Salt Water Part 12

Just as I thought all was right, as ill-luck would have it, I happened to want to use my pocket-handkerchief, and in searching for it I incautiously threw open my jacket and exposed my uniform b.u.t.tons to view.

In the first place, the sort of boy I pretended to be would not have possessed such an article as a pocket-handkerchief; and I ought to have remembered that the sight of the crown and anchor would not be acceptable to persons of my friends' vocation.

"Why--hullo, youngster! who are you, I should like to know?" exclaimed the old skipper, seizing me by the arm, and giving me no gentle shake.

"He's a spy, surely, and no mistake," cried several of the crew. "Heave the young shrimp overboard."

"Overboard with him!" exclaimed the rest in chorus. "We'll teach the Government to send their whelps to hunt us out in this fashion."

I own that I began to feel very uncomfortable; for the threatening looks of the fellows were in no way calculated to lessen my apprehensions.

Now my feelings always prompt me to try and escape from a dilemma by at once candidly confessing the truth. I therefore acknowledged that I belonged to a revenue cutter, and explained what had occurred.

"I only obeyed the orders of my superior officers in attacking the lugger," I observed, in as bold a tone as I could manage to muster.

"Her people carried me off against my will; and, as I wanted to get home, I came aboard you; but I never thought of doing you or any of your friends harm, if I could help it. How am I to blame, then?"

"Never listen to his chaff; heave him overboard, I say," growled out one of the men.

"Thank you all the same, master," said I, looking him as boldly as I could in the face; "but I'd rather stay aboard till I can get put decently on sh.o.r.e, and not have to swim there, as you would have me do."

"Swim! By G.o.d, you wouldn't swim long, I expect," said the ruffian.

"Faith, I've no fancy for trying, either," I answered. "If I intended treachery, do you think, masters, I should have put myself in your power as I have done? just answer me that."

"Well, now, I don't think as how you would," exclaimed the old skipper.

"You're a brave lad anyhow, and deserve a better calling than trying to injure poor fellows who are just doing their best to make a honest livelihood for their families."

"Well," said I, seeing the favourable impression I was making, "I'm going soon to be appointed to a frigate on a foreign station, so there's little chance of my falling in with you again. If you kill me you will be hung, that's certain, for murder is always out some day or other."

"Don't be coming any of your Irish blarney over us," growled out a sour-looking ruffian. "If you're a spy, overboard you go, that's all."

"I'm no spy," I answered in an indignant tone. "All I ask of you is to put me on sh.o.r.e anywhere at the back of the Wight, and I'll give you my word none of you will be the worse for my being here."

The skipper gave an approving nod as I pleaded for my life. Some of the ruffians seemed to give way.

"Just tell me, then, what harm can a small chap like me do you?" I continued. "How do I know what you've got on board, or what you're going to do with it. Be good-natured fellows now, and if I can ever do you a good turn, I will."

"Oh, come, let the little chap alone; there's no harm in him, I'm sure!"

exclaimed one of the smugglers, slapping me on the shoulder. "Cheer up, my lad; we'll do you no harm."

The others soon came round, and shaking me by the hand, declared that I was a brave little c.o.c.k, and they only wished I was one of them.

A coa.r.s.e but plentiful dinner was soon afterwards placed on the deck, the chief part of it appearing in a square iron pot, round which we sat as merry as crickets; and there was I hob-n.o.bbing with a band of smugglers as if we were the best friends in the world.

Towards evening we made the land, no cutter being in sight. I had a sovereign and a few shillings in my pocket, which I offered the old skipper, but he would receive nothing; and, as good as his word, as soon as it was dark, he ran in and put me on sh.o.r.e not far from Shanklin. As there was some sea on the beach, all hands got not a little wet, but they took it in good part, and wished me a hearty good-bye as I set off to clamber up the cliffs. I at length found a path which took me into the high road; as soon as I reached it I began to make the best of my way towards Ryde. My legs ached, but I ran and walked as fast as I could. I had not proceeded far when I heard the sound of wheels coming along the road. A cart soon overtook me.

"Is this the road to Ryde?" I asked.

"Yes, it be," said the driver. "Be you going there?"

"If I can manage to get as far," I answered.

"Well, if you be tired, jump in, and I'll gie ye a lift; I be going most of the way," replied the good Samaritan. I obeyed with alacrity, and took my seat by his side. He was one of the substantial farmers who abound in the island. I gave him an account of my adventures, at which he was much amused; nor did he seem to have any very great antipathy to my smuggling friends.

"Lord bless 'e! they wouldn't have hurt your little fingers," he remarked, when I told him how the crew of the cutter had threatened my life. He would not part from me till he had deposited me at the gates of Daisy Cottage. The lights were shining through the drawing-room windows. My aunt was sitting working, and sweet Alice Marlow had a book before her. They both looked very sad, I thought. I tapped at the window, which opened to the ground, to call their attention, and grinned a "How-d'ye-do" through the gla.s.s. No sooner did Alice see my face, than letting her book fall, she gave a loud scream, as if she had seen a spectre.

"Hillo! what's the matter?" I exclaimed, shaking the handle of the window. "Let me in, aunt, please; I'm not a thief or a ghost, on my word." My aunt, more courageous than the little girl, had risen from her seat, and my voice a.s.suring her of my ident.i.ty, she opened the door, and I very soon convinced her and Alice that I was a living being by kissing them both, and then devouring every sc.r.a.p of supper she set before me. I found that, from Hanks' report, they had been led to believe that the Frenchmen had knocked me on the head; and were mourning for me accordingly. My aunt was, I verily believe, employed in making a black gown to put on for my sake. My uncle had sailed again to look after the lugger, so that I was able to enjoy the height of a midshipman's felicity, a holiday on sh.o.r.e. Three days afterwards the _Serpent_ came back, having re-captured the lugger and two hundred tubs.

I saw Captain Didot, who was very angry at finding that I had escaped, and vowed he would pay me off in a different coin, if he ever caught me again. I told him he might, if he ever did.

CHAPTER ELEVEN.

HANKS AND MY GHOST--HANKS' LEARNING--MYERS AGAIN--ESCAPES ONCE MORE-- APPOINTED TO A FRIGATE--PREPARE FOR SEA--MY SHIPMATES--SAIL FROM ENGLAND--MESSRS. TRUNDLE AND CHISSEL--d.i.c.kY SHARPE AND A TALE OF A BEEF-BONE.

On reaching Portsmouth, I took a boat and pulled off to the cutter, which was lying out in the middle of the harbour. Hanks was walking the deck as I came alongside, but something having attracted his attention in the direction of Gosport, he did not observe me. Handing the boatman a shilling, I jumped on board unnoticed, and just as Hanks turned round, I stood before him, with my hand out ready to grasp his. For an instant the colour forsook his cheeks, and he stared at me without speaking, rolling his eyes round as if he saw my wraith.

"Why, Hanks, old fellow! don't you know me?" I exclaimed, bursting into a loud laugh at his extraordinary way of receiving me. My voice convinced him that it was not my ghost which was offering to shake hands with him.

"What, D'Arcy, my boy! is it you, indeed, come back to us after all?" he cried, seizing both my hands in his own well-hardened paws. "I'm glad to see you, that I am, lad; we thought those scoundrel smugglers had done for you. It would have been just like them, to kill the smallest of the lot. But how did you escape? Come, tell us all about it. We've had another brush with that rascal Myers: we are certain it was him. He had the daring to fire into us; killed one of our people, poor Tom Darling, and wounded two, getting off into the bargain. But we will be even with him before long, and when we do catch him, we'll pay him off, that's all. Well I'm glad you escaped, that I am; but come below, and let us hear the whole story."

In this way the kind-hearted fellow ran on. Having been welcomed by Growl, Scriven, and the rest of my shipmates, I went to report myself to my uncle, who was in his cabin. He seemed truly glad to find that I had not become food for fishes, though he did not exhibit his pleasure exactly in the same way Hanks had done. When I was dismissed by him, I dived down into our berth, and there, over a gla.s.s of his too-favourite beverage, old Hanks listened to an account of my adventures. "It was the Cremona did it, after all!" he exclaimed, slapping my shoulder. "I told you it would stand you in good stead. Stick to it, my lad, and you'll become as great a man as that old chap Orpheus, I've heard tell of, who made the beasts jig when he fiddled. Who the gentleman was, I can't say, except that he was one of Julius Caesar's generals, wasn't he?"

I must observe that Hanks' knowledge of history, both ancient and modern, was somewhat limited and confused; indeed he was impressed with a notion that Julius Caesar, for whom he had a high respect, came over to England somewhere in the last century, and having taken possession of the country, was in his turn thrashed by William the Conqueror. Of all subsequent events till the time of Nelson, he professed total ignorance.

"Ah, Nelson was the chap who made the English!" he used to exclaim in triumph; "and as for Nap, whom they talk so much about, what was he to him, I should like to know. Why, the little Frenchman couldn't put a ship about in a steady breeze, I'll warrant; and as for handling her in a gale, I doubt if he could have done it even if his crown depended on it."

Hanks had no very great respect for science either.

"What do I care for your algebra and your trigonometry?" he one day observed. "I take my John Norie and my Gunter's Scale, and I work out my day's work as well as any man; and what more should I want to know, tell me? Your mathematicians are all humbugs in my opinion, and that's a fact."

I mention these little traits in Hanks' character, because I shall now have to bid him farewell for a season. He was a worthy fellow, nevertheless; not without sense of a practical sort; a curious specimen of a school now rapidly becoming obsolete.

Soon after this we were once more on our old cruising ground, to the westward. We had been a week or more knocking about, when it came on to blow very hard from the south-west. My uncle was not a man to be frightened by a capful of wind; so, getting our storm-sails, we stood off sh.o.r.e, and faced the gale like men; for this was just the weather smugglers would choose to run across Channel, when they think no one will be on the look-out for them. Towards evening, however, it came on to blow harder than before; so that at last we were obliged to up-helm and run for shelter into harbour; but just as we were bearing up, a sea struck the cutter, carried away our stern-boat, and stove in one of those on our quarter. In this squall the wind seemed to have worn itself out; for before we had made the land it suddenly fell, and by daylight a dead calm came on, followed by a dense fog. When it cleared somewhat, we found close to us another revenue cutter. Her commander, Lieutenant Simmons, came on board and told my uncle that he had been directed to cruise in search of the _Kitty_ lugger, commanded by the notorious smuggler Bill Myers. "He has been adding wholesale murder to his other performances," observed the lieutenant. Two weeks ago, a boat from the _Hawk_ cutter fell in with him at night. He gave her the stem and cut her in two. Three of her crew climbed up the lugger's bows, but were instantly knocked on the head and hove overboard. The rest were drowned, with the exception of one who clung to the wreck and was picked up by the cutter the next morning. This account made us more eager than ever to catch Myers. Another cruiser was sent down to a.s.sist us in our search; but, though for several weeks we kept a sharp look-out after him, he managed to escape us; and neither he nor the _Kitty_ was again heard of on that coast. I was destined, however, to fall in with him again in another clime.

We were not sorry to get back to Portsmouth after all this knocking about. The first person I met on going on sh.o.r.e was Larry Harrigan. He had seen the cutter coming in, and had hurried down to the Point to meet me.

"Oh, Master Neil, I've good news for you," he exclaimed, as I jumped out of the boat and found myself in his arms, for he still looked on me as the baby he had so carefully watched over. "You are no longer to be kept in that tub-hunting service, saving his honour your uncle's pardon; but you are to go to sea in reality, in a fine, smart frigate, which won't be letting the gra.s.s grow under her keel, I'll warrant."

"That's good news, indeed, Larry; where did you learn it?" I asked.

"From no less a man than the Captain himself, and that's good authority, you'll allow," he answered, in a tone of no little satisfaction. "He's a friend of your honoured grandfather's, and was a midshipman and lieutenant on board two ships I served in. He has been lodging in my house for some months back; and when he heard who you were and who had brought you up and given you your sea-learning, says he, 'Larry, you've made a seaman of him, that I'll answer for. The lad shall go along with me when I get a ship, for his grandfather's sake and yours too, old friend.' Those were his last words, Master Neil, they were indeed; and he's kept his promise, as I knew he would."

This very satisfactory information Larry communicated on our way to Southsea. It was confirmed soon afterwards by my uncle, who followed me up to Larry's house. He, as I suspected, had also made an application in my favour, and had just received a letter from Captain Poynder--which was, I found, my future commander's name,--desiring me forthwith to join his ship, the _Harold_, which was, however, still in the hands of the dockyard people. Though I would rather have gone afloat at once, this was, I found, a great advantage, as I had thus an opportunity of seeing her masted, rigged, and fitted for sea. Officers are often glad to shirk this, for it is far from pleasant work, and Portsmouth is not the most delectable of residences. I should advise all midshipmen not to miss an opportunity of seeing a ship fitted out, if they possibly can.

They will find it will save them an immense deal of after trouble, and prove the quickest way of gaining a knowledge of their future home.

Meantime Larry was as busy as a bee in getting my kit in order, aided by his better half; and few midshipmen ever obtained so good an insight at so cheap a rate. I got leave to run over to Ryde for a couple of days to wish my aunt and young cousins good-bye. I asked after Alice Marlow.

I was in hopes of hearing that she was coming back to Ryde, that I might see her before I sailed. I blushed as I mentioned her name, and had a curious palpitation about the region of the heart. My aunt smiled as she replied, "I am afraid, Neil, that I shall not be able to get my young friend to come here again for a long time. Mr Marlow writes me word that he proposes going abroad and taking her with him. But cheer up; she will return here some day, I hope; and when you came back from one of your voyages, you will find her with us, perhaps. I should be, indeed, very sorry if I did not expect to see the dear little girl again."

My aunt was the kindest creature alive; and I was very certain that she regretted that Alice was not there to bid me farewell. I wished her and my cousins good-bye. They all cried a little, and so, in truth, did I; for they were the only creatures I had to love in the world. I, however, quite recovered my spirits before I got half-way across to Portsmouth. My uncle came several times on board the frigate, and, had I been his own son, he could not have taken more interest in me than he did. As for Larry Harrigan, he was on board every day, and all day long, following me about to show me how everything was done, and why it was done. The first-lieutenant was a very worthy, kind man; and as soon as he had heard Larry's history, he used to talk to him and encourage him to come on board. Greatly to Larry's delight, he gave me leave to spend an evening sometimes at his house, and very pleasant evenings they were. The officers now began to join fast. Lieutenants, mates, and midshipmen were every day arriving. We soon had our full complement of men, and having got clear of the dockyard people, were ready to go out to Spithead.