Under the Meteor Flag Part 26

Trembling with my violent exertions, and weak from my long fast (I had neither eaten nor drank since breakfast the previous morning), I was almost on the point of despairing, when a bright idea occurred to me. I would attempt my climb at the point where the wing jutted out from the main wall of the building, the two walls forming an angle.

A stream of water was pouring down the wall from somewhere off the roof; and I took a hearty draught from this, which greatly refreshed me. I then renewed my attempt; and found to my great satisfaction that, though the labour was still severe, I was able to make slow but steady progress by bracing myself into the angle between the two walls with my arms and knees.

In this way I gradually worked my way up the wall, until I arrived at a point where a bold moulding--called, I believe, a string-course--ran horizontally along the wall. I continued my climb until my feet rested upon this moulding, which const.i.tuted quite a firm foot-hold compared with what I had hitherto been able to obtain.

I was now about five-and-twenty feet from the ground; and had it been light I should have been able to see over the wall; but as it was I could distinguish nothing but the indistinct ma.s.ses of the trees, and, among them, a few greyish objects which looked to me like tomb-stones.

The next thing was to pa.s.s along the face of the wing-wall to the point where it joined the boundary-wall of the courtyard; and the sooner this journey was accomplished the better; for the muscles of my hands were beginning to feel cramped and nerveless from the extraordinary strain which had been put upon them. I accordingly set out on my dangerous way; and, with the aid of the string-course, got on better than I expected; but my strength was going so rapidly that, by the time I had accomplished about a quarter of the distance, it was all I could do to support myself. I had no choice, however, but still to push on; and I persevered a short time longer; when, just as I felt that I was incapable of further effort, when my nerveless fingers were actually relaxing their hold upon the slight irregularities in the surface of the wall, and I felt that I must go helplessly crashing down again to the ground, I distinguished, within a yard of me, on my right, a dark cavity in the face of the wall; and the remembrance at once flashed upon me that I had noticed when crossing the yard in the morning, without paying any attention to it at the moment, a large window in this part of the wall. One more feeble but despairing effort enabled me to reach the opening; and with a frame quivering with exhaustion, and an incoherent thanksgiving upon my lips, I flung my body forward, and lay, breathless and half-fainting, partly in and partly out of the unglazed window.

After recovering myself a little, I raised myself into a somewhat more secure and comfortable position, and took a good look round me.

It was still as dark as ever--a circ.u.mstance at which I greatly rejoiced, since it would still take a considerable amount of time to make good my escape--but my eyes had by this time become so accustomed to the darkness that I was able to discern with some degree of clearness such objects as happened to be in my immediate vicinity; and the first thing I noticed was that there was another window at no great distance from me, but it was pierced in the _end_ wall of the building, and consequently overlooked the piece of ground which I took to be a cemetery. The next thing which attracted my attention was a sort of ledge about a foot wide on the inner side of the wall, which had apparently, at some time or other in the history of the building, supported a floor. This ledge seemed to offer an easy and safe approach to the other window; and I at once scrambled in through the opening wherein I was perched, and, lowering myself cautiously down on the inside, soon had the satisfaction of finding my feet firmly planted on the ledge. Somewhat restored in strength, and my nerves steadied by my short rest, I set forward once more; and at length, without much difficulty, gained the other window.

Peering anxiously out through it, to see what facilities might exist for enabling me to effect a descent, I was overjoyed to find that the time- worn wall was covered with a thick growth of ivy. A descent by means of this was, after my perilous climb and pa.s.sage along the face of the wall, a mere trifle; and in a couple of minutes more I was standing, safe and sound, in the burial-ground, and _outside_ the boundaries of my prison. I wasted no time in looking about me; but rapidly crossing the enclosure, and stumbling over the graves as I went, I soon reached a high railing, which was easily surmounted, when I found myself in a dark and lonely road, bounded on one side by a wall and on the other by a steep descent thickly planted with trees.

Pausing here for a moment, I rapidly recalled to mind the route by which I had arrived at the barracks on the previous day, and was by this means enabled to decide upon the direction which I ought to take in order to reach the harbour. This point settled, I stepped quickly out; and after two or three turns and windings, found myself in a street which I remembered pa.s.sing through before.

The rain was still pouring down in torrents, and not a soul was to be seen in any direction, nor a sound heard; and if any one had seen me flitting noiselessly along the silent and deserted street, I should a.s.suredly have been taken for a washed-out ghost, for I had left my boots behind, and my feet gave only a faint, scarcely audible, pit-pat on the flooded causeway.

Half an hour of sharp walking brought me down to the harbour; and I at once proceeded to the slipway where I had moored the boat on the previous night. The previous night? Ay; it was only some twenty-four hours since I had entered Bastia; but it seemed as though I had been there at least a month.

The boat was still there, with several others; and as my own safety was just then of more importance to me than any one else's convenience, I did not hesitate, on finding a much smaller and lighter boat among them, to help myself to her.

Casting the little craft adrift, I shipped the oars and paddled leisurely down the harbour until I approached the pierheads, when, noiselessly laying in my oars, I shipped one of them in the notch at the stern; and, sheering close in under the walls of the pier from which I had been hailed on the previous night, I sculled gently out to the open sea. I almost held my breath until I had gone far enough to lose sight of the pier altogether in the darkness, when I once more shipped my oars and pulled steadily out toward a line of twinkling lights which indicated the position of the fleet.

The dawn was just breaking, grey, cheerless, and chill, as I reached the cutter and stepped in on deck over her low bulwarks, wet to the skin, nerveless from exhaustion and hunger, and with my feet, elbows, and knees lacerated and bleeding from my battle with the rough stone walls of my prison.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

LE NARCISSE.

My first act on regaining the cutter was to rouse Bob and the boy who officiated as cook on board the "Mouette;" with the object of obtaining from the former any news he might have to impart, and from the latter as substantial a breakfast as the resources of the cutter would permit.

I listened to Bob's story while engaged upon the highly necessary operation of cleansing my person and encasing it once more in "the uniform proper to my rank." Bobby had very little to tell me; and that little was by no means rea.s.suring. It appeared that a despatch-boat had arrived from Malta on the previous day bringing letters for the fleet; and, among the rest, there had been a couple of epistles for me. Bob had gone on board the "Juno" for whatever letters there might be for the cutter's crew, and had been ordered by the skipper to request my presence on board. Thereupon master Bob had presented my note informing the skipper of my proposed expedition. Instead of expressing his gratification at my zeal, as Bobby had fully expected he would, it appeared that the skipper had exhibited a very considerable amount of irritation; finally ordering friend Robert somewhat peremptorily back to the cutter, with instructions to send me without fail on board the "Juno" immediately on my return, _if_ (which the skipper seemed to consider highly improbable) I ever succeeded in returning at all.

By the time that Summers had brought his story to a close I was ready for the breakfast which meantime had been preparing; and as it was still much too early to present myself before Captain Hood (who seldom appeared before eight bells) I sat down to the meal, with--it must be confessed--a somewhat diminished appet.i.te; hastily skimming through my letters as I munched away at the weevily biscuits. There were two; one from my dear old dad, and one from Sir Peregrine. There was nothing of very special interest in either; my father's epistle dealing chiefly with a few items of home gossip, such as that farmer Giles of the Glebe had met with an accident in the hunting-field, his colt falling with him and breaking the worthy farmer's leg--doctor p.r.o.nounced it a compound fracture; that the wife of Lightfoot, the gamekeeper, had presented her husband with twins once more--two girls this time; mother and twins doing well; that Old Jane Martin had been laid up all the winter with rheumatism, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera; and that finally, all at home were enjoying excellent health, and would be glad if I could find time to write to them a little more frequently. My great-uncle, Sir Peregrine, was not nearly so voluminous in his correspondence as my father--sailors are not as a rule very good correspondents--what he had to say was said in as few words as possible. Two pages of note-paper sufficed the worthy admiral to inform me that he had been intensely gratified at the terms in which my name had been mentioned in connexion with the storming of the Convention Redoubt, and that he was writing per same mail to "his friend Hood" (the admiral, not the captain), asking him to give me as many opportunities as he could of distinguishing myself--"or of getting knocked on the head," thought I; and that if I needed any cash my drafts upon him would be duly honoured. Also, that he had not been out much during the winter, his old enemy the gout having attacked him so pertinaciously that he had been confined to the house for weeks at a time, moored "stem and stern" before the library fire, like a prison-hulk in Portsmouth Harbour!

My letters and my breakfast were got through in about the same time; and as Bob and I emerged from our tiny cabin on to the cutter's narrow deck the ship's bells were musically chiming out the eight strokes which proclaimed the end of one watch and the commencement of another. The skipper would, I knew, be stirring by this time, so I jumped into the dinghy, and proceeded on board the frigate.

As I stepped in on the "Juno's" deck, Captain Hood made his appearance at the cabin-door. Touching my hat, I went up and reported myself.

"Good morning, Mr Chester," observed he affably; "I am very glad to see you have come safely out of your escapade. But what do you mean, sir,"

(a.s.suming a tone of severity), "by presuming to undertake such an expedition without asking and obtaining permission? It is a manifest breach of discipline, and, as such, must be punished. I placed you in charge of the cutter as a kind of promotion, and by way of reward for your exemplary conduct generally. _Now_ I shall be compelled to deprive you of your command. You will return forthwith to your duty on board the frigate, sir."

"Ay, ay, sir," I responded, considerably crestfallen. "I am extremely sorry to have incurred your displeasure, sir, I am sure. I _would_ have asked permission, sir, but I was afraid that, after poor Mr Tupper's death, it would be refused."

"Very well, Mr Chester. I have no doubt you _meant_ well, and therefore I have been lenient in the punishment which your breach of discipline demanded. You have been reprimanded on the quarter-deck, sir, and so we will say nothing more about it. Only I must impress upon you the necessity of being careful to avoid a repet.i.tion of the offence.

Now come into the cabin and have some breakfast with me, and you can then tell us how you fared among the Frenchmen. If you have not already breakfasted, Mr Annesley," (to the first lieutenant, who at this moment approached), "I shall be glad to have the pleasure of your company."

So saying, the skipper turned on his heel, and led the way into the cabin, where we found the table well provided with a variety of good things highly provocative of appet.i.te in a midshipman, even though he might have partaken of one breakfast already within an hour.

As soon as we had seated ourselves, and were supplied from the stock of delicacies before us,--

"Now," said the skipper, "overhaul your log, Mr Chester, and let us hear how you managed to conduct your difficult enterprise. That young scamp, Summers, told me all about your gallant capture," (with just the faintest possible ironical emphasis on the word _gallant_) "of the unfortunate fishermen, so you may as well commence at the point where you left the cutter in their boat."

In obedience to this command I at once proceeded with my story, giving a detailed account of everything that had happened from the time of leaving the cutter to the moment of my return.

My auditors evinced the greatest interest in my narration, and were mightily tickled when I described the manner in which I had been relieved of my fish by the condescending cook and the friendly corporal.

Their interest increased when I described my imprisonment in and the mode of escape from my dungeon; and when I had finished they both congratulated me very heartily upon what Captain Hood called "the resolution and courage" which I had exhibited. "It was a remarkably narrow squeak, Mr Chester," remarked the skipper, "and I hope it will be a warning to you not to unnecessarily expose yourself to danger for the future. When duty calls it is of course quite another thing; and I am perfectly willing to give you credit for a desire in the present instance to perform a very important service. I have already reprimanded you for the breach of discipline which you committed in undertaking this expedition without first obtaining leave; let me now express my satisfaction with the way in which--apart from that--you have conducted yourself. You have succeeded in obtaining information which, I believe, will be of great value to the admiral, and I will endeavour so to represent your conduct to him as that he shall view it in a favourable light. Now, if you have finished breakfast, you had better go on board the cutter and transfer your chest and hammock to the frigate, and by-and-by I will take you on board the flag-ship and introduce you to the admiral, when you can make your report."

Accepting this as a hint to be off about my business, I rose, and making my bow, left the cabin.

On reaching the deck I found that the whole of the inmates of the midshipmen's berth, already apprised by the loquacious Bob of my escapade, were anxiously awaiting my reappearance, to learn all particulars, including the result of my private interview with the skipper. Briefly informing them, however, that I had been ordered to rejoin the frigate, and postponing all further information until a more convenient season, I hurried down over the side, and stepping into the c.o.c.klesh.e.l.l of a dinghy pulled on board the "Mouette," where master Bob received my narration with a show of sympathy which thinly veiled his exultation at being left in sole command of the cutter.

Somehow I did not greatly regret the change. I was beginning to tire of the cramped accommodation on board the "Mouette;" and although I had been formally reprimanded for my "breach of discipline" I was acute enough to see that my conduct had, after all, made a favourable impression upon the skipper, and that I had, on the whole, risen, rather than fallen, in his estimation.

Hurriedly bundling my few belongings together and stowing them away in the boat, I shook hands with Bob, and was soon once more on board the "Juno."

I had barely time to trim myself up a bit, when a message was brought me to the effect that the skipper's gig was alongside, and only waited my presence on board to shove off for the admiral's ship.

The "Victory" was lying at no great distance from us, and we were soon alongside.

I followed the skipper up the side-ladder, and found myself in the presence of the admiral, who was taking a const.i.tutional up and down the quarter-deck in company with Sir Hyde Parker and Vice-Admiral Hotham from the "Britannia."

Captain Hood immediately joined company (I remaining discreetly in the background, in accordance with previous instructions), and in the course of a minute or two the party, no doubt in consequence of a suggestion from the skipper, retired to the cabin.

In about twenty minutes afterwards I was sent for.

I entered the cabin with, I must confess, some slight degree of trepidation; for the admiral was a very queer sort of man in some respects, and one never knew in what light he would be likely to view such an exploit as mine. I had known of his having disrated more than one luckless mid for a far less heinous offence than so serious a breach of discipline as that of which I had been guilty; and disrating was the one thing which presented itself to me as more objectionable than anything else in the shape of punishment--except flogging; but I built my hopes upon the skipper's good offices; and the result showed that I had no grounds for fear.

On entering, I was invited to take a chair which Lord Hood pointed out, and then, waiting until the cabin-door was shut, he rested his elbows on the table, and supporting his chin upon his hands, looked across at me and said--

"Your captain informs me, young gentleman, that, understanding I was anxious to obtain information respecting the condition of the enemy in Bastia, you voluntarily undertook a most hazardous journey thither, and were enabled, during your stay in the town, to make observations of considerable value. I should like to hear from your own lips a detailed narrative of the adventure."

Thus commanded, I once more told my story, Lord Hood interrupting me from time to time to jot down memoranda in his note-book. When I had concluded my narration the admiral thanked me heartily for the "very important service" which I had rendered, and I was also complimented by my audience upon "the skill and intrepidity" with which I had carried out the reconnoissance. Taking these last remarks as a polite intimation that the interview was at an end, I bowed and withdrew. A few minutes afterwards the admiral's boat was ordered, and as soon as she was manned, Lord Hood, Sir Hyde Parker, and the skipper got into her, and pulled away for the British lines on sh.o.r.e--Captain Hood directing me, as he pa.s.sed down the side, to take his gig back to the frigate.

On the following day a flag of truce was sent into the town negotiations were opened, and on the 22nd of May, 1794, the garrison capitulated on very favourable terms to themselves.

From this date I find nothing in my diary worthy of remark until we come to the reduction of Calvi on the 10th of August following. I was at the time recovering from an attack of low fever, and had been off duty for some four or five weeks.

On the evening of the capture I was walking slowly up and down the p.o.o.p, when Captain Hood came up the p.o.o.p-ladder and very kindly inquired after my health. I replied that I was getting rapidly stronger, and should be very glad when the doctor would allow me to return to duty.

"Ah! yes," said he, "I daresay you will. Very irksome to be idling about the decks all day. I should think change of air would do you good."

"I believe it would, sir," I replied, thinking from his manner of speaking that he had a proposal of some sort to make.

"Yes, no doubt about it," returned the skipper. "And you would like it?