Held Fast For England Part 29

"You are right, Dr. Burke," he said. "I never saw it in that light.

It is clear enough that you are right, and that the less we say about the O'Moores before the first Irish king of that name, the better. There must have been some mistake about that tree I spoke of.

"Captain O'Halloran, I apologize. I was wrong."

The two officers shook hands, and peace was restored; but Captain O'Moore was evidently a good deal puzzled, and mortified, by the problem the doctor had set before him and, after remaining silent for some time, evidently in deep thought, he left the room. Some of the others watched him from the window, until he had entered the door of his own quarters; and then there was a general shout of laughter.

"The O'Moore will be the death of me!" Teddy Burke exclaimed, as he threw himself back in a chair, exhausted. "He is one of the best fellows going, but you can lead him on into anything. I don't suppose he ever gave a thought to the O'Moores, anywhere further back than those kings. He had a vague idea that they must have been going on, simply because it must have seemed to him that a world without an O'Moore in it would be necessarily imperfect. It was Bob Repton's questions, as to what they were doing at the time of the flood, that brought him suddenly up; then he didn't hesitate for a moment in taking them back to Adam, or before him. Just on the ancestry of the O'Moores, Phelim has got a tile a little loose; but on all other points, he is as sensible as anyone in the regiment."

"I wonder you didn't add, 'and that is not saying much,' doctor,"

one of the lieutenants said.

"I may have thought it, youngster; but you see, I must have made exceptions in favour of myself and the colonel, so I held my tongue. The fact that we are all here, under a sun hot enough to cook a beefsteak; and that for the next two or three years we are going to have to work like n.i.g.g.e.rs, and to be shot at by the Spaniards, and to be pretty well--if not quite--starved, speaks for itself as to the amount of sense we have got between us.

"There go the drums! Now, gentlemen, you have got the pleasure of a couple of hours' drill before you, and I am due at the hospital."

Chapter 9: The Antelope.

On the 3rd of July, a hundred and eighty volunteers from the infantry joined the artillery, who were not numerous enough to work all the guns of the batteries; and two days later a Spanish squadron of two men-of-war, five frigates, and eleven smaller vessels hove in sight from the west, and lay to off the entrance to the bay. Three privateers came in, and one of the Spanish schooners stood across to reconnoitre them; and a shot was fired at her from the batteries on Europa Point.

The Enterprise, frigate, had gone across to Tetuan to bring Mr.

Logie over again. On her return, she was chased by the enemy's squadron; but succeeded in giving them the slip, in the dark. As she neared the Rock the captain, fearing to be discovered by the enemy, did not show the usual lights; and several shots were fired at the ship, but fortunately without effect.

On the following day letters were received from England, with the official news that hostilities had commenced between Great Britain and Spain; and the same evening a proclamation was published authorizing the capture of Spanish vessels, and letters of marque were given to the privateers in the bay, permitting them to capture Spanish as well as French vessels.

Among the privateers was the Antelope, which was one of those that had come in on the previous afternoon. Bob had not heard of her arrival, when he ran against Captain Lockett in the town, next morning. They had not met since Bob had landed, six months before.

"Well, Master Repton," the captain said, after they had shaken hands, "I was coming up to see you, after I had managed my business. I have letters, from Mr. Bale, for you and Mrs.

O'Halloran."

"You are all well on board, I hope, captain?"

"Joe is well. He is first mate, now. Poor Probert is on his back in hospital, at Portsmouth. We had a sharp brush with a French privateer, but we beat her off. We had five men killed, and Probert had his leg taken off by an eighteen pound shot. We clapped on a tourniquet, but he had a very narrow escape of bleeding to death.

Fortunately it was off Ushant and, the wind being favourable, we got into Portsmouth on the following morning; and the doctors think that they will pull him round.

"You have grown a good bit, since I saw you last."

"Not much, I am afraid," Bob replied dolefully, for his height was rather a sore point with him. "I get wider, but I don't think I have grown half an inch, since I came here."

"And how goes on the Spanish?"

"First rate. I can get on in it almost as well as in English."

"So you are in for some more fighting!"

"So they say," Bob replied, "but I don't think I am likely to have as close a shave, of a Spanish prison, as I had of a French one coming out here."

"No; we had a narrow squeak of it, that time."

"Was war declared when you came away?"

"No; the negotiations were broken off, and everyone knew that war was certain, and that the proclamation might be issued at any hour.

I have not had a very fast run, and expected to have learned the news when I got here; but you are sure to hear it, in a day or two.

That was why I came here. Freights were short for, with the ports of France and Spain both closed, there was little enough doing; so the owners agreed to let me drop trading and make straight for Gibraltar, so as to be ready to put out as soon as we get the declaration of war.

"There ought to be some first-rate pickings, along the coast. It isn't, here, as it is with France; where they have learned to be precious cautious, and where one daren't risk running in close to their coast on the chance of picking up a prize, for the waters swarm with their privateers. The Spaniards are a very slow set, and there is not much fear of their fitting out many privateers, for months to come; and the coasters will be a long time before they wake up to the fact that Spain is at war with us, and will go lumbering along from port to port, without the least fear of being captured. So it is a rare chance of making prize money.

"If you like a cruise, I shall be very happy to take you with me. I have seen you under fire, you know, and know that you are to be depended upon."

"I should like to go, above all things," Bob said; "but I don't know what my sister would say. I must get at her husband, first. If I can get him on my side, I think I shall be able to manage it with her.

"Well, will you come up to dinner?"

"No, I shall be busy all day. Here are the letters I was speaking of."

"Well, we have supper at seven. Will you come then?"

"With pleasure."

"Will Joe be able to come, too?"

"No; it wouldn't do for us both to leave the brig. The Spanish fleet may be sending in their boats, to try and cut some of our vessels out, and I should not feel comfortable if we were both ash.o.r.e; but he will be very glad to see you, on board. We are anch.o.r.ed a cable length from the Water Port. You are pretty sure to see one of our boats alongside.

"The steward came off with me, to buy some soft tack and fresh meat. I saw him just before I met you. He told me he had got some bread, but that meat was at a ruinous price. I told him that he must get it, whatever price it was, and I expect by this time he has done so; so if you look sharp, you will get to the boat before it puts off with him."

The steward was in the act of getting into the boat, as Bob ran down.

"Glad to see you, Mister Repton," the man said, touching his hat.

"Have you seen the captain, sir?"

"Yes, I have just left him. He told me I should catch you here."

"Thinking of having another cruise with us, sir?"

"I am thinking about it, Parker, but I don't know whether I shall be able to manage it."

They were soon alongside the Antelope.

"I thought it was you, Mister Repton, when I saw you run down to the boat," Joe Lockett said, as he shook hands with Bob.

"I am glad to see you again, Joe, and I am glad to hear you are first mate now; though of course, I am sorry for Mr. Probert."

"Yes, a bad job for him, a very bad job; but it won't be so bad, in his case, as in some. He has been talking, for the last two or three voyages, of retiring. An old uncle of his died, and left him a few acres of land down in Ess.e.x; and he has saved a bit of money out of his pay, and his share of the prizes we have made; and he talked about giving up the sea, and settling down on sh.o.r.e. So now, he will do it. He said as much as that, the night he was wounded.

"'Well,' he said, 'there won't be any more trouble about making up my mind, Joe. If I do get over this job, I have got to lay up as a dismantled hulk, for the rest of my life. I have been talking of it to you, but I doubt whether I should ever have brought myself to it, if it had not been for them Frenchmen's shot.'