Newton Forster Part 27

So much for _thinking_.

"Mr M---," would he say at another time, when I came on board, "did you call at the admiral's office?"

"No, sir; I had no orders. I didn't _think_--"

"Then why _didn't you think_, sir? Up to the mast-head, and stay there till I call you down."

So much for _not thinking_. Like the fable of the wolf and the lamb, it was all the same; bleat as I pleased, my defence was useless, and I could not avert my barbarous doom.

To proceed: Captain L--- went over the side; the last pipe had been given, and the boatswain had returned his call into his jacket-pocket, and walked forward, when the first-lieutenant, in pursuance of his orders, looked up aloft, intending to have hailed the new lord, and have requested the pleasure of his company on deck; but the youngster, feeling a slight degree of appet.i.te, after enjoying the fresh air for seven hours without any breakfast, had just ventured down the topmast rigging, that he might obtain possession of a bottle of tea and some biscuit, which one of his messmates had carried up for him, and stowed away in the bunt of the maintopsail. Young Aveleyn, who thought that the departure of the captain would occupy the attention of the first-lieutenant, had just descended to, and was placing his foot on, the topsail yard, when Mr W--- looked up, and witnessed this act of disobedience. As this was a fresh offence committed, he thought himself warranted in not complying with the captain's mandate, and the boy was ordered up again, to remain till sunset. "I would have called him down," muttered Mr W---, whose temper had been soured from long disappointment; "but since he's a lord, he shall have a good spell of it before he quits the service; and then we shall not have his recommendation to others in his own rank to come into it, and interfere with our promotion."

Now, it happened that Mr W---, who had an eye like a hawk, when he cast his eyes aloft, observed that the bunt of the maintopsail was not exactly so well stowed as it ought to be on board of a man-of-war; which is not to be wondered at, when it is recollected that the midshipmen had been very busy enlarging it to make a pantry. He therefore turned the hands up, "mend sails," and took his station amidship on the booms, to see that this, the most delinquent sail, was properly furled.

"Trice up--lay out--All ready forward?"--"All ready, sir."--"All ready abaft?"--"All ready, sir."--"Let fall."--Down came the sails from the yards, and down also came the bottle of tea and biscuit upon the face of the first-lieutenant, who was looking up; the former knocking out three of his front teeth, besides splitting open both his lips and chin.

Young Aveleyn, who witnessed the catastrophe, was delighted; the other midshipmen on deck crowded round their superior, to offer their condolements, winking and making faces at each other in by-play, until the first-lieutenant descended to his cabin, when they no longer restrained their mirth.

About an hour afterwards, Mr W--- reappeared, with his face bound up, and summoned all the young gentlemen on deck, insisting upon being informed who it was who had stowed away the bottle in the bunt of the sail; but midshipmen have most treacherous memories, and not one of them knew anything about it. As a last resource, young Aveleyn was called down from the mast-head.

"Now, sir," said Mr W---, "either inform me directly who it was who stowed away the bottle aloft, or I pledge you my word you shall be discharged from his Majesty's service tomorrow morning. Don't pretend to say that you don't know--for you must."

"I do know," replied the youngster, boldly; "but I never will tell."

"Then either you or I shall leave the service. Man the first cutter;"

and when the boat was manned, the first-lieutenant sent some papers on sh.o.r.e, which he had been desired to do by the captain.

When the boat returned, the clerk was sent for, and desired by Mr W--- to make out Mr Aveleyn's discharge, as the officers and midshipmen thought (for Mr W--- had kept his secret), for his disobedient conduct.

The poor boy, who thought all his prospects blighted, was sent on sh.o.r.e, the tears running down his cheeks, as much from the applause and kind farewells of his shipmates, as from the idea of the degradation which he underwent. Now, the real culprit was young Malcolm, who, to oblige the captain, had taken his station at the foretop-gallant mast-head, because the dog "Ponto" thought proper to cut off his own tail. The first-lieutenant, in his own woe, forgot that of others; and it was not until nine o'clock at night, that Malcolm, who thought that he had stayed up quite long enough, ventured below, when he was informed of what had taken place.

The youngster immediately penned a letter to the captain acknowledging that he was the offender, and requesting that Mr Aveleyn might not be discharged from the service; he also ventured to add a postscript, begging that the same lenity might be extended towards himself; which letter was sent on sh.o.r.e by the captain's gig, when it left the ship the next morning, and was received by Captain L--- at the very same time that young Aveleyn, who had not been sent on sh.o.r.e till late in the evening, called upon the captain to request a reprieve from his hard sentence.

The boy sent up his name and was immediately admitted.

"I presume you know why you are discharged from the service?" said Captain L---, smiling benignantly.

"Yes, sir," replied the boy, holding his head down submissively, "because of that accident--I'm very sorry, sir."

"Of course you must, and ought to be. Such heavy blows are not common, and hard to bear. I presume you go immediately to Buckhurst?"

"I suppose I must, sir; but I hope, Captain L---, that you'll look over it."

"I shall have very great pleasure in so doing," replied Captain L---; "I hear that it is--"

"Thanky, sir, thanky," replied the youngster, interrupting the captain.

"Then I may go on board again and tell the first-lieutenant?"

"Tell the first-lieutenant what?" cried Captain L---, perceiving some mistake. "Why, has not Mr W--- told you?"

"Yes, sir, he told me it was your orders that I should be dismissed his Majesty's service."

"Discharged--not dismissed. And I presume he told you why: because your two elder brothers are dead, and you are now Lord Aveleyn."

"No, sir!" cried the youngster with astonishment; "because his three front teeth are knocked out with a bottle of _scaldchops_ and I would not peach who stowed it away in the bunt of the sail."

"This is excessively strange!" replied Captain L---. "Do me the favour to sit down, my lord; the letters from the ship will probably explain the affair."

There was, however, no explanation, except from young Malcolm. The captain read his letter, and put it into the hands of Lord Aveleyn, who entered into a detail of the whole.

Captain L--- produced the letter from the trustees, and, desiring his lordship to command him as to any funds he might require, requested the pleasure of his company to dinner. The boy, whose head wheeled with the sudden change in his prospects, was glad to retire, having first obtained permission to return on board with young Malcolm's pardon, which had been most graciously acceded to. To the astonishment of everybody on board, young Aveleyn came alongside in the captain's own gig, when the scene in the midshipmen's berth and the discomfiture of the first-lieutenant may be imagined.

"You don't belong to the service, Frank," said the old master's mate; "and, as peer of the realm, coming on board to visit the ship, you are ent.i.tled to a salute. Send up and say you expect one, and then W--- must have the guard up, and pay you proper respect. I'll be hanged if I don't take the message, if you consent to it."

But Lord Aveleyn had come on board to pay a debt of grat.i.tude, not to inflict mortification. He soon quitted the ship, promising never to forget Malcolm; and, unlike the promises of most great men, it was fulfilled, and Malcolm rose to be a captain from his own merit, backed by the exertions of his youthful patron.

For the next week the three mast-heads were so loaded with midshipmen, that the boatswain proposed a preventer backstay, that the top-masts might not go over the side; but shortly after, Captain L---, who was not pleased at the falsehood which Mr W--- had circulated, and who had many other reasons for parting with him, succeeded in having him appointed to another ship; after which the midshipmen walked up and down the quarter-deck with their hands in their pockets, as before.

VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER NINE.

But Adeline determined Juan's wedding In her own mind, and that's enough for woman; But then with whom? there was the sage Miss Redding, Miss Raw, Miss Flaw, Miss Showman, and Miss Knowman, And the two fair co-heiresses Giltbedding.

She deem'd his merits something more than common.

All these were un.o.bjectionable matches, And might go on, if well wound up, like watches.

BYRON.

The young Lord Aveleyn returned to the hall of his ancestors, exchanging the gloomy c.o.c.kpit for the gay saloon, the ship's allowance for sumptuous fare, the tyranny of his mess-mates and the harshness of his superiors for adulation and respect. Was he happier? No. In this world, whether in boyhood or riper years, the happiest state of existence is when under control. Although contrary to received opinion, this is a fact; but I cannot now stop to demonstrate the truth of the a.s.sertion.

Life may be compared to a gamut of music: there are seven notes from our birth to our marriage, and thus may we run up the first octave; milk, sugar-plums, apples, cricket, cravat, gun, horse; then comes the wife, a _da capo_ to a new existence, which is to continue until the whole diapason is gone through. Lord Aveleyn ran up his scale like others before him.

"Why do you not marry, my dear Frank?" said the dowager Lady Aveleyn, one day, when a thick fog debarred her son of his usual pastime.

"Why, mother, I have no objection to marry, and I suppose I must one of these days, as a matter of duty; but I really am very difficult, and if I were to make a bad choice, you know a wife is not like this gun, which will go _off_ when I please."

"But still my dear Frank, there are many very eligible matches to be made just now."

"I do not doubt it, madam; but pray who are they?"

"Why, Miss Riddlesworth."

"A very pretty girl, and I am told a large fortune. But let me hear the others first."

"Clara Beauchamp, well connected, and a very sweet girl."

"Granted also, for any thing I know to the contrary. Have you more on your list?"

"Certainly. Emily Riddlesdale; not much fortune, but very highly connected indeed. Her brother, Lord Riddlesdale is a man of great influence."

"Her want of money is no object, my dear mother, and the influence of her brother no inducement. I covet neither. I grant you that she is a very nice girl. Proceed."