CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.
"IN THE BAY OF BISCAY, HO!"
My instructions were to see the admiral without the delay of a singlemoment, should we happen to arrive at any hour when the worthy chiefmight be reasonably supposed to be out of his bed; I accordingly had theboat lowered, and proceeded to the shore the instant that our anchor waslet go.
When I reached the admiral's house, I found him busy at theentertainment of a party of "sodger officers" from the garrison.
I was shown into his private room; and in a few minutes the gallant oldveteran stumped in on his wooden leg, and saluted me with,--
"Well, youngster, whose cat is dead now? Are you aware that I verystrongly object to be troubled after business hours, unless the matterhappens to be one of very great importance?"
"I must apologise for intruding upon you at so late an hour, sir," Ireplied; "but my instructions are that I should not lose a moment inplacing in your hands the despatches from Lord Hood of which I have thehonour to be the bearer."
"_You_ have the honour! Despatches from Lord Hood? The d--?" heexclaimed. "Do you mean to say that _you_ have charge of the despatch-boat signalled this evening?"
"I do sir, certainly," I rather resentfully replied. The somewhatcontemptuous emphasis he laid on the word _you_ slightly nettled me.
"What, in the name of--um! um! What's your name, pray, younggentleman?" said he.
"Ralph Chester, midshipman, of the frigate `Juno,' at your service,sir," I replied.
"Ralph Chester, eh? Of the `Juno.' Ah! um! Let me see. Um! Yourname seems familiar to me. Where did I hear it before? _Must_ haveheard it before, somewhere; never make mistakes about names; _never.Where_ did I hear it before, eh, youngster?"
"It is quite impossible for me to say, sir," I replied. "The only wayin which an officer in your high position is likely to become acquaintedwith the name of an obscure midshipman is, it seems to me, through theGazette."
"Gazette? Gazette? Oh, ay; to be sure. Yes, yes; certainly; that wasit. `Juno'--Captain Hood--of course. And are you the lad whodistinguished himself so conspicuously at the storming of the ConventionRedoubt?"
"I was named in the despatches in connection with that affair, sir," Imodestly replied.
"Then I congratulate you most heartily, my boy," said he, shaking handswith me vigorously, and changing his hitherto gruff and somewhatchurlish demeanour for one of almost paternal cordiality. "Ha! ha! youmade the whole service your debtor that night, by helping your skipperto get into the breach before the red-coat. The rascals! They like to`top the officer' over us, and claim to be the more useful arm of theservice; but you gave us the pull on them that night, my boy, and nomistake. Poor Dundas! How awfully disgusted he must have felt. But--sit down, and let me see your despatches--we can talk afterwards."
I produced my box, and handed to him the letter from Lord Hood which wasaddressed to himself.
He hastily tore open the envelope, and soon ran over the few lines whichformed the contents of the letter.
"Can't do it," he exclaimed, testily, crumpling up the letter in hishand. "Haven't a single frigate at my disposal; not even a corvette nora despatch-boat--_nothing_, in fact, but my own barge. Sheerimpossibility; so there's an end of it. Why, in the name of all that'sridiculous, could he not send one of his own frigates, so that theseconfounded despatches might have gone straight on? Much more sensiblethan to send them here in a little hooker which is not fit to cross theBay of Biscay. _Why_ is she not fit, eh? What's the matter with her?"
"There is nothing the matter with her, sir; nothing whatever," Ireplied. "It is only an idea of Lord Hood's that she is unfit to crossthe Bay. She, no doubt, appears to him a mere boat, compared with the`Victory,' but _I_ should have no hesitation whatever about taking heracross the Bay, or across the Atlantic itself, for that matter."
"Ah! Is that the case?" he quickly returned. "Um! um! That is apossible way out of the difficulty. Look here. I've a few red-coats inthe other room, spending the evening with me; I shall be very glad tohave the pleasure of your company for the remainder of the evening, ifyou will join us, young gentleman. I can give you a bed here; and to-morrow I will go on board this little hooker of yours with you, and seefor myself whether or no she seems fit to make the trip to England."
We accordingly adjourned to the dining-room, where we found some dozenor so of military men seated round the table, discussing their wine andcigars, chatting over the events of the war, and bewailing their ownill-luck in being shut up in Gibraltar instead of sharing in themiseries and glories (?) of the field.
I was introduced by the admiral to his guests as one fresh from the seatof the operations in Corsica, and was welcomed cordially and freelyplied with questions of all kinds, to some of which, by-the-bye, I foundit rather difficult to reply without exciting a feeling of jealousy inthe breasts of the red-coats.
Fortunately, however, the evening passed without the occurrence of anyincident of a disagreeable character; and at a late, or, more strictlyspeaking, at an early, hour next morning I turned in, so thoroughlytired that I felt scarcely able to remain awake until I had undressed.
About 7:30 a knock sounded at my door, and a voice announced--in toneswhich struck me as being somewhat tremulous with suppressedlaughter--"Your shaving-water, sir." Now, I may as well confess that atthis particular period of my life the one subject upon which, above allothers, I was most sensitive was shaving. I shaved with the mostscrupulous regularity every morning; but it was done furtively, so far,at least as my elders were concerned. In the presence of my fellow-mids, the act was performed openly and with all due ceremony andsolemnity--_all_ the mids on board the "Juno" shaved--but I had noticed,upon more than one occasion, that any reference in the hearing of myelders to the punctuality with which I performed this duty wasinvariably received by them with a silence more eloquent than words, andwith an expression of ironical incredulity which could only beadequately atoned for by the shedding of their heart's blood. ThereforeI had ceased to refer to a subject the mention of which was invariablyfollowed by much annoyance, and hence the preternatural sensitivenesswhich caused me to suspect, rather than to absolutely detect, a quiverof suppressed laughter in the voice of the man who on this morning awokeme with the announcement of "Your shaving-water, sir."
The temporary irritation arising out of this painful and humiliatingsuspicion had one good result, however; it effectually awoke me andenabled me to promptly turn out; while, but for it, the late hours ofthe previous night might otherwise have caused me to doze off again, andso become guilty of the quite unpardonable offence of keeping an admiralwaiting.
As it was, I was dressed and down in the breakfast-room so promptly thatthe admiral rather kept _me_ waiting; which was quite a differentmatter. By eleven o'clock however, we were on board the "Vigilant;" andafter going carefully through and over the craft--accompanied by myself,Tom Hardy, and the carpenter's mate--the old boy came to the conclusionthat she was strong enough to go round the world if required, and thathe therefore need have no hesitation whatever about ordering us toproceed to England forthwith.
He would, however, he said, take it upon himself to detain us untilevening; by which time he would have ready some despatches of his own,which he wished to forward.
We utilised the time by filling up provisions and water; a task whichwas left to the superintendence of Tom Hardy, while Smellie and I had ascramble through the gun-galleries and to the telegraph-station at thesummit of the Rock; and just as the sunset-gun boomed out on the eveningair we weighed and stood out of the bay, with a light north-easterlybreeze, passing Tarifa Point shortly before midnight.
By breakfast-time on the morning but one following, we were abreast ofCape Saint Vincent. Eighteen hours later, we made the Rock of Lisbon;and, on the fifth day out from Gibraltar, finding ourselves in thelatitude of Cape Finisterre, we hauled up to the northward and eastwardfor Ushant; and entered the Bay of Biscay.
So far, a
ll had gone well. We had been favoured with fine weather, andwinds which, while somewhat inclined to be light and variable, had stillallowed us to lay our course, and we had really made a very fair passageup to this point.
But we had scarcely entered the notorious Bay of Biscay when the aspectof affairs began to change.
The first omen of evil revealed itself in a steadily and rather rapidlyfalling barometer. The wind for the previous twenty-four hours had beenmoderate, and steady at about east, but toward evening it became fitful,now dying away until the roll of the ship caused the canvas to flapheavily against the masts, and anon freshening up again for a fewminutes, quite to a seven-knot breeze. Then it would drop once more;and nothing would be heard but the heavy flap of the canvas, the creakof the spars, the _swish_ of the water as it lapped in over ourbulwarks--the craft rolling gunwale-under--and a low weird moaning ofpent-up wind, which teemed to be imprisoned in a heavy cloud-bankrapidly piling itself up on the north-western horizon. The sky, whichhad been clear all day, became overspread with a canopy of dirty lead-coloured vapour, between which and ourselves soon appeared small raggedpatches of fast-flying scud. The moaning sound became louder and moreweird and dismal in tone; while the sea--its surface curiously agitatedby waves which leaped up and subsided without any apparent cause--grewblack as ink.
Fortunately, we had ample and unmistakable notice of the impendingchange; and we fully availed ourselves of it by making every possiblepreparation for the expected gale, and adopting every possibleprecaution for the safety of our craft.
Our first act was to take in and secure our lofty lateen-canvas bygetting the yards down on deck and firmly lashing them there; we thenset a storm-jib and a leg-of-mutton mizzen, just to steady the craft andplace her under command when the breeze should come. This done, wedivided our crew into two parties, one of which, under the gunner'smate, secured the guns with extra breechings, while the other, underHardy, battened down everything, and put extra lashings upon the boomsand boats.
We were ready in excellent time; all our preparations being complete agood half-hour before the breeze came.
At length, about the time of sunset, a sudden break appeared in the massof cloud piled up to the north-westward, revealing a long narrow stripof fiery copper-coloured sky; and at the same instant the wind, whichhad hitherto blown in fitful gusts, died completely away.
"Here it comes!" was the exclamation which issued simultaneously from adozen throats, as the eyes of the more watchful caught the glare of thetawny streak of sky away on our port beam; and even as we spoke the roarof the wind became apparent; and far away on the verge of the horizon wecaught a glimpse of the whitening water, as it was lashed into foam bythe first mad fury of the approaching squall.
"Port your helm! Hard over with it!" I exclaimed; "and stand by tobrail up the mizzen if she fails to pay off."
We had at the wheel one of the best helmsmen on board, a cool, smart,active topman; and, almost before the words were out of my mouth, hesent the wheel spinning hard over with a single jerk of his musculararm, while Hardy mustered some three or four hands at the mizzen-brails.
The squall, however, furious as it was at its commencement, had spentits greatest strength before it reached us; and when it struck the"Vigilant" it came with merely sufficient force to lay her down to herbearings for a moment, when she gathered way, and, answering her helm atonce, paid off before it, and began to surge away to leeward at the rateof about six knots.
The squall proved to be merely the precursor of a strong but steady galefrom the north-west: and as soon as this became sufficiently apparent wehauled our wind once more and hove the craft to on the larboard tackunder her jib and mizzen. This arrangement, while it promised to be thebest that could be made for the safety of the ship and our own comfort,also enabled us to drift along at the rate of about three knots an houron our proper course.
We found that under her short canvas the little "Vigilant," with herflat and beamy build, sharp lines, and flaring bow, laid-to admirably,riding as lightly and almost as dry as a seagull over the mountainoussea which rapidly got up under the influence of the gale.
I remained on deck long enough to thoroughly satisfy myself upon thispoint, and then, leaving the deck in charge of Hardy (who had thewatch), with one man to tend the wheel, and two others on the lookout, Isent the remainder of the hands below to get a good meal with plenty ofstrong hot coffee; while little Smellie and I sat down to our own almostequally humble spread in the small but cosy cabin.
The change from the cold wet sloppy deck, with its accompaniments ofdarkness, driving spray, and frequent rain-squalls, to the dry warmcomfort of the cabin, lighted up with the brilliant rays of its singlehandsome swinging-lamp, its carpeted floor and well-cushioned lockers,was agreeable in the extreme; and the sound of the gale, as it roaredoverhead and shrieked through the rigging, the patter and drip of therain on the deck, and the occasional heavy "swish" of the drenchingspray-showers, served but to increase the feeling of comfort which weenjoyed. We spent some time, after the table was cleared, in consultingthe chart, interspersed with frequent references to the book of sailingdirections, and when we tired of these a book apiece served to wile awaythe time until midnight, when Smellie had to turn out once more and takecharge of the deck. As the eight strokes upon the bell proclaimed theexpiration of the first watch, we donned our oilskins and repaired tothe deck in company.
The wind had been steadily increasing from the commencement of the gale,and was now blowing so heavily that every time the "Vigilant" rose uponthe crest of a sea she careened almost gunwale-to, even with the scantyshred of canvas under which she was hove-to. The sea, moreover, hadincreased with as great rapidity as the wind, and was now runningtremendously high, breaking from time to time in a manner which made mesomewhat uneasy. Still, the little craft was behaving beautifully andmaking excellent weather of it; not a drop of anything heavier thanspray having come on board her so far. The night was as dark as awolf's mouth, there being no moon, and the sky remaining obscured by animpenetrable canopy of heavy black cloud-vapour which was darkest aboutthe horizon, against which the phosphorescent wave-crests rearedthemselves portentously in startling relief. The intense darkness wasmy greatest source of anxiety, for we were directly in the track ofoutward-bound ships, and the wind was blowing from a quarter which,while not exactly fair, was sufficiently free to enable them to keepgoing, and that too at a speed which would send a ship of any size rightover us almost without her crew knowing anything about it. We had, ofcourse, our lights in their places, and brightly burning; but we were sofrequently hidden in the trough of the sea that a very bright lookoutwould be needed to discover us in time to avoid a collision, which wasthen, as it is now, the thing I most dread at sea--excepting fire. Itseems needless to say that a bright lookout was kept on board the"Vigilant" that night; a man on each cat-head, two in the waist--one onthe weather and one on the lee side--and our two selves aft were keptconstantly on the alert; and with these precautions I was obliged torest satisfied. As it happened, our elaborate precautions provedunnecessary, for not a single sail passed us during the night; and atfour o'clock next morning, when the watch was relieved, I went below andturned in, as the sky appeared to be lightening up a trifle, and I knewthat it would be daylight in a short time.
When I went on deck again at seven bells (7:30 a.m.) things lookedpretty much as I had left them, excepting that the sea had continued toget up and was now running higher than I had ever seen it before. Ourlittle craft was tossed about on its angry surface lightly as a witheredleaf; now rising up as though about to take flight into the midst of therushing storm-wrack overhead, and anon plunging down the steep sides ofthe watery hills as though intent on reaching the very ocean's beditself. It was very exciting, as well, it must be confessed, assomewhat trying to the nerves, to stand on the deck and watch theapproach of the mountainous seas, rushing with threatening uprearedcrest upon the little craft, as though determined to engulf her. But,by watch
ful attention to the helm, her bows always met them at a safeangle, and away they would sweep past us, harmless, but hissing andseething in impotent fury.
According to custom, Tom Hardy had charge of the deck while Smellie andI were below at breakfast. On our returning to the deck at theconclusion of the meal, he joined us to remark that he was under theimpression he had once or twice heard the sound of firing to windward.
"Surely not," said little Smellie; "you must be mistaken, Mr Hardy,"(we always _Mistered_ Tom, to his intense gratification, now that he hadcharge of a watch). "What ships could possibly fight in this weather?"
"Depends on the course they happen to be steering, sir," responded Tom."It's poorish weather for a fight, I'll allow; but if one ship happensto be chasing t'other, and they'm both running before it, both bow andstern-chasers might be worked, heavy as the sea is. Besides, it looks adeal worse to us, afloat here in this cock-boat, than 'twould if we wasaboard the old `Juno,' for instance; and a'ter all--hark! didn't youhear anything just then, gentlemen?"
The boom of a gun, muffled by the roar of the gale, but still heard withsufficient distinctness to render the sound unmistakable, at that momentbroke upon the ear.
I pulled out my watch and noted the time. "Now listen for the nextreport!" I exclaimed; "perhaps it is a ship in distress."
But it was immediately evident that it could be nothing of that sort,for even as I spoke, another report came floating down upon the wings ofthe gale, and then two others in quick succession.
Tom Hardy sprang into the main-rigging, and, going aloft as far as ourshort masts would permit, stood for nearly a minute, swaying about withthe roll and pitch of the vessel, his eyes shaded by one hand, gazingeagerly to windward.
"Here they comes!" he hailed; "one a'ter t'other. Two frigates,seemin'ly; and one on 'em's a Frenchman all over--the chap that'sleadin'; t'other's of course one of our ships."
"How are they steering?" I hailed.
"Straight for us as ever they can come, sir," replied Tom, as he nimblydescended the rigging again, and swung himself off the low rail to thedeck.
Ten minutes afterwards the upper spars of the leading ship were in sightfrom the deck, when we rose upon the crest of a sea, and in another fiveminutes both craft were visible. The firing continued briskly on bothsides, the rapidly-increasing distinctness of the reports testifying tothe speed with which the chase was hurrying along.
From the moment that the frigates became visible from the deck, ourtelescopes remained glued to our eyes, so to speak, and it was not longbefore we were able to distinguish that both were flying their colours,the leading ship showing the tricolour, and the other the white ensign.
"I say, Chester!" exclaimed little Smellie; "what a lark! Can't we havea flying shot at Johnnie as he goes past. Who knows? Perhaps we mightknock away one of his spars and so help our own craft to get alongside.My eye! ain't they carrying on, too; topgallant-s'ls and stunsails onboth sides. What a strain upon their spars and rigging! Cut away abrace or a backstay, now, aboard that Frenchman, and away would go awhole heap of his canvas. What a splendid craft she is! It is a truesaying, if ever there was one, that `The French know how to build ships,and the English how to sail them!' What do you say, Chester; shall wehave a shot at him as he goes by?"
"And have his whole broadside poured into us by way of saying_thankee_," dryly remarked Hardy.
"I doubt whether he has his broadside guns cleared away, yet," Iremarked; "and even if he has we are a very small target to fire at. Ifeel half inclined to take a shot at him if we get a good chance. Atall events, you may clear away the long nine and load it; we can then begoverned by circumstances."
No sooner said than done. The men set to work with all the glee of aparcel of school-boys intent upon some piece of mischief, and in a veryshort time the long nine-pounder mounted amidships was ready for serviceand loaded.
In the meantime pursuer and pursued continued their rapid flight downbefore the wind; both ships staggering along under a press of canvaswhich clearly indicated the alarm of the one and the determination ofthe other. As we stood watching them in breathless interest, theweather cleared somewhat; the dense canopy of cloud which had obscuredthe heavens for many hours broke up into rifts which permitted anoccasional watery gleam of sunshine to penetrate through and light upthe scene, glancing in streaks and patches here and there upon themountain-surges, and changing their dull leaden hue into a dirty green,and shimmering for a moment upon the snowy canvas and bright copper ofone or other of the frigates, only to fade away next instant and leavethe picture, as it was before, a dull lifeless grey.
By the time that the French ship had approached to within a mile of us,it became evident that if we both continued on our respective courses,without any alteration in our speeds, we should pass within perilousproximity of each other; the "Vigilant's" fore-sheet was therefore letdraw and the helm righted, so that we might forge ahead and cross theflying craft at a safe distance.
She was yawing about most frightfully, sheering first to port and thento starboard in a manner which seemed every moment to threaten that shewould broach-to. Should such an accident occur in the then condition ofthe weather the total dismasting of the ship would be the least calamitywhich could reasonably be expected to follow; while it was far moreprobable that she would either capsize or founder stern foremost. Thesteering of the English ship was in marked contrast to this, though shealso sheered about to a certain extent; still, it was so trifling incomparison with that of the Frenchman, that it appeared to us as thoughthe Englishman was gaining upon the chase more by superior helmsmanshipthan by the possession of any advantage over him in point of actualspeed.
As the French frigate continued to sweep down towards us I becameexceedingly anxious; for it now seemed as though we had delayed a trifletoo long the act of filling away upon the "Vigilant," and that, at ourlow rate of speed, we should be unable to draw out of her immediatepath. The ship, now distant not more than half a mile, came surging on,with her broad expanse of canvas fully distended by the following gale,and straining at the stout spars and tough hemp rigging as though itwould tear the very masts themselves out of the hull and come flyingdown to leeward like cobwebs before a summer breeze; or as though, whenthe ship rose upon the ridge of a sea, lifting her fore-foot and someforty feet of her keel clear out of the water, she would take flight,and, leaving the sea altogether, soar away upon her canvas pinions likea startled sea-fowl. She was rolling heavily, so much so indeed that wemore than once saw her dip her stunsail-boom-ends alternately on theport and starboard sides into the water.
At length, as we rose to the crest of one mountainous sea, which hadcompletely hidden the French ship from us, up to her very royal-mast-heads, we saw her surging madly forward upon the breast of the one whichfollowed it, the hissing foam-crest which pursued her rearing itselfhigh and threateningly above her taffrail, while the ship herself, withher port gunwale deep buried in the water, was taking a desperate anduncontrollable sheer to starboard which we saw in a moment would hurlher crashing into the little "Vigilant" somewhere about the mainmast.
A cry, something between a yell and a shriek of horror and dismay, burstsimultaneously from the lips of our crew as this awful danger burst uponus; and, in a momentary panic, a general rush was made by all hands tothat part of the vessel which appeared likely to receive theannihilating blow, with the intention of making a spring for life at thefrigate's bowsprit and headgear. Even the helmsman was so infected bythe sight that, abandoning the wheel, he too joined in the rush.
There was no time for remonstrance. Smellie and I were standing nearthe companion at the moment, watching the approach of the Frenchman; andas the rush took place I seized him by the arm, and, shouting in hisear, "Cut the mizzen-sheet!" sprang to the wheel, and with franticenergy whirled it hard up. By the greatest good luck the helmsman hadalready put the wheel a spoke or two over as the crest of the sea sweptunder us, so that we were actually paying-off at the mo
ment that I tookthe wheel. This fact, combined with the additional amount of helm whichI gave her, and the lightning-like rapidity with which little Smelliewhipped out his keen pocket-knife and drew it across the strainingstrands of the mizzen-sheet, saved the "Vigilant." The mizzen floggeditself to ribbons in a moment, while the foresail paid our bows broadoff, and, filling powerfully at the same time, dragged us clear by thebare skin of our teeth. The frigate rushed foaming past our stern, soclosely that the surge from her port bow dashed in over our taffrail,and the leach of her lower stunsail, catching the head of our mizzen-mast, buckled the spar until the port shrouds parted, when, luckily forus, _crack_ went her stunsail-boom and her lower and fore-topmaststunsail began to thrash about so wildly, that they promised to give hercrew their hands full to get in the sails without injury to any of themen.
Passing each other in such disagreeably close proximity, we had ofcourse a perfect view of the French frigate, and a most superb craft shecertainly was. A bran-new ship, to all appearance: she seemed to havebeen at sea scarcely long enough to wash the varnish off her teak andmahogany deck-fittings. The planks of her deck were almost snow-white,and some little taste and trouble appeared to have been expended in asuccessful effort to impart a graceful effect to the decorations aboutthe front of her spacious poop, beneath the over-hanging pent-house ofwhich appeared her handsome steering-wheel, with four men hard--a greatdeal _too_ hard, it seemed to me--at work at it. She showed eighteenports of a side, all closed, and carried her due proportion ofcarronades on her forecastle and quarter-deck. Her masts, magnificentsticks, and her short stout yards were bending like fishing-rods underthe tremendous strain of her new canvas, which appeared as though it hadnot yet fully stretched into its proper shape; and every rope was coileddown in its proper place with the most scrupulous neatness. But, oh!the confusion and jabber and excitement of her crew. As she shaved pastus, every man on deck jumped upon the hammock-rail and had his separatesay to us--whether it were a word of caution, of congratulation at ourescape from being run down, or of objurgation, it was quite impossibleto tell; but, from the threatening character of their actions, I judgedit to be the latter. There was only one calm individual among thewhole, and he was the first lieutenant. He stood by the mizzen-riggingon the port side, clinging to a belaying-pin, and he vouchsafed us notso much as a passing glance, his whole attention being given to hisspars and rigging, on which he kept his eyes anxiously fixed. Theskipper, on the other hand, seemed to be more excited than any one else.When my eye lighted upon him he was grasping the poop-rail with hisright hand and shaking his left fist at us. Just then our eyes met,when, to my surprise and disgust, he turned to a marine near him andpointed at me, at the same time apparently giving the man an order. Thefellow raised his piece and fired, and the next instant I felt a violentblow accompanied by a sharp burning pain in my left arm, which droppedhelplessly at my side, broken between the elbow and the shoulder.
All this passed in a single moment of time; the next instant we werevividly recalled to a sense of our own danger. As we rose upon the nextwave our port quarter was exposed to its advancing crest, and there wasonly time to shout to all hands to "Hold on for your lives!" before itcame hissing up, and, arching over us quite six feet above our lowbulwarks, tumbled on board, a regular comber, filling us to the gunwale,bursting in the companion-doors, flooding the cabin, smashing one of ourboats to atoms, and washing away everything that was not securelylashed. By something approaching a miracle, none of the men were sweptoverboard; and as soon as I had ascertained this by a hasty glance roundthe deck, directly I got my head above water, I gave the order for thefore-lug to be loosed and set. The men wanted no second bidding; theyknew that if we got pooped a second time it would be all over with us;and in an incredibly short space of time we had the sail set, and werebowling away to leeward after the Frenchman.
Our position was now very much the reverse of an enviable one; as, beingcompelled for safety's sake to run dead before it, we were exactly inthe line of fire between the two ships, which continued to bang away ateach other from time to time, quite regardless of the possibleconsequences to us; and their shot came hissing past us and over us soclosely that it was manifestly imperative upon us to shift our berthwithout loss of time. Giving orders, therefore, that the spare mizzenshould be bent and set, and the craft brought to once more--but on thestarboard tack this time, so as to afford us an opportunity to knot theshrouds on the larboard side, carried away by the French frigate--I leftlittle Smellie and Tom Hardy on deck to see to its execution; and,summoning the assistant-surgeon to my aid, retired below to have mywounded arm coopered up.
My friend Sawbones had just arrived at that stage of his operationswhich required him to torture me almost beyond my powers of endurance bygrinding the two broken bone-ends together to get them in properposition, when we felt a violent concussion, accompanied by a loudexplosion on deck, speedily followed by vociferous cheering; and thenext moment down trundled that young scamp Smellie, his face beaming allover with a broad grin, as he exclaimed,--
"Hurrah, Chester, I've done it! Did it _myself_, Hardy will tell youso."
"Did _what_, for goodness' sake?" groaned I, as the medico, under theinfluence of a terrific roll, gave my arm a most awful wrench. "Whatdid you fire for?"
"Fired at the Frenchman, of course," replied he, somewhat disconcerted."I understood that you agreed we should have a shot at him, so we gavehim one from long Tom. I pointed the gun myself; and--only fancy!--knocked away his mizzen-topmast, which brought down his main-topgallant-mast with it; and there he is now in a pretty mess. My eye! _that_ wasa close one," he added, as a twelve-pound shot sung close over ourheads, without hitting anything however.
"It sounds remarkably as though he were anxious to return thecompliment, if he can," said I. "You had better go on deck again andhurry the men up with that mizzen; and round-to as soon as you possiblycan. If one of those shot happen to plump on board us we shall probablyhave cause to remember the circumstance."
The lad darted up the companion-way again, three stairs at a time; andvery shortly afterwards I heard him shout down to me,--
"I say, Chester, the mizzen is bent and all ready for setting; shall wehoist away?"
"Watch for a good opportunity," I shouted back, "and as soon as itcomes, down with your helm, and sway up the sail at the same time."
"Ay, ay; we will do so," was the response.
A few minutes elapsed; and then I felt the little craft rising up, up,up, until it seemed as though she were about to turn a summersault withus; there was a _thud_ at her stern, and a heavy _swish_ of water on herdeck as the crest of the sea struck her and broke over the taffrail, andthen Tom Hardy's voice exclaimed,--
"Now--_now's_ your time, sir! Jam your helm hard-a-port, you Dick! hardover with it, man; that's your sort. Now, sway away upon these heremizzen halliards; down with your fore-lug; ease up the fore-sheet there,for'ard; up with the mizzen, lads; bowse it _well_ up; that's well;belay. Haul your fore-sheet over to wind'ard, and make fast. There!that's capital. Now let's see what we can do to these here shrouds."
From all of which, and the altered character of the little craft'smotion, I learned that the ticklish manoeuvre of rounding-to had beensafely executed.
A quarter of an hour afterwards the medico finished me off, and I wasable, with Hardy's assistance, to go on deck again and take a look roundbefore turning into my hammock to nurse my wounded arm.
We were now hove-to upon the starboard tack, with our head to thesouthward; the English frigate had passed us, and was by this time sometwo miles to leeward, on our port quarter, the Frenchman still leading,though he had lost ground considerably, and he seemed yet to be in thethick of his trouble with the wreck of his spars. The bow and stern-chasers of the two ships were still playing merrily away, but withoutany very marked result, as far as we could see; and shortly afterwardswe lost sight of both ships in the thick weather to leeward, and saw nomore of them.
&n
bsp; We were not long in getting our larboard mizzen shrouds knotted and setup afresh; and as soon as this was done we watched our chance and woreround once more, with our head to the northward--I remaining on deck towatch the operation--after which I was glad to get into my hammock andseek relief to my wounded fin.
Under the Meteor Flag: Log of a Midshipman during the French Revolutionary War Page 22
