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diff --git a/21405.txt b/21405.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a8e31cf --- /dev/null +++ b/21405.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3589 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Loss of the Royal George, by W.H.G. Kingston + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Loss of the Royal George + +Author: W.H.G. Kingston + +Illustrator: H.W. Petherick + +Release Date: May 9, 2007 [EBook #21405] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE *** + + + + +Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England + + + + +The Loss of the Royal George, by W.H.G. Kingston. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +A beautifully written but short little book. The actual loss of the +Royal George occurs in a few paragraphs in chapter four, but the whole +of the rest of the book concerns a small child who had been brought on +board the vessel by a lady presumed to be his aunt. The child survives +the accident, but the lady he was with was drowned. The child was +rescued, and was brought up by a crew-member, having a good career in +the Royal Navy. In the last chapter his true parentage is discovered, +and all is made well. + +________________________________________________________________________ + +THE LOSS OF THE ROYAL GEORGE, BY W.H.G. KINGSTON. + + + +CHAPTER ONE. + +My father, Richard Truscott, was boatswain of the _Royal George_, one of +the finest ships in the navy. I lived with mother and several brothers +and sisters at Gosport. + +Father one day said to me, "Ben, you shall come with me, and we'll make +a sailor of you. Maybe you'll some day walk the quarter-deck as an +officer." + +I did not want to go to sea, and I did not care about being an officer; +indeed I had never thought about the matter, but I had no choice in it. +I was but a very little chap, and liked playing at marbles, or "chuck +penny," in our backyard, better than anything else. + +"He is too small yet to be a sailor," said mother. + +"He is big enough to be a powder-monkey," observed my father; and as he +was not a man who chose to be contradicted, he the next day took me +aboard his ship, then fitting out in Portsmouth harbour, to carry the +flag of Admiral Sir Edward Hawke. She was indeed a proud ship, with the +tautest masts and the squarest yards of any ship in the British navy. +She carried one hundred and four guns, all of brass--forty-two pounders +on the lower-deck; thirty-two on the middle deck; and twenty-four +pounders on the quarter-deck, forecastle, poop, and main-deck. She had +huge lanterns at her poop, into which four or five of us boys could stow +ourselves away; and from the time she was first launched, in 1756, the +flag of some great admiral always floated from the masthead. When my +father left me, to attend to his duty, I thought I should have been lost +in the big ship, with deck above deck, and guns all alike one another on +either side; and hundreds of men bawling and shouting, and rushing about +here and there and everywhere. Sitting down on a chest, outside his +cabin,--my legs were not long enough to reach the deck,--I had a good +cry; and a number of boys, some of them not much bigger than myself, +came and had a look at me, but they did not jeer, or play me any tricks, +for they had found out that I was the bo'sun's son, and that they had +better not. I soon, however, recovered, and learned to find my way, not +only from one deck to another, but up aloft; and before many days were +over, had been up to the main-truck; though when my father heard of it, +for he was below at the time, he told me not to go again till I was +bigger. As I was continually, from ignorance, getting into scrapes, and +he could not keep an eye on me himself, he gave me in charge to Jerry +Dix, the one-legged fiddler and cook's mate. Jerry could take very good +care of me, but was less able to take care of himself when he had got +his grog aboard, and more than once when this happened I had to watch +over him. This made us firm friends, and I am very sure that he had a +sincere affection for me. + +England was now engaged in what was known as the Seven Years' War, which +began in 1756, and had been going on for three years, the ships of +England fighting those of France whenever they could find them, and +generally giving them a drubbing. Our ship, which carried, as I have +said, the flag of Admiral Sir Edward Hawke, had, with several other +line-of-battle ships, been for some time watching the French fleet, +under Admiral Conflans, shut up in Brest harbour, when, a heavy gale +coming on, we were obliged to put into Torbay for shelter. We remained +there for some time, while it blew great guns and small arms, which +Jerry told me would keep the French ships shut up in harbour as securely +as would our cannon. At length the weather moderated, and our admiral +made the signal for the fleet to sail. It was a fine sight to see +twenty-four line-of-battle ships, beside the _Royal George_, mostly +seventy-four's, some larger and some smaller, getting under way +together, and standing over to the enemy's coast. We were a few hours +later than we should have been, however, for on our arrival we heard +that Admiral Conflans had just before slipped out of Brest harbour, and +sailed away for Quiberon Bay, hoping to cut off a small English squadron +under Commodore Duff at anchor there. + +We made all sail in chase, but a strong south-easterly wind blew in +their teeth, and it was four days before we arrived off Belle Isle, when +we were joined by Commodore Duff, with four fifty-gun ships and six +frigates. Early in the morning, the _Maidstone_, one of our look-out +frigates, made the signal that the enemy's fleet was in sight! We, on +this, threw out the signal for our ships to form in line, while the +frigate was sent inshore to ascertain how far we were from it. You will +understand that the fog prevented us from seeing the land or the enemy, +and from the same cause it was no easy matter, as we all sailed close +together, to prevent one ship from running into another. + +We had not long to wait, however, before, the fog lifting, we caught +sight of the French fleet, crowding all sail to get away from us, for +their frigates had found out our fleet, while ours had discovered +theirs. We made all sail in chase, both the enemy's ships and ours +having every stitch of canvas they could carry. In about three hours +the van of our fleet got up with them. + +I remember standing by my father's side, in the forecastle, and thinking +what a grand sight it was, as the _Warspite_ and _Dorchester_ gallantly +commenced firing their broadsides into the enemy. The next ship that +got into action was the _Magnanime_, commanded by the brave Lord Howe, +followed quickly by the _Revenge_, _Torbay_, _Montagu_, and many others +whose names are known to fame. There was a heavy sea running at the +time, and, big as were our ships, they kept tumbling about so much that +we were unable to fight our lower-deck guns. The captain of one of the +French ships, the _Thesee_, engaged with the _Torbay_, thought that he +could do so; and Captain Keppel, who commanded the English seventy-four, +unwisely followed his example. The two ships were thus hotly engaged, +firing their broadsides into each other, when we saw the Frenchman give +a lurch to starboard, and then down she went; out of all her gallant +crew of eight hundred men, only twenty being saved by the British boats. +The _Torbay_ was very nearly following her, but by great exertions the +guns were run in, and the ports closed, though not till she had shipped +a good deal of water. Directly afterwards another Frenchman sank before +our eyes, as we guessed, from the same cause. + +I can't say that I saw much more of what took place, for we were now +going into action, and I was sent below to attend to my duty, which was +to bring up ammunition in a tub, and to sit upon it on the main-deck, +with the other ship's boys, till it was wanted to load the guns. We +were soon thundering away at the enemy, clouds of smoke filling the +space between the decks, through which I could dimly see the crews of +the guns, stripped to the waist, running them in to load, and running +them out again as rapidly as they could. Shouts from the upper deck +reached us, and we heard that one of the French ships had struck, but so +heavy a sea was running, that no boat could be lowered to take +possession of her; several others were also severely handled, and one +completely dismasted. Night was coming on; and as we were but a short +distance from the shore, the admiral made a signal for the fleet to +anchor, and we, rounding-to, brought up. There we lay, the wind roaring +and the sea foaming and tossing around us, anxiously waiting for +daylight. I had not seen my father, who was, as I supposed, at his +station on the upper deck, when the order came to secure the guns. I +was still sitting on my tub joking with the other boys, who were +congratulating themselves at not being killed, when Jerry Dix came +stumping along the deck towards me; he took my hand kindly, and I +thought I saw him wipe away a tear from his eye. + +"What is the matter, Jerry?" I asked, seeing that something was wrong. + +"Ben, my boy, he that's gone told me to look after you, and so I will as +long as I have a shot in the looker. You don't hear his pipe, do you? +and you never will no more. There's the order to return powder to the +magazine--as soon as you come up again, look out for me." + +The other boys and I hurried below to the magazine with our tubs; as +soon as I came up I looked out for Jerry. + +"What were you talking about?" I asked, having a feeling that something +had happened to my father, though I scarcely dared to ask what. + +"As I was saying, Ben, you have a friend in me if you have no other," +said Jerry, again taking my hand. "You will grieve, my boy, I know, but +it can't be helped; so I must out with it. We have not lost many men, +but one has gone who was worth a dozen of the best; the Frenchman's +round shot coming aboard took off his head, and deprived you of your +father and us of our bo'sun." + +"Do you mean to say that father's killed?" I asked in a trembling +voice, unable to believe the fact. + +"Yes, boy, he has sounded his last pipe; we shall no more hear his voice +rousing up all hands, or hailing the maintop; but he died doing his +duty. We could have better spared a worse man, but there is no help for +it and so, Ben, don't pipe your eye." + +Notwithstanding Jerry's exhortations, I did, however, cry heartily as I +lay in my hammock; and even the other boys respected my sorrow, though +it did not last long, I must confess. + +The next day was an exciting one. As the morning broke, we saw our +prize on shore, and another French ship at anchor dismasted; she, on +seeing us, also ran on shore; when the _Essex_, a sixty-four, being sent +in to take possession of her, was also wrecked; while another ship, the +_Resolution_, seventy-four, was discovered on the rocks, the sea beating +over her; and, before assistance could be sent, most of her gallant crew +had perished. We succeeded, however, in burning the two French ships; +but others, which were almost falling into our hands, by heaving their +guns overboard, managed to escape up the river, where we could not +follow. + +"Although we have gained the victory, I do not see that we have gained +much else for our trouble," observed Jerry, who was a philosopher in his +way. "We have, you see, destroyed four French ships, and sent well-nigh +two thousand Frenchmen, more or less, out of the world, but then we have +lost two of our own ships and some hundred British seamen; and, worse +than all, our brave bo'sun, your father." + +The loss of my father was not to be repaired. I cannot say what might +have happened had he lived, but losing him I grew up from boy to man, +knocking about the world with many a chance of being knocked on the +head, and yet with not the slightest hope of ever treading the +quarter-deck as an officer--not that I ever thought about that. Jerry +proved my firm friend. Though fond of his grog, for my sake he kept +sober, that he might better look after me. + +"Your father, Ben, lent me a helping hand when I had not a shot in the +locker and was well-nigh starving, and it's my duty to help you; and so +I will, boy, as long as I can keep my fiddle-stick moving, and get a +crust to put into my mouth." + +Jerry did me an essential service, for having seen better days he had +got some learning, which was more than most men in the ship possessed, +and he taught me to read and write, of which I knew nothing when I came +to sea. Even my father, though boatswain of a line-of-battle ship, had +not been much of a scholar. However, I am not now going to write about +myself or my own adventures. When the ship was paid off, as my poor +mother could not support me, and I had no fancy for any other calling, I +went to sea again with Jerry, who got the rating of cook's mate on board +the _Thunderer_, seventy-four. + +I was now a stout lad, and could stand to my gun or handle a cutlass as +well as any man. We were stationed off Cadiz, with three other smaller +vessels, looking out for a French squadron expected to sail for that +port. Being driven off the coast by bad weather, on our return we found +that the Frenchmen had slipped out, so away we went under all the canvas +we could set in pursuit. We had come in sight of the _Achille_, a +sixty-four gun ship, and, soon getting up with her, we opened our +broadside, receiving a pretty hot fire from her in return. We were +blazing away at each other, when a noise louder than all our guns +together sounded in my ears, and I felt myself lifted off my legs and +shot along the deck. For the moment I thought the world had come to an +end, or that the ship had blown up. On opening my eyes, I caught sight +of a number of dead and wounded men lying around me, and the after-part +of the ship in flames. Among them, seeing Jerry, I picked myself up and +ran to him. + +"Are you killed, Jerry?" I asked. + +"No, it's only my wooden leg knocked away," he answered. "Just get me a +mop-stick, or bit of a broken pike, and I shall soon be on my pins +again." + +Jerry having soon, spliced a piece of the mop-stick which I brought him +to the stump of his leg, I set him on his pins. Meantime I found that +one of the quarter-deck guns, having burst had created the havoc I have +described and set the ship on fire. All hands labouring away with +buckets, we got the flames extinguished, and stood after the enemy, who +was trying to escape. We again, however, came up with her; and running +alongside, the boarders were called away, headed by our first +lieutenant, Mr Leslie, whom I followed closely. We had sprung on the +deck of the enemy, and a big Frenchman was about to cut him down, when I +caught the blow on my cutlass, and saved his life. One hundred and +fifty gallant fellows coming on board after us, we quickly swept the +Frenchmen from the deck, and they, crying out that they surrendered, we +hauled down their flag. I did not think that Mr Leslie was aware of +the service I had rendered him till he thanked me for it, and ever +afterwards was my friend. I had the good chance, also, some time +afterwards, of keeping his head above water, when our ship, the +_Laurel_, was capsized in a hurricane in the West Indies; and though, of +course, it was what I would have done for anyone, I was very thankful to +have been the means of again saving his life, though I ran, he always +declared, no little risk of losing my own. I served with him when he +commanded the _Favourite_, sloop-of-war, and afterwards in the _Active_, +frigate, when we captured a Spanish galleon, which put some hundred +pounds into the pockets of each of the men, and a good many thousands +into those of the captain. I was pretty fortunate on board other ships, +in which I sailed to different parts of the world, getting back to old +England safe at last. + + + +CHAPTER TWO. + +Getting back safe home at last, like many another sailor, I might have +sung-- + + "'Twas in the good ship _Rover_ + I sail'd the world around, + For full ten years and over + I ne'er touch'd British ground. + And when at length I landed, + I could not long remain; + Found all my friends were stranded, + So went to sea again." + +Jerry, the truest of them, who had at the Peace gone on shore, I could +nowhere hear of; my poor mother was dead, my brothers at sea, and my +sisters either married or in service. One of the youngest, my sister +Jane, I was told was living near Ryde with the family of a captain in +the navy, and on inquiry I found he was no other than my old commander, +Captain Leslie. I started at once with my pockets pretty well lined +with gold, for I had just received a good lumping share of prize-money, +which I was sorely puzzled to know what to do with. I was pleased at +the thought of again seeing my old captain, though I scarcely fancied he +would remember much about the little services I had done him. Who +should open the door but Jane herself! She did not know me, but I knew +her, though she had grown from a girl into a young woman, and I soon +persuaded her who I was. She asked me down into the kitchen; and after +we had had a talk, and she had told me all about those I cared for, she +said she would go and tell Captain Leslie and his lady, who had often +spoken to her about me, for they had found out that she was my sister. +I was sent for into the drawing-room, when the captain welcomed me +kindly, and told his wife and the young ladies--for there were two of +them, besides a number of small children, boys and girls--how I had +twice saved his life. + +"I hope that you will stop as long as you like, and I will get you a +lodging close at hand," he said in his pleasant way. "I have often +wished that I could have shown my gratitude more than I have been able +to do." + +I told him not to trouble himself about that, as it was a pleasure to me +to think that I had been of service; and as I had more money than I knew +what to do with, and never wished to be anything but what I was, I +didn't see how he could have done more than he had done. + +"I like your independent spirit, Ben," he said, "but perhaps a time may +come, when I may be able to serve you as I should wish." + +After a good talk of old times, I went back into the kitchen. I had +been sitting there for some time, when a young woman came in with the +sweetest face I ever set eyes on. I got up and made a sort of bow, with +a scrape of my foot and a pull at a lovelock I wore in those days, for +it was not for me, I felt, to sit in the presence of one like her; when +Jane, laughing, said-- + +"Why, Ben, don't you know Susan Willis?" + +She was one of a lot of little girls I remember living next door to us, +and I used to take her on my knee and sing to her, and tell her about +Lord Hawke and the _Royal George_, when I was at home for the first time +after going to sea. Susan smiled, and put out her hand, and that moment +I felt I was not my own master; her voice was as sweet as her smile, and +had the true ring of an honest heart in it. + +"She is the young ladies' own maid," said Jane; "and they are as fond of +her as everyone is who knows her." + +"I am sure of it," says I; "and I am thankful that I am among them." + +Susan looked down and blushed, and so I believe I did, though she could +not see my blush through the brown skin of my face as well as I could +see the rose on her lily cheeks. + +Well, the long and the short of it is that day after day I went up to +the house, and at last--I couldn't help it--I knew that I should be +miserable if Susan wouldn't be mine, so I asked her to marry me. How my +heart did beat when she said yes. The captain and his lady were +agreeable, and when they heard that I had a matter of three hundred +pounds prize-money, or more, they observed that it was a prudent match; +and so I took a cottage and furnished it, not far off, that Susan might +go up and see Mrs Leslie and the children whenever they wished, and we +were married and were as happy as the day was long. I know I was, and +Susan seemed contented with her lot. + +Susan was a prudent young woman, and one day she says to me, "We must do +something, Ben, to make a living." + +"Why do you think that, Susan?" I asked; "I have got no end of +prize-money." + +"It's just this," says she; "you may think there is no end, but it will +come to an end, notwithstanding: what with the rent, and furnishing the +house, and the new clothes you got me, and the weekly bills, we have +spent fifty pounds of it already. Now, if we could set up a shop, or +you could turn carpenter or gardener, or go into service with someone +living hereabouts, we could lay up the rest of the money till a rainy +day; and as we have a pretty spare room, I might take in a lodger to +help out the rent." + +I had never before thought of that sort of thing; but I was sure that +Susan was right, and I began to turn in my mind what to do. I soon +found that I was not fit for anything Susan proposed. I never was much +of a carpenter, and I knew nothing about gardening. I tried my hand in +my own garden, and had got everything shipshape as far as the palings, +walks, and borders were concerned, but I could get nothing to come up. +Still I kept thinking of Susan's remark, and, seeing the wisdom of it, I +knew that there was only one thing I was fit for, and that was to go to +sea. I was loath to part from Susan, but there was no help for it. +There came about this time a hot press at Portsmouth; and as more than +once the pressgangs had landed in the Isle of Wight, I was very sure +that unless I got stowed away securely I should be picked up. Now, +thinks I, it's better to enter as a free man; and hearing that my old +ship, the _Royal George_, which was lying at Spithead, was in want of +hands, after a talk with the captain and poor Susan, whose heart was +well-nigh ready to break, though she could not help acknowledging that I +was right, I went on board and entered. Captain Leslie had given me a +note to Captain Waghorn, her commander, and I was at once rated as +quartermaster. The flag of the brave Admiral Kempenfelt, who had a year +before been appointed Admiral of the Blue, flew aboard her. We sailed +shortly afterwards with a strong squadron for Brest, to look after a +French fleet which had just left that port, conveying a large number of +merchantmen bound for the East and West Indies. On the 12th of December +we had the good fortune to discover the enemy's fleet about thirty-five +leagues to the westward of Ushant, we being a long way to leeward of the +convoy. I heard the admiral talking to the captain. + +"We will cut off the merchantmen first, and fight the enemy afterwards," +says he. + +What he had determined on he was the man to carry out, and before +evening we had picked up twenty merchantmen, laden with provisions and +naval and military stores, two or three regiments of soldiers, and a +large number of seamen. The _Royal George_ had to heave-to for the rest +of the squadron, which was a long way astern. + +Next morning the French fleet was increased by a number of other ships +appearing to leeward. The admiral was a prudent as well as a brave man, +and considered that it would be wiser not to engage them, and so with +our prizes we sailed back to Portsmouth. I could almost see my cottage +from the maintop, but I could not get leave to go on shore; and as to +having Susan off to see me, that I would not think of, for she would +have had to see and hear things such as I did not wish my wife to +witness. We again sailed for a cruise down Channel, and, after putting +into Torbay, once more returned to Portsmouth. Admiral Kempenfelt, we +had heard, had been appointed to the command of the fleet in the +Mediterranean, and we expected to sail again in a week or less. This +was in August 1782. Lord Howe's fleet was also lying off Spithead, +among them the _Victory_, _Barfleur_, _Ocean_, and _Union_, all +three-deckers, close to us, and numerous other men-of-war and merchant +vessels; indeed, the people who came off from Portsmouth declared they +could hardly see the Isle of Wight on account of the masts and spars of +the ships. In consequence of going foreign we had been paid in golden +guineas. As soon as I had received my pay, I got leave to go on shore +to spend a couple of days, to be off again on the evening of the 27th. +I had no difficulty in getting a boat, for there were hundreds pulling +backwards and forwards. I found Susan bright and well, and looking out +for me, for I had written to say I hoped to come. We went up to see +Captain Leslie and the ladies, who had sent word that they wished us to +pay them a visit. They were as kind as ever. The hours went by a great +deal too fast. + +A sailor's wife has a hard trial to bear, to have her husband at home +for two or three days, and then away for as many years or more; however, +I hoped to be at home again in less time than that, and so I cheered up +Susan, and promised for her sake to take the best care of myself I +could. She had not given up her notion of taking in a female lodger. +We were standing in the porch of the cottage on the last day, when we +saw a young lady in black, leading a little boy, coming along the road. +The little chap had a sailor's hat and jacket on, though he did not seem +much more than three years old. + +"She is some officer's widow," I remarked to Susan as we watched her. + +"She seems almost too young to be the mother of that child; she is his +sister, more likely," answered Susan. + +The young lady had stopped, and was looking about her; presently she +came on to us. + +"Can you tell me if I am likely to find a lodging hereabouts for a few +days?" she asked in a sweet voice; "I have left my luggage at the inn in +the village, but I do not wish to remain there, and I feel very tired +with walking about." + +"Will you like to walk in, miss, and rest yourself?" said Susan, "for +you do look tired and ill too." + +The young lady's cheek was very pale. + +"I shall indeed be thankful if you will let me do so," she answered, and +coming in she sank down in a chair. + +Susan got tea ready; it seemed to revive her a little; the child, I +observed, did not call her mother; and as I saw no wedding ring on her +finger, I began to think that Susan was right about her not being the +child's mother. Susan was evidently taken with the young lady, and, +calling me out, she said that she would ask her to stop, as she did not +seem fit to walk back to the village. I offered to go to the inn and +fetch her things, but she had a bag in her hand which she said contained +sufficient for the night, and she would send for them the next morning. +I soon afterwards had to go off to the ship, so I saw no more of the +young lady, who had gone to her room with the little boy. + + + +CHAPTER THREE. + +What a change it was from the quiet cottage, with my sweet Susan by my +side, to the lower-deck of the big ship, crowded with people, not only +her own seamen and marines, but some hundreds of visitors, women and +children! some of them the honest wives of the men, but others drunken, +swearing, loud-talking creatures--a disgrace to their sex. Quarrelling +and fighting and the wildest uproar were taking place; and then there +were a number of Jews with pinchbeck watches, and all sorts of trumpery +wares, which they were eager to exchange for poor Jack's golden guineas. +Some of them went away in the evening, but many more came back the next +morning to drive their trade, and would have come as long as coin was to +be picked up. + +I am not likely to forget that next morning, the 28th of August. It was +a fine summer's morning, and there was just a little sea on, with a +strongish breeze blowing from the eastward, but not enough to prevent +boats coming off from Portsmouth. I counted forty sail-of-the-line, a +dozen frigates and smaller ships of war, and well-nigh three hundred +merchant vessels, riding, as of course we were, to the flood with our +heads towards Cowes. + +You will understand that under the lower-deck was fitted a cistern, into +which the sea-water was received and then pumped up by a hand pump, +fixed in the middle of the gun-deck, for the purpose of washing the two +lower gun-decks; the water was let into this cistern by a pipe which +passed through the ship's side, and which was secured by a stop-cock, on +the inside. It had been found the morning before that this water-cock, +which was about three feet below the water line, was out of order and +must be repaired. + +The foreman came off from the dockyard, and said that it was necessary +to careen the ship over to port sufficiently to raise the mouth of the +pipe, which went through the ship's timbers below, clean out of the +water, that he and his men might work at it. Between seven and eight +o'clock the order was given to run the larboard guns out as far as they +could go, the larboard ports being opened. The starboard guns were also +run in amidships and secured by tackles, the moving over of this great +weight of metal bringing the larboard lower-deck port-cills just level +with the water. The men were then able to get at the mouth of the pipe. +For an hour the ship remained in this position, while the carpenters +were at work. We had been taking in ruin and shot in the previous day, +and now a sloop called the _Lark_, which belonged to three brothers, +came alongside with the last cargo of rum; she having been secured to +the larboard side, the hands were piped to clear lighter. + +I had been on duty on the main-deck; several ladies had come off early +in the morning, friends and relations of the officers. Some of them +were either in the ward-room or gun-room, and others were walking the +quarter-deck with the help of their gentlemen friends, as it was no easy +matter, the ship heeling over as much as she was then doing. They +thought it very good fun, however, and were laughing and talking as they +tried to keep their feet from slipping. I had been sent with a message +to Mr Hollingbury, our third lieutenant, who was officer of the watch; +he seemed out of temper, and gave me a rough answer, as he generally +did. He was not a favourite indeed with us, and we used to call him +"Jib-and-Foresail Jack"; for when he had the watch at night he was +always singing out, "Up jib," and "Down jib"; "Up foresail," "Down +foresail"; and from a habit he had of moving his fingers about when +walking the quarter-deck, we used to say that he had been an +organ-player in London. Just as I got back to the main-deck, I caught a +glimpse of a young lady in black, leading a little boy; she turned her +face towards me, and I saw that she was the very same who had come to my +wife's cottage the previous evening--indeed I should have known her by +the little boy by her side. I had to return to the quarter-deck again, +and when I once more came back to the main-deck I could nowhere see her; +but whether she went into the ward-room, or had gone below, I could not +learn. I asked several people, for I thought she might have brought me +off a message from Susan, and I might, I fancied, have been of use to +her in finding the person she wished to see. While I was looking about, +Mr Webb, the purser's clerk, who had received orders to go on shore in +charge of a boat, came up and ordered me to call the crew away; a couple +of midshipmen were going with him. This took up some time, and +prevented me from finding the young lady. Just then, as I went up to +report the boat gone to Mr Hollingbury, Mr Williams, the carpenter, +came up from the lower-deck, and requested that he would be pleased to +order the ship to be righted, as she was heeling over more than she +could bear. The lieutenant gave one of his usual short answers to the +carpenter, who went below, looking as if he did not at all like it. He +was back again, however, before I had left the deck, when he said in a +short quick way, as if there was not a moment to lose-- + +"If you please, sir, the ship is getting past her bearings; it's my duty +to tell you, she will no longer bear it." + +"If you think, sir, you can manage the ship better than I can, you had +better take the command," answered Mr Hollingbury in an angry tone, +twitching his fingers and turning away. + +About this time there were a good many men in the waist who heard what +the carpenter had said, and what answer the lieutenant gave. They all +knew, as I did, that the ship must be in great danger, or the carpenter +would not have spoken so sharply as he had. + +A large number of the crew, however, were below; some on board the +lighter, others at the yard-tackles and stay-falls, hoisting in casks; +some in the spirit-room stowing away, others bearing the casks down the +hatchway, all busy clearing the lighter. The greater number, it will be +understood, were on the larboard side, and that brought the ship down +still more to larboard. There was a little more sea on than before, +which had begun to wash into the lower-deck ports, and, having no +escape, there was soon a good weight of water on the lower-deck. +Several of the men, not dreaming of danger, were amusing themselves, +laughing and shouting, catching mice, for there were a good many of them +in the ship, which the water had driven out of their quarters. It's my +belief, however, that the casks of rum hoisted in, and lying on the +larboard side, before they could be lowered into the hold, helped very +much to bring the ship down. + +There stood the lieutenant, fuming at the way the carpenter had spoken +to him. Suddenly, however, it seemed to occur to him that the carpenter +was right, and he ordered the drummer to beat to quarters, that the guns +might be run into their places, and the ship righted. + +"Dick Tattoo" was shouted quick enough along the deck, for everyone now +saw that not a moment was to be lost, as the ship had just then heeled +over still more. The moment the drummer was called, all hands began +tumbling down the hatchways to their quarters, that they might run in +their guns. + +Just then I saw a young midshipman, whom I had observed going off with +Mr Webb, standing at the entrance-port singing out for the boat; he had +forgotten his dirk, he said, and had come back to fetch it. The boat, +however, had got some distance off, and he was left behind. Poor +fellow, it was a fatal piece of forgetfulness for him. + +"Never mind, Jemmy Pish," said little Crispo, one of the smallest +midshipmen I ever saw, for he was only nine years old. "There is +another boat going ashore directly, and you can go in her." + +He gave an angry answer, and went back into the gun-room, swearing at +his ill-luck. + +The men had just got hold of the gun-tackles, and were about to bowse +out their guns, which had been run in amidship, some five hundred of +them or more having for the purpose gone over to the larboard side, +which caused the ship to heel still more, when the water made a rush +into the larboard lower-deck ports, and, do all they could, the guns ran +in again upon them. Feeling sure that the ship could not be righted, I, +seizing little Crispo, made a rush to starboard, and, dashing through an +open port, found myself outside the ship, which at that moment went +completely over, her masts and spars sinking under the water. Somehow +or other, the young midshipman broke from me and slipped over into the +sea. I thought the poor little fellow would have been lost, but he +struck out bravely, which was, as it turned out, the best thing he could +have done, as he could swim well. + +I had just before seen all the port-holes crowded with seamen, trying to +escape, and jamming one another so that they could scarcely move one way +or the other. The ship now lying down completely on her larboard +broadside, suddenly the heads of most of the men disappeared, they +having dropped back into the ship, many of those who were holding on +being hauled down by others below them. It was, you see, as if they had +been trying to get out of a number of chimneys, with nothing for their +feet to rest upon. Directly afterwards there came such a rush of wind +through the ports that my hat was blown off. It was the air from the +hold, which, having no other vent, escaped as the water pouring in took +up its space. The whole side of the ship was, I said, covered with +seamen and marines, and here and there a Jew maybe, and a good many +women and a few children shrieking and crying out for mercy. Never have +I heard such a fearful wailing. One poor woman near me shrieked out for +her husband, but he was nowhere to be seen, and she thought that he was +below with those who by this time were drowned; for there were hundreds +who had been on the lower-decks, and in the hold, who had never even +reached the ports, and some who had fallen back into the sea as it +rushed in at the larboard side. She implored me to help her, and I said +I would if I could. We could see boats putting off from the ships all +round us to our help, and here and there people swimming for their lives +who had leaped from the stern-ports, or had been on the lower-deck. I +could not help thinking of our fine old admiral, and wished that he +might be among them; but he was not, for he was writing in his cabin at +the time, and when the captain tried to let him know that the ship was +sinking, he found the door so jammed by her heeling over that he could +not open it, and was obliged to rush aft and make his escape through a +stern-port to save his life. This I afterwards heard. + +As the ship had floated for some minutes, I began to hope that she would +continue in the same position, and that I and others around me on her +side might be saved. I hoped this for my own sake, and still more for +that of my dear wife. I had been thinking of her all the time, for I +knew that it would go well-nigh to break her heart if I was taken from +her, as it were, just before her eyes. Suddenly I found, to my horror, +that the ship was settling down; the shrieks of despair which rent the +air on every side, not only from women, but from many a man I had looked +upon as a stout fellow, rang in my ears. Knowing that if I went down +with the ship I should have a hard job to rise again, I seized the poor +woman by the dress, and leaped off with her into the sea; but, to my +horror, her dress tore, and before I could get hold of her again she was +swept from me. I had struck out for some distance, when I felt myself, +as it were, drawn back, and, on looking round, I saw the ship's upper +works disappear beneath the water, which was covered with a mass of +human beings, shrieking and lifting up their hands in despair. +Presently they all disappeared. Just then I felt myself drawn down by +someone getting hold of my foot under the water, but, managing to kick +off my shoe, I quickly rose again and struck out away from the spot, +impelled by instinct rather than anything else, for I had no time for +thought; then directly afterwards up came the masts almost with a bound, +as it were, and stood out of the water, with a slight list only to +starboard, with the fore, main, and mizzen tops all above water, as well +as part of the bowsprit and ensign-staff, with the flag still hoisted to +it. Many people were floating about, making for the tops and rigging, +several of them terrorstricken, who could not swim, catching hold of +those that could. I thought, on seeing this, that it would be wiser to +keep clear of them, till I could reach a boat coming towards the wreck +at no great distance off. I was pretty nigh exhausted when I reached +the boat, in which were a waterman and two young gentlemen, who happened +to be crossing from Ryde to Portsmouth at the time. They soon hauled me +in, and I begged them to pull on and save some of the drowning people. +As neither of them could row, quickly recovering I took one of the oars, +and was about to sit down to help the waterman, when I saw, not far off, +several sheep, pigs, and fowls swimming in all directions, while +hencoops and all sorts of articles were floating about. + +"Let us save the poor beasts," cried one of the young gentlemen +thoughtlessly, just as young people are apt to speak sometimes. We, of +course, took no heed of what he said, when our fellow-creatures had to +be saved, and were pulling on when my eye fell on one of the sheep +swimming away from us, which seemed to have someone holding on to its +back. We put the boat round and followed, when, what was my surprise to +see a child hanging on with both its hands to the sheep's back! On a +second look, it struck me that he was the very same little boy I had +seen at my cottage, and who had come on board that morning with the +young lady. + +"Gently, now," I cried out, afraid that the little fellow might let go +his hold before we were up to him, but he held on bravely. In half a +minute we were alongside the sheep, and I had the child safely in my +arms. The young gentlemen hauled the poor sheep into the boat, for it +would not have done to let it drown after having saved the child. I now +saw that the little fellow was the same I had supposed, for he had his +hat fastened on under his chin, and his sailor's jacket and trousers on; +he looked more astonished than frightened, and when I asked him how he +had got into the water he could not tell me. + +"Where is the young lady? is she your mother or aunt?" I asked. + +He had no answer to give, but only gazed about with a startled look. He +might have been younger than I had supposed; at all events, not a word +could I get out of him to let me know who he was. One of the young +gentlemen wished to hold him in his arms, so I gave the little fellow to +him, and, taking the oar, we began to pull back towards the wreck to try +and save any who might be still swimming about. The tops and rigging +were by this time full of people who had managed to reach them, while +several hanging on by ropes were still floating in the water. A number +of boats from the men-of-war had, however, got up to the spot, and they +were better able to go in among the spars and rigging than was our light +wherry with the sea which was then running. Now that I was safe myself, +I was anxious to learn who among my shipmates had escaped; but then I +had the little boy to look after, who was all wet and shivering, and I +knew too that the news of the accident would soon reach Susan, and that +she would be in a fearful state of alarm if I did not let her know that +I had been preserved. I told the young gentlemen this, and begged them +to let the boatman put me and the child ashore at Ryde, promising him a +guinea if he would do so. They were strangers who had been making a +tour on the island, and, though they were in a hurry to get back to +Portsmouth, they at once consented to do as I wished. + +As we had a fair wind we hoisted the sail, and, soon getting away from +the scene of the disaster, quickly reached the hard at Ryde. After +thanking the young gentlemen and the waterman, I had jumped on shore +with the child in my arms, and was stooping down to get hold of the +sheep which I thought ought to be mine, or rather the little boy's, when +the waterman stopped me. + +"No, no, master! you are not going to have that animal," he said; "I +want him." + +"We should not have stopped to pick up the sheep if it had not been for +the little boy," observed one of the young gentlemen; "and so, as the +sheep's life was saved on his account, the animal should go where he +goes." + +The waterman, however, seemed determined to have the sheep. + +"Come, master," said I, "I will give you half a guinea, and that is as +much as you will get for the animal." + +The waterman still held out. + +"Come, you shall have a guinea," said I, getting the money out of my +pocket. + +"And we will give five shillings apiece," said one of the young +gentlemen. + +"Come, that must settle the matter," said the other, giving the sheep a +lift out of the boat. + +Still the man grumbled, wanting to get more, but, handing the guinea to +the young gentlemen, for the little boy being wet to the skin,--as of +course I was, though that did not matter,--I wanted to be off home. I +got hold of the poor sheep and dragged it along, thinking thus to settle +the matter. What had come over the waterman I do not know, but, +springing out, he was going to catch hold of the sheep, when his foot +slipped, and in he went between the boat and the hard. + +"Go on, sailor, go on," cried the young gentlemen, laughing, while the +waterman, now wet as I was, scrambled out, and, seeing that there was no +use in following, got into his boat. Feeling very much obliged to the +young gentlemen, and sorry I could not stop to thank them again, I +hurried up as fast as I could to my home. + + + +CHAPTER FOUR. + +As I walked up the hill towards my cottage many people stopped, +surprised at seeing me dripping wet, carrying a child and leading a +sheep, and asked me all sorts of questions about the wreck; but I would +not delay to answer them, except very briefly, or I should never have +got home. I hoped that Susan would not have heard of the ship going +down, still I half expected to meet her coming to learn if I had +escaped; and I thought of the joy it would be to her to find that I was +alive and well. As I drew near I saw that the cottage door was open; +still Susan did not come out. My heart began to sink within me. I +turned the sheep into the garden, and shut the wicket gate. I did not +mind just then if the poor animal ate up all the flowers and vegetables; +it deserved the best I could give it for the service it had rendered the +little boy in my arms. No one was in the outer room, but I heard +voices, and, opening the door of Susan's room, I saw Mrs Leslie and the +two young ladies, with my sister Jane, standing by Susan's bed. Jane, +catching sight of me, rushed out of the room and threw her arms round my +neck. + +"Thank Heaven, you are alive, Ben!" she exclaimed. "It will bring Susan +to; don't be afraid. The captain has gone off for the doctor. She saw +the ship go down, and went off in a faint, thinking that all on board +must be lost. I, fortunately, was with her. The captain, who was +looking through his glass at the time, also saw the ship go over, and +came down at once with the ladies to comfort her, he intending to go off +to Spithead to learn all about the matter, and to hear if you had been +saved. He, however, was first to go round to send up the doctor, and +that was the reason he missed you." + +"But, Ben," she asked, "is this the child Susan was telling me about? +And the poor young lady, what has become of her?" + +I just told Jane what had happened; but I could not say much, for all +the time I was speaking I felt ready to drop, thinking that maybe Susan +was gone altogether, but that she had not the heart to tell me so. I +saw, however, that the ladies were burning feathers and holding salts to +her; and at last Mrs Leslie came out, and after I had told her all I +had said to Jane, with which she was much interested, she begged I would +not be cast down, as she hoped my wife would soon again come round. She +then went back to Susan's room, but soon returned. + +"You may go in," she said, "and maybe, if she opens her eyes, the sight +of you will do her more good than anything else." + +I did as she bid me, but as I leaned over Susan my heart sank, for she +did not seem to breathe at all, and looked so pale that I thought she +must really be dead. Still the young ladies kept applying the burnt +feathers and salts, and then one of them held a small looking-glass for +a moment over her mouth, and showed me that there was breath on it, and +that made me feel a little less miserable. At last the doctor came; he +felt her pulse, and looked very grave; then he opened her mouth, and, +having given her something, stood watching its effects. + +Soon I could see that she was beginning to breathe, a slight colour +having come back to her cheeks, and then she opened her eyes, but she +seemed not to be looking at anything. Presently, however, she began to +move them, and uttering a faint cry she sat up, and, throwing her arms +around my neck, burst into tears. + +"She will do now very well," said the doctor; and he and the ladies left +the room. In a little time, however, they came back and called me out, +telling Jane to go and sit with my wife. The doctor showed me some +physic bottles on the mantelpiece, and, saying that Jane knew what to do +with them, he began to make inquiries about the wreck and the little +boy, and how I had saved him. + +I found that the ladies had got off his wet clothes, which Jane had hung +up to dry before the fire, while they had wrapped him up in their +shawls. The only thing which the ladies found in his pockets was a +little case. On opening it they saw that it contained a picture--a +likeness of the child himself, just as he was then dressed. It was but +slightly wet, as the water had not had time to soak it, so it was soon +dried. + +"It must be carefully preserved, as it may assist to prove who he is," +observed Mrs Leslie, though how that was to be was more than I could +tell. "It is slightly done in water-colours, evidently by a lady," +observed Mrs Leslie. + +She examined it carefully, but could find no name either on the picture +or the case. It was placed on the mantelpiece to show to the captain as +soon as he arrived. Jane then took the child in to see Susan, who +kissed him again and again, as if he were her own child restored to her, +and from that moment she felt towards him almost as if she was his +mother. Of course I had to go over the whole story again, but I could +only narrate what I knew. + +"We must wait to hear more till the captain comes back," said Mrs +Leslie. "He will be truly thankful to find that you have escaped, Ben, +and then we will consider what must be done with this little child. +Perhaps his father or mother may have escaped and will claim him, or the +poor young lady who you say took him on board, though you think she was +not his mother." + +"Please, ma'am," I said, "though I cannot claim any merit for saving the +child--for it was the sheep saved him--I would like that my wife should +have charge of him, and I am sure she would, for she said so just now. +I say it at once for fear anybody else should ask to have him and I +suspect that there will be a good many who will make the offer." + +"We will hear what the captain thinks," said Mrs Leslie. "But you +certainly have a better claim than anybody else, though, as I said +before, probably some of his friends will come and claim him." + +I thought so too, but I knew in the meantime that it would please Susan +greatly to have charge of the little fellow. + +At last the ladies, leaving Jane with us, returned home; and the doctor +went to visit his other patients, saying he would look in again during +the evening. + +By that time Susan was able to sit up and tell me more about the young +lady. She had got up very early in the morning, and, begging to have +some breakfast for herself and the little boy, said that she wanted to +pay a visit to a ship at Spithead, and would be back in the evening. +She had gone away, taking her bag with her, but left a letter with a +sovereign in it, and a few words to the effect that she wished to pay +her rent and board in advance. This, Susan thought, she did that it +might not be supposed that she was going away without paying. + +I went down to the inn, at which we understood the young lady had left +her trunk, but I could hear nothing of it; the landlord said that no +such person as I described had come there. I made inquiries at other +public-houses, thinking that there might be some mistake, but I got the +same answer. + +Late in the evening Captain Leslie came back, and, shaking me by the +hand, told me that he had been afraid I was lost, and how glad he was I +had escaped. He had been over to Portsmouth, and had visited the +_Victory_, and other ships on board which the people from the wreck had +been carried, inquiring everywhere for me. He had heard a great deal +about the wreck and the way in which many had been saved. I will +mention what he then told me, and what I picked up from others. + +Out of nearly a thousand souls who had been alive and well on board the +ship in the morning, between seven and eight hundred were now lifeless. +Besides our gallant admiral, who had been drowned while sitting writing +in his cabin, three of the lieutenants, including the one whose +obstinacy had produced the disaster, the larger number of the +midshipmen, the surgeon, master, and the major and several other +officers of marines, were drowned, as were some ladies who had just +before come on board. Sixty of the marines had gone on shore in the +morning, a considerable number of the rest who were on the upper deck +were saved, but the greater number of the crew, many of whom were in the +hold stowing away the rum casks, had perished; indeed, out of the ship's +whole complement, only seventy seamen escaped with their lives. + +I was sorry to hear that Mr Williams, the carpenter, whose advice, had +it been followed, would have saved the ship, was drowned; his body was +picked up directly afterwards, and carried on board the _Victory_, where +it was laid on the hearth before the galley-fire, in the hopes that he +might recover, but life was extinct. + +Captain Waghorn, though he could not swim, was saved. After trying to +warn the admiral, he rushed across the deck and leaped into the sea, +calling others to follow his example. A young gentleman, Mr Pierce, +was near him. + +"Can you swim?" he asked. + +"No," was the answer. + +"Then you must try, my lad," he said, and hurled him into the water. + +Two men, fortunately good swimmers, followed. One of them getting hold +of the captain, supported him, and swam away from the ship; the other +fell upon Mr Pierce, of whom he got hold and supported above water till +the ship settled, when he placed him on the maintop, and both were +saved. The captain, in the meantime, was struggling in the water, and +was with great difficulty kept afloat. A boat, with our seventh +lieutenant, Mr Philip Durham, had on the very instant the ship went +over come alongside, when she was drawn down, and all in her were thrown +into the water. Mr Durham had just time to throw off his coat before +the ship sank and left him floating among men and hammocks. A drowning +marine caught hold of his waistcoat, and drew him several times under +water. Finding that he could not free himself, and that both would be +drowned, he threw his legs round a hammock, and, unbuttoning his +waistcoat with one hand, he allowed it to be drawn off, and then swam +for the main-shrouds. When there he caught sight of the captain +struggling in the water, and a boat coming to take him off he refused +assistance, till Captain Waghorn and the seaman supporting him were +received on board. The captain's son, poor lad, who had been below, +lost his life. + +I heard that the body of the marine was washed on shore ten days +afterwards with the lieutenant's waistcoat round his arm, and a +pencil-case, having his initials on it, found safe in the pocket. There +was only one woman saved out of the three hundred on board, and I +believe she was the one I had helped out of the port; her name was Horn, +and I was glad to find that her husband was saved also. It was curious +that the youngest midshipman, Mr Crispo, and probably one of the +smallest children, our little chap, should have been saved, while so +many strong men were drowned. + +I have known many a man come to grief through having too much grog +aboard; but one of the midshipmen, who had taken more than was good for +him, having overslept himself at the Star and Garter on the beach at +Portsmouth, when he awoke in the morning found that his ship was at the +bottom, and most of his messmates drowned. + +Our first lieutenant, Mr Saunders, who had been busy in the wings, was +drowned; his body, with his gold watch and some money in his pocket, was +picked up, floating under the stern of an Indiaman off the Motherbank. + +Of the three brothers who owned the sloop, two perished and one was +saved. It was owing to her being lashed alongside that the ship +righted, or she would have probably remained on her side. I was a good +swimmer myself, and I should, had I not been, have lost my life long +ago; and I have often thought what a pity it is that all seamen do not +learn to swim. Many more might have been saved; but those who could not +swim got hold of the men who could, and all were drowned together. If +all had struck out from the ship when they found her going over, a +greater number would have been picked up; instead of that, afraid to +trust themselves in the water, they stuck by her, and they and a large +number who got into the launch were drawn down with the ship, and all +perished. The foreman of the plumbers, whose boat was lashed head and +stern, was with all his men drawn into the vortex as the ship went down, +and not one of them escaped. It was a sad sight, ten days or a +fortnight afterwards, to see the bodies which were picked up; some were +buried in Kingston churchyard, near Portsmouth, and a large number in an +open spot to the east of Ryde. Some time afterwards a monument was put +up in Kingston churchyard, to the memory of the brave Admiral Kempenfelt +and his ship's company. A court of inquiry was held, when Captain +Waghorn was honourably acquitted, and it came out, that in so rotten a +state was the side of the ship, that some large portion of her frame +must have given way, and it is only a wonder that she did not go down +before. When I come to think that she had upwards of one thousand tons +of dead weight and spirits on board, it is surprising that she should +have held together. + +An attempt was made soon afterwards to raise the _Royal George_, and +very nearly succeeded, as she was lifted up and moored some way from the +spot where she went down; but a heavy gale coming on, some of the +lighters sank, and the gear gave way, and she was again lost. It was +whispered that on account of her rotten state the Admiralty had no wish +to have her afloat, but that might have been scandal. + +Having now said everything which people will care to hear about the fine +old ship, I will go on with the history of the little boy saved from the +wreck. + + + +CHAPTER FIVE. + +I must pass over the next seven years of my life and that of my young +charge Harry, for that was the name Susan was certain the young lady +called him. He sometimes spoke of himself as "Jack Tar," but probably +he had heard his friends call him so, because he was dressed like a +little sailor. We were puzzled what surname to give him. The captain +and Mrs Leslie and the young ladies and Susan and I talked it over, and +at last settled to call him George, after the old ship; one of the young +ladies thought Saint for saint would sound better, and so he went by the +name of "Harry Saint George." + +I was at first greatly afraid that he would be taken from us, for a +subscription was made for the families of those who perished when the +ship foundered, and when his story was known a good share was given to +him, besides other contributions, and many people wanted to have him. +The captain stood my friend, as he did in all other matters, and +insisted that as I pulled him out of the water, and the only friend of +his we knew of had stopped at our house, Susan and I ought to have +charge of him. He would have taken him himself, but he had a good many +young children of his own, and thought that Harry would do better with +us, and that he could still look after his education and interests as he +grew older. + +As soon as Harry could speak, he said that he would be a sailor, that +his father was one, and that he would be one too; but who his father had +been was a puzzle, as about that, of course, he really knew nothing. He +could not tell us either anything about those he had seen on board, or +how he had got hold of the sheep, though it is my belief that someone +must have placed him on the animal's back, intending to lash him to it, +but that the ship had gone down before there was time to do so. Perhaps +it was the last act of the poor young lady, or maybe of his father, if +his father, as seemed probable, was on board. + +As may be supposed, that sheep was a great pet with us and the captain's +family as long as it lived. Harry was very fond of it, and would ride +about on its back, holding on just as he had done when the creature +saved him from drowning. People used to come and see him ride about, +and the ladies made a gay silk collar for the sheep, and also a bridle, +but Harry would not use it, and always held on by the wool, saying that +the sheep always well knew where to go. I railed off a piece of the +garden and laid it down in grass, and on one side I built a house for +the animal; but as there was not food enough in the little plot, the +captain had it up to a paddock near his house, where it used to scamper +about with Harry on its back and enjoy itself. + +"It's an ill wind that blows no one good," and people used to say that +the foundering of the _Royal George_ was a fortunate circumstance for +the sheep, as it would long before have been under the butcher's knife. + +The captain, meantime, made all the inquiries he could to try and +discover the friends of the little fellow, but in vain; none of those +who were saved remembered to have seen the young lady talking to anyone, +though two or three recollected seeing her, as I had, coming on board. + +Susan, like a thoughtful woman as she was, would not let the little boy +wear out his clothes, but at once set to work to make him a new suit, +while she carefully laid up those he had had on, with his hat, and the +little picture in the case, to assist, as she said, in proving who he +was should any of his relatives appear. Still time went on, and there +appeared less chance of that than ever. + +I spent a very happy time on shore with Susan: as we had no children of +our own, we loved Harry as much as if he was our own son. Still I could +not be idle; had it not been, indeed, for the captain, I should have +been pretty soon pressed and compelled to go to sea, whether I liked it +or not. Susan would have gladly kept me at home, which was but natural; +still, I was too young to settle down in idleness, and should have grown +ashamed of myself; so, as seamen were badly wanted for the navy, I at +last entered, with the captain's advice, on board a fifty-gun ship, the +_Leander_, he promising to use his influence to obtain a boatswain's +warrant for me. While I was serving on board her we had a desperate +action with a French eighty-gun ship, the _Couronne_, when we lost +thirteen killed, and many more wounded, but succeeded in beating her off +and putting her to flight. + +Peace came soon after this, and five years passed before I obtained my +warrant as boatswain. The prize-money I had received enabled me in the +meantime to keep Susan and Harry as I wished; and when I became +boatswain she was able to draw a fair sum of money every year. During +those years I spent five months at home, which was a pretty long time +considering what generally falls to the lot of seamen. + +Harry had grown into a fine manly boy, and the more I looked at him the +more convinced I felt that he was of gentle birth; he called Susan +mother, and me father, though he knew that we were not his parents. He +had good manners, and, considering his age, a fair amount of learning, +for he used to go up every day to the captain's to receive instruction +from the children's governess. At last the captain considered that he +ought to be sent to school, and arranged that he should go with his own +son, Master Reginald, who was about his age, though Harry was the +strongest, and, I may say, the most manly of the two. + +While I was at home I taught Harry as much as he could learn of what I +may call the first principles of seamanship,--to knot and splice, and +box the compass. I also built and rigged a model ship, of which he was +very fond. + +"You will not forget all I have taught you, my boy," I said, when I was +going off to sea. + +"No, indeed I will not, father," he answered; "and when you come back I +hope I shall have learnt more, for I will do my best to pick up +information from everybody who will teach me. The captain, I know, +will, when I come home for the holidays, and there is old Dick Wright, +who has been at sea all his life, settled near us, and he will tell me +anything I ask him; though there is no one teaches me so well as you do, +father." + +In those piping times of peace the ships were not kept so long in +commission as they were during the war, so after serving three years as +boatswain of the _Huzzar_ frigate, on the West India and North American +station, I once more returned home. I found Harry more determined than +ever to go to sea, and he told me that Reginald Leslie had made up his +mind to go also. + +"Does his father wish it?" I asked. + +"Oh yes, he has no objection to his going; and do you know, father, the +captain says that he will get him and me appointed to the same ship with +you, provided she is sent to a healthy station," was the answer. + +"Well, Harry, I shall be very glad to have charge of you both, and I am +pleased that the captain thinks so well of you; though, to be sure, he +has always shown that," said I. + +Susan was much cast down at the thoughts of losing Harry, but she could +not help acknowledging that it was time he should go to sea, if he was +going at all. + +"But a ship's boy has a hard life of it, as you have often told me, +Ben," she said, "and he has been gently nurtured, and brought up, I may +say, like a young gentleman." + +"And a young gentleman he will still remain; for, you may depend on it, +the captain intends to get him placed on the quarter-deck; and, though +he himself has retired from the service, he has interest enough to get +me and the lads appointed to some ship commanded by a friend of his own; +and I flatter myself that, from the certificate I got from my last +captain, he will have no difficulty about that." + +We had almost given up any expectations of ever meeting Harry's friends. +I own that I did not care very much about this, for once on the +quarter-deck I felt sure he would make his own way; and though it might +be of advantage to him to find them out, it was possible that it might +be very much to the contrary. + +I was one day going up the street of Ryde with Harry, when we saw a +crowd of women and children and a few men and boys standing round the +model of a full-rigged ship, and we heard a loud voice singing out-- + + "Cease, rude Boreas, stormy railer; + List, ye landsmen all, to me; + Messmates, hear a brother sailor + Sing the dangers of the sea." + +Then came the sound of a fiddle, and the singer continued his song to +his own accompaniment. + +"Let us stop and hear the old sailor," said Harry, drawing me towards +the crowd. + +We found room just opposite where the man was standing. I then saw that +he had a timber leg, and that the ship was placed on a stand with a lump +of lead fixed to the end of a bent iron rod at the bottom, which made it +rock backwards and forwards. + +"Oh yes! oh yes! all you good people, lend a ear to poor Jack's yarn," +he continued; "and you pretty girls with the blue eyes and rosy cheeks, +and you with the dark ones, who does more harm with your blinkers, when +you've the mind, among the hearts of young fellows than ever our ships +gets from the guns of the Frenchmen. There aren't many men in the navy +of Old England who has seen queerer sights, or gone through more ups and +downs in life than the timber-toed old tar who stands afore you, and who +lost his leg in action aboard the _Thunderer_, seventy-four, when we +took a Frenchman and hauled down his colours afore he knew where he was. +There aren't many either, I've a notion, who've been worse rewarded, or +more kicked about by cruel fate, or you wouldn't find him playing the +fiddle and singing songs for your amusement. Howsomdever, that's +neither here nor there, and I daresay you wish to hear the end of his +stave, and so you shall when each on you has helped to load this here +craft with such coppers or sixpences or shillings as you may chance to +have in your pockets, and I daresay now a golden guinea wouldn't sink +her. Just look at her, always a-tossing up and down on the salt sea; +that's what we poor sailors have to go through all our lives. She's a +correct model of the _Royal George_, that famous ship I once served +aboard when she carried the flag of the great Admiral Lord Hawke; and +which now lies out there at Spithead fathoms deep below the briny ocean, +with all her drownded crew of gallant fellows, no more to hear the +tempest howling, or fight the battles of their king and country!" + +I had been looking hard at the old sailor, whose eye just then falling +on me, he recognised me at once as a brother salt. + +"What, Jerry Dix!" I exclaimed; he looked at me very hard. "Don't you +know me, old ship? have you forgotten little Ben Truscott?" + +"What, Ben, my boy! Give us your flipper, old chum. I thought as how I +had seen you afore when my blinkers first caught sight of you, but I +didn't like to make a wrong landfall," he exclaimed. + +We shook hands heartily. I was truly glad to see the old man again. + +"I see that you have become a warrant officer," he said, eyeing my +uniform. "That's better nor nothing, though I did think as how you'd +have been higher up the ratlines. And are you at anchor hereabouts?" + +I told him that I was living in the neighbourhood, and begged him to +come at once to my cottage and see my missus, and have a talk about old +times. + +"In course I will, Ben," he answered. Then recollecting his audience, +he thought that some apology was necessary for leaving them so abruptly; +turning round, therefore, and eyeing his model of the _Royal George_, as +he called her, though she was more like a frigate than a line-of-battle +ship, he said-- + +"You'll excuse me, ladies and gentlemen, but you see as how I've fallen +in with an old ship, who I've known as man and boy these twenty years, +so I must just now keep him company; but I'll come back to-morrow and +finish that there stave I was a-singing, and spin you more of my +wonderful yarns, if you'll just be good enough to come here and meet me; +now mind, my little dears, bring plenty of coppers; and you, my pretty +girls, bring something in your purses for poor Jack; I never takes no +money from ugly ones--it's a rule of mine, it's wonderful too how few I +ever see's; so good-bye, and blessings on all of you; and now, Ben, +we'll up anchor and make sail." + +Jerry on this unshipped his model from the stand, which he took under +his arm, while he placed the vessel on his shoulder, and with a stout +stick in his hand came stumping on alongside me. + +"Well, Jerry, I am truly glad to see you," I said; "what have you been +doing with yourself since we parted?" + +"That would be a hard matter to say, Ben, except as how I've been +knocking about the country from east to west, and north to south, +spinning yarns without end, and singing and fiddling, and doing all +sorts of odd dodges to pick up a living. They were honest ones though, +so don't be afraid." + +"And the yarns were all quite true, Jerry, eh?" I could not help +asking. + +"As to that, maybe I have spun a tough one now and then," answered +Jerry, with a quizzical look. + +"About losing your leg aboard the _Thunderer_, for instance," I +remarked. + +"Well, I can't say quite so true as that, for I did lose my leg aboard +the _Thunderer_. To be sure, it was my wooden one. Why, don't you +mind, Ben, how you got a mop-stick and helped me to splice it? It +sounds better too, do you see, to talk of the _Thunderer_. The name +tickles the people's ears, and it wouldn't do to tell 'em I lost my leg +by falling down the main hatchway when half-seas over; so, do you see, I +generally sticks to the _Thunderer_ story, as it's nearer the truth than +any other, and doesn't so much hurt my conscience." + +I had till then forgotten the circumstance, and I felt that it would not +do to press old Jerry too hard. I introduced him to Susan, who made him +welcome, for she had often heard me speak about the old man; she soon +got tea ready, and a few substantials; then I got out a bottle of rum +and mixed some grog, which I knew would be more to his taste. He was +very happy, and many a long yarn he spun. Harry listened to them +eagerly, and seemed much taken with him. I must remark that, after +Jerry had sat talking with us for some time, he completely changed his +tone and style of speaking; and though he still used what may be called +sailor's language, it was such as an officer or any other educated man +might have employed. Indeed, I remembered that in my early days, Jerry, +when in a serious mood, often showed that he was much superior in mind +to the generality of people in the position in which he was placed. He +afforded a melancholy example of the condition to which drunkenness and +idle habits may reduce a man, who, from birth and education, might have +played a respectable part in life. "That's a fine boy of yours," +observed Jerry when Harry had gone out of the room. "I don't set up for +a prophet, but this much I'm sure of, that if you get him placed on the +quarter-deck, he will be a post-captain one of these days. Is he your +only one?" + +I of course told Jerry that he was not my son, and described how he was +rescued from the _Royal George_. + +"Well, that's a surprising history," said Jerry; "it's a wonder I never +heard of it. Do you see, I was at the time down in the West of England, +where my family used to live; and I thought I would go and have a look +at the old place and see if any of them were above-ground--not that I +intended to make myself known. Few of my relatives would have wished to +own a broken-down one-legged old tar like me. I found a brother a +lawyer, and a cousin a parson, and two or three other relations; but, +from what I heard, I thought I should `get more kicks than ha'pence' if +I troubled them, so I determined to 'bout ship and stand off again. I +was, howsomdever, very nearly being found out. I had got this here +craft, which I called the _Conqueror_ in those days, and was showing her +off and spinning one of my yarns, when who should appear at the door of +a handsome house but a lady with several little girls like fairies, and +two fine boys. She and the young ones came down the steps, and after +listening for some time she said in a pleasant voice, taking one of the +youngsters by the hand-- + +"`This boy is going to sea some day, and we wish him to hear about +sailors, and I know what you tell about them is true, for I once had a +brother who went away to sea, and used to write to me and give me +accounts of what happened. Poor fellow! he lost his leg just as you +have done, and after that I heard no more from him, so that I fear he +died.' + +"`That was very likely, marm,' said I. `In case I might have fallen in +with him, may I be so bold to ask his name?' + +"The lady, as I had a curious feeling she would, told me my own name, +and then I knew for certain that she was my youngest sister Mary, the +only one of the family who pitied me when others had cast me off. I had +a hard matter not to make myself known, but I thought to myself that it +would do no good to those pretty young ladies and gentlemen to find out +their weather-beaten, rough old uncle. Mary herself, too, I had a +notion would not have been really pleased; though, bless her gentle +heart, I was sure that she would have been kind to me; and so I gulped +down my feelings, and declared that I remembered a man of that name, who +was dead and gone long ago. The words stuck in my throat, howsomdever, +as I spoke them; and I was obliged to wish her good-morning and stump +off, or she would have found me out. I hadn't got far before she called +me back, and putting a five-shilling piece in my hand she said-- + +"`Pray accept this trifle, my good man, for the sake of my lost brother, +for I know what you tell me is true, and that you are a genuine sailor.' + +"`May Heaven bless you, my dear,' says I--I was as near as possible +popping out the word `Mary,' but I checked myself in time, and said +`lady' instead. The tears came to my eyes, and my voice was as husky as +a bear's. She thought it was all from gratitude for her unexpected +gift, and that I wasn't accustomed to receive so much. To be sure, she +did look at me rather curiously, and, as I was going away, on turning my +head I saw that she was still standing on the doorsteps watching me. + +"I stopped about the neighbourhood for better than a fortnight, for I +could not tear myself away; it was a pleasure to get a sight of Mary +driving about in her carriage with her little girls, and her fine boys +on ponies trotting alongside. She was happily married, I found, to a +man of good fortune. + +"While I was putting up at `The Plough,' which I had known well in my +youth, I heard a number of things about the neighbouring families, for I +was curious to learn what had become of all the people I had known. +There were not many of those who frequented the house who could read, +and there was no newspapers taken in, and that is how I did not come to +hear about the _Royal George_ till some time afterwards. It strikes me, +though I may be wrong, that by a wonderful chance I got hold of +something which has to do with this fine lad here, who you have been +looking after. I will think the matter over, and try and rake up what I +have heard; but I don't want to disappoint you, and I may be altogether +wrong." + +I was naturally curious, and tried to get more out of Jerry, but he +would not say a word beyond repeating over again that he might be +altogether out of his reckoning. I of course begged him to stop with +us, promising him board and lodging as long as he liked to stay; for, as +he was in no ways particular, I could easily manage to put him up. He +thanked me heartily, and said he would stop a night or two at all +events. In the evening he went back with me to the inn to get his +traps, for he travelled with a sort of knapsack, which he left behind +him when he went out for his day's excursions. + +The next morning he had a wash and shave, and turned out neat and trim, +with a clean shirt and trousers, and altogether looked a different sort +of person to what he had been the day before. + +"You see, Ben, I have given up drinking, and like to keep a best suit of +toggery, and to go to church on a Sunday in a decent fashion, which I +used not to care about once upon a time. It's little respect that I can +pay to the day, but I don't play my fiddle, nor sing songs, nor spin +long yarns about things that never happened, as I think myself a more +respectable sort of chap than I used to be." + +I was glad to hear Jerry say this of himself, though maybe his notion +that it was allowable to spin long yarns which had, as he confessed, no +foundation in truth, on other days in the week, was not a very correct +one. I told him so. + +"As to that," he answered, "my hearers don't take my yarns for gospel +any more than the tales they read in books. Some people write long +yarns which aren't true, and I spin much shorter ones out of my mouth. +Where's the difference, I should like to know? Mine don't do any mortal +being the slightest, harm, and that's more than can be said of some +books I've fallen in with. My yarns go in at one ear and out at the +other, and, supposing them worse than they are, they can't be dwelt upon +like those in books. I never speak of a real man except to praise him; +and if I paint a scoundrel, I always give him a purser's name. I +produce many a hearty laugh, but never cause a blush to rise on a +maiden's cheeks; and so, Ben, don't be hard on me." + +I confessed that he had made out a good case, and that I was wrong to +find fault with him. At this he seemed much pleased, and, laughing +heartily, told me that I reminded him of the little boy who wanted to +teach his grandfather to suck eggs. + +Jerry had been so accustomed to wandering about, that though Susan did +her best to make him comfortable, and he always found a willing listener +in Harry, after he had been with us three days he began to weary of +staying quiet, and announced that he must get under way. The next +morning he appeared in his weekday clothes, shouldering his knapsack and +model ship. After wishing us all good-bye, he trudged off, intending, +as he said, to go to the west end of the island. + +"You will not forget that matter about Harry?" I said. + +"No fear, Ben! It's the main thing I have on my mind; and if I succeed +in picking up any information, I will let you know--depend on that," he +answered. "Heaven bless you, and Susan and the boy!" + +We watched him as he trudged sturdily away over the hills towards the +town, having, I observed, again assumed his independent, happy-go-lucky +air, which he had laid aside during his stay with us. + + + +CHAPTER SIX. + +Harry had been greatly taken with Jerry, and seemed to miss him very +much. He used to go out most days to play with his schoolfellow, the +captain's son; but while Jerry was with us he preferred stopping and +listening to his yarns. The time, however, for both the boys to return +to school was now approaching. I saw that Harry had something on his +mind. + +"Father," he said, "am I not old enough to go to sea? and, if I am, had +I not better be looking out for a ship?" + +"As we are no longer fighting the French, there are not many put in +commission," I observed; "so maybe you will have to wait for some time." + +As it happened, the very next day I got an order to join the _Nymph_, +thirty-six gun frigate, just commenced fitting out at Portsmouth, +commanded by Captain Edward Pellew. + +"So soon, Ben!" said Susan, looking pale as soon as she saw the letter; +"I thought you would have had a longer spell on shore; but I am thankful +it's peace time, and I shall not be trembling at the thoughts of your +having to fight the French." + +"That's the very thing we would rather be doing, my dear girl," I +answered, smiling, and trying to raise her spirits. + +I at once went up to the captain and told him. + +"I am glad of it," he answered. "There is not a better officer in the +service than Captain Pellew, and, as he is a friend of mine, I have no +doubt that I shall be able to get him to take the two youngsters. I +will go over to Portsmouth this very day and see about it." + +As I had to join at once, the captain took me over in his wherry. In +about a couple of hours he came on board, and told me it was all +settled, and he should trust to me to look after his son as well as +Harry, as he was sure I should do my best for the lad. + +I had taken lodgings for Susan, and she joined me two days afterwards, +bringing Harry with her. She had plenty to do in preparing his outfit, +and that kept her mind from dwelling too much on our approaching +parting. Harry was the first midshipman to join, and he had the +advantage of seeing the ship fitted out from the beginning. The captain +brought Reginald over about a week later, and Harry was proud in being +able to teach him all he knew. He had thus as it were got the lead, and +he kept it, though he did not let Reginald feel that he thought himself +superior to him in any way. The two lads were fast friends, as they had +always been, for both were honest, kind-hearted, and good-tempered. +There was no difficulty in getting hands; and as I knew where to find +the best men, we soon had a first-rate ship's company without much +pressing. + +We stood down Channel, bound out for Lisbon, with some official +characters on board. The captain's great aim was to get the ship's +company into good order, and we were continually exercising the guns and +shortening and making sail. This was an advantage to the youngsters, as +they learnt much faster than they would otherwise have done. They used +to come to my cabin, and I taught them all I could, though with my +duties I had not much time to myself. I had advised Harry not to call +me "father"; not that he should have been ashamed of his father being a +boatswain had I been his father, but, as I was not, I thought it would +be better for him to be independent. I felt for him the same as if he +was my son. He and young Leslie got on very well in the berth, and, +young as they were, gained the respect of their messmates. Thus a year +or more passed by; we had visited Cadiz, and had taken a trip up the +Mediterranean, when we were ordered home with despatches. One day I +observed Harry was looking less merry than usual; I asked him what was +the matter. At first he did not like to tell me. At last he said-- + +"The truth is, father, that my messmates have found out that I was saved +when the _Royal George_ went down, and that Saint George is not my real +name." + +"Never mind that, Harry," I answered; "you have as much right to it as +they have to theirs. Tell them you hope to make it some day as well +known to fame as Hawke's, Collier's, or Rodney's." + +Harry promised to follow my advice; at the same time he confessed that +it made him more anxious than ever to find out who his parents really +were, and whether or not they were both on board the _Royal George_ when +she went down. + +"You tell me that you think the poor lady who took me on board was not +my mother, and so perhaps my mother was on shore." + +"But the young lady was in black, and so it's possible that your mother +may have died, and that she took you to see your father, to whom, for +some reason or other, she wanted to introduce you. That's how I read +the riddle, but maybe I am mistaken." + +Harry was satisfied. + +"When we return to England, you will try and get Jerry Dix to come to +see you, and learn if he has heard anything more?" he said. + +Of course I replied that I would if I could; but that Jerry Dix had not +left me any address, and it might be a hard matter to find him. I did +not think that he had played me false, but I was afraid that some +accident might have happened to him, or that he might be dead, and then +the clue which he fancied he had found would be lost. + +After visiting Cadiz and Gibraltar, we were on our way home, just +entering the chops of the Channel, after being kept at sea by calms and +contrary winds for three weeks or more, when a frigate hove in sight and +hoisted English colours. She made her number, and we knew her to be the +thirty-two gun frigate _Venus_. Captain Faulknor, who commanded her, +came on board, and we soon heard the news. The French Republicans had +risen up against their king, and cut his head off, and as the English +Government did not approve of that, they had ordered the French +ambassador to leave the country. The National Convention, as it was +called, had therefore declared war against Great Britain, and we were +now going to thrash the French Republicans soundly, wherever we could +find them, afloat or on shore. + +This was, of course, considered to be glorious news; and all hands fore +and aft were in high glee at the thoughts of the work cut out for us. + +The _Venus_ soon after parted company with us to go and look out for the +enemy, while we made the best of our way up Channel to Portsmouth, to +fill up with ammunition and stores. Before Susan could come over to see +me we had sailed for the westward. On our way down Channel we again +fell in with the _Venus_, which had had a sharp action with two French +frigates, the _Semillante_ and _Cleopatre_, when she beat off the first, +and escaped from the latter. We sailed together in search of the two +frigates. We sighted them three days afterwards, when they, having +nimble heels, escaped us and got into Cherbourg. + +Having cruised together for some time, we parted company, and we put +into Falmouth. We had now been a year in commission, and all hands were +eager to meet an enemy of equal force. My fear was for Harry; I don't +know how I should have felt had he been my own son, but I doubt that I +should have been as anxious as I was about him, and I knew it would go +well-nigh to break Susan's heart should he be killed. + +He and Reginald were in high spirits, and could talk of nothing else but +the battle in which they hoped to be engaged, and were always asking me +questions about those I had seen fought in my younger days. You see, +after the long peace, we had a good many officers and men on board, who +had never seen a shot fired in anger. + +Our captain, however, and his brother, Commander Israel Pellew, had been +through the American War of Independence while they were midshipmen; the +latter had lately joined us as a volunteer. We sailed again on the 17th +of June on a cruise. When nearly abreast of the Start we stood out for +the southward, in the hopes of falling in with one of the two frigates +we had chased into Cherbourg. We were about six leagues from the Start, +when the look-out from the masthead hailed-- + +"A sail on the starboard beam." + +This was as we were standing to the south-east. You may be sure that we +at once bore up in chase, under all sail. The stranger, as we got +nearer, was seen carrying a press of canvas, as we fancied, to get away +from us. We came up with her, however, and by the evening made her out +to be no other than the _Cleopatre_, one of the frigates of which we +were in search. Finding that she could not escape, even if she intended +to do so, she hauled up her foresail, and lowered her topgallant-sail, +bravely waiting for us. The men were at quarters, and the officers at +their stations, while the captain conning the ship stood at the gangway +with his hat in his hand. We were close up to each other and not a shot +had been fired; the French captain hailed, when our captain cried out-- + +"Ahoy! ahoy!" + +On which our crew gave three hearty cheers, and shouted-- + +"Long live King George!" + +"Reserve your fire, my lads, till you see me put my hat on my head," +cried our captain; "then blaze away and thrash the Frenchmen as soon as +you can." + +The word was passed along the deck, and all hands eagerly looked out for +the signal. + +The Frenchmen tried to imitate our cheer, but made a bad hand of it. +Captain Mullon, as we afterwards heard was his name, the commander of +the French frigate, was seen holding the red cap of liberty in his hand, +and making a speech to his crew, on which they all sang out at the top +of their voices, _Vive la Republique_, and one of the sailors, running +up the main rigging, secured the red cap to the masthead. We stood on +till our foremost guns could bear on the starboard quarter of the enemy. + +The French captain held his hat, like our captain, in his hand. They +bowed to each other, when ours was seen to place his on his head. It +was the looked-for signal. At that instant we opened fire, which the +Frenchmen were not slow in returning. We were running before the wind, +within rather less than hailing distance of the Frenchman, who was on +our larboard beam. In little more than half an hour we had shot away +the Frenchman's mizzenmast and wheel; but our mainmast was badly +wounded, and every instant I expected it to fall. Having lost command +of her rudder, the _Cleopatre_ fell aboard us, her jib-boom passing +through our fore and mainmast. I thought that this would finish our +mainmast, but, fortunately, the Frenchman's jib-boom gave way. + +We were blazing away all this time, raking the _Cleopatre_ fore and aft. +We had lost a good many officers and men, and I saw two midshipmen +knocked over not far from me. I looked out for Harry and Reginald +Leslie, and I caught sight of them, still standing unharmed amid the +smoke, but I had not much time even to think about them or anything else +except my duty. + +We now fell alongside the enemy head and stern, being still foul of each +other. Her larboard-main-topsail studden-sail-boom iron having hooked +the leach-rope of our maintop-sail, I had still good reasons to tremble +for our mainmast. I saw a youngster spring aloft. It was Harry. He +made his way along the yard, and with his knife cut the leach-rope; and +though many a shot from the Frenchmen was fired at him, he came down +safely. I felt my heart beat with pride as I saw him, for he had saved +the mast. The next moment the cry was heard-- + +"Boarders, away!" + +Our brave first lieutenant, Mr Norris, leading the boarders, cutlass in +hand, leapt from the quarter-deck on to the forecastle of the French +frigate, while our master, Mr Ball, at the head of another party, made +his way through the bow-ports of the enemy. On they rushed, one party +on the upper and the other on the main-deck, sweeping all before them. +The Frenchmen, though they numbered half as many again as our crew, gave +way; some springing down the hatchway, others flying aft, and in fifty +minutes from the commencement of the action the Republican colours were +hauled down, and the Frenchmen from all directions cried for quarter. + +The brave French captain was found lying on the deck, his back torn open +by a round shot, and part of his hip carried away. He was seen gnawing +at a piece of paper, which he continued to bite till his hand dropped, +and, his head sinking down, he ceased to breathe. He fancied that he +was destroying a list of coast signals used by the French, which he had +found in one of his pockets; but he was mistaken, for the paper he +wished to prevent falling into our hands was discovered on him covered +with blood. He was a brave fellow--there was no doubt about that. We +had not gained our victory without a heavy loss, for we had eighteen +seamen and marines, three midshipmen and two other officers, killed, and +twenty-seven wounded; while the French lost sixty-three men. I do not +think there was ever during the war a more equal or better-fought +battle, except that the Frenchmen had eighty more men to begin with than +we had; but then the _Nymph_ had slightly heavier metal, and was a few +tons larger than our antagonist. However, I believe that if it had been +the other way, we should, notwithstanding, have won the day. + +As soon as we had repaired damages we made sail, though it was four days +before we reached Portsmouth with our prize. The brave French captain +was buried the next day in Portsmouth churchyard, the surviving officers +being permitted to attend him to the grave. A few days afterwards His +Majesty, George the Third, came aboard our frigate, when our captain and +his brother, Commander Pellew, and all the officers of the ship, were +presented to him. + +The king was highly pleased with the way the action had been fought, and +at once knighted our brave captain, and presented his brother with his +commission as post-captain, while Lieutenant Norris was made a +commander. The king made inquiries as to what others had done. + +"They all did their duty, your Majesty," answered the captain. + +"No doubt about it. That is what I know my officers and seamen always +do," observed the king. + +The captain then told him of the way Harry had behaved. + +"I am pleased to hear it, my lad," said the king; "and I hope some day +that I shall have the pleasure of placing the flat of my sword on your +shoulders. What's your name?" asked the king. + +The captain told him, and mentioned how he had been saved from the +_Royal George_. + +"What! are you the `Child of the Wreck' I have been told of?" asked the +king. "I wish that more like you had been saved; you have begun well, +and will prove an honour to the service, no doubt about that." + +The king spoke in a like fashion to several others. As may be supposed, +I felt prouder than ever of Harry, and was sure that if his life was +preserved he would not disappoint the good king or anyone else. + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN. + +The grass did not grow in the streets of Portsmouth in those busy times; +I managed, however, to get leave to run over to Ryde for a couple of +days, and took Harry and Reginald Leslie with me. The youngsters got a +hearty welcome; and when I told the captain how Harry had behaved, he +complimented him greatly. The youngsters were made much of by the +ladies, and they ran no small risk of being spoilt, so it seemed to me. +Miss Fanny especially, the captain's youngest daughter, seemed never +tired of talking to Harry, and asking him questions which he was well +pleased to answer. She was a pretty, fair-haired, blue-eyed little +girl, about three years younger than him. Neither the captain nor his +lady troubled themselves about the matter, looking upon them as +children; of course they were not much more. Harry, however, came home +in the evening to Susan and me, and I was pleased to see that he was not +a bit set up, but just as affectionate to my wife as he had ever been. + +The day after I got home I received the long-looked-for letter from +Jerry; but there was not much in it which I could make out, except that +he had come to an anchor near his old home, and had half-resolved not to +go wandering any more. He had made himself known to his sister, who was +trying to persuade him to remain quiet. He was very mysterious about +the affair I had at heart. He still insisted that he was on the right +track; but as he might spoil all if it was discovered what he was about +until the right time came, it would be wiser not to mention names, in +case anybody should get hold of his letter. + +"The youngster has friends," he added, "and is doing very well, and can +wait without damage for a few years. There is another person also for +whose sake, even more than for his, I should like to have the mystery +cleared up, but the risk is too great to make the attempt. We must, +therefore, as I have said, let both wait till the proper opportunity, +and that is in the hands of One who orders all things for the best." + +I should say that Jerry wrote in a very different way to that in which +he spoke, and it seemed to me that when he got a pen in his hand he was +no longer the rough sailor, but the educated man he had once been before +he got into bad ways and ran off to sea. He signed his letter "JD," and +told me to send my answer to the post-office, but on no account to +direct my letter by the name I knew him by. I of course did as he +desired, thanking him heartily for what he had already done, and +expressing a hope that he would not neglect the interests of one whom my +wife and I loved so much. + +I have not time to describe one-tenth part of the events in young +Harry's career. + +After serving in the _Nymph_ some time longer, I was transferred to the +_Juno_ frigate; and Captain Leslie succeeded in getting the two +youngsters appointed to her. I had belonged to her when she was first +in commission in the West Indies, commanded by Captain Hood. A braver +man never stepped. I remember an incident which will show his +character. We were lying at Saint Anne's Harbour, Jamaica, a heavy gale +of wind blowing, when the look-out from the masthead discovered far out +at sea a raft; tossing about on the foaming waves, which threatened +every moment to wash off three men who were seen clinging to it. The +captain at once ordered a boat to put off to their assistance, but the +sea was so heavy that the boat's crew held back, thinking that they +should lose their own lives if they made the attempt. + +"I never order men to undertake what I dare not do myself," exclaimed +Captain Hood, springing into the boat. + +Away he pulled amid the foam-crested, tumbling seas. Every moment we +thought that the boat and all on board would be lost; but he at last +succeeded in reaching the raft, and taking the three poor men off it +just as they were exhausted, and would have in another minute been +washed away. + +Such a man I was heartily glad to serve under again. We sailed +immediately for the Mediterranean, where we joined Lord Hood's fleet +lying in the harbour of Toulon. The French Royalists had given up the +city to the English and Spaniards, who were at that time our allies, and +their troops assisted to man the fortifications. A Republican army, +however, invested the place, and a good deal of fighting had been going +on. The English had, however, not quite two thousand men on shore, and, +though they could trust the French Royalists, the Spaniards, +Neapolitans, and other troops could not be relied on. Serving in the +Republican army was Napoleon Buonaparte, then an officer of artillery; +not that I knew of it at the time, but I afterwards heard that he had +been there when he became Emperor of the French. + +The French had one night surprised a detachment of Spanish troops posted +on an important height above Toulon, and thereby got possession of it. +No time was to be lost in driving them out, and the marines and a party +of bluejackets from the ships close at hand were ordered on shore to +assist the Spaniards in storming the heights and turning out the +Republicans. The seamen, twenty of whom went from our ship, were headed +by Lieutenant Seagrave: I went to assist in the landing. We had shoved +off, when I found that Reginald Leslie and Harry had jumped into the +boat. Reginald said that he was resolved to see the fun. Harry told me +that he had been ordered to take charge of the men instead of a master's +mate, who was unable to go, so he was all right; but Reginald had no +business to be where he was, and had there been time I should have sent +him on board again. It was dark by the time we had reached the shore; +the troops and bluejackets, mustering eight hundred, formed as they +landed, and were immediately ordered to push forward. I had intended, +as in duty bound, to keep Reginald Leslie in the boat, but he leapt on +shore among the first, and I was too busy to see what became of him. +The hills which rose above our heads were steep and rugged, +notwithstanding which, soldiers and bluejackets pushed up them by a long +and narrow path, with a rugged precipice on one side. At any moment +they might arouse the enemy, who would soon have stopped their progress. + +I knew it would take a couple of hours or more, from the distance they +had to go, before the party could be back. I waited anxiously, thinking +more perhaps of Harry and his messmate than of the success of the +expedition, about which I had little doubt. The time seemed very long. +At last, hearing the sound of firing from among the hills, I knew that +the batteries were being attacked. The firing then ceased, the sound of +only an occasional shot reaching my ears. I now waited more anxiously +than before for the return of the party. Suddenly the sound of great +guns and musketry came down from over the hills, and I began to fear +that our party were being again attacked by a superior force. I had +posted a couple of lookouts on the neighbouring heights which commanded +the path, to give notice of the approach of either friends or foes. One +of them came running down, crying out-- + +"They are coming, sir, they are coming!" + +"Our people or the French?" I asked. + +"Sure it must be our people, sir," answered the man, who was Irish but +as he seemed somewhat doubtful about the matter, I ordered the men into +the boats, to be ready to shove off, should by any chance our party have +been cut off. At last I saw a large body of men coming down the hill, +and was greatly relieved when I discovered that they were Spaniards, and +that our other allies were following close behind. Soon afterwards the +English troops came in sight, the bluejackets bringing up the rear. +They were at once embarked, and I heard that they had stormed and +captured the batteries, and spiked the guns, but had been attacked on +their way back by a large body of Republicans, who, however, had been +defeated with great loss. I anxiously looked out for the two +midshipmen, but could nowhere find them. I made inquiries, and was told +that they had been seen with the sailors, unhurt, just before the last +attack, but that several men had fallen just as they had received orders +to charge the enemy. It was very evident, I feared, that they had +either been killed or taken prisoners. Still, as I could not bear the +thoughts of leaving them, I obtained permission from the commanding +officer to take a party of men and to go in search of them, as, should +they have been only wounded, they might not be far off. I had plenty of +volunteers, but chose only ten men, with a French Royalist officer who +had been aboard our ship and knew the country. There was no time to be +lost, so we started at once up the steep path. I felt my heart greatly +cast down, for I would have sooner lost my life than have had the brave +boys cut off. Still I had some faint hopes of finding them; but should +they have been taken prisoners by the Republicans, I had too much reason +to fear that they would be shot; for those fellows were terrible +savages, and many of their Royalist countrymen who had fallen into their +hands had been mercilessly put to death. As we approached the spot +where the Republicans had attacked our friends, we carefully examined +the ground on either side. Pushing on, we came upon several dead bodies +of men who had been shot, two or three of whom were Spaniards, the +others Neapolitans; and farther on were a still greater number of +Republicans who had been killed in the attack on the troops; still we +went on till we got near the batteries, when our guide, though a brave +man, refused to go farther, saying that we should probably lose our own +lives, as the enemy were likely to be in the neighbourhood, and that it +was most probable the midshipmen had been taken prisoners. Very +unwillingly, therefore, I agreed to return. We still examined every +place on either side of the road into which a person could have crept +for concealment, for my idea was that one of the youngsters had been +wounded, and that the other had refused to desert him. All this time we +had been careful not to speak above a whisper, for fear, should an enemy +be in the neighbourhood, of giving notice of our approach. We had got +more than half-way down the hill, when, just as we turned a sharp angle +of the path, I caught sight, through the gloom, of a figure, some fifty +yards ahead of us, moving on, it seemed slowly; the person, whoever he +was, must have heard our footsteps, for he appeared to run on, we of +course making chase; presently he stopped, and the next instant we lost +sight of him. Some of the men fancied that he must have gone over the +precipice. We were quickly up to the spot, and were speaking pretty +loudly about what had become of the man, when I heard a voice crying out +my name, and, turning round, there in a hole of the rock I discovered +Harry supporting Reginald in his arms. + +"Thank Heaven!" he exclaimed; "I thought you were Republicans, and that +we should have been taken off by them." + +All hands were very glad to find the young gentlemen, but we lost no +time in talking. It had been just as I had supposed; Reginald had been +wounded, and falling by the edge of a bank had rolled down it, and +Harry, who had been at his side at the time, followed him. Just then +the Republicans who had been coming up had charged our men, and, in the +darkness, the lads being unable to tell which party had gained the +victory, they had been afraid to climb up the bank till all was again +silent. By this time Reginald's wound prevented him from walking, and +Harry had had great difficulty in getting him up the bank; he then had +taken him on his shoulders, intending to carry him down the hill, but +when he had got some way Reginald fainted from pain and loss of blood. +On this he had carried him to a copse on the hillside, some little way +off; here he had put him down, and had done his best to bind up his +wound, intending to go on again as soon as Reginald was somewhat +recovered. He had heard us hunting about, but thinking that we might be +enemies he had kept silent, though it was a wonder that no one had +discovered the youngsters. After we had passed by, Reginald having come +to, Harry had taken him on his back, and was proceeding down the hill +when he overtook them as I have mentioned. We, of course, lifted up +Reginald, and hurried as fast as we could down to the boat. + +Harry, as he deserved, gained great credit for the way he had behaved, +for he had undoubtedly saved Reginald's life; and, in consideration of +his wound, the captain forgave Reginald for having left the ship without +leave. + +I never had a fancy for fighting on shore, and I was not sorry when we +were ordered to Malta, to bring away a party of Maltese marines, engaged +to serve on board the fleet. + +We had light and unfavourable winds going, and, on returning with the +soldiers aboard, we met with a succession of strong contrary gales from +the eastward, and a lee current, which prevented us from arriving +abreast of the harbour's mouth till about ten o'clock at night on the +11th of January. The captain, not wishing to run the risk of being +thrown to leeward, considering the number of men we had on board, +determined to sail into the harbour at once. We had no pilot, but the +master felt confident that he could take the ship in without risk. The +hands were at their stations, and the captain ordered Harry and another +midshipman to go forward with night-glasses and look out for the fleet. +We had a moderate leading wind, which sent us under our topsails at a +fair rate through the water. As we neared the outer roads of Toulon we +were somewhat surprised at not seeing any of the fleet, but the captain +concluded that the ships had run for shelter into the inner harbour. + +The night, was clear, the moon was shining brightly, and the water +smooth. As we advanced we made out a brig ahead, and beyond her the +lights of several others. The captain, therefore, had no doubt but that +he was right in his conjectures. Having passed the forts, we were +standing on, when we found that we could not weather the brig-of-war we +had seen ahead of us. We were close to her stern, when a hail came from +her, but what was said we could not make out. The captain, however, +supposing that the brig was Spanish, and wanted to know what ship ours +was, answered-- + +"His Britannic Majesty's frigate _Juno_!" + +Again a hail came from the brig, and several people shouted out, "Viva!" +The captain then inquired what English ships were in the harbour, but +we could not make out a word of what was said in reply; still, of +course, taking her for Spanish, this did not surprise us, except that it +seemed somewhat strange that an English vessel should not have been +stationed at the mouth of the harbour. Just as we passed under the +stern of the brig, someone again hailed from her-- + +"Luff! luff!" + +The captain, fearing that we had shoal water aboard, ordered the helm to +be put a-lee, but before the frigate got her head to the wind we were +aground. The captain immediately ordered the sails to be clewed up and +handed. While the people were on the yards, we caught sight of a boat +pulling from the brig towards the town. Just then, before the people +were off the yards, a sudden flaw of wind drove the ship's head off the +bank. Hoping now to get off, the order was given to hoist the driver +and mizzen-staysail, and to keep the sheets to windward. The instant +the ship lost her way, the bower-anchor was let go, on which she tended +to the wind; but the after-part of her keel was still aground. The +launch and cutter were now hoisted out, and I jumped into the first to +carry out the kedge-anchor, with two hawsers, in order to warp the ship +clear. We worked away with a will, for we did not like the thoughts of +being seen on shore by the rest of the fleet at daybreak. That was all +we just then thought about. At length we succeeded in getting her +completely afloat, and were returning to the ship, when we saw a boat go +alongside, and being hailed, she answered, "Captain Someone," but we did +not catch the name, and up the side he went with two other persons, who +seemed to be officers. On reaching the deck he introduced himself as a +French captain, and said that it was the regulation of the port, and +according to the commands of the admiral, that vessels should go into +another part of the harbour and do ten days' quarantine. + +On this, Captain Hood asked where the _Victory_, the admiral's ship, +lay. The French officer hesitated, and then said she was far up the +harbour. + +Just then Harry, who had a sharp eye, exclaimed somewhat loudly to a +messmate-- + +"Why, the fellows have the Republican cockades in their hats!" + +The captain overheard him; and, looking more earnestly at the +Frenchmen's hats, he saw by the light of the moon, to his dismay, the +three Republican colours. He put another question about the admiral, +when the French officer, finding that he and his companions were +suspected, replied-- + +"Make yourselves easy; the English are good people, and we will treat +them kindly; the English admiral has departed some time." + +I can just fancy how our brave captain felt. + +"We are prisoners!" exclaimed one of the officers; and the word, like +wildfire, ran along the deck, while several of the officers hurried up +to the captain to learn the truth. We all knew what we had to expect--a +French prison till the end of the war, even if we escaped being shot by +the Republicans. I never felt more cast down in all my life, and I +believe that was the case with everyone on board. To be caught like a +rat in a trap, without a chance of escape, seemed too bad. We were all +standing, not knowing what to do, some proposing one thing and some +another, expecting the French boats to come alongside and take +possession of our tidy little frigate, when a flaw of wind came down the +harbour. Scarcely had we felt it than our third lieutenant, Mr Webley, +exclaimed-- + +"I believe, sir, we shall be able to fetch out if we can get her under +sail." + +"We will try it at all events, and Heaven grant we may," answered the +captain; "we will not give up our ship without doing our best to save +her. All hands to their stations! Send the Frenchmen below." + +I never saw such a wonderful change as in a moment came over everybody +on board. The Frenchmen began to bluster and drew their sabres, but our +jollies quickly made them sheath them again, and they had to submit with +remarkably bad grace, hoping, I daresay, that we should again get on +shore. Officers and men flew to their stations, and in less than three +minutes we had the canvas on her, and the yards braced ready for +casting. The head sails filled. + +"Cut the cable!" shouted the captain. + +The ship quickly gathering way, began to glide down the harbour. Our +launch and cutter, and the Frenchmen's boat, were at once cut adrift, so +as not to impede us, while a favourable flaw of wind gave the ship +additional way. We had still, however, the heavy batteries to pass, and +it was not likely that they would allow us to go by without a warm +peppering; not that we thought much about that, for I know my heart +bounded as light as a cork, and so I am pretty sure did the hearts of +everyone on board at the thoughts that we were free. + +Directly we began to loose our sails, the French brig opened her fire, +and we saw lights bursting out on all the batteries; while one, a little +on the starboard bow, was blazing away at us. As we glided on, the guns +of all the forts opened fire as they could be brought to bear. The wind +was very scant, and it seemed impossible that we could weather the point +without tacking, and, of course, while we were in stays, the enemy would +have taken steady aim; but again a favourable flaw of wind helped us. +As soon as the ship was well under command, the order was given to man +the guns, and we began returning the enemy's fire with good effect, as +far as we could judge. The Frenchmen's shot came flying through our +sails, considerably cutting up our rigging, and two thirty-six pound +shot struck our hull; but we repaired damages as fast as we could, and, +nothing daunted, stood on. Wonderful to relate, all the time not a man +had been hit; and if we felt happy when we first got the frigate under +way, we had reason to be doubly so when we found ourselves clear of the +harbour and not a ship following us. We should have had no objection to +it had a frigate of our own size come out, as to a certainty we should +have given her a sound drubbing, and finished by carrying her off as a +prize. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT. + +I should spin far too long a yarn were I to describe the various actions +in which we were engaged, or even mention the different ships to which +we belonged. Both Harry and Reginald Leslie had now passed for +lieutenants--indeed they had been for some time doing duty as such. Of +course they could have done very well without me, but hitherto, thanks +to Captain Leslie, we had always been appointed to the same ship. + +The last time we were at home, Harry had become a greater favourite than +ever with the captain's family. Of course the brave way in which he had +saved Reginald at Toulon, at the risk of his own life, was well known. +Though he himself might not have talked much about it, Reginald had +given a full account of all that had happened. With Susan and me, Harry +was just the same as he had always been. One thing we discovered, that +he had given his heart to Miss Fanny, and it was Susan's belief that she +had given hers in return. We saw no harm in this, though we thought it +better not to talk to him about it; but I had a notion that the captain +did not suspect the true state of the case. Both Harry and I were +anxious to hear from Jerry, but day after day passed by, and no letter +came from him; I was expecting to be sent off to sea, and so were the +young gentlemen. Harry, I suspect, was in no hurry to go; and Reginald, +who generally took things easy, was happy with his family, and was +thankful to stop on shore for a spell. Still the accounts which we read +in the papers, of the gallant actions fought, made us before long wish +to be afloat again. We were reading, I remember, an account of Sir +Sidney Smith's brave defence of Acre against Buonaparte, whom he +compelled to raise the siege. + +"I wish that I had been there!" exclaimed Harry. "Captain Leslie says +we ought to be afloat again, and it's right, I know, though home is very +pleasant. We are sure, if we go, to obtain our promotion before long, +and once lieutenants, if we have luck, we shall soon win our next step; +till I get that, I feel too sure that I shall have no chance of gaining +the object nearest my heart." + +"What is that, Harry?" I asked. + +"Perhaps I ought to have told you before, father; but the secret was not +mine alone," was the answer. + +Harry then told me what I suspected long ago, that he had set his heart +on marrying Miss Fanny Leslie. + +"I hope you have not told her so, my boy," I said; "the captain would +not approve of it." + +"Yes, father, I have though," he answered; "and she has promised to +marry me if her parents will allow her." + +"I am very sorry to hear this, for one thing, Harry," I said; "I fear it +will cause you and her much disappointment and sorrow. The captain is +very kind; he wishes you well, but he is proud of his family; and he +will not allow his daughter to marry a man about whose birth he knows +nothing, and who has no fortune. He will also be vexed to find that his +daughter has engaged herself without first consulting him and her +mother." + +"But we have known each other from childhood, and he always encouraged +me to come to the house," pleaded Harry; "and so Fanny thinks that he +will not object to me." + +"It's my belief he never thought such a thing possible," I observed; "I +daresay he will blame himself when he finds it out, but that won't make +him excuse you. I wish you would tell Miss Fanny what I say. The best +thing you can now do is to set each other free; and if she remains +unmarried, and you obtain your promotion and discover that you are of a +family to which her father would not object, you can then come forward +openly and claim her." + +This, I am sure, was good advice. + +"But, father, I cannot say this to Fanny; she would think me +hard-hearted and that I did not really love her," said Harry. + +"If she trusts you, and is a sensible girl, she will see that you are +acting rightly," I answered. "Do what is right, and trust that all will +come well in the end. That is a sound maxim, depend on it." + +Harry at last replied that he would think over what I had said. + +The next day he told me that he had spoken to Miss Fanny, who, though it +made her very unhappy, had at last acknowledged that I was right, and +consented to do as I had advised; assuring him, however, that she would +never change. I was thankful to hear this, as it saved me from speaking +to the captain, which I should have otherwise felt bound to do. + +A few days after this I received orders to join the _Vestal_ frigate; +and though neither I nor they expected it, Reginald and Harry were +appointed as master's mates to the same ship. I had to go on board at +once, and they joined a few days afterwards. We were ordered to fit out +with all despatch, and were quickly ready for sea. + +I felt sorry at having to leave without again hearing from Jerry, for of +course I could not tell what might happen to me; and there was nothing I +more desired, for Harry's sake, than to find out who his parents had +been. When I thought what a fine, handsome, gallant young fellow he +was, I could not help hoping that he would have no reason to be ashamed +of them. At all events, he would not be worse off than he was; and +supposing that, after all, his birth was not such as he could boast of, +he might still win a name for himself, as many another officer had done, +who had, as the saying is, "gone in through the hawse-hole," just as the +renowned Captain Cook and several of our bravest captains and admirals +had done. + +We had gone out to Spithead, and "Blue Peter" was flying from the fore, +when who should come alongside in a boat from Ryde but Susan herself. I +had bidden her good-bye, and did not expect to see her again. + +"I have brought a letter," she said; "and as it is from Jerry, I did not +like to trust it to anyone else." + +She had just given it to me, when I received the order to "Pipe up +anchor"; so all I could do was to shove it into my pocket, while Susan +hurried down the side without knowing its contents. This was very +trying to her, and I wished that she had looked at it before bringing it +off. + +When a ship is making sail, the boatswain has more to do than anybody +else, and some hours passed before I could get to my cabin and break the +seal; it was, as Susan supposed, from Jerry. Having it still by me, I +give it in his own words:-- + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +"Dear old Ship,--I am comfortably moored at last in a cottage of my own, +with a small independence left me by my father--more than I deserved. I +might have had it years ago, if my good sister Mary and her husband, Mr +Pengelley, had known where to find me. I had been here some time before +I could make up my mind to let Mary know who I was. Instead of giving +me the cold shoulder, bless her heart, she welcomed me at once, and I +have been as happy as the day is long ever since, except when I think of +the past and my own folly; but as it does me no good dwelling on that, I +try to forget it. Mr Pengelley is a lawyer, and lawyers, as you know, +hear a good many things. One day I told him about Harry; he had never +heard of a child being saved from the wreck of the _Royal George_, nor +had any people about here that I can make out. The next day he told me +that he had been thinking over the matter, and asked me if I had ever in +my wanderings been to the house of an old Mr Hayward, living some miles +off. I remembered not only the house, which is a very solitary one, +half a mile or more from any highroad, but the old gentleman himself, +and a lady whom I heard was his widowed daughter. She spoke to me +kindly when I first went there, and said that she loved sailors, and +wanted to hear all about the sea. She invited me into the house, and +gave me a good dinner, and begged that I would look in whenever I came +that way. I went several times. Though she was every inch a lady, I +saw no servant in the house, and guessed that she took care of the old +gentleman; indeed it was evident that their means were very scanty. She +must have been very pretty in her youth, but care and sorrow had left +their traces on her countenance; and I remembered, too, that she was +always dressed in black. `I will tell you her history,' said Mr +Pengelley. `Her father, Mr Hayward, was once a flourishing merchant at +Bristol, and she, his only daughter, was looked upon as his heiress. A +young naval officer, Henry Stafford, met her at Bath, where she was +staying with some friends; they fell in love with each other, and were +engaged to marry as soon as he got his promotion, for he was then only a +mate in the service. He and his only sister, Emily, lived with their +widowed mother at the same place. Henry had good prospects, for he was +heir to his uncle Sir Mostyn Stafford, of an old and very proud family, +who had an estate in the neighbouring county. When the baronet heard +that his nephew was about to marry without consulting him, he was very +indignant, and declared that if he persisted in connecting himself with +a family which he looked upon as inferior to his own, he would stop the +allowance he now made him, and not leave him a penny beyond the title +and estate, from which he could not cut him off. Henry did not believe +that his uncle would, or indeed could, act as he threatened. He would +possibly have, at all events, deferred his marriage; but going one day +to see Miss Hayward, he found her in great distress. She then told him +that her father was on the point of failing, and wished her to marry a +man of large means, who would help him out of his difficulties. On +this, Henry Stafford, fearing that he should lose her altogether, +persuaded her to run off with him, promising to raise money, as he +thought he could, to assist her father. They married, and Henry, who +was the idol of his mother, took his young wife to live with her and his +sister. He soon discovered that he was utterly unable to help Mr +Hayward as he intended; and though the merchant was at first much +annoyed at his daughter's clandestine marriage, he was quickly +reconciled to her, especially when she told him of Harry's intentions. +He soon afterwards failed, when, without making any attempt to retrieve +his fortunes, he went to live at the retired house where he still +resides. When Sir Mostyn Stafford heard that his nephew had actually +married, he was highly incensed, and carried out his threats, depriving +even Mrs Stafford of a portion of her income over which he had power. +As he was not a badly-disposed man, I believe that he would not have +acted thus severely towards his nephew and sister-in-law had he not been +greatly influenced by a cousin of his, Biddulph Stafford, who was heir +to the estate after Henry. Biddulph Stafford's whole soul was set on +making money, and he had been heard to express his satisfaction when war +broke out, as Harry was in the navy, that the enemy's shot might give +him possession of the estate and title. His vexation and disappointment +was therefore very great when young Mrs Stafford gave birth to a son, +and from that moment he had redoubled his efforts to induce the baronet +to take harsher measures towards his nephew. Harry was compelled to go +to sea as the only means of finding support for his young wife and +child. He had been afloat about a year or more, when Mr Hayward fell +ill, and his daughter hurried off to see him, leaving her child in +charge of Mrs Stafford and Emily. What Biddulph Stafford's object was +I don't know, but, being well informed of all that occurred, he +persuaded Sir Mostyn to offer not only to restore to Mrs Stafford her +income, but to increase it, provided she would consent not again to +receive her daughter-in-law, and to bring up the child herself. This +was a hard trial to the poor young mother, but she could not hold out +when old Mrs Stafford persuaded her son to consent to the arrangement +under the belief that it was likely to prove advantageous to the boy. +Both Mrs Stafford and her daughter had, however, cause to regret this +arrangement, for they found that they were constantly watched, they +believed, by some agent of Biddulph, and they were persuaded his object +was to get possession of the child; however, by constant vigilance, they +were able to defeat it. Now comes the mysterious part of the business. +Old Mrs Stafford, who had been for some time in declining health, died; +and the day after her funeral Emily and the child disappeared. The idea +was that either Biddulph had won her over, or that she, frightened by +his threats, had gone off secretly to escape from him, thinking that by +some means or other he would get hold of the boy. The latter opinion I +believe to be the true one; indeed, Biddulph Stafford, having been seen +at Bath the day before, it is possible that he might have followed +Emily, and by some means or other got possession of the child--perhaps +have carried the aunt and her nephew off abroad. That there was foul +play no one doubted. Young Mrs Stafford was as much in the dark as +anyone; she had not heard from Emily, nor had she been aware of her +intention of leaving Bath. Living so completely out of the world as she +did, it was not till some time after that she heard her child and +sister-in-law were missing. When the account of the loss of the _Royal +George_ reached her, she knew that it was the ship aboard which her +husband was serving, and she was for some days left in doubt whether he +was among the many who perished or the few which escaped. In vain she +waited to hear from him; at last she saw his name among the list of +those who were lost. It was a wonder that she did not sink under her +misfortunes, and she would probably have done so had she not undertaken +the sacred task of watching over her invalid father. Another strange +circumstance occurred: Biddulph Stafford, who knew all along where she +was living, unexpectedly called on her, and expressed the greatest +sympathy with her at the loss of her husband, and offered to assist her +in obtaining a portion of the subscriptions raised for the widows of +those who perished. She, knowing less about him than her sister-in-law +did, accepted his offer. He assured her also that he had made every +inquiry for Emily and the little boy, but could not trace in what +direction they had gone. It was remarkable that all the information she +obtained about the wreck of the _Royal George_ was from her cousin, and +he seems thoroughly to have won her confidence by his apparently frank +and pleasing manners.'" + +"Such was the account I received from Mr Pengelley. I wish I could +tell you more; but I cannot help thinking that something will come of +it, and you may depend on me for doing my best to ferret out the truth, +as I think you may also on my good brother-in-law. Good-bye for the +present, Ben; I don't know whether it will be wise to tell this to your +young friend." + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +I thought the matter over, and at last resolved to make a copy of the +letter, and to give it, sealed up, into Harry's keeping. I did so, +charging him not to open it, except in the case of my death. +Recollecting Susan's natural curiosity to know the contents of the +letter, and also in case the original and the first copy should be lost, +I made a second, which I sent on shore at Falmouth, charging Susan not +to show it to anyone. I also wrote to Jerry, thanking him for his +exertions, and begging him to send Susan all the information he could +collect. + +We had been at sea some time, and had taken a French privateer and three +Spanish merchantmen, though we had met with no enemy which offered +opposition. We were cruising in the Bay of Biscay, when one evening, +Cape Ortegal bearing south-west, distant eight or nine leagues, we +discovered a large fleet to windward, which our captain believed +consisted of Spanish merchant vessels under convoy of some men-of-war. + +"We will pick up some of those fellows before long," he exclaimed; and +we stood towards the enemy. As we drew near we made out five frigates +and two men-of-war brigs, with full eighty merchant vessels, steering to +the northward, having apparently come from Cadiz. In spite of their +number, our captain kept to his resolution of attacking them, and stood +on till we weathered the leading frigate, which was ahead and some +distance from the convoy. The darkness of night had come on when we got +up alongside the enemy. Our captain hailed and asked her name. The +answer was-- + +"The Spanish frigate _Ceres_." + +"Then strike your colours," cried our captain. + +The enemy did not obey the order, and we immediately poured a broadside +into her. The Spaniards returned it, doing us little damage. While we +were loading our guns, to give her a second dose, she put up her helm, +and endeavoured to join her consorts to leeward. We immediately kept +away and engaged her to leeward, and in about twenty minutes we had +silenced her fire, having had only a couple of men hit; we were about to +take possession, when we saw the other four frigates close to us. While +hauling up, to avoid being raked by the leading frigate which had opened +her fire on us, we fell aboard her, carrying away her main-topsail-yard. +We had handled her pretty roughly, when two more frigates coming up, +one on each side of us, we kept blazing away at both of them, till the +fourth arrived, followed by the two brigs. We were now surrounded by +more enemies than even our fire-eating captain thought it prudent to +contend with. However, either the Spaniards forgot to put shot in their +guns, or fired them wildly, for we received but little damage, only two +more men having been hit; we quickly hauled to the wind and stood out +from among them, unharmed, although they were blazing away as fast as +they could get their guns to bear on us. We then steered for a part of +the convoy which had been somewhat scattered during the action, and +succeeded in cutting off a large brig; but as the frigates were close +upon our heels, we had only time to send a couple of boats on board, +under the command of Harry and Mr Leslie, who, having taken out her +crew, set her on fire fore and aft. So rapidly had they executed their +orders, that they were back again in a little more than five minutes, +and we again made all sail, just as the four Spanish frigates coming up +got us within range of their guns. As we had no longer any chance of +capturing either of them, we continued our course, and soon ran them out +of sight, they evidently having no inclination to follow us. Though it +was not to be compared to our escape from Toulon, still it was a dashing +piece of business, which required good seamanship to accomplish, and I +therefore think it worthy of being mentioned. + +Both Harry and Reginald were naturally anxious to do something to +distinguish themselves, by which they might make sure of their +promotion. They had behaved admirably on every occasion, and all they +wanted was the opportunity which, as is well known, does not fall to the +lot of every man. + +We had been cruising in the northern part of the Bay of Biscay, when, +standing towards Brest, we made out under the batteries in Camaret Bay a +brig-of-war at anchor, with springs on her cable. One of our +lieutenants was ill, and another away in a prize. Harry, to his great +satisfaction, having got leave to lead an expedition to cut her out, +asked for me to accompany him; Reginald had command of one boat, and a +midshipman had charge of a third. We knew that there were several +ships-of-war at anchor scarcely a mile off, which might have sent their +boats to stop us if they had known what we were about. We stood inshore +as soon as it was dark, and when about two miles from the place hove-to. +The boats were lowered, and we shoved off. Harry and I were in the +cutter, a fast-pulling boat, and kept ahead of the other two boats. We +could tell the position of the brig by the lights on shore, and, after a +hard pull, we caught sight of her. We guessed by the sounds that +reached us that her crew were at quarters, but, though the other boats +were still some way astern, Harry was eager to board at once; we made +for her quarter, and hooking on, we sprang over her bulwarks with our +cutlasses in hand. The Frenchmen made a desperate rush at us; I looked +round, but nowhere could I see Harry. The next instant I found myself +hurled back into the boat among several of our men who had boarded with +me. I sang out for Harry, but he was not in the boat, and I feared that +he had been cut down; just then I heard his voice, and found that he had +sprung into a trawl-net which hung over the brig's quarter. We made +another attempt to gain the deck, and kept back the Frenchmen; while +Harry extricated himself, with the help of two of the men, from his +dangerous position, and leapt back into the boat, into which we were +again driven. + +"Haul the boat more ahead, and we will try it again!" he shouted out. + +Though I had had a thrust with a pike in my side, and I guessed that +several other men were wounded, not being aware, however, that Harry +himself had been hurt, we again sprang on board. I kept close to him +this time, and warded off a heavy blow aimed at his head; pistols were +flashed in our faces, pikes thrust at us, and cutlasses were whirled +round our heads, and again we were driven back with more men hurt, while +I had received another wound from a cutlass. I began to fear that we +should not succeed. It was but for a moment. Harry's voice cheered me +up:-- + +"At them again, lads!" he shouted; and once more we sprang up the side, +cutting down every one of the Frenchmen within reach of our weapons. +Six or eight of us having gained the deck, the rest followed; and +charging the Frenchmen we drove them aft, killing or wounding everyone +who attempted to withstand us. In less than three minutes the brig was +ours, and the enemy cried out for quarter, even before the other two +boats came up. The men in them not required at the oars jumped on board +to assist in securing the prisoners, the cable was cut, and, while we +were making sail, the boats took the prize in tow; and before the people +in the forts knew what had happened, we were standing away from the +land. We found that six Frenchmen had been killed, and twenty wounded, +some of them pretty badly. We had lost one man, and eight of us were +wounded, Harry in two places, and I in no less than six. As soon as we +got the breeze, we took the boats in tow, and stood towards the frigate. +The captain was highly pleased at the success of the enterprise, and +told Harry that he might be sure of his promotion. + +We had been on the point of returning home, and we now made the best of +our way with our prize up Channel. I was not aware, till the doctor +came to overhaul me, how much I had been hurt, and the next day I was +unable to leave my cabin. Harry, who had the cabin of the absent +lieutenant, was also confined to his. As soon as he could, he came to +see me. + +"I would willingly have been much more hurt rather than have missed +taking the prize," he said, after he had inquired how I was getting on. +"I hope that Captain Leslie will at least see that I am worth +something." + +"No doubt about that, Harry," I answered. "You did well, and I am proud +of you; still be wise, and don't presume on what you have done." + +I don't think Harry quite liked my advice; however, he said nothing. I +think that Reginald must have been a little jealous of him, though it +was not his fault that he had not been up in time to board the brig +before we had possession of her; at all events, he did not show what he +felt, and spoke as if he admired Harry more than ever. + +As soon as we arrived at Spithead, Harry, Reginald, and I got leave to +go on shore; Harry had by this time nearly recovered, but the doctor +said that I must not expect to be fit for duty for many weeks to come. +Reginald at once went home, and Harry accompanied me. If nobody else +was proud of him, Susan at all events was, and I had good reason to be +thankful that I had such a wife to look after me. The same evening +Reginald came down and begged Harry to come to the house, as his father +and mother and all the ladies were anxious to see him. Reginald had +been giving a full account of Harry's gallantry, and I suspect from what +Susan heard, that Miss Fanny had somewhat betrayed her feelings. Harry +came back in high spirits, accompanied by Reginald, to help him along; I +was altogether laid up, and, though Harry could not walk far, he managed +to get every day to the captain's house. In less than ten days he +received his commission as lieutenant. + +"I knew you would!" I exclaimed as he held it up proudly to me. "All +you wanted was the opportunity, and you got that." + +"I hope that Reginald will get his too!" he exclaimed, "for he deserves +it, as he would have done the same had he had the chance I got. I must +go up to the captain's, and tell them," he said. + +"I was on the point of cautioning him about his behaviour to Miss Fanny, +but I had not the heart just then to do it, he looked so proud and +happy. Off he went, and didn't come back till late in the evening, as +he had been asked to stop and dine. Next day he had to go over to +Portsmouth to order his uniform. + +"I must go up and see Miss Fanny first," he said; "she told me that the +captain spoke so highly of me that she is satisfied he would not object +to our marriage. I shall have, as you know, a good share of +prize-money, and we think that we shall have enough to keep house; so +she was to tell the captain this morning, and we hope to have it all +settled. + +"I don't like to damp your spirits, Harry," I said, "but, my dear boy, +don't be too sure; the captain could do nothing else than speak highly +of your conduct; but that makes me think, as I have all along, that he +never dreamt of his daughter and you falling in love with each other. +However, you are bound to go up and hear what he has to say, and if he +is not pleased, don't show any anger, but say that you will wait +patiently till you have gained another step in rank, or have discovered +who are your parents; and that if it should be proved that your family +is not inferior to his, that you hope he will then withdraw any +objections he may at present entertain." + +"I trust that I shall not have to say that," answered Harry; "I would +rather be accepted on my own merits." + +"So you are by the young lady; and that is the chief matter. Parents +are apt to look at things in a different light to young people," I +observed. + +Susan and I sat anxiously waiting Harry's return. I forgot to say that +I had been hoping, day after day, to hear from Jerry, and had written +telling him of Harry's gallantry, and that he and I were at home again. +I had, however, received no answer. Harry had been absent fully three +hours. I saw, as soon as he appeared, that all had not gone well. He +threw himself into a chair. Susan waited for him to speak. At last she +said, in her gentle way-- + +"I am afraid, dear Harry, that the captain does not see things in the +light you expected." + +"No, mother, he does not," he answered. "He spoke as if he wished to be +as kind as possible, but what he said went to my heart. + +"`I have regarded you with sincere affection, having known you from your +childhood, and as the friend of my son,' he began; `but I did not expect +that you would have thus returned any service I may have rendered you. +I have been wrong, I confess, to permit the intimacy which has existed +between you and all the members of my family; but I tell you at once +that I have an insuperable objection to any one of my daughters marrying +a man whose family is unknown to me. For yourself I shall always +entertain the truest regard, and I must beg you to receive this answer +as final. Though Mrs Leslie and I shall regret the loss of your +society, you will see that, under the circumstances, it is better that +you should not again come to my house.'" + +"I tried to argue the point, and spoke to the captain as you advised, +father; but all I said had no effect, and showed me he had made up his +mind how to act. He would not even allow me to see Fanny; and from +being the happiest of human beings, I am now one of the most miserable." + +Susan and I did what we could to comfort Harry, though without much +avail. I was therefore thankful when the next day a letter from the +Admiralty came appointing him as third lieutenant to the _Vestal_, and +directing him to join at once. Reginald came down immediately +afterwards, as he had also been ordered to join his ship; and he +proposed that they should go over to Portsmouth that afternoon. Harry +agreed; and though Susan and I were sorry to lose him so suddenly, we +saw that it was the best thing he could do. + +A week afterwards the _Vestal_ sailed down Channel, and, judging by +Harry's last letter, I hoped that he had somewhat regained his spirits. + + + +CHAPTER NINE. + +I had been some time at home, and had pretty nearly recovered from my +wounds. Susan frequently went up to see Jane; and the ladies treated +her, notwithstanding what had occurred, as kindly as ever; but the +captain ceased to inquire after me, and he evidently had not got over +his annoyance, and still believed that Susan and I, if we had not +encouraged Harry, might have at all events prevented him from falling in +love with Miss Fanny. The poor young lady had not recovered her +spirits; and Susan said she was afraid that if anything should happen to +Harry it would bring her to her grave. This of course made us more than +ever anxious to hear again from Jerry. At last one day the postman +brought a letter to our door and demanded three shillings for it, which +I willingly paid, for I saw at a glance that it was from my old +shipmate. I have it still by me; here it is:-- + +"Dear old Ship-- + +"What I told you in my last has prepared you for the news I have now to +give. I thought over what Mr Pengelley had told me, and could not help +hoping that we should at last find out all about Harry Saint George. + +"The very first time that I saw Mrs Stafford (though I did not know her +name then) she told me that her husband had been an officer on board the +_Royal George_, and that he was lost when the ship went down; but she +said nothing more at that time. When, however, I heard that she had had +a little boy who had disappeared with her young sister-in-law, I at once +jumped to the conclusion that the young lady who had come to your house +was Miss Stafford, and that the little boy was her nephew. It struck me +that nothing was more likely than that Miss Stafford should have set off +to see her brother, and consult with him what was best to be done for +the safety of his son; but, as you know, it's a very different matter to +guess a thing and to prove it. Still I am almost as certain as I am of +my own existence, that the little boy you saved from the wreck was Harry +Stafford's son; but my thinking so won't get him his rights. Biddulph +Stafford and I were young men together before I went off to sea, and +many a wild prank we played; some of them such as I don't like to think +about. There was an act of his, indeed, which, if known, would bring +him under the power of the law; and I feel sure that if I were to +introduce myself to him, and let him know that I was acquainted with it, +and could bring witnesses to prove his guilt, long ago as it happened, I +might gain an influence over him, which I might exercise for Harry's +benefit. Sir Mostyn Stafford, you will understand, is still alive, and +all Biddulph's scheming and plotting has hitherto gained him no +advantage. My first idea was to go and give him his choice, either to +acknowledge Harry, or to take the consequences of having his crime made +known; he might, however, set me at defiance. The difficulty would be +to prove that the young lady you saw was Miss Stafford, and then that +the child saved from the wreck was the same little boy she had brought +with her. The first thing to be done, as it seemed to me, was to learn +from Mrs Stafford if she knew how her little boy was likely to have +been dressed; and if she described him as you had seen him, it would +settle the matter in our minds, and we might possibly get Mr Pengelley, +or some other lawyer, to take up the case, and try to gain his rights +for your young Harry. As soon as this idea occurred to me, I went back +to Mr Pengelley; he thought that I might be right, but told me to wait +till he had obtained some more certain information as to how the +Stafford estates were settled. This took up some time, for lawyers seem +to me to have a peculiarly slow way of setting about a business; +probably they find from experience that `Slow and steady wins the race.' +At last he sent for me, and told me that I might go off and see Mrs +Stafford, and gain all I could from her. I of course lost not a moment. +She recognised me at once, though she was naturally surprised to find +how I was changed. I introduced the subject cautiously. I then asked +her if she thought it possible that her son was still alive? She said +that sometimes she had hopes, but then she could not understand how it +was that her sister-in-law had never written to her. At last I asked +her if she could describe what her son was like? `Yes,' she said, `for +I have his portrait, which Emily sent me a few days only before her +mother's death.' `Will you allow me to see it?' I asked; and going to +her room she returned with a small well-done drawing of a little boy, +exactly like what Harry might have been, and dressed as you described +him, in a sailor's jacket and trousers and round hat. + +"`You see him in a dress I made for him myself, and sent only a short +time before. I also made a copy of it, which I forwarded to my poor +husband on board the _Royal George_.' + +"`Did it ever occur to you, ma'am,' I asked, `that your sister may have +gone to see her brother on board the _Royal George_, and taken the +little boy with her?' + +"`Yes, indeed,' she answered, `I thought that possible; but when I heard +that all the women and children on board had perished, I knew that if +such were the case, both Emily and my child must have been lost also.' + +"`Did you ever hear, ma'am, that a little boy was saved from the wreck?' +I said. + +"`No,' she answered. `Mr Biddulph Stafford, who kindly came here at +the time, and told me all about it, did not mention that any child was +saved; but oh! say, was such really the case? Could my boy have been on +board and escaped the fate which overtook his father?' + +"I thought it time to describe to the poor mother how a young lady came +with a little boy, exactly like the picture she had just shown me, to +your cottage, and how you had saved the same child after the ship had +gone down, and that the same boy was now an officer in the navy. + +"`Oh, merciful Providence, he must be my own boy! I should know him +even now, he cannot be so changed,' she exclaimed. + +"I told her, though I did not wish to raise her hopes to disappoint +them, that I felt sure she was right. But then I suggested that though +she might be confident that Harry Saint George was her son, it might be +very difficult to prove it so as to enable him to obtain his rights. + +"`If we could prove that Miss Stafford went to Ryde with her nephew, it +would greatly assist the case,' I observed. + +"`I will look over all her letters to me, and see if she ever mentioned +that she thought of so doing,' she said. `I have some also which my +husband wrote to her during their mother's illness, and he may possibly +have expressed a wish to see her and our boy. But surely, even should I +not discover anything of the sort, Sir Mostyn Stafford will be convinced +that my son is his nephew, and would not refuse to acknowledge him.' + +"About that, I said, I could not be sure; but I advised her not on any +account to let Mr Biddulph Stafford know that she had gained tidings of +her son, lest he might influence Sir Mostyn. I told her that I was sure +my brother-in-law, Mr Pengelley, would, with the evidence she was able +to bring forward, undertake her case; and I offered, should Harry Saint +George be in England, to go to Ryde and bring him back with me. + +"`I am indeed most grateful,' she answered. `I must not leave my poor +father, or I would go myself to see my son, for that he is my boy I have +not a doubt on my mind.' + +"Just as I was about to leave the room, my eye fell on a small portrait +of a lady hanging against the wall, and it occurred to me that it might +be that of Miss Stafford. I asked the question. Mrs Stafford said it +was; and I proposed taking it with me to know whether you and your wife +could recognise it, and perhaps others might be found who may have seen +her on board the _Royal George_ to do so likewise. + +"She at once took down the portrait, which with that of her son she +carefully packed up and entrusted to my care. After again cautioning +her against Mr Biddulph Stafford, I wished her good-bye, and returned +with the information I had gained to my worthy brother-in-law, who, on +hearing it, said that he was convinced in his own mind that Harry Saint +George was the son of Henry Stafford, and that he would undertake his +case, though he advised me to caution you and him not to be too sanguine +about gaining it; at the same time you might be sure that Mrs Stafford +would acknowledge him, and that he would thus, which he would probably +value more than fortune, be able in the eyes of his friends to establish +his right to bear his father's name. + +"Mr Pengelley hopes that you will on no account let anyone learn the +history I have now given you till everything is prepared. Should +Biddulph Stafford bear that young Harry is discovered, he will stir +heaven and earth to prevent him from establishing his rights. I might, +as I before said, by threatening to expose the crime of his early days, +gain a power over him; but as it occurred so long ago, he might feel +himself safe and set me at defiance. At all events be cautious, and let +no one but Harry and your wife, who, from what I saw of her, is, I +should judge, a discreet woman, know anything of the matter." + +This letter, as may be supposed, threw Susan and me into a great state +of agitation. We could talk of nothing else, and kept looking out every +moment for Jerry's arrival; we could not help grieving that Harry was +not at home, for we could take no steps without him. We were sorry, +too, that we could not consult with Captain Leslie, as Jerry had +forbidden us to speak to anyone on the subject. He, I was sure, could +be trusted, though he had been so much offended with Harry for venturing +to look up to Miss Fanny; but the state of the case was now greatly +altered; and should Harry be able to prove that he was heir to Sir +Mostyn Stafford, instead of being without name or family, I knew of +course that the captain would no longer think of forbidding him to marry +his daughter. + +I had one day walked down to the beach, when a wherry from Portsmouth +came to an anchor, and soon after a boat reached the shore with several +people in her. Among them was a one-legged man, with white hair, who +looked to my eyes like an old post-captain or admiral. I went up to +him, at first with some doubt in my mind, but soon saw that it was no +other than my old shipmate Jerry. + +He put out his hand and shook mine cordially, saying as he did so, "You +are less changed than I am, Ben, but years make a difference in a man. +Stay, I must not lose sight of my valise. Once upon a time I should +have made nothing of carrying it myself, but I am not as strong on my +pins as I used to be. Can you get someone to take it up to your house? +We will keep him in sight, however; because, as you may guess, I should +not like to lose it." + +I said that I would carry it myself, and, taking it out of the boat, +shouldered it and walked up alongside Jerry, who stumped along with much +less briskness than formerly; indeed I saw that he was greatly aged +since we last met. On reaching home, after Susan had welcomed him, he +caught her eye turned towards the valise. + +"You are anxious to see the portraits I wrote about," he observed, +getting up and opening it. The first he took out was that of the little +boy. + +"That's like him all over," exclaimed Susan. "I should have known it +even if I had not expected to see it; and it's just the same as the one +I have upstairs, though that is terribly faded." + +"Please get it, Mrs Truscott, and we will compare the two," said Jerry. +She quickly brought the little picture we had so carefully preserved; +though the colours were almost gone, the lines were sufficiently clear +to remove any manner of doubt in our minds that the one was a copy of +the other. + +"And now, what do you think of this?" producing a portrait of Miss +Stafford. + +"The very young lady who came to our house," exclaimed Susan. "Owing to +the sad circumstances of her death, her features are more impressed on +my mind than those of anyone I ever met, and I am sure those who know +Harry would say that he is wonderfully like her." + +I agreed with my wife, and Jerry said that he thought so likewise from +what he recollected of him; indeed we had not a shadow of doubt on our +minds that our dear Harry was the son of Henry Stafford. + +"Oh, how I wish he was at home!" cried Susan; "he cannot fail to gain +his rights; and then he might marry dear Miss Fanny and be so happy. +Ben, I must go and tell her what we have found out about his family, and +that she may be sure all will come right. It will do her all the good +in the world, for she has been very sadly since her father forbid Harry +to come to the house and got him sent off to sea; sometimes I have +thought that the poor dear would break her heart." + +I asked Jerry what he thought. + +"There might be no harm in letting Miss Fanny know, but it must depend +upon whether she has got discretion or not," said Jerry. "If she is a +wise girl she will hold her tongue, and I daresay it will make her +happier to hear what you wish to tell her." + +Susan at length gained her way, and, promising duly to caution Miss +Fanny to be prudent, set off. + +Jerry and I sat talking over matters till Susan came back. + +"I am thankful I went," she said. "I found Miss Fanny very ill, and I +have hopes that the news I gave her will restore her to health faster +than any doctor's stuff." + +I told Jerry how I had hunted for the young lady's luggage, and had been +unable to find it, though she had told me the name of the inn where she +had left it; and I was sure she would not have spoken falsely. + +"Is the landlord still alive?" asked Jerry. + +"Yes; though well in years," I answered. + +"Well, then, we will go along together, and see if we can make anything +out of him," said Jerry; and off we set. We went into the bar-room. +Fortunately no one was there, so we asked the landlord to come in and +have a quiet glass with a couple of old salts. He, nothing loath, came +at once, for he had been a sailor himself. I never saw anybody like +Jerry for leading on to a point he wanted to reach; he soon got talking +about the _Royal George_, then he asked the landlord if he remembered +the name of the young lady who came to his house the day before the +wreck with a little boy. + +"No," said the landlord, "I don't remember her name, though I do her and +the little boy." + +"Then you heard it?" said Jerry. + +"Can't say but what I did," answered the landlord. + +"Then can you tell me what the gentleman did with her luggage?" he +asked, looking the landlord full in the face. "Come, you know he bribed +you to stow it away, and say nothing about it if questions were asked." + +I never saw anybody look so astonished as the landlord did when Jerry +said this. + +"How should you know anything about it?" he asked. + +"I know a good many things," answered Jerry, with a knowing look. +"Come, mate, tell us what Mr Biddulph Stafford paid you for stowing the +things away, and I will promise that it shall be doubled if you can find +them." + +I did not know at the time that this was all a guess of Jerry's, but he +had hit the right nail on the head. + +"Is it a bargain?" asked the landlord. "I suppose that Mr Biddulph +can't do me any harm?" + +"It's a bargain, and I will see that you are not the sufferer," said +Jerry. "Come, what did he give you?" + +"Ten pounds," answered the landlord. + +"You shall have twenty; and that you may be sure of it, I will write out +the promise to pay you." + +The landlord, thus taken by surprise, agreed; and Jerry, who followed +the wise plan of "striking while the iron is hot," made him then and +there bring pen and paper, when he wrote out an order on his +brother-in-law for twenty pounds. The landlord then begged that we +would come upstairs, and, going through a trapdoor in the roof, he let +down two small trunks, such as ladies might use for travelling. They +were both locked. + +"There they are," said the landlord; "and the sooner you take them the +better. They have made me uncomfortable ever since they have been in +the house; I didn't like to destroy them, and I didn't know where to put +them. As it is so long since Mr Biddulph Stafford came here, I don't +suppose that he will trouble me again about them." + +We waited till dark, and the landlord then getting us a boy to carry one +of the trunks, I shouldered the other, and we set off back to my house. + +Though Susan was naturally curious to see their contents, we agreed that +we would not open them ourselves, but wait till Mrs Stafford could do +so, as she was more likely than anyone else to recognise their contents. +We then talked over what was best to be done. I was for telling +Captain Leslie, for I was sure that he had still as kind a feeling +towards Harry as ever, and that he had acted as he had done to prevent +him and his daughter from making what he considered an imprudent match. +Jerry at last came to agree with me, and he consented to write to Mr +Pengelley and ask his advice. Mr Pengelley thought as I did, that as +an old friend of Harry's the captain might be trusted; indeed, without +his assistance it would have been difficult to get Harry sent home. I +lost no time in hastening up to the captain, and told him everything; he +was, as I expected he would be, highly delighted. + +"He is a noble young fellow, and I all along thought he was of gentle +birth, though he might not have a right to his father's name," he +exclaimed. "We will get him home without delay, for of course nothing +can be done till he arrives." + +He promised to be cautious, so that Mr Biddulph Stafford should not get +an inkling of what we were about. + +"I will accompany him myself and give him all the support in my power, +as the whole matter is as clear to me as noonday, and, whether his uncle +acknowledges him or not, he must win his case." + +I told him that Jerry hoped he would not say anything to the rest of his +family. + +"I will be discreet," he answered, "depend upon that." + +I had a strong suspicion that the ladies soon knew all about it, though +for my part I was sure they would act wisely. + +Jerry received a letter from Mr Pengelley, saying that he wished to see +him, and to bring the information he had gained. Bidding us, therefore, +good-bye, he set off to return home, taking the portraits of the young +lady and Harry with him. + +After this there seemed nothing to be done but to wait till Harry's +return; Captain Leslie had written to request that he might be allowed +to come home on urgent family affairs, and there was no doubt but that +he would obtain leave to do so, and he would of course guess the object. + +I spent a good part of each day with spyglass in hand, looking out for +fresh arrivals at Spithead. When either Susan or I went up to the +captain's, we were sure to find Miss Fanny at the telescope, which stood +on a stand in the bay window of the drawing-room, turned in the same +direction. At last one day I saw two frigates coming in round Saint +Helen's; the leading one had her fore-topmast shot away and her sails +and rigging much cut up; the second, which had the English colours +flying over the French, was in a far worse condition, her mainmast and +mizzen-topmast were gone, and her hull was severely battered. She was +evidently a prize to the first. + +"I can't help hoping that yonder frigate is the _Vestal_; it's hard to +say positively, but she is, as far as I can judge from this distance, +wonderfully like her," I exclaimed to Susan. I hurried down to the +"hard," and, engaging a boat, put off and got alongside before any of +the Portsmouth boats. I soon found that I was right. The first person +I saw on stepping on deck was Harry himself; he hurried forward to shake +me by the hand. + +"Father," he said, "we have had a glorious fight, and the captain has +been good enough to speak highly of me; after an hour's fighting, +broadside to broadside, we got foul of the enemy, and I had the honour +of leading the boarders." + +I asked him if he had received Captain Leslie's letter; he had not. + +"I am then the first to bring you the good news," I said; and I told him +in as few words as I could how Jerry had discovered who his parents +were, and that he might before long see one of them. He was naturally +eager to go on shore at once, but he could not desert his duty; so, +sending the boat back with a message to Susan, I remained on board till +the frigate with her prize went into harbour. Reginald was as much +rejoiced at his friend's prospects as Harry was himself. As soon as +they could get leave they accompanied me over to Ryde. + +We landed at the very spot where, about twenty years before, I had +stepped on shore with Harry in my arms, all wet and draggled, followed +by the sheep which had saved his life. And now he stood by my side, a +fine, well-dressed young man, with the thorough cut of a naval officer. +He had had time to get rigged out in a new uniform, and looked +handsomer, I thought, than ever. Somebody else would think so, too, I +had a notion. + +We hurried up to our cottage, where Susan was on the look-out for him. +He took her in his arms and kissed her, just as he would have done +before he went to sea. + +"Mother," he said, "you are looking well, and thankful I am to come back +to you." + +"You've another mother now, Harry," she said, gazing in his face, and +the tears fell from her eyes. + +"I shall not love you the less," he answered, "though I had a dozen +mothers." + +"There are more than her to share your love, Harry," she replied. + +"Well, mother," he said, smiling, "I hope my heart is large enough for +all." + +"That it is, I am sure, Harry," she answered; "and I'll not grudge what +you give to others." + +Reginald had stayed outside the garden; when I looked out, I found that +he had gone off home. Harry cast a wistful glance in the same +direction; still he did not like to leave Susan in a hurry. She guessed +what was passing in his mind. + +"I mustn't be keeping you here, Harry," she said, "so do you go after +Mr Reginald. Miss Fanny will be looking for you, and she won't thank +me if I keep you here. Now go, Harry, and bless you--bless you; my +heart's very happy at seeing you back, for I'm sure that all will turn +out as we wish it at last. You've had a sore trial, but you acted +rightly." + +Harry, having given Susan another embrace and shaken me warmly by the +hand, bounded away after Reginald. I didn't offer to accompany him, +for, in truth, I could not have moved as fast as he did; but I followed +at my leisure, as the captain had told Susan he wanted to see me as soon +as I came on shore. As I got near the house, I caught sight of Harry +and Miss Fanny in the shrubbery, and from what I saw he had no reason to +doubt that she loved him as much as ever; and I am sure that she would +not have met him as she did, unless she had had the captain's leave to +receive him as her intended husband. Mr Reginald reached the house, +and got through the greetings with the captain and his mother, and other +sisters. A very happy party they looked, for he had a good account to +give of himself, though maybe he hadn't quite as much to boast of as had +Harry. From the way Harry was received when he at last made his +appearance with Miss Fanny by his side, I felt sure that all was right. + +I had afterwards a long talk with the captain. He told me that he was +ready for a start as soon as Harry was at liberty. There was no time to +be lost, for we could not tell what tricks Mr Biddulph Stafford might +be playing in the meantime. As far as we knew, he had as yet no inkling +of what had occurred; but he was deep and cunning, according to Jerry's +account, and would move heaven and earth, if his suspicions were +aroused, to defeat our object. Some days, however, must pass before we +could begin our journey, as Harry could not quit his ship till she was +paid off. It was a question with us whether Mr Biddulph Stafford knew +that his nephew had been saved when the ship went down, or had found out +the name we had given him; if he did, he would soon learn that he had +come home again, and might possibly be on the look-out for him, +thinking, of course, that Harry was still ignorant of who he really was. +This idea came into the captain's head. He said that he thought it +would be well to tell Harry, that he might be on his guard against any +treacherous trick his uncle might endeavour to play him. I had not many +fears on the subject; still I agreed that it would be better to be on +the safe side. + +Harry and Reginald spent that night on shore, and the next day returned +to Portsmouth. It was on the evening of that day, as I happened to be +passing the inn where Miss Stafford had left her boxes, when I caught +sight of a strange gentleman coming along the road, and looking about +him as if in search of some house or other. As I passed close to him I +looked in his face, and could not help fancying that he was very like +Harry, only much older, with a very different expression of countenance. +After I had passed him I turned round, when I saw him looking up at the +sign of the inn, and then go without further hesitation up to the door. +I walked on some little way, and stood watching the inn till he came out +again. As I again passed him I felt sure that he was no other than Mr +Biddulph Stafford, from the dark and troubled look I saw on his +countenance. He then went on into the town. As the wind was from the +north-east, and the tide was ebbing, I knew that no wherry was likely to +put off for some time to come, and that I should be able to fall in with +him again before he left the island. I accordingly entered the inn to +learn what I could from the landlord. He presently, taking me into his +private room, confessed that the stranger was no other than the man I +suspected. He had at once made himself known, and asked what had become +of the young lady's trunks, and seemed anxious to have them. The +landlord at once told him that he could not give them, seeing that they +were no longer in his possession, and that, for what he knew to the +contrary, they had long since been destroyed. At last, when he pressed +him, he told him that he had given them to two sailors to carry off into +the middle of the Channel and sink them, thinking that was the best way +of disposing of them. This seemed to satisfy him, and giving the +landlord a guinea, and telling him not to say anything about the matter, +he went off. + +"That was not the truth, my friend," I observed. + +"It was partly true," answered the landlord, "for you and the old +gentleman who came with you were seamen--I could swear to that; and how +should I know that you didn't sink them away there 'twixt this and +Portsmouth?" + +I had no time to argue, the point with the landlord, though of course he +was wrong, as I had to look after Mr Biddulph Stafford. I found him on +the shore, trying to engage a wherry to carry him across to Portsmouth; +but none of the men would go, as it was blowing harder than ever, with a +nasty sea running. At last I heard him offer five guineas to anyone who +would cross. I knew by this that he must be in a desperate hurry. + +"If you'll wait half an hour, sir, I'll do it," said the owner of a +large wherry, coming up to him; "we shall get across just as soon as we +should if we were to start now." + +To this Mr Biddulph Stafford agreed, and I saw him go into an inn near +the beach, to get some refreshment I suppose, telling the man to call +him when he was ready. I now knew that I should have no difficulty in +ascertaining whether he had really gone, so I hastened back to the +captain, to tell him what I had discovered. He immediately wrote to +Harry, to tell him to get ready for a start, and to meet himself and me +at "The George," where we would call for him next morning, if we could +get across, on our way to Mr Pengelley's; adding, that the sooner we +could get him recognised by his mother and uncle the better, lest Mr +Biddulph Stafford should be taking steps to defeat us. The letter was +sent off by the mail-packet that night. + +The captain agreed that it would be better that Susan should accompany +us, as her evidence was sure to be wanted; so, calling at our cottage on +my way back to the shore, I told her to pack up her traps and get a +woman to take care of the house during her absence. Though she didn't +like leaving home, she was willing to do anything for Harry's good, and +promised to be ready in time. + +On returning to the beach I found that Mr Biddulph Stafford had just +put off from the shore, but, with the wetting and tossing he would get, +I felt pretty sure he wouldn't be ready to start till the next morning, +if even then. + +I daresay Miss Fanny would rather have had Harry come back at once to +Ryde, but she was too wise to say anything about the matter. The next +morning was fine, and the captain, Susan, and I crossed to Portsmouth, +taking with us Miss Stafford's trunks, which I had had done up in +canvas, and painted in such a way that even should Mr Biddulph Stafford +get sight of them they might not be recognised by him. We found Harry +waiting for us at "The George." The ship had been paid off the previous +day, and he and Reginald were now free. The latter went back to Ryde +"to console Miss Fanny," as he said. + +On making inquiries I found that Mr Biddulph Stafford was sleeping at +the hotel, and had not yet come out of his room, which convinced me that +he had been knocked up the previous day by sea-sickness, and also that +he did not know that we were trying to get ahead of him. The postchaise +being ordered, we at once started, and, travelling as fast as the horses +could get along, without any accident reached Mr Pengelley's. Harry +was of course very anxious to see his mother; and accordingly, leaving +Captain Leslie with Mr Pengelley, he and Jerry, with Susan and I, set +off for the old house where she and her father lived. Mr Pengelley, +Jerry told us, had already somewhat prepared her for the recovery of her +son. + +As we approached the house we saw in the garden a fair lady dressed in +black, who, though thin and careworn, was still very handsome, attending +to an old gentleman seated under a tree in an arm-chair. I guessed at +once she must be Mrs Stafford. Harry, who had been on the box, got +down, while Jerry stumped forward, as fast as his wooden leg would let +him, to announce us. He had scarcely begun to speak when, the lady, +fixing her eyes on Harry, rushed forward. + +"You are indeed my son!" she exclaimed, as Harry supported her in his +arms--for, as may be supposed, she was well-nigh overcome with +agitation. However, it is more than I can do to describe, all the +particulars of the meeting. Harry was also not a little agitated, but, +after some time, both he and Mrs Stafford became calm, and she then led +him forward towards the old gentleman in the chair, who was, as I of +course knew, her father, Mr Hayward. He glanced up at Harry, with a +look of astonishment in his countenance. + +"Why," he said, "I thought he had been drowned long, long ago!" + +It was evident that he took Harry for his father. It satisfied me that +Harry must be very like him. That he was so was further proved when +Mrs Stafford produced a miniature of her husband, which might have been +that of Harry--though, according to Susan's notion, it was not so +handsome. In the trunks, which Mrs Stafford opened in our presence, +she recognised, with many a sigh, various articles, and among them +another miniature was discovered still more resembling Harry. When Mrs +Stafford heard who Susan was, she embraced her as if she were her +sister, and the tears fell down from her eyes as she thanked her over +and over again for her loving treatment of Harry. + +We left Harry with his mother, and returned to the house of Mr +Pengelley, who, with Captain Leslie, had been busy in collecting such +other evidence as was thought necessary. The next day Mr Pengelley +went for Harry, and took him and his mother to see Sir Mostyn Stafford, +whose intellects, though he was an old man, were still perfectly clear. +On Harry being introduced to him, after regarding him fixedly for a few +minutes he exclaimed, "There stands my nephew; had I not been told that +he was Henry's son, I should have known him instantly." + +Mr Pengelley asked if he was ready to acknowledge him; he replied that +he should certainly do so. It appeared that he had been for some time +suspicious of Mr Biddulph Stafford, and was very glad to find an heir +who was likely to do more credit than that person to his name and title. + +I have already spun my yarn to a greater length than I intended. I know +nothing of the law, and therefore cannot describe the legal proceedings +which took place; but all I know is, that the evidence we brought +forward was so overwhelming that Mr Biddulph Stafford was defeated, and +that Harry fully established his claim as heir to Sir Mostyn Stafford. + +As may be supposed, Captain Leslie no longer objecting, Harry shortly +afterwards married Miss Fanny. A few weeks more passed, when, old Mr +Hayward dying, Mrs Stafford came to live with her son, who, before a +year was over, by the death of his uncle, succeeded to the estate and +title. No one was more pleased than Jerry with the result of his +exertions. It seemed as if his last task had been accomplished; he was +suddenly taken ill, and, though he lingered for some weeks, he gradually +sank. Whatever the sins and failings of his youth, he had sincerely +mourned for them, and now, enjoying the strong hope of a true Christian, +he died. Harry and I followed the old man to his grave; Susan, who had +been summoned to give evidence at the trial, returned with me after some +time to Ryde, where we have since lived on, having seen another long war +brought to a glorious conclusion. + +One of my chief amusements is to describe to the members of another +generation the battles I have seen fought, the adventures I have gone +through, and, what I find interests them more than anything else, to +repeat the account I have given in this book of "The Loss of the _Royal +George_." + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Loss of the Royal George, by W.H.G. 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