CHAPTER XXVI
"After breakfast-time the breeze freshened again, and the ship hadevidently perceived us, as well as the fact of our having hauled on awind to make up with her course; for we could see her hoisting out onestunsail after another to the lee-side, and keeping off in order to givethem full play. This was what I was afraid of, in fact, that our lookingher way in the circumstances would make her show her heels; and beinghull down, almost dead to windward of us, with her spread of sail tosuch a breeze as the present, it was like to be a troublesome matter erewe got within signalling distance; especially if she had kept hold ofher wind a little more, instead of falling off before it as she did,which tended the schooner always steadily to weather upon her, thesharper we kept her nose to the sun in the spray. Indeed, the windduring the forenoon came gradually round more in our favour, till itstood south-east by east or so; by which time, however, we had droppedher topsails from the deck, then her to'gallant-sails, to a white speckfar down on the lee-bow. We weathered fast upon her, and I fancied Imade out the yellow India patches in her canvas; when, on turning about,I caught Jones's glance at me, as if he couldn't understand myeagerness, or else had got curious what the schooner wanted with theship at all. 'She loses, I think, sir,' said he looking off to heragain. 'Little doubt of that, Mr Jones,' said I. 'I know that Indiaman'ssailing to a tee--but we shan't overhaul her at this rate an hour toosoon, before she might have a chance of dropping us in the dark, or ourrunning to leeward of her again.' 'Why, yes,' said Jones, carelessly,'if they knew how to do it, sir.' 'By George! Mr Collins,' exclaimedSnelling, 'I see her stern-gallery sparkling in the run of the surges.'
"In a little while we could notice her canvas darken slowly from thecourses to the to'gallant-sails, leaving the royals and studding-sailswhiter than before: they were wetting her sails. 'She must take us forsomething bad, Lieutenant Collins!' remarked Jones, as if the thing wereat all doubtful. 'A pirate, in fact,' added the reefer, with a grin.'Why, sir,' said he, 'these Company's men seem to think the sea swarmswith pirates, though I'm blessed if we've been so lucky as to sight eventhe tail-feather of one--my eye! though, how the griffins must beskipping about just now!'
"The truth was, the nearer we got, the more it struck me that, alteredas the schooner was aloft, our red streak and lead-coloured sides werejust as the first time I saw them; which wouldn't do much towardsettling the Indiaman's doubts of us, for they couldn't fail to rememberher the moment our hull came in sight; and as for my own character allalong aboard the _Seringapatam_, why, neither first nor last did it seemto stand in good odour. 'Mr Jones,' said I, as we slipped quietlythrough the water, 'have you got any old canvas at hand, sir?--be sogood as have it ripped up in lengths, and fast clapped outside from stemto stern along that red streak of ours, up as far as the plank sheer,missing the ports--give her a good broad white stripe, sir, instead!''Ay, ay, sir!' answered he, with a gleam in his eye as he turned off,half knowing, half in surprise. 'And, Mr Snelling,' continued I, 'harkye, see all the hammocks stowed over the bulwarks in her waist--and runboth those long-guns forward, chock in to the eyes of her, to bring herdown by the head a little--keep the men on the foc'sle too--she looksrather rakish at present, I must confess!'
"All this the young gentleman seemed to do with as rueful a look as ifhe were putting knee-breeches and gaiters in place of white ducks, onhis own lower timbers; and presently he came aft to ask if he mightn'tstick a shot into each of the guns. 'What for?' said I. 'Oh,' said themidshipman, 'won't she show fight at all, sir, then?' Just then thewhite range of the Indiaman's heavy quarter-gallery came into view, thenthe bulge of her big hulking body half on to us, with a port-lid or tworaised in the white band: we were to windward of her already, stealingup on her quarter. 'My eye!' said Snelling, 'she could blow us out ofwater, if she choose, Mr Collins, and only had pluck enough.' 'Why,that's all you know about it, Mr Snelling,' said I, with a laugh, 'sinceshe don't carry long muzzles in her side, and in a light breeze likethis we could--however, as we happen to be friends, that's of no moment,Mr Snelling.' 'After all, though,' I added, 'you _may_ load once, andstand by to fire across her course, if required; but, for the life ofyou, Snelling,' said I, seriously, 'in any case, if I give the word tofire, don't let anything in the shape of iron go near that ship's hull!By Jove! sir, I'd let her blow us out of the water first, or else showher our heels, myself!'
"Well, about four in the afternoon, there we were coming down actuallyon the ship's quarter, from windward; when we took in our flying-kites,clued up gaff and fore-topsails, and to'gallant-sail, leaving StGeorge's flag fluttering bright at the main-peak, and our longcoach-whip streaming from the mast-head, while she kept gliding easilyahead under nothing but the two boom-sails and large jib. Still theIndiaman gave no other sign except showing the British ensign, then herstriped Company's flag under it, at the mizzen-peak: she went joggingsteadily on, as I was afraid she would, like a fellow giving you thego-by in the street. 'Nothing else for it, after all, Mr Snelling,' saidI, walking forward, as we got within long range. 'The confounded fools!'I couldn't help saying, 'do they think a piratical craft would giveherself the trouble of hoisting all the flags in Christendom one afterthe other, and she, of course, with a long-Tom on a pivot amidships? MrJones, oblige me by pitching a shot right across her forefoot?' Jonesstepped forward, had the gun slued, and blew the match. 'Are you ready?'said I--'now mind your eye--fire!' and the ball went spinning from thetop of one swell to another beyond the Indiaman's bows, rather wide ofthe mark, as I thought: when, all at once, the smoke had scarce clearedaway betwixt us ere I saw her jib-sheets fly, and the Indiaman luffingup in the wind. Jones started, as almost next moment we could see thespritsail-yard hanging in two across the spars--I must say, rather to myown surprise, in spite of a good deal of old cruising practice.
"'A good aim, sir!' remarked he, turning round. 'There goes hermain-yard, now!' said Snelling; and she seemed to be heaving-to, whenthe mainsail filled again, and on she stood as before; then actuallybroached-to, all aback, and gathering stern-way with her bows fairlyfacing us; while the black figure-head under the bowsprit showed me histurban again once more, like a fellow leaning over a horse he couldn'tmanage. 'What the mischief _are_ the lubbers about!' I said, 'can't theyheave-to at once and be done with it, now that I fancy they see theirmistake?'
"Here Jones, who had got aft and stood up on the taffrail, jumped downagain all at once, and met me at the capstan. 'Lieutenant Collins,' saidhe in a low voice, and looking me straight in the face with a very queerexpression, 'the ship has _struck_!' 'Struck!' repeated I, starting; andhe, Snelling, and I sprang to the taffrail together. There was theIndiaman, in fact, at length heaving into the wind, about three-quartersof a mile off our lee-beam, with her two ensigns hauled down, andsomething flying instead of them at the gaff-end, which I couldn't makeout. Our helm was put up, and the schooner edged swiftly down to her,slipping along in sight of her stretch of bulwarks till we had hove-toabreast of her starboard bow.
'What ship is that?' hailed I from abaft, as we ran past in the shadowof her sails; and I saw my gentleman 'first officer,' Finch, standing upin her mizzen-chains with the trumpet, more dashing than ever, as he hadpoor Captain Williamson's uniform coat and hat on, apparently, and asword by his side: her whole quarter-bulwark bristling with spy-glassesand gun-barrels turned upon the schooner, though not another head couldbe seen. 'The Honourable East In----' began Finch; but that moment therewas a perfect hubbub of cries and cheers, as a dozen faces I knew wellshowed themselves popping up from the quarter-deck: Old Rollock in ahuge straw hat and his shirt-sleeves, with a ship's musket in his fists;Ford, Winterton, and the cadets--the long-faced Scotch surgeon, andMacleod's screwed nose and red whiskers--every eye fixed on me, as Ifancied, not to say three or four rusty barrels. Their confusion andbewilderment was rare to witness; and being forty hands of us--theLascars' outlandish physiognomies and all--why, the schooner must havelooked rather respectable as she still slid ahead.
"In the mean
time, the look of our smart _Hebe's_ men, with the frigate'sname shining in front of their regular-built hats, and everything aboutus, not to say the reefer's naval uniform and mine, seemed to have setthe Indiaman's people more at their ease; till, when our gig's crew wasready to lower away, there was even a glimpse of ladies to be seen alongtoward her poop. Every moment I expected the sight of a certain face toflash on me from over the black rail, as the ship rolled and plunged inthe heave of water opposite us, showing her broad white band, with thedrips of rust across it from her chain-plates. 'We made somewhat of anawkward mistake, sir!' hailed Finch, eyeing me queerly enough, andtrying to appear at his ease. 'So I supposed, sir,' said I; 'I shallsend a boat aboard of you directly'; and I turned to the midshipman, whostood surveying the ship from stem to stern with his nose turned awayfrom her, and his hands in the tails of his coat, speaking all the timeto Mr Jones, though the latter was apparently the least interested ofthe two, for he had his eye seaward.
"'Mr Snelling,' said I, 'd'ye see that gentleman yonder near themain-rigging, with the black hat on? You'll go aboard in the gig, sir,give your commanding-officer's compliments to the captain of theIndiaman, and mention to him that that gentleman is wantedhere--Westwood his name is.'
"To tell you the truth, my head was in a perfect whirl at knowing that,if I chose, five minutes could set me within speaking distance ofViolet--yet you'd scarce believe I actually almost made up my mind notto go on deck again till our sheets were hauled aft, and we leaving theship astern. Bless your heart! I wasn't aware till that minute _what_ Ifelt for her; everything about the voyage from Portsmouth came back sofresh on me, at sight of the different parts about the old_Seringapatam's_ bulwarks, to the very odds-and-ends of ropes hangingalongside that blessed lumbering coach-house of hers amidships, and thelive-stock cackling and bleating in it between times! And there was Iglancing aft into our little stern-cabins, which I fancied two or threedays ago might serve for _their_ passage. But now, though I had a prettysharp guess these same cabins were meant originally for neither more norless than an emperor himself, why, I saw the very notion was tooridiculous to mention! 'Mr Jones,' said I, speaking up the skylight, 'assoon as you see that passenger is in the boat, have the head sheetshauled aft, sir, and the helm put up to make sail.' 'Ay, ay, sir,' saidhe; but directly after, he added in a low voice, 'I believe though, sir,we are not likely to part company from this ship so soon!' 'How, sir!'exclaimed I sharply, and starting up off the chair to see him, forsomething in the cool, collected tone of his voice jarred on me the moreon account of the state I was in myself--'what do you mean by that?' Ihad merely to catch sight of my mate's broad throat and hairy chin,however, as he stood with his full chest thrown back, and one hand inhis waistcoat, looking aloft by the skylight, when, following his eye toour main-gaff, it was easy to know the last fanning of the wind; which,taken together with the schooner's yerking motion abaft, was sufficientto give you word of a calm. 'We have lost the breeze for to-night, atany rate, sir,' said Jones, letting his eyes suddenly fall upon me, andmeeting the flicker of pleasure I couldn't help showing on my face.'Confound the thing! you don't say so, Mr Jones!' rejoined I quickly.'Then as long as she has a foot's steerage-way, sir, let her slip offthe Indiaman's bow at once--else the two of us will be grinding togetherere daylight like a couple of mill-stones without corn!'
"On deck there were twenty things worth noticing, that struck one at thesame time. The schooner's light spars and white canvas seen sharpagainst the white glare of light in the west, as she settled round onthe ship's other bow; while the light air high aloft in the Indiaman'sroyals still kept steadying her with her lee-side to the sunset, whereit made a red trough along the horizon down through a golden cloud ortwo, that looked like bright-winged things whirling off and about thesun.
"Our gig was holding off by the boat-hook from her lee-quarter, the oarsup-ended, and two or three sailors, with their heads shoved out under aport-lid on the main deck, talking to the boat's crew, while a few ofthe men hung over the high black top-sides, peering aft at the gig; therest being gathered in the ship's bows, with their eyes fixed on theschooner. The huge round of the sun went down astern like the mouth of afurnace, sending a broad stream of red light across the face of thewater with every wet streak and wrinkle shown heaving in it, right up tothe Indiaman's white band and her pitch-black bulwarks. Herquarter-galleries lashed out, and you saw the passengers' heads aftthrough the red arch under the wide mainsail-foot, till every face shonecrimson-bright out of the awning below; and I could see the midshipman'sgold band glisten as he took his cap off to some ladies coming down thepoop-stair, amidst a hubbub of cadets turning round to eye the schooner.For half-a-minute the smooth sea all astern of the ship seemed to washto her water-line in a flood of light and blood almost, as if thehorizon vanished; then the tip of the sun went down like a burning ruby,the blue heave of water sank away from the copper at the Indiaman'sbows, giving us an easy lift at the other side of the swell, and thewhole compass of the sea appeared to slide round cool and clear againstthe soft flush of all possible tints in the west; till the deep indigohue of the calm spread melting off from both of us.
"What I gave most heed to was the knots of men's faces on the_Seringapatam's_ forecastle, as the golden gleam of light and the redglare struck across them with all sorts of queer touches, that broughtback every one of them clearly to mind at once; and, stepping forwardwhere Mr Jones's figure was to be seen dark against the pale glow in thewest, I could easily make out ugly Harry's big buffalo head, as he leanthis chin on his two hands, and surveyed us up and down, with his dirtytarpaulin on the back of his head as usual, and his shaggy black hairlike thatch over his forehead, almost down to the meeting of his thickeyebrows. The moment I appeared, Mister Harry Foster shifted himselfwith a start, looked aloft to his own ship, and began to whistle as iffor wind; the same moment Jones turned and noticed me, too, and thedifference of the two men's faces struck me the more, that I couldn'thelp thinking extremes met. 'That fellow there seems to like us so well,Mr Jones,' said I, laughing, 'that I've half a mind to bring him aboard,as I _could_!' 'Who--which, sir?' said the mate, looking to every partof the Indiaman but the right one. 'Why, that misbegotten-like rascalyou were looking at,' said I; 'I know a little of him, and a morethorough blackguard doesn't walk planks!' 'There's the boat, though,Lieutenant Collins!' said Jones suddenly: the boat-hook struck ourmizzen-chains on the other side in the dusk, and next minute TomWestwood swung himself on board, with the midshipman and Old Rollock theplanter following in his wake; the last, to my surprise, carrying twohat-boxes and an umbrella.
"'Why, Ned Collins!' broke out Westwood, 'what is the meaning of allthis--what wind has blown you here?' 'My _dear_ fellow!' shouted theplanter, almost jumping on top of me, 'I never in my life saw the likeof you--the very same infernal schooner, too! Come, let's hear--have youtaken 'em all then, head and tail--have you----' "'For Heaven's sake,Mr Rollock,' said I, sheering out of his way as well as I could, 'comebelow, sir, if I must answer all these questions!' 'So you are actuallyin command?' said Westwood; and hereupon I gave him the bearings of hisown affair, with the fact of my falling in with Lord Frederick Bury, ofcourse; and of all men in the world, I believe, the 'Honourable Bury'was the one Westwood could feel comfortable under, as his face showed atthe time. 'Whether I _lose_ you or not in the Hooghly, Tom,' said I, 'Idaresay you'll find yourself in the end aboard the _Hebe_, in some shapeor other! and meantime I shall be glad of you here for a first mate.''Well, well,' put in the planter again, impatiently, after having keptquestioning me every now and then for the last ten minutes, which Ianswered without well knowing what he said--'then you hung him, ofcourse?' 'Hung whom?' asked I, obliged to attend by Mr Rollock'sperseverance. 'Why, El Americano, to be sure--the Yankee--Snout!' saidhe, trying to lengthen his face for the news. 'Hung him--no!' said I,laughing; 'when I saw him on deck there, last, he was lively enough, andanxious to get those images of his out of the _Seringapatam_.' Theplanter's rosy gills turned a shade or
two paler, and he started off hisseat. 'God bless me!' said he, in a low voice, and looking over hisshoulder, 'you don't mean to say you've brought the man back on me. Ideclare to you I lost a few pounds of my weight here before, by hisactually conceiving a friendship for me!' Old Rollock's dismay was socomical that I could scarce find in my heart to ease his mind, as I did.
"'Why, my dear fellow,' said Westwood, with a smile, 'I assure you thatdisappearance of yours took me by surprise. Indeed, I only guessed, fromsomething Captain Finch let drop afterwards, how it came about; and tillthe very moment the brig-of-war got under way, I fancied you had someother plan in view, or else you never would have carried it out. Thefact was, Ned, if your heart was bound for India, mine was ashore in oldEngland, and I'd rather have run the risk to go back!' Here Tom caughtmy glance, and looked shyly into one waistcoat pocket, then intoanother, fidgeting on his chair, poor fellow! in a way that brought mysister Jane's grey eyes, and her demure little arch face, distinctlybefore me, thousands of miles as there were between us and Croydon. Thethought of the _Seringapatam_ being so near, on the other hand, somehowrushed on me at the same time, and I felt wonderfully mild toward Tom.'Hang it, Tom!' said I, 'never mind thinking of it--mix your grog, man,and confound all care to the bottom of the sea. You're well off! For mypart,' said I, 'I had no notion at all how _that_ case stood, so I madea cursed mistake in the matter--but here's luck!'
"'However,' said he, 'I saw _your_ drift by that time; and the younglady herself was in the fore-cabin when I told her father the wholestory, not long after you went off. 'Twas no use with Sir Charles,though, to say you were only carrying out the joke to screen me, andamuse yourself at the same time--he was sure you were after some scheme;and all the while Miss Hyde sat sewing on the sofa behind us, as quietand careless as if she didn't hear a word, or trouble herself about thematter. When I came upon your vanishing so suddenly in the brig,however, and said I was sure, by that time, you did so in order to letme clear off, I had my eye on the looking-glass opposite the young lady;and whatever you may make of it, Ned, I can tell you she started andglanced up at that point.' 'Well, and what of that?' I asked. ButWestwood went on--'It was all one to Sir Charles, nevertheless, whateverway I turned it. According to him, this was just of a piece with therest of your doings, which showed the bad effects of the naval service.'Twas no use my standing up for you, saying how fast you had risen, andwould rise, if you had the right thing to do--for the old gentlemanallowed everything, adding it was so much the worse for such fellows tobe set loose. "I tell you what, Mr Westwood," said he, looking roundsharply, as if he were speaking _at_ somebody else, "there is a soul ofmischief in that young man that nothing will root out, unfitting him foreverything else, however admirably it may be suited to maritime pursuitsor to savage warfare. In short," added the judge, drawing himself up,"it is my conviction he will either be drowned or knocked on thehead----"' 'The precious old curmudgeon!' I rapped out, betwixt laughterand rage at the thought of _her_ hearing all this pretty character ofme. '"And I must say, my young friend," said the judge, "I felt muchrelieved at finding Councillor Westwood's nephew so different anindividual--exceedingly relieved! Besides that, you cannot, of course,continue in the navy!" Just at this moment,' continued Westwood, 'I sawthe young lady gather up her work behind us with a sparkle in her eye,rise off the sofa, and walk straight aft through the cabin-door.'
"'Was _that_ all?' said I, biting my lip. '_All_, you heathen!' answeredTom, laughing. 'Why, what would you have? I'll be bound the judge didn'tmean all that for my use, my dear fellow. But the worst of it was, thatnext day, when I met her with the Brigadier's lady on the poop, theyoung beauty passed me with as scornful an air as possible; and for aweek or so, whenever the judge happened to ask me into the round-housecabins, either she wasn't there, or took an opportunity of walkingout--the most I got was a bow or a "good-morning"; so you see the realSimon Pure didn't prosper half so well as the false one!' 'Pooh!' saidI, gloomily, thinking of the little ground I had made myself, 'allcontradiction--the fact is, you're too simple for women's ways,Westwood.' Westwood looked down and gave a queer smile--as much as tosay, I suppose, the case stood just the contrary; and I must own, itstruck me _he_ must be rather a knowing fellow that could fathom mysister, seeing that, for my part, I understood her no more than mymother's housemaid did, with her high-flown music and poetry, and allthat sort of thing.
"'However,' said Westwood, 'I contrived by degrees to get over all this,and for the last week or two we were as good acquaintances as before--infact, the judge was evidently bent on it. And I tell you what it is,Ned, as charming a girl, in her way, as Violet Hyde I can't wellfancy--but one more hopeless to deal with, for a fellow that hasn't gothold of her heart, I believe doesn't breathe! Why, young as she is,you'd feel her playing you round her pretty forefinger as a woman would,looking at you all the time under her soft eyelids with those brighteyes of hers, as if you could fancy her falling in love in a moment withsomeone else, but never with yourself!' 'By Jove, yes!' said I, feelingas dismal as I daresay I looked. 'Do you know,' Westwood went on, 'herfigure and walk always remind me of a Hindoo girl's, all over English asher face and hair are, with a touch of the tropical, you can't saywhere, about it--owing to her being born in India, as I believe shewas; and altogether, Ned, I'm glad to----' Here Westwood shrugged hisshoulders, and I poured myself out another glass of grog in puredespair.
"'The truth is,' said I, 'I wish I had never _seen_ that confounded_Seringapatam_! Didn't she say any--didn't you--in fact, Tom, what doyou think of the matter, plump and plain, stem and stern?' said Imanfully. 'Why,' said Tom, in a thoughtful way, 'not to set you at allwrong on either side, the thing that strikes me is, I don't think sheever once mentioned you, Ned, except in passing. But to my mind, in thecircumstances, that's not so much against you. The young lady can saylittle when she pleases, I assure you; for only last night, in that finemoonlight, we happened to touch on that affair in the river--you know?''Yes,' I said, for it wasn't easy to forget. 'Now I always thought thatnight a turning-point with you,' Westwood said; 'and it was the lastnight you were aboard; so I spoke of you a good deal, and never a worddid Miss Violet utter, save "Yes" and "No," while her face being in theshadow, I couldn't see it. Oh, by-the-by, though,' continued he, 'she_did_ say one thing!'
"'For Heaven's sake, what was it?' I broke out eagerly. 'Well, then,Ned,' answered he, leaning back on the two back legs of his chair, andeyeing me with a comical air, which surprised me a little; 'do youconsider yourself good-looking?' I started up. 'What do you mean bythat, Tom?' said I; but next moment I sat down again with a sulky 'No,I'll be hanged if I do! so----' 'No more does your lady-love, then,'said Westwood, 'for she made the remark very coolly, and even without myasking her--but don't be down-hearted at that, my dear Ned, for I thinkmore of that little sentence, in the way it was said, than of all shedid _not_ say!' 'The greater the difference between us, I suppose,' saidI savagely. 'Why,' replied Tom, ''tis my conviction you never hear awoman say the man she likes is handsome--and from a perverse young gipsylike----' 'Well, by Jove! Westwood,' said I, losing my temperaltogether, and giving the table a slap with my fist that sent my glasscrash to the deck, 'you beat everything! I suppose if she'd called me afool and a blessed lubber, you'd turn it to my favour. But the truth is,I don't understand your niceties--I want something broad andabove-board, that a fellow can lay hold of--and the short and the longof it is----' With that I laid my face on my arms down in the spilt grogon the table, and fairly groaned. My head reeled till I scarce knew itwas myself that was sitting there, as all of a sudden one thought afteranother crowded on me. Somehow I seemed for a single moment to be outand out in the open sea, the different faces I'd seen along the ship'sbulwarks rushing past me, with Jones's face, and the look of theIndiaman in the sunset; through all sorts of weather, too, in thatconfounded moment.
"Then, I can't say why, but my hair crept as I came back to the thoughtof the Indiaman and the schooner in the calm at the time, and I almostfancied
I heard a whisper at my ear. I looked up, and saw Tom Westwoodsitting opposite me, with a musing air, and rather melancholy. The sightof my wild stare, with the grog I suppose trickling down my forehead,and dripping off my nose, appeared to startle him, and our eyes metqueerly enough for half-a-minute--till all at once the notion seemed tostrike both of us, of the absurdity of two fellows hobnobbing andlackadaisying away this fashion in a hole of a schooner's cabin,thousands of miles from land; and I'm blessed if we didn't both burst atthe same moment into regular roars of laughter--first one broadside,then 'bout ship, as it were, to deliver the other, gun after gun. ByGeorge! though, I felt it do me good, as if something deadly went offwith it. 'Hallo!' sung out the planter, blocking up the moonlight thatshone misty-white down the steps of the companion, to a blue glimmer atthe foot of them; 'both surviving _yet_, I declare'; and we felt thescent of his cheroot in the hot calm as he walked aft again.
"'Well, Ned,' said Westwood, still laughing, 'there's one thing more I_did_ contrive to get out, and it is certainly broad enough to lay holdof, as you say. Do you know, from some hints the judge let drop incourse of the passage, after he got to know me, I have a rather sharpsuspicion he has someone in view for his daughter already!' At this Igasped once more. 'Whether she knows it herself or not, I'm not sure,'added Tom; 'but, very naturally, the gentleman I mean was often enoughmentioned in Sir Charles's cabins--for who do you imagine, of allpersons in the world, it is?'
"I made no trial at a guess, but sat eyeing Westwood in perfect silence,and he went on--'Who but--don't look so fierce, my dear fellow--justthis--this said nabob of an uncle of mine, the Bengal Councillor! Why,you've no conception,' said Westwood, 'what presents of pearl necklaces,fans, cashmere shawls, and China ivory work-boxes, and so on, theCouncillor must have sent home to her at different times, for the_Seringapatam_ to bring back again. I didn't see her wear any of them;but every now and then Sir Charles would point to something that layabout, telling me it came from my uncle! He is a bachelor, you know, notso old as Sir Charles himself, who isn't so old as he looks, and theyseem to be sworn friends!' 'Tuts, man!' said I, brightening a bit,'can't you see he wants to adopt her?' 'So I should have imagined,'answered Westwood; 'but the fact is, two or three times, as I told you,Sir Charles Hyde hinted as much as that it was an idea of long standingbetween himself and his friend the Councillor, so----' 'The oldvillain!' I roared. 'Begging your pardon, Westwood--but I must say youare the pattern of a Job's comforter, and no mistake!' 'Well,' answeredhe, 'if you had heard the way in which the young lady mentioned my uncleto me, you wouldn't be much afraid of your rival, Ned. Why, she said shethought she remembered him when she was a little girl, bringing herIndian sweetmeats from the bazaar in his carriage--she actually supposedhe must be older than her father, when the judge set her right eagerlyenough--but, you must know, he no more seems able to say a sharp word to_her_, than Jacobs yonder would. So what did she say next, afterapparently thinking a little, but that, now she recollected, my uncleused to have gray hair and white whiskers, like Mr Rollock, which for mypart I knew no more about than the table, when her father broke outdescribing him as warmly as possible; and suddenly Miss Hyde looked athim with a little turn of her pretty lip, and a twinkle in her eye, thatsent the old gentleman fiddling about his coffee-cup, and stopped him ina moment as if she had been a little witch!'
"'What's to be done, Tom?' I faltered out, after a long stop. 'I'm sureI don't know, Ned,' said he gravely; 'let's go on deck at any rate, forit's too hot here to sleep.' The moment the sight of the calm burst uponus, however, with the two vessels together in the midst of it, in thehazy sort of moonlight, the same notion seemed to strike both of us ina different way. 'I'll tell you what, Collins,' said Westwood,half-jokingly, half in earnest, 'uncle though he be, if you can contriveto cut out the Councillor anyhow, I'll forgive you, for one!' 'How,though--_how_, by Jove!' replied I--'if they go to Bombay in theIndiaman, by the time they reach Calcutta, I shall be in the Pacific!'''Tis a difficult case,' said Westwood, 'no doubt. And even suppose youhad the opportunity, 'twould be hard to manage an elopement ashore inIndia, travelling "dauk" in two palanquins. Seriously speaking, Ned, Isee nothing for it but to wait till you come _back_ from the Pacific.'
"I looked hopelessly round: the calm and heat together gave one ahelpless feeling, and every notion of an active sort appeared desperate.A perfect calm it was, too: there was some filmy scum of a haze aloft,that served to spread the moonlight all over, shutting out the shape ofthe sky, and softening off the horizon; with the moon standing slant upin it, like a brighter spot, and a few stars low down in the east. Butfor the long wide tremble of the water, in fact, as it glanced up with ablue flicker, you'd have fancied we mightn't be far from land; while thebig Indiaman lay off the schooner's bow, without the least motion onecould see; the moonshine edging round her spars and ropes from the otherside, and her sails hanging shadowy against it, except below, under herbrailed-up courses, where the masts, the thick of the rigging, and thetops of her deck-lumber, glistened as if they were newly wet. Half ofher watch were on the bowsprit, sending out a 'fished' spritsail-yard,the same we had set dangling about their ears that afternoon, and wecould hear them speaking plain enough; every time they sang out at ahaul, it went far away on all sides--ho-ho-ho-he-ho-ho-o--till you lostit in the dead calm, as if somebody had gone there. Now and then the_Seringapatam_ made a slight plunge by the head, as the wide soft swellfloated up with her; and the glossy black shadow, that seemingly gaveher hull the height of a tower, came wavering in quicksilver circles toour very cutwater, while the lights from her after-windows went twistingaway round her heavy counter to the moonshine, like yellow snakes; theschooner all the time lying as quiet as if she were on a pond, exceptthat by little and little she kept shifting her bearings to theIndiaman, and things were confoundedly like our both sticking togetherin course of the morning, if the calm held. I went forward to theforecastle and desired Jones to get all hands down into the boats, andhave her towed off to safe distance, seeing that the worst of it wouldbe sure to fall to our share.
"This was doing, and we drew slowly off the ship's bow, where her mencoolly knocked off working to watch ours, and pass jokes on our gang ofLascars, as they handled the oars in awkward style; in fact, by the waythe Indiaman's watch carried on, most of them seemed to have passed thegrog-can pretty freely, being Saturday night, which we could hear theywere still keeping up below in the forecastle, when our quarter cameabreast of her larboard bow. 'Hurrah!' said one, waving his tarpaulin;and 'Pull, you beggars!' roared another; when my old customer, uglyHarry, all at once leant out of her fore-chains, and sung out to Jones,who was next him in the stern-sheets of our gig: 'I say, mate, so ye'reclearing off, are ye? The better for that 'ere nutshell of a schooner o'yours, I reckon!' Jones made no answer, and the fellow added; 'Comeaboard when you've got a safe berth, anyhow, and drink "sweethearts andwives," will ye?' I saw Jones start, and turn his face fiercely into theshadow of the ship's main-course on the water, rising half-up with onefist clenched, but he said nothing. 'Oh, you're blasted proud!' Fostercalled out: 'you forgets a man, blow me! D'ye think I doesn't know afellow I got glorious with myself, in old Van Stinkoff's, at Cape Town?Sink me, mates,' said he, as loud as before, turning round on the railof the bulwarks to the rest, 'I picked him out o' the street scuppers,under the sign of the Flying Dutchman, an' I'm blowed if I didn't thinkit beneath me at the time!' Here the end of our main-boom opened us insight of the ugly ruffian, and he was sinking down in-board, when Ihailed the Indiaman's quarter-deck, where the Scotch mate was to beseen. 'Ay, ay, the schooner ahoay!' sung out he, coming to the gangway.'Did you hear that man's impertinence, sir,' said I sternly, 'to myofficer on duty there? I expect you to see him punished, sir.' TheScotchman said he'd inquire into it; but shortly after he came back,saying he 'doubted' he couldn't be sure of the man; and, at any rate, hecould have 'meant no ill.' The boats had towed us by this time almostout of fair hearing, but Harry Foster was to be seen coolly eyeing usfrom th
e midst of his watchmates, as he slung a couple of blocks overhis shoulder; when he turned away with as much indifference as if we hadbeen a Thames collier, growling some two or three words or other thatbrought a loud laugh from the Indiaman's forecastle to her bowsprit,where the men were turning lazily to their business again.
"Being now clear off the ship, with the rake of her hull in our commandif I chose, and free of her broadside at the same time, I hailed theboats to leave off towing and come aboard. As Jones came on deck, I sawthat in his face to make me think he took the thing to heart, seeing hemet my first look with his lips set together and a steady gleam of hiseyes. The truth was, I never in my life came across a man that struck meso much with the notion of his having a devil in him, seeking to get thebetter of what was good.
"'I think we shall do, Mr Jones?' I said. 'Quite safe, sir,' said he,quietly; at that moment, standing as we did out of earshot, with thesetting moon in sight past the Indiaman, shining in a rusty yellow glareto her hanging sails, 'twas strange how the odds of our differentstations passed off. We were foot to foot, in fact; I was fully aware,if never before, what an enemy Jones would make--he had great daring andknowingness in him, and all on the wrong side of the hedge for me at thetime, seeing I had such a ticklish part to play with the Indiaman. Icaught myself, on the instant, measuring youth and activity, not to sayregular breeding to the service, and a clear conscience besides, againsthim and his thews and sinews; but as for turning and twisting with theman before me, I saw it was the tack likely to throw him to windward ofme. My voice changed, and I lowered it as I said: 'Mr Jones, I happenedto sail half the voyage as a passenger in that ship, and I've no commonreason to be anxious about her getting safe into port. There's onesingle being in her at this moment I'd willingly lose my life to savefrom anything like what one could fancy--ay, so help me God, suppose I'dno chance of ever setting eyes on her again!' Jones never stirred afeature, but looked past me into the gleam of the moon over my shoulder.
"'Well, Mr Jones,' I said, 'I'll acknowledge to you frankly, as from oneseaman to another, the question is, Are you for me--or _not_?' 'Wespeak as man with man, it seems, Mr Collins!' said Jones quietly; 'thenI am--_for_ you!' and he struck his hand all at once into mine; 'here'sa hand that never lied, whatever the tongue may have done--bad or good;I am for you, sir, and no more of it! I knew as well as if you'd toldme, Mr Collins, by the looks of the passengers, that you had sailedaboard that ship in some way or other--and what's more, sir, I_saw_----' here he stopped, looking at me with his back to the sinkinggleam of light beyond the ship's hull, from the moon as she touched thewater, and I saw nothing but the shape of his head under the straw hat,with a shadow blurring his face together, though I felt him eyeing meout of it all the time--'what some would think more worth while than ifyou were a Spanish plate-ship,' he went on; and he lowered his voicenearly to a whisper as he added, 'I tell you what, Mr Collins, 'tis myconviction that, _if you chose_, you might do what you liked in the endwith that Indiaman and _all_ aboard her!' I stepped back with a shiverthrough me, as the sudden setting of the moon blended everything blackin with Jones's shoulders, leaving his head instead of her against aglimmer of light, till for a moment it seemed peering at me off thehorizon with the whole lump of shadow betwixt the two craft for a body;and I must say I thought of old stories about the Tempter in human form.'Devil!' said I hoarsely, while the last gleam to westward went out, andit got so dark I could have fancied Jones had vanished from the bulwarkswithout stirring a foot; in fact, on my moving to the place I touchedthe cool planks with my hand--he was actually gone! Nothing was visiblebeyond our own decks, save a slight glimmer such as one would make insculling with a single oar; and I saw at once he had taken the smallboat alongside to go aboard the Indiaman! All the rest was that thickheavy darkness only to be found in a calm in the Indian Ocean, towardsmorning: you may not only say you see it, but could stir it, as it were,with a stick.
"A horrid notion of Jones's purpose crept through my mind at first; buton second thoughts I easily saw this wasn't the occasion for him tochoose, if he had really meant ill, and accordingly there was more thereason to trust him. Indeed, as I stood listening and watching, afterWestwood and the planter went below, the Indiaman's binnacle lamp seemedto go slowly out, while at the same time the sound of her watchspeaking on the forecastle apparently got distincter, till I could hearthem clear of the ship's hull and rigging, like low voices muttering inthe air betwixt her and us. 'Twas only her having sheered graduallybow-on to the schooner again, however, as a calm near the equator hasalways something like a _pulse_ in it--but it struck me there were menout on her jib-boom, which being of course the very privatest part ofany in a ship for talk--why, to find more than one going out there, of adark night, and with no work to do, never looks otherwise thansuspicious. Nothing of this kind surprised me at present in the_Seringapatam_, with the opinion I had of her; but the curious thingwas, that the fellows must have supposed it the farthest point theycould get out of sight of us, as well as from their own decks, shehaving had her beam to the schooner when the moon set.
"The desperate feelings that steal upon a man in such a case, and thefearful notions that breed in his head, with the quickness of his sensesand the way he holds on by a single rope, you can scarcely conceive,though if a cry had come from the Indiaman at that moment I daresay Ishould have sprung in head foremost to get to her, when all at once,from up in the air again, I thought I heard the smart click of a flintand steel; at any rate, I saw the sparks showering from it in the midstof the black space before me--even the pair of fists as they knockedtogether, then a mouth blowing the match, till there was a light in alantern between four heads leaning towards each other over the spar.Queer enough it would have been to see, in ordinary circumstances, butyou'll readily fancy what a thing it looked all of a sudden, right outin the midst of the pitch-black night, one didn't know how or where--infact, two of them faced each other in the stream of light from one sideof the lantern, like the two edges of a rent in the dark, and anotherwas like a sprawling blot in the centre--you just saw they were facesand heads, with a foot or two of the thick round boom slanting upbetwixt them; but as for their bodies, they were all of a piece with theperfect blackness beyond. I could see one of them hold up the lanternand pass it round the three others' faces, bringing out their chins andnoses, as if to be sure who they were--a piece of caution which servedalmost equally well for me, for I remembered each of them by headmarkamongst the crew, only I didn't see the said fellow himself, even whenhe drew out some paper or other in one hand, seemingly unfolded it withthe help of his teeth, and spread it over the jib-boom under thelantern, whereupon the whole four of the heads drew close together in ablack lump round the light, peering down upon the paper, and mutteringaway as much at their ease, no doubt, as if they'd been in a tap-room.All I wished for was a good rifle-barrel in my hand at the time, to haveknocked the light out from the midst of them, and sent the bullet byaccident through the tarpaulin hat behind it--especially when a glaringred flipper was shoved out on the white paper, and the thumb plantedsteadily on a particular spot. All at once, however, the light was putout in the lantern, and I heard them going in-board, as the noise of themorning watch being called, at four o'clock, got up round theforehatchway.
The Green Hand: Adventures of a Naval Lieutenant Page 29
