A Roving Commission; Or, Through the Black Insurrection at Hayti

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER II

  REJOINED

  Four days later Monsieur Duchesne came down with six negroes and a canelounging chair, on each side of which a long pole had been securelylashed. Nat's room was on the ground floor, and with wide windowsopening to the ground. The chair was brought in. Nat was still shaky onhis legs, but he was able to get from the bed into the chair withoutassistance.

  "I shall come over to see you to-morrow," Madame Demaine said, as hethanked her and her husband for their great kindness to him, "and I hopeI shall find that the journey has done you no harm."

  Four of the negroes took the ends of the poles and raised them ontotheir shoulders, the other two walked behind to serve as a relay.Monsieur Duchesne mounted his horse and took his place by Nat's side,and the little procession started. The motion was very easy and gentle.It was late in the afternoon when they started, the sun was near thehorizon, and a gentle breeze from the sea had sprung up. In half an hourit was dusk, and the two spare negroes lighted torches they had broughtwith them, and now walked ahead of the bearers. It was full moon, andafter having been so long confined in a semi-darkened room, Nat enjoyedintensely the soft air, the dark sky spangled with stars, and the richtropical foliage showing its outlines clearly in the moonlight.

  Presently Monsieur Duchesne said:

  "I have a flask of brandy and water with me, Mr. Glover, in case youshould feel faint or exhausted."

  Nat laughed.

  "Thank you for thinking of it, monsieur, but there is no fatiguewhatever in sitting here, and I have enjoyed my ride intensely. It isalmost worth getting hurt in order to have such pleasure: we don't getsuch nights as this in England."

  "But you have fine weather sometimes, surely?" Monsieur Duchesne said.

  "Oh yes, we often have fine weather, but there are not many nights inthe year when one can sit out-of-doors after dark! When it is a warmnight there are sure to be heavy dews; besides, the stars are not sobright with us as they are here, nor is the air so soft. I don't mean tosay that I don't like our climate better; we never have it sodesperately hot as you do, and besides, we like the cold, because itbraces one up, and even the rain is welcome as a change, occasionally.Still, I allow that as far as nights go you beat us hollow."

  The road presently began to rise, and before they reached the end of thejourney they were high above the plain. As they approached the house thenegroes broke into a song, and on their stopping before the wideverandah that surrounded the house, Madame Duchesne and her daughterwere standing there to greet them as the bearers gently lowered thechair to the ground. The girl was first beside it.

  "Ah, monsieur," she exclaimed as she took his hand, "how grateful I amto you! how I have longed to see you! for I have never seen you yet; andit has seemed hard to me that while aunt and the doctor should have seenyou so often, and even mamma should have seen you once, I should neverhave seen you at all."

  "There is not much to see in me at the best of times, mademoiselle," Natsaid as he rose to his feet, "and I am almost a scarecrow now. I wantedto see you, too, just to see what you were like, you know."

  He took the arm that Monsieur Duchesne offered him, for although hecould have walked that short distance unaided, he did not know theground, and might have stumbled over something. They went straight fromthe verandah into a pretty room lighted by a dozen wax candles. He satdown in a chair that was there in readiness for him. The girl placedherself in front of him and looked earnestly at him.

  "Well," he said with a laugh, "am I at all like what you pictured me?"

  "You are not a scarecrow at all!" she said indignantly. "Why do you saysuch things of yourself? Of course you are thin, very thin, but even nowyou look nice. I think you are just what I thought you would be. Now, amI like what you thought I should be?"

  "I don't know that I ever attempted to think exactly what you would be,"Nat said. "I did not notice your face; I don't even know whether it wasturned my way. I did take in that you were a girl somewhere aboutthirteen years old, but as soon as the dog turned, my attention waspretty fully occupied. Madame Demaine said your name was Myra. I thoughtthat with such a pretty name you ought to be pretty too. I suppose it isrude to say so, but you certainly are, mademoiselle."

  The girl laughed.

  "It is not rude at all; and please you are to call me Myra and notmademoiselle. Now, you must get strong as soon as you can. Mamma said Imight act as your guide, and show you about the plantation, and theslave houses, and everywhere. I have never had a boy friend, and Ishould think it was very nice."

  "My dear," her mother said with a smile, "it is not altogether discreetfor a young lady to talk in that way."

  "Ah! but I am not a young lady yet, mamma, and I think it is much nicerto be a girl and to be able to say what one likes. And you are anofficer, Monsieur Glover!"

  "Well, if I am to call you Myra, you must call me Nat. Monsieur Gloveris ridiculous."

  "You are very young to be an officer," the girl said.

  "Oh, I have been an officer for more than two years," he said. "I wasonly fourteen when I joined, and I am nearly sixteen now."

  "And have you been in battles?"

  "Not in a regular battle. You see England is not at war now with anyone,but I have been in two or three fights with pirates and that sort ofthing."

  "And now, Myra, you must not talk any more," her father said. "You knowthe doctor gave strict orders that he was to go to bed as soon as hearrived here."

  At this moment the door opened and a slave girl brought in a basin ofstrong broth.

  "Well, you may stop to take that."

  Nat spent a delightful month at Monsieur Duchesne's plantation. For thefirst few days he lay in a hammock beneath a shady tree, then he beganto walk, at first only for a few minutes, but every day his strengthincreased. At the end of a fortnight he could walk half a mile, and bythe time the month was up he was able to wander about with Myra all overthe plantation. Monsieur Duchesne, on his return one day from town,brought a letter for him. It was from the captain himself:

  _Dear Mr. Glover,--I hope you are getting on well, and are by this time on your legs again. As far as I can see, we are not likely to be at Cape Francois again for some time, therefore, when you feel quite strong enough, you had better take passage in a craft bound for Jamaica, which is likely to be our head-quarters for some time. Of course if we are away, you will wait till our return. I have spoken to a friend of mine, Mr. Cummings--his plantation lies high up among the hills--and he has kindly invited you to make his place your home till we return, and it will be very much better for you to be in the pure air up there than in this pestilential place._

  Nat would have started the next day, but his host insisted upon hisstaying for another week.

  "You are getting on so well," M. Duchesne said, "that it would be follyindeed to risk throwing yourself back. Every day is making animprovement in you, and a week will make a great difference."

  At the end of that week the planter, seeing that Nat was really anxiousto rejoin his ship, brought back the news that a vessel in port wouldsail for Port Royal in two days.

  "I have engaged a cabin for you," he said, "for although we shall besorry indeed to lose you, I know that you want to be off."

  "It is not that I want to be off, sir, for I was never happier in all mylife, but I feel that I ought to go. It is likely enough that the shipmay be short of middies, one or two may be away in prizes, and it willbe strange if no one falls sick while they are lying in Port Royal. Itwould be ungrateful indeed if I wanted to leave you when you are all sowonderfully kind to me."

  M. Duchesne drove Nat down to the port the next morning. The midshipmanas he left the house felt quite unmanned, for Myra had criedundisguisedly, and Madame Duchesne was also much moved. They passed M.Demaine's house without stopping, as he and his wife had spent theprevious evening at the Duchesnes', and had there said good-bye to him.

  "It is quite time that I was out of this," Nat said to
himself as heleaned on the rail and looked back at the port. "That sort of life isawfully nice for a time, but it would soon make a fellow so lazy andsoft that he would be of no use on board ship. Of course it was allright for a bit, but since I began to use my arm a little, I have wantedto do something. Still, it would have been no good leaving before, formy arm is of no real use yet, and the doctor said that I ought to carryit in a sling for at least another month. But I am sure I ought to feelvery grateful to our doctor and Lepel, for I expect I should have lostit altogether if they hadn't taken such pains with it at first. Well, itwill be very jolly getting back again. I only hope that the captainwon't be wanting to treat me as an invalid."

  To Nat's delight he saw, as he entered Port Royal, the _Orpheus_ lyingthere, and without landing he hailed a boat and went on board. As soonas he was made out there was quite a commotion on board the frigateamong the sailors on deck and at the side, while those below looked outof the port-holes, and a burst of cheering rose from all as the boatcame alongside. As he came up on to the deck the midshipmen crowdedround, shaking him by the hand; and when he went to the quarter-deck toreport his return, the lieutenants greeted him as heartily. The captainwas on shore. Nat was confused and abashed at the warmth of theirgreeting.

  "It is perfectly ridiculous!" he said almost angrily, as he rejoined themidshipmen; "as if there was anything extraordinary in a fellow fightinga dog!"

  "It depends upon the size of the dog and the size of the fellow,"Needham, the senior midshipman, said, "and also how he got into thefight."

  "The fact is, Needham, if I had killed the dog with the first stroke ofmy dirk nobody would have thought anything about the matter, and it isjust because I could not do so, and therefore got badly mauled before Imanaged it, that all this fuss is made! It would have been much more tothe point if you had all grumbled, when I came on board, at my beingnursed and coddled, while you had to do my duty between you, justbecause I was such a duffer that I was a couple of minutes in killingthe dog instead of managing it at once."

  "Well, we might have done so if we had thought of it, but, you see, wedid not look at it in that light, Nat," Needham laughed; "there iscertainly a good deal in what you say. However, I shall in future lookupon my dirk as being of more use than I have hitherto thought; I havealways considered it the most absurd weapon that was ever put intoanyone's hand to use in action. Not, of course, that one does use it,for one always gets hold of a cutlass when there is fighting to be done.How anyone can ever have had the idea of making a midshipman carry abouta thing little better than a pocket-knife, and how they have kept ondoing so for years and years, is most astonishing! For the lords of theadmiralty must all have been midshipmen themselves at one time, and musthave hated the beastly things just as much as we do. If they think afull-sized sword too heavy for us--which it certainly isn't for theseniors--they might give us rapiers, which are no weight to speak of,and would be really useful weapons if we were taught to use themproperly.

  "Well, we won't say anything more about your affair, Nat, if you don'tlike it; but we sha'n't think any the less, because we are all proud ofyou, and whatever you may say, it was a very plucky action. I know thatI would rather stand up against the biggest Frenchman than face one ofthose savage hounds. And how is the arm going on? I see you still havethe arm of your jacket snipped open and tied up with ribbons, and youkeep it in a sling."

  "Yes; the doctor made such a point of it that I was obliged to promiseto wear it until Bemish gives me permission to lay it aside." He took itout of the sling and moved it about. "You see I have got the use of it,though I own I have very little strength as yet; still, I manage to useit at meals, which is a comfort. It was hateful being obliged to have mygrub cut up for me. How long have you been in harbour here?"

  "Three days; and you are in luck to find us here, for I hear that we areoff again to-morrow morning. You have missed nothing while you have beenaway, for we haven't picked up a single prize beyond a little slaverwith a hundred niggers on board."

  When the captain came off two hours later with Dr. Bemish he sent forNat.

  "I am heartily glad to see you back again, Mr. Glover, and to see youlooking so vastly better than when I saw you last; in fact, you looknearly as well as you did before that encounter."

  "I have had nothing to do but to eat, sir."

  "Well, the question is, how is your arm?"

  "It is not very strong yet, sir, but I could really do very well withoutthis sling."

  "Well, you see I have to decide whether you had better go up to thehills until we return from our next cruise or take you with us."

  "Please, sir, I would much rather go with you."

  "Yes; it is not a question of what you like best, but what the doctorthinks best for you. You had better go to him at once, he will examineyour arm and report to me, and of course we must act on his decision."

  Nat went straight to the doctor.

  "Well, you are looking better than I expected," the latter said, holdingthe lad at arm's-length and looking him up and down; "flesh a good dealmore flabby than it used to be--want of exercise, of course, and theresult of being looked after by women. Now, lad, take off your shirt andlet me have a regular examination."

  He moved the arm in different directions, felt very carefully along eachbone, pressing rather hard at the points where these had been broken,and asking Nat if it hurt him. He replied "No" without hesitation, aslong as the doctor was feeling the forearm, but when he came to theupper-arm and shoulder he was obliged to acknowledge that the pressuregave him a bit of a twinge.

  "Yes, it could hardly be otherwise," the doctor said; "however, there isno doubt we made a pretty good job of it. Stretch both arms out in frontof you and bring the fingers together. Yes, that is just what Iexpected, it is some two and a half inches shorter than the other; butno one will be likely to notice it."

  "Don't you think, doctor, that I can go to sea now? The captain saidthat you would have to decide."

  "I think a month up in the hills would be a very desirable thing,Glover. The bones have knit very well, but it would not take much tobreak them again."

  "I have had quite enough of plantations for the present, doctor, and Ido think that sea air would do me more good than anything. I am sure Ifeel better already for the run from Cape Francois here."

  The doctor smiled. "Well, you see, if you did remain on board you wouldbe out of everything. You certainly would not be fit for boat service,you must see that yourself."

  "I can't say that I do, sir; one fights with one's right arm and notwith one's left."

  "That is so, lad, but you might get hit on the left arm as well as theright. Besides, even on board, you might get hurt while skylarking."

  "I would indeed be most careful, doctor."

  "Well, we will see about it, and talk it over with the captain."

  All that evening Nat was in a state of alarm whenever anyone came with amessage to any of his mess-mates; but when it was almost the hour forlights out he turned into his hammock with great satisfaction, feelingsure that if it had been decided that he must go ashore next morning amessage to that effect would have been sent to him. The sound of theboatswain's whistle, followed by the call "All hands to make sail!"settled the question. He had already dressed himself with Needham'sassistance, but had remained below lest, if the captain's eye fell onhim, he might be sent ashore. As soon, however, as he heard the order hefelt sure that all was right, and went up on deck. Here he took up hisusual station, passing orders forward and watching the men at work,until the vessel was under sail. The want of success on the last cruisemade all hands even keener than usual to pick up something worthcapturing.

  "I suppose there is no clue as to the whereabouts of those threepirates," he said to Needham as the latter, after the vessel was fairlyunder weigh, joined him.

  "No; twice we had information from the captains of small craft that theyhad seen suspicious sail in the distance, but there is no doubt that theniggers had been either bribed o
r frightened into telling us the story,for in each case, though we remained a fortnight cruising about, we havenever caught sight of a suspicious sail. When we returned here we foundto our disgust that they must have been at work hundreds of miles away,as several ships were missing, and one that came in had been hotlychased by them, but being a fast sailer escaped by the skin of herteeth. That is the worst of these negroes, one can never believe them,and I think the best way would be when anyone came and told a yarn, togo and cruise exactly in the opposite direction to that in which hetells us he has seen the pirates."

  "It is a pity we cannot punish some of these fellows who give falsenews," Nat said.

  "Yes; but the difficulty is proving that it is false. In the firstplace, one of these native craft is so much like another that one wouldnot recognize it again; besides, you may be sure that the rascals wouldgive Port Royal a wide berth for a time. On our last cruise we did takewith us the negro who brought the news, but that made the case nobetter. He pretended, of course, to be as anxious as anyone that thepirates should be caught, and as he stuck to his story that he had seena rakish schooner where he said he did, there was no proof that he waslying, and he pretended to be terribly cut up at not getting the rewardpromised him if he came across them.

  "I have no doubt that he was lying, but there was no way of proving it.You see, the idea of getting hold of a trader and fitting her up with afew guns and some men is all well enough when you have only got to dealwith a single schooner or brigantine, but it would be catching a tartarif these three scoundrels were to come upon her at once. Of course theyare all heavily armed and carry any number of men, nothing short of thefrigate herself would be a match for them. And one thing is certain, wecan't disguise her to look like a merchantman. Do what we would, theveriest landlubber would make her out to be what she is, and you may besure the pirates would know her to be a ship of war as soon as they gota sight of her topsails."

  "You have not heard, I suppose, where our cruising ground is going to bethis time?" Nat asked.

  "No, and I don't suppose we shall know for a few hours. You may be surethat whatever course we take now will not be our real course, for I betodds that after dark some fast little craft will sneak out of harbour totake the pirates news as to the course we are following, and to tellthem that we have not taken a negro this time who would lead us a dancein the wrong direction. I should not be surprised if we are going tosearch the islands round Cuba for a change. We were among the bays andislets up north on our last cruise, and the captain may be determined totry fresh ground."

  Needham's guess turned out to be correct, for after darkness fell theship's course was changed, and her head laid towards Cuba. Aftercruising for nearly three weeks without success, they were passing alongthe coast of the mainland, when Nat, who had now given up his sling,went aloft with his telescope. Every eye on deck was turned towards theisland, but their continued failures had lessened the eagerness withwhich they scanned the shore, and, as there was no sign of any break inits outline, it was more from habit than from any hope of seeinganything that they looked at the rugged cliffs that rose forty or fiftyfeet perpendicularly above the water's edge, and at the foreststretching up the hillsides behind them.

  "You have seen nothing, I suppose, Tom?" he asked the sailor stationedin the main-top.

  "Not a thing, Mr. Glover."

  Nat continued his way up, and took his seat on the yard of the topsail.Leaning back against the mast, he brought his telescope to bear upon theland, and for half an hour scanned every rock and tree. At lastsomething caught his eye.

  "Come up here, Tom," he called to the sailor below. "Look there, you seethat black streak on the face of the cliff?"

  "I see it, yer honour."

  "Well, look above the first line of trees exactly over it: isn't that apole with a truck on the top of it?"

  "You are right, sir! you are right!" the sailor said, as he got theglass to bear upon the object Nat had indicated, "that is the upper sparof a vessel of some sort, sure enough."

  "On deck there!" Nat shouted.

  "What is it, Mr. Glover?" the first lieutenant answered.

  "I can make out the upper spar of a craft in among the trees over there,sir."

  "You are sure that you are not mistaken?"

  "Quite sure, sir. With the glass I can make out the truck quitedistinctly. It is certainly either the upper spar of a craft of somekind or a flag-staff, of course I cannot say which."

  The first lieutenant himself ran up the ratlines and joined Nat. Thebreeze was very light, and the _Orpheus_ was scarcely moving through thewater. Nat handed his telescope to Mr. Hill.

  "There, sir, it is about a yard to the west of that black streak on therock."

  "I see it," the lieutenant exclaimed after a long gaze at the shore."You are right, it must be, as you say, either the spar of a ship or aflag-staff; though how a ship could get in there is more than I can say.There, it has gone now!"

  "The trees were rather lower at the point where we saw it, and thehigher trees have shut it in."

  He descended to the deck followed by Nat.

  "Well, what do you make of it, Mr. Hill?" enquired the captain, who hadcome out of his cabin on hearing Nat's hail.

  "There is no doubt that Mr. Glover is right, sir, and that it is theupper spar of a craft of some kind, unless it is a flag-staff on shore,and it is hardly the sort of place in which you would expect to find aflag-staff. It is a marvel Mr. Glover made it out, for even with hisglass I had a great difficulty in finding it, though he gave me theexact bearing."

  "Thank you, Mr. Glover," the captain said. "At last there seems a chanceof our picking up a prize this cruise. The question is, how did she getthere?"

  "I am pretty sure that we have passed no opening, sir. I have been aloftfor the past half-hour, and have made out no break in the rocks."

  "That is quite possible," the captain said, "and yet it may be there. Weare a good three-quarters of a mile off the shore, and some of theseinlets are so narrow, and the rocks so much the same colour, that unlessone knows the entrance is there, one would never suspect it. At any ratewe will hold on as we are for a bit."

  The hail had set everyone on deck on the _qui vive_, and a dozentelescopes were turned upon the shore.

  "Unlikely as it seems, Mr. Hill," the captain said, after they had goneon half a mile without discovering any break in the line of rock, "I amafraid that it must have been a flag-staff that you saw. There may besome plantation there, and the owner may have had one put up in thefront of his house. However, it will be worth while to lower a boat androw back along the foot of the cliff for a mile or so, and then a mileahead of us; if there is an opening we shall be sure to find it. TellMr. Playford to take the gig; Mr. Glover can go with him as he is thediscoverer."

  The boat was lowered at once, and as soon as the officers had takentheir place the six men who composed the crew bent their backs to theoars, the coxswain making for a point on the shore about a mile asternof the frigate, which was lying almost becalmed. The men had takenmuskets and cutlasses with them, for it was probable enough that a watchmight have been set on the cliff, and that, should there be an inlet, aboat might be lying there ready to pounce out upon them as soon as theyreached it.

  Every eye was fixed upon the boat as she turned and rowed along withinfifty yards of the foot of the rocks.

  "I thought I could not have been so blind as to pass the entrancewithout seeing it," one of the sailors who had been on watch aloft said,in a tone of satisfaction. "Now, I don't mind how soon the boat finds agap."

  But when the boat had paddled on for another mile without a pause, alook of doubt and dissatisfaction showed itself on every face.

  "You are quite sure, Mr. Hill," the captain asked, "that it was a staffof some kind that you saw, and not, perhaps, the top of a dead treewhose bark had peeled off?"

  "I am quite certain, sir. It was too straight and even for rough wood;and I made out a truck distinctly: but it is certainly strange t
hat noentrance should be discovered. I am afraid that 'tis but a flag-staffafter all."

  "I can hardly imagine that," the captain said. "I have often seenflag-staffs in front of plantation houses, but never one so high as thismust be to show over the trees. If it had been nearer to the edge of thecliff it might have been a signal-post, but they would hardly put it amile back from the edge of the cliff and bury it among trees. At anyrate, if we find no entrance I will send a landing-party ashore to seewhat it really is, that is to say if we can find any place where thecliff can be scaled."

  "What is it, Mr. Needham?" as the midshipman came up and touched hishat.

  "The boat is rowing in to shore, sir."

  The two officers went to the side.

  "They have either found an entrance or some point at which the rock canbe scaled--Ah, there they go!" he went on, as the boat disappeared fromsight, "though from here there is no appearance whatever of anopening."

  It was some minutes before the boat again appeared. It was at onceheaded for the frigate.

  "Mr. Playford has news for us of some sort," the captain said, "the menare rowing hard." In a few minutes the boat came alongside. The secondofficer ran up the accommodation ladder.

  "Well, Mr. Playford, what is your news?"

  "There is an inlet, sir, though if we had not been close in to thoserocks I should never have noticed it. It runs almost parallel with thecoast for a quarter of a mile. I thought at first that it ended there,but it makes a sharp angle to the south-east, and continues for a mileor so, and at the other end there is a large schooner, I have no doubt aslaver. I fancy they are landing the slaves now. There is a barracoon onthe shore and some storehouses."

  "Did they see you?"

  "No, sir; at least I don't think so. Directly I saw that the passage wasgoing to make a turn, I went close in to the rocks on the other side,and brought up at the corner where I could get a view without therebeing much fear of our being seen, and indeed I don't think that itwould have been possible to make us out unless someone had been watchingwith a glass."

  "We shall soon know whether they saw you, Mr. Playford. If they did theywill probably set all hands to work to tow the schooner out, for thoughthere is not wind enough to give us steerage-way, these slavers willslip along under the slightest breath. They can hardly have made thefrigate out. They probably thought the hiding-place so secure that theydid not even put a watch on the cliffs. Of course if there was anyone upthere they could have seen the boat leave our side, and would havewatched her all along.

  "Did you see any place at which the cliff could be climbed?"

  "No, sir, and up to the turn the rocks are just as steep inside as theyare here, but beyond that the inlet widens out a good deal and the banksslope gradually, and a landing could be effected anywhere there, Ishould say."

  "We will send the boats in as soon as it gets dark, Mr. Hill. If theysaw us coming they would drive off the slaves into the woods before wecould get there, so the best plan will be to land a strong party at thebend, so that they can get down to the barracoon at the same time thatthe others board the schooner. No doubt this is a regular nest ofslave-traders. It has long been suspected that there was some depot onthis side of the island. It has often been observed that slavers whenfirst made out were heading in this direction, and more than once craftthat were chased, and, as it seemed, certain to be caught in themorning, have mysteriously disappeared. This hiding-place accounts forit.

  "You did not ascertain what depth of water there was at the mouth of thecreek, Mr. Playford?"

  "Yes, sir, I sounded right across with the boat's grapnel; there isnowhere more than two and a half fathoms, but it is just about thatdepth right across."

  "Then it is evident that we cannot take the frigate in. What is thewidth at the mouth?"

  "About thirty yards."

  An hour later the _Orpheus_ anchored opposite the mouth of the inlet,which, however, was still invisible.

  "I think that, as this may be an important capture, Mr. Hill, it wouldbe as well for you to go in charge of the boats. Mr. Playford will takethe command of the landing-party. I should say that twenty marines,under Lieutenant Boldero, and as many blue-jackets, would be ample forthat. He had better take the long-boat and one of the gigs, while youtake the launch, the pinnace, and the other gig. If they have made usout, we may expect a very tough resistance, and it may be that, althoughMr. Playford saw nothing of them, they may have a couple of batterieshigher up."

  "Likely enough, sir."

  "You had better let the landing-party have a start of you, so that ifthey should unmask a battery on the side on which they are, they canrush down at once and silence it."

  "Very good, sir."

  The sun was now approaching the horizon; as soon as it dipped behind itthe boats were lowered, and the sailors, who had already made allpreparations, at once took their places in them. Needham was in commandof the gig that carried a portion of the landing-party, Nat was incharge of the other gig, and Low was in charge of the pinnace, Mr. Hillgoing in the launch. Nat had first been told off to the gig nowcommanded by Needham, but the captain said to the first lieutenant, "Youhad better take Glover with you, Mr. Hill, and let Needham go with Mr.Playford. Scrambling along on the shore in the dark, one might very wellget a heavy fall, and it is as well that Glover should not risk breakinghis arm again."