any of the men.
Passing each other in such disagreeably close proximity, we had of course a perfect view of the French frigate, and a most superb craft she certainly was. A bran-new ship, to all appearance: she seemed to have been at sea scarcely long enough to wash the varnish off her teak and mahogany deck-fittings. The planks of her deck were almost snow-white, and some little taste and trouble appeared to have been expended in a successful effort to impart a graceful effect to the decorations about the front of her spacious poop, beneath the over-hanging pent-house of which appeared her handsome steering-wheel, with four men hard—a great dealtoohard, it seemed to me—at work at it. She showed eighteen ports of a side, all closed, and carried her due proportion of carronades on her forecastle and quarter-deck. Her masts, magnificent sticks, and her short stout yards were bending like fishing-rods under the tremendous strain of her new canvas, which appeared as though it had not yet fully stretched into its proper shape; and every rope was coiled down in its proper place with the most scrupulous neatness. But, oh! the confusion and jabber and excitement of her crew. As she shaved past us, every man on deck jumped upon the hammock-rail and had his separate say to us—whether it were a word of caution, of congratulation at our escape from being run down, or of objurgation, it was quite impossible to tell; but, from the threatening character of their actions, I judged it to be the latter. There was only one calm individual among the whole, and he was the first lieutenant. He stood by the mizzen-rigging on the port side, clinging to a belaying-pin, and he vouchsafed us not so much as a passing glance, his whole attention being given to his spars and rigging, on which he kept his eyes anxiously fixed. The skipper, on the other hand, seemed to be more excited than any one else. When my eye lighted upon him he was grasping the poop-rail with his right hand and shaking his left fist at us. Just then our eyes met, when, to my surprise and disgust, he turned to a marine near him and pointed at me, at the same time apparently giving the man an order. The fellow raised his piece and fired, and the next instant I felt a violent blow accompanied by a sharp burning pain in my left arm, which dropped helplessly at my side, broken between the elbow and the shoulder.
All this passed in a single moment of time; the next instant we were vividly recalled to a sense of our own danger. As we rose upon the next wave our port quarter was exposed to its advancing crest, and there was only time to shout to all hands to “Hold on for your lives!” before it came hissing up, and, arching over us quite six feet above our low bulwarks, tumbled on board, a regular comber, filling us to the gunwale, bursting in the companion-doors, flooding the cabin, smashing one of our boats to atoms, and washing away everything that was not securely lashed. By something approaching a miracle, none of the men were swept overboard; and as soon as I had ascertained this by a hasty glance round the deck, directly I got my head above water, I gave the order for the fore-lug to be loosed and set. The men wanted no second bidding; they knew that if we got pooped a second time it would be all over with us; and in an incredibly short space of time we had the sail set, and were bowling away to leeward after the Frenchman.
Our position was now very much the reverse of an enviable one; as, being compelled for safety’s sake to run dead before it, we were exactly in the line of fire between the two ships, which continued to bang away at each other from time to time, quite regardless of the possible consequences to us; and their shot came hissing past us and over us so closely that it was manifestly imperative upon us to shift our berth without loss of time. Giving orders, therefore, that the spare mizzen should be bent and set, and the craft brought to once more—but on the starboard tack this time, so as to afford us an opportunity to knot the shrouds on the larboard side, carried away by the French frigate—I left little Smellie and Tom Hardy on deck to see to its execution; and, summoning the assistant-surgeon to my aid, retired below to have my wounded arm coopered up.
My friend Sawbones had just arrived at that stage of his operations which required him to torture me almost beyond my powers of endurance by grinding the two broken bone-ends together to get them in proper position, when we felt a violent concussion, accompanied by a loud explosion on deck, speedily followed by vociferous cheering; and the next moment down trundled that young scamp Smellie, his face beaming all over with a broad grin, as he exclaimed,—
“Hurrah, Chester, I’ve done it! Did itmyself, Hardy will tell you so.”
“Didwhat, for goodness’ sake?” groaned I, as the medico, under the influence of a terrific roll, gave my arm a most awful wrench. “What did you fire for?”
“Fired at the Frenchman, of course,” replied he, somewhat disconcerted. “I understood that you agreed we should have a shot at him, so we gave him one from long Tom. I pointed the gun myself; and—only fancy!—knocked away his mizzen-topmast, which brought down his main-topgallant-mast with it; and there he is now in a pretty mess. My eye!thatwas a close one,” he added, as a twelve-pound shot sung close over our heads, without hitting anything however.
“It sounds remarkably as though he were anxious to return the compliment, if he can,” said I. “You had better go on deck again and hurry the men up with that mizzen; and round-to as soon as you possibly can. If one of those shot happen to plump on board us we shall probably have cause to remember the circumstance.”
The lad darted up the companion-way again, three stairs at a time; and very shortly afterwards I heard him shout down to me,—
“I say, Chester, the mizzen is bent and all ready for setting; shall we hoist away?”
“Watch for a good opportunity,” I shouted back, “and as soon as it comes, down with your helm, and sway up the sail at the same time.”
“Ay, ay; we will do so,” was the response.
A few minutes elapsed; and then I felt the little craft rising up, up, up, until it seemed as though she were about to turn a summersault with us; there was athudat her stern, and a heavyswishof water on her deck as the crest of the sea struck her and broke over the taffrail, and then Tom Hardy’s voice exclaimed,—
“Now—now’syour time, sir! Jam your helm hard-a-port, you Dick! hard over with it, man; that’s your sort. Now, sway away upon these here mizzen halliards; down with your fore-lug; ease up the fore-sheet there, for’ard; up with the mizzen, lads; bowse itwellup; that’s well; belay. Haul your fore-sheet over to wind’ard, and make fast. There! that’s capital. Now let’s see what we can do to these here shrouds.”
From all of which, and the altered character of the little craft’s motion, I learned that the ticklish manoeuvre of rounding-to had been safely executed.
A quarter of an hour afterwards the medico finished me off, and I was able, with Hardy’s assistance, to go on deck again and take a look round before turning into my hammock to nurse my wounded arm.
We were now hove-to upon the starboard tack, with our head to the southward; the English frigate had passed us, and was by this time some two miles to leeward, on our port quarter, the Frenchman still leading, though he had lost ground considerably, and he seemed yet to be in the thick of his trouble with the wreck of his spars. The bow and stern-chasers of the two ships were still playing merrily away, but without any very marked result, as far as we could see; and shortly afterwards we lost sight of both ships in the thick weather to leeward, and saw no more of them.
We were not long in getting our larboard mizzen shrouds knotted and set up afresh; and as soon as this was done we watched our chance and wore round once more, with our head to the northward—I remaining on deck to watch the operation—after which I was glad to get into my hammock and seek relief to my wounded fin.