The King's Own Part 26

In short, it was a very eligible purchase, and a very pretty and retired domicile; and when our party arrived, the flowers seemed to yield a more grateful perfume, the trees appeared more umbrageous, and the verdure of the meadows of a more refreshing green, from the contrast with so many hours' travelling upon a dusty road, during a sultry day.

"Oh, how beautiful these roses are! Do look, my dear father."

"They are, indeed," replied old Hornblow, delighted at the happy face of his daughter;--"but I should like some tea, Susan--I am not used to so much jumbling. I feel tired, and shall go to bed early."

Tea was accordingly prepared; soon after which, the old gentleman rose to retire.

"Well," said he, as he lighted his chamber candle, "I suppose I am settled here for life; but I hardly know what to do with myself. I must make acquaintance with all the flowers and all the trees: the budding of the spring will make me think of grandchildren; the tree, clothed in its beauty, of you; and the fall of the leaf, of myself. I must count the poultry, and look after the pigs, and see the cows milked. I was fond of the little parlour in Cateaton-street, because I had sat in it so long; and I suppose that I shall get fond of this place too, if I find enough to employ and amuse me. But you must be quick and give me a grandchild, Susan, and then I shall nurse him all day long. Good night--G.o.d bless you, my dear, good night."

"Good night, my dear sir," replied Susan, who had coloured deeply at the request which he had made.

"Good night, McElvina, my boy; this is the first night we pa.s.s under this roof; may we live many happy years in it;" and old Hornblow left the room, and ascended the stairs. McElvina had encircled Susan's waist with his arm, and was probably about to utter some wish in unison with that of her father, when the noise of a heavy fall sounded in their ears.

"Good Heaven!" cried Susan, "it is my father who has fallen down stairs."

McElvina rushed out; it was but too true. The stair-carpet had not yet been laid down, and his foot had slipped at the uppermost step. He was taken up senseless, and when medical advice was procured, his head and his spine were found to be seriously injured. In a few days, during which he never spoke, old Hornblow was no more. Thus the old man, like the prophet of old, after all his toiling, was but permitted to see the promised land; and thus are our days cut short at the very moment of realising our most sanguine expectations.

Reader, let us look at home. Shall I, now thoughtlessly riding upon the agitated billow, with but one thin plank between me and death, and yet so busy with this futile work, be permitted to bring it to a close? The hand which guides the flowing pen may to-morrow be stiff; the head now teeming with its subject may be past all thought ere to-morrow's sun is set--ay, sooner! And you, reader, who may so far have had the courage to proceed in the volumes without throwing them away, shall you be permitted to finish your more trifling task?--or, before its close, be hurried from this transitory scene where fiction ends, and the spirit, re-endowed, will be enabled to raise its eyes upon the lightning beams of unveiled truth?

CHAPTER THIRTY.

And if you chance his shipp to borde, This counsel I must give withall.

BALLAD OF SIR ANDREW BARTON, 1560.

Discretion And hardy valour are the twins of honour, And, nursed together, make a conqueror!

Divided, but a talker.

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

The survey having been completed, Captain M---, in pursuance of the orders which he had received, weighed his anchor, and proceeded to cruise until the want of provisions and water should compel him to return into port. For many days the look-out men at the mastheads were disappointed in their hopes of reporting a strange sail, the chase or capture of which would relieve the monotony of constant sky and water, until, one Sunday forenoon, as Captain M--- was performing divine service, the man at the masthead hailed the deck with "A strange sail on the weather-bow!"

The puritan may be shocked to hear that the service was speedily, although decorously closed; but Captain M--- was aware from the fidgeting of the ship's company, upon the capstan bars, on which they were seated, that it would be impossible to regain their attention to the service, even if he had felt inclined to proceed: and he well knew, that any worship of G.o.d in which the mind and heart were not engaged, was but an idle ceremony, if not a solemn mockery. The hands were turned up--all sail was made--and in an hour, the stranger was to be seen with the naked eye from the fore-yard.

"What do you make of her, Mr Stewart?" said the first-lieutenant to him, as he sat aloft with his gla.s.s directed towards the vessel.

"A merchant ship, sir, in ballast."

"What did he say, Jerry?" inquired Prose, who stood by him on the gangway.

"A French vessel, deeply laden, Prose."

"Bravo, Jerry!" said Prose, rubbing his hands. "We shall get some prize-money, I do declare."

"To be sure we shall. It will give us twenty pounds at least for a midshipman's share, for her cargo must be sugar and coffee. Only, confound it, one has to wait so long for it. I'll sell mine, dog-cheap, if any one will buy it. Will you, Prose?"

"Why, Jerry, I don't much like speculation: but, now, what would you really sell your chance for?"

"I'll take ten pounds for it. We're certain to come up with her."

"Ten pounds! No, Jerry, that is too much. I'll tell you what, I'll give you five pounds."

"Done," replied Jerry, who was aware that a vessel in ballast would not give him thirty shillings, if Captain M--- sent her in, which was very unlikely. "Where's the money?"

"Oh, you must trust to my honour; the first port we go into, I pledge you my word that you shall have it."

"I don't doubt your word, or your honour, the least, Prose; but still I should like to have the money in my hand. Could you not borrow it?

Never mind--it's a bargain."

In two hours the frigate had neared the stranger so as to distinguish her water-line from the deck, and on hoisting her ensign and pendant, the vessel bore down to her.

"She has hoisted English colours, sir," reported Stewart to the captain.

"What, Stewart! did you say that she had hoisted English colours?"

inquired Prose, with an anxious face.

"Yes, you b.o.o.by, I did."

"Well, now, I do declare," cried Prose, with dismay, "if I haven't lost five pounds."

The vessel ran under the stern of the frigate, and requested a boat to be sent on board, as she had intelligence to communicate. The boat returned, and acquainted Captain M--- that the vessel had been boarded and plundered by a French privateer schooner, which had committed great depredation in that quarter, and that it was not above eight hours that she had left her, and made sail towards Porto Rico, taking out two merchants, who were pa.s.sengers. The boat was immediately hoisted up, and all sail made in the direction of the island, which was not above fifteen leagues distant. As the day closed in, their eyes were gratified by the sight of the schooner, becalmed close in under the land. Perceiving the frigate in pursuit of her, and unable to escape, she came to an anchor in a small and shallow bay, within a cable's length of the beach. Captain M---, having run his ship as close in as the depth of water would permit, which was between two and three miles of her, so as to render her escape impossible, came to an anchor, signifying to his officers his determination to cut her out with his boats on the ensuing day.

The officers who were to be intrusted with the command of the boats, and the crews which were to be employed on the service, were selected, and mustered on the quarter-deck, previous to the hammocks being piped down, that the former might hold themselves in readiness, and that the latter might remain in their hammocks during the night. All was anxiety for the sun to rise again upon those who were about to venture in the lottery, where the prizes would be honour, and the blanks--death. There were but few whose souls were of that decided brute composition that they could sleep through the whole of the tedious night. They woke and "swore a prayer or two, then slept again." The sun had not yet made his appearance above the horizon, although the eastern blush announced that the spinning earth would shortly whirl the _Aspasia_ into his presence, when the pipes of the boatswain and his mates, with the summons of "All hands ahoy--up all hammocks!" were obeyed with the alacrity so characteristic of English seamen antic.i.p.ating danger. The hammocks were soon stowed, and the hands turned up. "Out boats!" The yard tackles and stays were hooked, and the larger boats from the booms descended with a heavy splash into the water, which they threw out on each side of them as they displaced it with their weight; while the cutters from the quarter-davits were already lowered down, and were being manned under the chains.

Broad daylight discovered the privateer, who, aware of their intentions, had employed the night in taking every precaution that skill could suggest to repel the expected attack. Secured with cables and hawsers, extending from each bow and quarter--her starboard broadside directed to seaward--her boarding netting triced up to the lower rigging--and booms, connected together, rigged out from the sides, to prevent them from laying her on board. There was no wind; the sea was smooth as gla.s.s; and the French colours, hoisted in defiance at each masthead, hung listlessly down the spars, as if fainting for the breeze which would expand them in their vigour. She was pierced for eight ports on a side; and the guns, which pointed through them, with the tompions out, ready to shower destruction upon her a.s.sailants, showed like the teeth of the snarling wolf, who stands at bay, awaiting the attack of his undaunted pursuers.

The boats had received their guns, which were fixed on slides, so as to enable them to be fired over the bows, without impeding the use of the oars; the ammunition and arm-chests had been placed in security abaft.

The sailors, with their cutla.s.ses belted round their waists, and a pistol stuck in their girdles, or in a becket at the side of the boat, ready to their hands--the marines, in proportion to the number which each boat could carry, sitting in the stern-sheets, with their muskets between their legs, and their well pipeclayed belts for bayonet and cartouch-box crossed over their old jackets, half dirt, half finery--all was ready for shoving off, when Captain M--- desired the officers whom he had appointed to the expedition to step down into his cabin. Bully, the first lieutenant, was unwell with an intermittent fever, and Captain M---, at the request of Macallan, would not accede to his anxiety to take the command. Price, Courtenay, Stewart, and three other midshipmen, were those who had been selected for the dangerous service.

"Gentlemen," said Captain M---, as they stood round the table in the fore-cabin, waiting for his communication, "I must call your attention to a few points, which it is my wish that you should bear in remembrance, now that you are about to proceed upon what will, in all likelihood, prove to be an arduous service. This vessel has already done so much mischief, that I conceive it my duty to capture her if possible: and although there is no service in which, generally speaking, there is so great a sacrifice of life, in proportion to the object to be attained, as that which is generally termed 'cutting out,' yet, rather than she should escape, to the further injury of our trade, I have determined to have recourse to the measure.

"But, gentlemen (and to you, Mr Price, as commanding the expedition, I particularly address myself), recollect that, even in this extreme case, without proper arrangement, we may not only purchase our victory too dear, but may even sacrifice a number of lives without succeeding in our attempt. Of your courage I have not the least doubt; but let it be remembered; that it is something more than mere animal courage which I expect in the behaviour of my officers. If nothing more were required, the command of these boats might be as safely intrusted to any of the foremast men, who, like the bulldogs of our country, will thrust their heads into the lion's jaw with perfect indifference.

"What I require, and expect, and will have, from every officer who looks for promotion from my recommendation, is what I term--conduct: by which I would imply, that coolness and presence of mind which enable him to calculate chances in the midst of danger--to take advantage of a favourable opportunity in the heat of an engagement--and to restrain the impetuosity of those who have fallen into the dangerous error of despising their enemy. Of such conduct the most favourable construction that can be put upon it is, that it is only preferable to indecision.

"In a service of this description, even with the greatest courage and prudence united, some loss must necessarily be expected to take place, and there is no providing against unforeseen accidents; but if I find that, by rash and injudicious behaviour, a greater sacrifice is made than there is a necessity for, depend upon it that I shall not fail to let that officer know the high value at which I estimate the life of a British sailor. With this caution I shall now give you my ideas as to what appears the most eligible plan of insuring success. I have made a rough sketch on this paper, which will a.s.sist my explanation."

Captain M--- then entered into the plan of attack, pointing out the precautions which should be taken, etcetera: and concluded by observing, that they were by no means to consider themselves as fettered by what he had proposed, but merely to regard them as hints to guide their conduct, if found preferable to any others which might be suggested by the peculiarity of the service, and the measures adopted by the enemy. The officers returned on deck, and descended into their respective boats, where they found many of the younger midshipmen, who, although not selected for the service, had smuggled themselves into the boats that they might be partic.i.p.ators in the conflict. Captain M---, although he did not send them on the service, had no objection to their going, and therefore pretended not to see them when he looked over the side, and desired the boats to shove off. Directly the order was given, the remainder of the ship's company mounted the rigging, and saluted them with three cheers.

The boats' crews tossed their oars while the cheers were given, and returned the same number. The oars again descended into the water, and the armament pulled in for the sh.o.r.e.

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

Conquest pursues, where courage leads the way.

GARTH.