The King's Own Part 8

The lugger which had been built for McElvina by his employer was now ready, and, bidding farewell to Debriseau, who continued in the Cherbourg trade, our hero and his protector journeyed _en diligence_ to Havre.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

Through the haze of the night a bright flash now appearing, "Oh, ho!" cried Will Watch, "the Philistines bear down; Bear a hand, my tight lads, ere we think about sheering, One broadside pour in, should we swim, boys, or drown."

SEA SONG.

"Now, w.i.l.l.y, what do you think of _La Belle Susanne_?" said McElvina, as they stood on the pier, about a stone's throw from the vessel, which lay with her broadside towards them. Not that McElvina had any opinion of w.i.l.l.y's judgment, but, from the affectionate feeling which every sailor imbibes for his own ship, he expected gratification even in the admiration of a child. The lugger was certainly as beautiful a model of that description of vessel as had ever been launched from a slip. At the distance of a mile, with the sea running, it was but occasionally that you could perceive her long black hull--so low was she in the water, and so completely were her bulwarks pared down; yet her breadth of beam was very great, and her tonnage considerable, as may be inferred when it is stated that she mounted sixteen long bra.s.s nine-pounders, and was manned with one hundred and thirty men. But now that she was lying at anchor in smooth water, you had an opportunity of examining, with the severest scrutiny, the beautiful run of the vessel, as she sat graceful as a diver, and appeared, like that aquatic bird, ready to plunge in at a moment, and disappear under the wave cleft by her sharp forefoot, and rippling under her bows.

"When shall we sail?" inquired w.i.l.l.y, after bestowing more judicious encomiums upon the vessel than might be expected.

"To-morrow night, if the wind holds to the southward. We took in our powder this morning. Where were you stationed at quarters on board the ---?"

"Nowhere. I was not on the ship's books until a day or two before I left her."

"Then you must be a powder-monkey with me; you can hand powder up, if you can do nothing else."

"I can do more," replied w.i.l.l.y, proudly; "I can roll sh.e.l.ls overboard."

"Ay, ay, so you can: I forgot that. I suppose I must put you on the quarter-deck, and make an officer of you, as Captain M--- intended to do."

"I mean to stand by you when we fight," said w.i.l.l.y, taking McElvina's hand.

"Thank you--that may not be so lucky. I'm rather superst.i.tious; and, if I recollect right, your old friend Adams had that honour when he was killed."

The name of old Adams being mentioned, made w.i.l.l.y silent and unhappy.

McElvina perceived it; the conversation was dropped, and they returned home.

A few days afterwards, _La Belle Susanne_ sailed, amidst the shouts and vivas of the mult.i.tude collected on the pier, and a thousand wishes for "_succes_," and "_bon voyage_"--the builder clapping his hands, and skipping with all the simial ecstasy of a Frenchman, at the encomiums lavished upon his vessel, as she cleaved through the water with the undeviating rapidity of a barracouta. But the _vivas_, and the shouts, and the builder, and the pier that he capered on, were soon out of sight; and our hero was once more confiding in the trackless and treacherous ocean.

"Well, she _does_ walk," said Phillips, who had followed the fortunes of his captain, and was now looking over the quarter of the vessel. "She must be a clipper as catches us with the tacks on board! Right in the wind's eye too; clean full. By the powers, I believe if you were to lift her, she would lay a point on the other side of the wind."

"Get another pull of the fore-halyards, my lads," cried McElvina.

"These new ropes stretch most confoundedly. There, belay all that; take a _severe_ turn, and don't come up an inch."

The breeze freshened, and the lugger flew through the water, dashing the white spray from her bows into the air, where it formed little rainbows, as it was pierced by the beams of the setting sun.

"We shall have a fine night, and light weather towards the morning, I think," said the first mate, addressing McElvina.

"I think so too. Turn the hands up to muster by the quarter-bell.

We'll load the guns as soon as the lights are out; let the gunner fill forty rounds, and desire the carpenter to nail up the hatchway-screens.

Let them be rolled up and stopped. We'll keep them up for a _full due_, till we return to Havre."

The crew of the lugger were now summoned on deck by the call of the boatswain, and having been addressed by Captain McElvina upon the absolute necessity of activity and preparation, in a service of such peculiar risk, they loaded the guns, and secured them for the night.

The crew consisted of about eighty or ninety Englishmen, out of the full complement of one hundred and thirty men; the remainder was composed of Frenchmen, and other continental adventurers. Although the respective countries were at variance, the subjects of each had shaken hands, that they might a.s.sist each other in violating the laws. The quiet and subordination of a king's ship were not to be expected here,--loud and obstreperous mirth, occasional quarrelling, as one party, by accident or intention, wounded the national pride of the other. French, English, and Irish, spoken alternately, or at the same moment--created a degree of confusion which proved that the reins of government were held lightly by the captain in matters of small importance; but, although there was a general freedom of manner, and independence of address, still his authority was acknowledged, and his orders implicitly obeyed. It was a ship's company which _pulled every way_, as the saying is, when there was nothing to demand union; but, let difficulty or danger appear, and all their squabbling was forgotten, or reserved for a more seasonable opportunity: then they all _pulled together_, those of each nation vying in taking the lead and setting an example to the other.

Such was the crew of the lugger which McElvina commanded, all of whom were picked men, remarkable for their strength and activity.

As the first mate had predicted, the wind fell light after midnight, and at dawn of day the lugger was gliding through the smooth water, at the rate of three or four miles an hour, shrouded in a thick fog. The sun rose, and had gained about twenty degrees of alt.i.tude, when McElvina beat to quarters, that he might accustom his men to the exercise of the guns. The rays of the sun had not power to pierce through the fog; and, shorn of his beams, he had more the appearance of an overgrown moon, or was, as Phillips quaintly observed, "like a man disguised in woman's attire."

The exercise of the guns had not long continued, when the breeze freshened up, and the fog began partially to disperse. w.i.l.l.y, who was perched on the round-house abaft, observed a dark ma.s.s looming through the mist on the weather beam. "Is that a vessel?" said w.i.l.l.y, pointing it out to the first mate, who was standing near McElvina.

"Indeed it is, my boy," replied the mate; "you've a sharp eye of your own."

McElvina's gla.s.s was already on the object. "A cutter, right before the wind, coming down to us; a government vessel, of some sort or another, I'll swear. I trust she's a revenue cruiser--I have an account to settle with those gentlemen. Stay at your quarters, my lads--hand up shot, and open the magazine!"

The powerful rays of the sun, a.s.sisted by the increasing wind, now rolled away the fog from around the vessels, which had a perfect view of each other. They were distant about two miles, and the blue water was strongly rippled by the breeze which had sprung up. The lugger continued her course on a wind, while the cutter bore down towards her, with all the sail that she could throw out. The fog continued to clear away, until there was an open s.p.a.ce of about three or four miles in diameter. But it still remained folded up in deep ma.s.ses, forming a wall on every side, which obscured the horizon from their sight. It appeared as if nature had gratuitously cleared away a sufficient portion of the mist, and had thus arranged a little amphitheatre for the approaching combat between the two vessels.

"His colours are up, sir. Revenue stripes, by the Lord!" cried Phillips.

"Then all's right," replied McElvina.

The cutter had now run down within half a mile of the lugger, who had continued her course with the most perfect _nonchalance_--when she rounded-to. The commander of the vessel, aware, at the first discovery of the lugger, that she could be no other than an enemy, who would most probably give him some trouble, had made every preparation for the engagement.

"Shall we hoist any colours, sir?" said the first mate to McElvina.

"No--if we hoist English, he will not commence action until he has made the private signal, and all manner of parleying which is quite unnecessary. He knows what we are well enough."

"Shall we hoist a French ensign, sir?"

"No; I'll fight under no other colours than those of old England, even when I resist her authority."

A long column of white smoke now rolled along the surface of the water, as the cutter, who had waited in vain for the colours being hoisted, fired the first gun at her antagonist. The shot whizzed between the masts of the lugger, and plunged into the water a quarter of a mile to leeward.

"_A vous, monsieur_!" roared out a French quarter-master on board of the lugger, in imitation of the compliments which take place previously to an _a.s.saut d'armes_, at the same time taking off his hat, and bowing to the cutter.

"Too high, too high, good Mr Searcher," said McElvina, laughing; "depress your guns to her waterline, my lads, and do not fire until I order you."

The remainder of the cutter's broadside was now discharged at the lugger, but the elevation being too great, the shot whizzed over, without any injury to her crew; the main-halyards were, however, shot away, and the yard and sail fell thundering down on the deck.

"Be smart, my lads, and bend on again; it's quite long enough. Up with the sail, and we'll return the compliment."

In less than a minute the tie of the halyards, which had been divided close to the yard, was. .h.i.tched round it, and the sail again expanded to the breeze. "Now my lads, remember, don't throw a shot away--fire when you're ready."

The broadside of the lugger was poured into the cutter, with what effect upon the crew could not be ascertained; but the main-boom was cut in half, and the outer part of it fell over the cutter's quarter, and was dragged astern by the clew of the sail.

"It's all over with her already," said the first-mate to McElvina; and, as the cutter payed off before the wind, another broadside from her well-manned antagonist raked her fore and aft. The cutter hauled down her jib, eased off her fore-sheet, and succeeded in again bringing her broadside to bear. The action was now maintained with spirit, but much to the disadvantage of the cutter, who was not only inferior in force, but completely disabled, from the loss of her main-boom.

After an exchange of a dozen broadsides, McElvina shot the lugger ahead, and, tacking under his adversary's bows, raked him a second time. The commander of the revenue vessel, to avoid a repet.i.tion of a similar disaster, payed his vessel off before the wind, and returned the fire as they came abreast of each other; but in these manoeuvres, the lugger obtained the weather-gage. It was, however, a point of little consequence as matters then stood. In a few more broadsides the cutter was a complete wreck, and unable to return the fire of her opponent.

Her fore-stay and halyards had been cut away, her fore-sail was down on deck, and her jib lying overboard, under her bows.

"I think that will do," said McElvina to the first-mate. "We had better be off now, for our guns will be sure to bring down some of the cruisers; and if she surrendered, I could not take possession of her.

Let's give her a parting broadside, and three cheers."

McElvina's orders were obeyed; but not one gun was returned by the cutter--"Starboard a little; keep her away now, and we'll close and stand ahead of her, that she may read our name on the stern. It's a pity they should not know to whom they are indebted. They'll not forget _La Belle Susanne_."