Under the Meteor Flag Part 22

Much grief was felt throughout the fleet at the loss of this gallant and promising young officer, whose distinguished services at the evacuation of Toulon, as well as his kindly and genial disposition, had made him universally liked and respected.

After this, there was no further talk of obtaining information respecting the condition of the enemy.

But the idea had taken hold of me, and I had thought about it until I had become completely fascinated.

It certainly seemed to me a preposterous piece of presumption that I should flatter myself I could succeed where an older and much more talented officer had failed, but the idea had got into my head, and the more I thought of it, the more sanguine did I become of success.

I had, after much thought, evolved a scheme which appeared to me so very promising that I determined to put it to the test without delay, taking care, however, not to breathe a word of my purpose to any of the officers, because I felt certain that after the late lamentable failure, no further attempts of a like kind would be permitted.

I needed a.s.sistance, however, to carry this notable scheme into effect, and I accordingly took little Bobby Summers into my confidence.

The "Mouette," I ought to mention, had been brought round with the rest of the fleet, and was occasionally employed in communicating between the ships and the forces on sh.o.r.e. Bobby and I retained our former posts in her, and as she was required at all hours of the day and night, we had removed our chests and hammocks to her little cabin, merely visiting the old "Juno" at odd times, to maintain our connexion with her, when we had nothing else in particular to do.

This arrangement was most favourable to my scheme, inasmuch as it allowed of my embarking upon it unmolested, and it also rendered little Bobby's a.s.sistance available at whatever moment I might require it.

There seemed to be only one serious difficulty in my way, and that was the want of a really good and effective disguise; and this difficulty was quite unexpectedly removed by the merest accident.

I had taken Summers into my confidence, and had received from him a prompt promise of his heartiest co-operation; the first dark night therefore which followed upon the unfolding of my purpose to my enthusiastic shipmate, we took the first steps necessary to its accomplishment.

I am, as I think I have already mentioned, an excellent swimmer, and it was upon the possession of this accomplishment that I chiefly based my hopes of success. My plan was simply to row in as near the sh.o.r.e as possible, accompanied by Summers, in the c.o.c.klesh.e.l.l of a dinghy belonging to the "Mouette," and then quietly slip into the water and swim the remainder of the distance. The dinghy in question was so very diminutive a craft that I felt sure we might under favourable circ.u.mstances get quite close in without being discovered.

The first thing which I considered necessary, was to ascertain the set and rate of the tide, such as it was; and to do this, we started away in the dinghy one very dark night, armed with a cutla.s.s and a brace of pistols each, and paddled leisurely in toward the sh.o.r.e.

We arrived in due time within about half a mile of the harbour's mouth, and then laid upon our oars to watch the drift of a small piece of plank, painted white, which we launched overboard, keeping the boat just far enough away to prevent her influencing its course, while at the same time able to distinguish its position pretty clearly.

We had been occupied thus for nearly an hour, and had seen enough to very nearly satisfy me upon the point in question, when, at no great distance away, we heard a sound as of some one laying in an oar upon a boat's thwart.

Curiosity at once urged us to ascertain, if possible, the source and meaning of this sound, as we felt pretty confident it could proceed from no boat belonging to the fleet, and we easily arrived at the logical conclusion that it must therefore proceed from some boat belonging to the enemy. Abandoning, therefore, our float to its fate, we loosened our cutla.s.ses in their sheaths, and our pistols in the belts which supported them, and very cautiously paddled in the direction from whence the sound appeared to proceed.

We had not gone very far when we heard the sound of voices speaking in a low tone, apparently just insh.o.r.e of us, and we accordingly turned the boat's head in that direction.

As we proceeded, the sound of talking rapidly became more distinct, and at length we were near enough to distinguish that the speakers, whoever they were, ere conversing in French.

At this point we rested on our oars again, and peered eagerly into the darkness in the endeavour to see something of our neighbours.

After perhaps a minute's intense gaze sh.o.r.eward, Bobby leaned over, and whispered,--

"There they are, right ahead, and close under our bows. It is a boat, with two men in her, and as nearly as I can make out, they are leaning over the side and hauling something into the boat."

I looked intently in the direction indicated, and at length succeeded in making out the craft. There were, as Bob had said, two men in her; they were leaning over the side, and as I watched, one of them raised his arm, and I detected, just for a moment, the faint glitter of some object just beneath it. At the same instant a voice said in French,--

"Here is another, and a fine fellow he is, too. He will make a splendid dinner for the general to-morrow."

"Fishermen, by all that is lucky!" I exclaimed, in an excited whisper.

"Now, Bob, let's dash alongside and board the craft; a selection from the rig of those two men will make exactly the rig I want."

"All right," returned Bob. "You're the skipper, give the word, and we'll nab the Mossoos in a jiffy."

"Now!" said I.

We dashed our oars into the water, and in half a dozen strokes were alongside the astonished fishermen.

As the two boats touched, Bob laid in his oar, and with the dinghy's painter in one hand and his drawn cutla.s.s in the other, leaped on board the stranger, treading as he did so upon a ma.s.s of fish which lay writhing and flapping feebly in the bottom of the boat, and instantly a.s.suming, quite unintentionally on his part, you may be sure, a sitting position amongst the thickest of the slimy, scaly cargo. As he boarded forward, I did so aft, and presenting a pistol in each hand, as sternly as I could, while struggling to suppress my laughter at Bob's exploit, ordered the fishermen to surrender, and to keep perfect silence, upon pain of instant death as the penalty of disobedience.

The poor fellows were taken completely by surprise, and seemed to have no idea of resistance. They meekly cast off that portion of their lines which still remained overboard, and taking to their oars, pulled quietly away in the direction which I ordered, or towards the "Mouette," the dinghy being in tow astern.

As we, or rather they, rowed off to the cutter I questioned the men as to their reason for running so great a risk for the sake of a few fish, and in reply gained the information that the garrison, though still in possession of a moderate supply of food, foresaw that a time of scarcity was rapidly approaching; and the general had, accordingly, a few days previously taken the remaining provisions under his own control, issuing to each inhabitant a daily ration upon a very reduced scale. Under these circ.u.mstances, the fishermen of the place thought they saw their way to a good market for any fish they could contrive to capture, and a few of them had accordingly ventured out at night with their hooks and lines.

This was most valuable information, _if true_, but coming from the enemy I thought it scarcely reliable--though the men spoke with the utmost freedom, and apparently in perfectly good faith. I therefore determined, while slightly modifying my original plan, still to carry it out.

On our arrival on board the "Mouette," I invited our two prisoners down into the cabin, and pouring them out a stiff "nor'wester" each, to cheer them up a little and loosen their tongues, I told them frankly that it was necessary I should make my way into Bastia, and intimated to them, that as they would be retained as hostages until my safe return, and liberated immediately afterwards, it would obviously be to their interest to give me all the information and help in their power to enable me to provide for my safety. I also informed them that it would be necessary for me to borrow certain portions of their habiliments, to be used as a disguise.

"It is a dangerous game which you are about to play, monsieur," remarked the elder of the two, who gave his name as Jean Leferrier. "The greatest precautions are taken to prevent the access of spies into the place. Most of the inhabitants are well known, and any stranger would certainly be noticed and sharply questioned as to how he came there, and upon what business. I greatly fear you will be arrested before you have been three hours in the place. If monsieur will condescend to accept the advice of a poor, ignorant fisherman like myself, he will abandon his idea, and not embark upon so hazardous an enterprise."

This, however, I would not listen to for a moment, in fact every word spoken only made me the more determined to go on; and this I intimated pretty plainly.

"Perhaps if monsieur were to adopt the _role_ of an escaped prisoner from the British fleet he might succeed in disarming suspicion,"

remarked Pierre Cousin, the other prisoner. "Monsieur's accent is certainly not quite perfect (if he will pardon my presuming to say so); still it may pa.s.s without attracting much notice, and if you, Jean, were to give him a note to _la mere_, she could take him in and look after him,--that is, if monsieur could endure the poor accommodation to be found under her roof."

"Certainly," replied Jean, "that might be done. But monsieur would have to report himself to Monsieur le Maire immediately on his arrival, and would therefore have to be prepared with a good detailed plausible story."

I replied that I thought I could manufacture a story which would hold water sufficiently to satisfy the functionary referred to, the thought flashing into my mind that I could personate the lad whom we had found in charge of the "Mouette" on the eventful evening of her capture.

"Then if monsieur is still determined to pursue his adventure, I will write the letter," remarked Jean.

"Do so at once, by all means," said I. "Tell her that, venturing too far out, you have been made prisoners by a boat's crew from the British fleet, and that you found, on board the ship to which you have been taken, another prisoner, who had contrived to make preparations for his escape, and that you had only time to write this note, informing your mother of your whereabouts, and recommending the bearer to her good offices, before he proceeded to put his plans into execution, the night being favourable for the attempt."

"There is no time like the present," I continued to Summers. "The night is dark, and altogether favourable for the enterprise. I have the locality fresh in mind, so I shall go at once."

"And when do you intend to return?" asked Bob.

"Ah!" I replied, "that is more than I can tell you. You may depend upon it, I shall not stay an hour longer than is absolutely necessary for obtaining the required information, but whether I shall be able to get out again when that is obtained, it is impossible to say. There is one thing you must do, Summers, and that is, keep a constant lookout, from the time I leave you until I turn up again, and if you observe anything unusual insh.o.r.e, leading you to suppose I am attempting to get out, do the best you can to help me. I shall leave a note with you for the skipper, explaining what I intend to do; and that note I want you to take on board, and deliver into his own hands, the first thing in the morning."

I then set about writing the note, and by the time that I had finished, Jean had also brought his communication to a close. He pa.s.sed it over the table for me to read, and I found that it was substantially to the same effect as I had suggested, but written in his own homely and not very precise style of composition. I looked it very carefully through to see that there was no covert suggestion therein of a character intended to betray me; but as far as I could see it was a perfectly straightforward affair from beginning to end.

This matter settled, I borrowed a pair of breeches, and the long boots belonging to one of them; and the dirty ragged canvas overalls of the other; topping off with a dilapidated blue worsted cap which I had been wearing continually since joining the "Mouette," and my rig-out was complete.

I intended pulling boldly ash.o.r.e in the boat belonging to the captured fishermen, that being infinitely preferable to my mind to swimming ash.o.r.e as I had originally proposed; so, as soon as I was ready I sat down once more, and questioned them very minutely respecting the position of the landing-place, the locality of _la mere's_ domicile, and everything else I could think of likely to be of service in my undertaking.

Jean, the elder of the two, replied freely to all my inquiries; adding such information as suggested itself to him at the moment, and winding up by saying,--

"Monsieur must not be surprised if he is challenged on entering the harbour, that is almost certain to occur; and if it does he has only to give the watch-word, and he will not be further interfered with."

"And what is the watch-word?" I asked.

"Simply '_Bateau-pecheur; Bastia_,'" he replied. "If you are challenged give the pa.s.s-word, and lie upon your oars; that will show them that you are one of us, and you will at once receive permission to proceed."

"Very well, I think I am pretty well primed now, and may venture to start. Good-bye, Bob, old fellow. Keep a sharp lookout, and bear a hand with your a.s.sistance if you see that I need any when returning.