Paddy Finn Part 8

"Shure I'll be after doing that same, Misther Terence," he answered, as, following the example of the other men, he sprang into the rigging. I watched him going up as long as I could, and he seemed to be getting on capitally, exactly imitating the movements of the other men.

A day or two afterwards we were all on deck, the men exercising in reefing and furling sails. The new hands were ordered to lay out on the yards, and a few of the older ones to show them what to do. Larry obeyed with alacrity; no one would have supposed that he had been only a few times before aloft. I had to return to the quarter-deck, where I was standing with Tom Pim, and we were remarking the activity displayed by the men. I saw Larry on the starboard fore-topsail yard-arm, and had just left Tom, being sent with a message to the gun-room, when, as my head was flush with the hatchway, I saw an object drop from the yard-arm into the water. It looked more like a large ball falling than a human being, and it didn't occur to me that it was the latter until I heard the cry of "Man overboard!" Hastening up again, I sprang into the mizzen rigging, from which, just before I got there, Tom Pim had plunged off into the water. It was ebb tide, and a strong current was running out of the river Lee past the ship. The man who had fallen had not sunk, but was fast drifting astern, and seemed unconscious, for he was not struggling, lying like a log on the water. Tom Pim, with rapid strokes, was swimming after him. I heard the order given to lower a boat. Though not a great swimmer, I was about to follow Tom to try and help him, when a strong arm held me back.

"Are you a good swimmer, youngster?" asked the first lieutenant, the person who had seized hold of me.

"Not very," I answered.

"Then stay aboard, or we shall be having to pick you up instead of saving the man who fell overboard. I know Pim well; he'll take care of himself."

Saying this, the lieutenant stepped in on deck again, taking me with him. While he superintended the lowering of the boat, I ran aft, and watched Tom and the drowning man. Just then I caught sight of the countenance of the latter, and to my dismay, I saw that he was no other than Larry Harrigan. The boats usually employed were away, and the one now lowered was not in general use, and consequently had in her all sorts of things which should not have been there. It appeared a long time before she was in the water. I watched my poor foster-brother with intense anxiety, expecting to see him go down before Tom could reach him. He was on the point of sinking when my gallant little messmate got up to him, and throwing himself on his back, placed Larry's head on his own breast, so as completely to keep it out of the water. My fear was that Larry might come to himself and begin to struggle or get hold of Tom, which might be fatal to both. They were drifting farther and farther away from the ship. Tom had not uttered one cry for help, evidently being confident that the boat would be sent to pick them up.

Every movement of his showed that he was calm, and knew perfectly what he was about. At length the boat was got into the water, the first lieutenant and four hands jumped into her, and away the men pulled as fast as they could lay their backs to the oars. It was blowing fresh, and there was a good deal of ripple in the harbour, so that the wavelets every now and then washed over Tom. Suddenly Larry, coming to himself, did what I feared; he seized hold of Tom, and in another instant would have dragged him down had not Tom dexterously got clear and held him up by the collar of his shirt. The boat was quickly up to them, and they were, to my intense satisfaction, safely hauled on board. She then rapidly pulled back to the ship, and both greatly exhausted, Larry being scarcely conscious, were lifted up on deck. McPherson, the a.s.sistant-surgeon, who had been summoned at once, ordered Tom to be taken below.

"Never mind me," said Tom. "I shall be all to rights presently, when I've changed and had a cup of grog. You'll let me have that, won't you, McPherson? And now you go and attend to the poor fellow who wants you more than I do."

"Vara true; he ought, from the way he fell, to have broken every bone in his body; and it's wonderful he did not do it. He seems, indeed, not to be much the worse for his fall, except a slight paralysis," he remarked when he had finished his examination. "Take him down to the sick bay, and I'll treat him as he requires."

I first went below to thank Tom Pim for saving my follower, and to express my admiration of his courage and resolution.

"Oh, it's nothing," he answered; "I can swim better than you, or you'd have done the same."

I then went forward, where I found Larry--his wet clothes stripped off-- between the blankets, in a hammock.

The doctor administered a stimulant, and directed that he should be rubbed on the side on which he had fallen.

"Shure that's a brave young gentleman to save me from going to the bottom, Misther Terence dear; and I'll be mighty grateful to him as long as I live," he said to me.

Having spent some time with Larry, who was ordered to remain in his hammock, I returned to the midshipmen's berth.

All were loud in their praises of Tom. Tom received them very modestly, and said that though he felt very glad at being able to save the poor fellow, he didn't see anything to be especially proud of in what he had done.

By the next morning Larry was almost well, only complaining of a little stiffness in one side of the body.

"He may thank his stars for being an Irishman," said McPherson; "no ordinary mortal could have fallen from aloft as he did, into the water, without breaking his bones, or being stunned."

Larry could scarcely believe that it was little Tom Pim who had saved him from drowning.

"Shure, young gintleman, I'll be after lovin' ye, and fightin' for ye, and seein' that no harm comes to ye, all the days of my life!" he exclaimed, the first time he met Tom afterwards on deck. "I'm mighty grateful to ye, sir, that I am."

I was very sure that Larry meant what he said, and, should opportunity offer, would carry out his intentions.

We were seated talking in the berth after tea, when old Nettleship was sent for into the cabin. There were many surmises as to what the captain wanted him for. After some time, to my surprise, I was summoned. I found it was only Nettleship that wanted to see me on deck.

"Paddy," he said, "we are to have an expedition on sh.o.r.e, and you are wanted to take part in it, and so is your countryman, Larry Harrigan.

The captain, Mr Saunders, and I have planned it. We want some more hands, and we hear that there are a goodish lot hiding away in the town.

They are waiting till the men-of-war put to sea, when they think that they will be safe. They are in the hands of some cunning fellows, and it'll be no easy matter to trap them unless we can manage to play them a trick. I can't say that I like particularly doing what we propose, but we're bound to sacrifice our own feelings for the good of the service."

"What is it?" I asked. "Of course I should be proud to be employed in anything for the good of the service."

"All right, Paddy; that's the spirit which should animate you. Now listen. Mr Saunders and I are going on sh.o.r.e with a strong party of well-armed men, and we want you and the boy Harrigan--or rather, the captain wants you, for remember he gives the order--to go first and pretend that you have run away from a man-of-war, and want to be kept in hiding till she has sailed. You, of course, are to dress up as seamen in old clothes--the more disreputable and dirty you look the better. We know the houses where the men are stowed away, in the lowest slums of Cork, and we can direct you to them. You're to get into the confidence of the men, and learn what they intend doing; when you've gained that, you're to tell them that one of the lieutenants of your ship is going on sh.o.r.e with a small party of men, to try and press anybody he can find, and that you don't think he knows much about the business, as he is a stupid Englishman, and advise them to lie snug where they are. Then either you or Harrigan can offer to creep out and try and ascertain in what direction the press-gang is going. There are several houses together, with pa.s.sages leading from one to the other, so that if we get into one, the men are sure to bolt off into another; and it must be your business to see where they go, and Harrigan must shut the door to prevent their escape, or open it to let us in. I now only describe the outlines of our plan. I'll give you more particulars as we pull up the river. We shall remain at Pa.s.sage till after dark, and you and your companion in the meanwhile must make your way into the town."

"But shure won't I be after telling a lie if I say that Larry and I are runaway ship-boys?" I asked.

"Hush, that's a strong expression. Remember that it's all for the good of the service," said Nettleship.

Still I was not altogether satisfied that the part I was about to play was altogether an honourable one.

He, however, argued the point with me, acknowledging that he himself didn't think so, but that we were bound to put our private feelings into our pockets when the good of the service required it. He now told me to go and speak to Larry, but on no account to let any one hear me, lest the expedition might get wind among the b.u.mboat women, who would be sure to convey it on sh.o.r.e.

To my surprise, Larry was perfectly prepared to undertake the duty imposed on him, feeling flattered at being employed, and taking rather a pleasure at the thoughts of having to entrap some of our countrymen.

"They may grumble a little at first, but they'll be a mighty deal better off on board ship than digging praties, or sailing in one of those little craft out there," he said, with a look of contempt at the merchant vessels.

Mr Saunders took me into his cabin, and made me rig out in a suit of clothes supplied by the purser. I had to rub my hair about till it was like a mop; then, with some charcoal and a mixture of some sort, he daubed my face over in such a way that I didn't know myself when I looked in his shaving-gla.s.s.

"You'll do, Paddy," said Nettleship when he saw me. "We must be giving a touch or two to Harrigan. He seems a sharp fellow, and will play his part well, I have no doubt."

In a short time the boats were ready. We went with Mr Saunders and Nettleship in the pinnace. She was accompanied by the jolly-boat, which it was intended should convey Larry and me into the neighbourhood of the town. We were, however, not to go on board her until we reached Pa.s.sage. The crew gave way, and as the tide was in our favour we got along rapidly. I found that the expedition we were engaged in was a hazardous one, especially for Larry and me; for should the men we were in search of discover who we were, they might treat us as spies, and either knock our brains out, or stow us away in some place from which we should not be likely to make our escape. This, however, rather enhanced the interest I began to feel in it, and recompensed me for its doubtful character.

Neither Mr Saunders nor Nettleship looked in the slightest degree like officers of the Royal Navy. They were dressed in Flushing coats; the lieutenant in a battered old sou'-wester, with a red woollen comforter round his throat; Nettleship had on an equally ancient-looking tarpaulin, and both wore high-boots, long unacquainted with blacking.

They carried stout cudgels in their hands, their hangers and pistols being concealed under their coats. In about an hour and a half we reached Pa.s.sage, when Nettleship and Larry and I got into the jolly-boat.

"I'm going with you," said Nettleship, "that I may direct you to the scene of operations, and am to wait for Mr Saunders at the 'Fox and Goose,'--a small public-house, the master of which knows our object and can be trusted."

Nettleship, as we pulled away, minutely described over and over again what Larry and I were to do, so that I thought there was no chance of our making any mistake, provided matters went as he expected. It was dark by the time we reached Cork. The boat pulled into the landing-place, and Larry and I, with two of the men, went ash.o.r.e, and strolled lazily along a short distance, looking about us. This we did in case we should be observed; but on reaching the corner, Larry and I, as we had been directed, set off running, when the two men returned to the boat, which was to go to another landing-place a little way higher up, whence Nettleship and his party were to proceed to our rendezvous.

When we had got a little distance we pulled up, and to be certain that we had made no mistake, we inquired the name of the street of a pa.s.ser-by. We found that we were all right. We now proceeded stealthily along to the lane where Mother McCleary's whisky-shop was situated. I had no difficulty in recognising the old woman, as she had been well described to me. Her stout slatternly figure, her bleared eyes, her grog-blossomed nose,--anything but a beauty to look at. Her proceedings were not beautiful either. Going to the end of the counter where she was standing, I tipped her a wink.

"Hist, mither! Can yer be after taking care of two poor boys for a night or so?" I asked.

"Where do yer come from?" she inquired, eyeing us.

"Shure it's from the say," answered Larry, who had undertaken to be chief spokesman. "We've just run away from a thundering big king's ship, and don't want to go back again."

"Why for?" asked the old woman.

"For fear of a big baste of a cat which may chance to score our backs, if she doesn't treat us worse than that."

CHAPTER EIGHT.

THE PRESS-GANG.

"That's a big thundering lie," I heard Larry whisper.

"Come in," said the old woman, lifting up the flap of the counter.

"I'll house yer if yer can pay for yer board and lodging."

"No fear of that, ma'am," I replied, showing some silver which I had ready in my pocket for the purpose.