Suddenly, with a distinct jerk, the downward dragging sensation ceased;
the gear with which I was entangled had broken adrift from the sinking
hull; and just as I was upon the point of being suffocated from my long
submersion I found myself once more upon the surface. Though scarcely
conscious, I still had sense enough to take a long inhalation and so
fill my lungs afresh with air; and it was well that I did so, for my
head had not been above water more than a few seconds before I was again
overwhelmed. I quite gave myself up for lost; for, as I have already
said, I was so completely enmeshed by the raffle of loose gear which had
wrapped itself about my body and limbs that I was quite powerless to
help myself. On emerging the second time, however, somebody seized me
by the hair, and in another moment I felt myself being drawn up by the
arms upon a spar.
"Blest if I don't believe this is Mr Lascelles that I've just been and
fished up," I heard Tom Collins say. "Ay, and it is too," he continued,
as he hoisted me still higher on the spar. "Lend a hand here, somebody,
to clear the young skipper; he's wrapped up in enough stuff to make a
new set of running gear for a seventy-four."
I opened my eyes, and found that I was with a number of others on the
wreck of the foremast, which, with all attached, had fortunately broken
adrift from the wreck as it foundered, and was now floating, with the
yards underneath it, just as it had originally gone over the bows.
"Is that Collins?" I asked, when I had at length recovered breath
enough to speak.
"Ay, ay, sir; it's me, safe enough, thank God!" was the answer. "Glad
to find as you're alive and hearty, sir."
"Thank you, Collins; how many do we muster here? there's such a net-work
of raffle across my face that I can scarcely see."
"Don't know exactly, sir; it's too dark to count, but we seem to muster
pretty strong, all things considered. We'll soon have you clear, sir.
Now then, Bill, you stand by to haul Mr Lascelles out of the thick of
these bights and turns whilst I holds 'em up. Now then--haul! Is that
better, sir?"
"Very much better, thank you," said I, as they dragged me out clear of
the thickest of the raffia. "If you are seated firmly enough for me to
put my arm round your neck I think I can work myself free altogether.
That's it, capital! Now, I'm all clear."
"Is that Mr Lascelles' voice I hear?" asked somebody who was clinging
to the topmast, some twenty feet away.
"It is," said I; "who are you?"
"I'm Tompion, sir," was the reply. "Very glad to find you among us, Mr
Lascelles. I was afraid you were among the missing at first."
"No, I am here, all right," said I, "and sound, I think, with the
exception of a few bruises. Are there any other officers among us?"
"I'm here," replied Pottle.
"And I," said Woodford.
"And I," added Marchmont, the younger of the two midshipmen.
"Well done!" thought I, "this is better than I dared hope." I invited
the speakers to join me in my comparatively sheltered position in the
crosstrees; and when they had done so an effort was made to ascertain
the extent of our loss. This, after a great deal of difficulty, we
found consisted of the surgeon, the boatswain, the senior mid, and fifty
men, leaving thirty-two clinging to the foremast. This was a very heavy
loss; and I felt it so bitterly that for the first half-hour after it
was ascertained I almost regretted my own preservation. This feeling,
however, was nothing short of impious ingratitude, and so, on
reflection, I recognised it to be; with an unspoken prayer, therefore,
for pardon to that great Being who had so mercifully preserved me, I
strove to divert my thoughts from the melancholy reflections which
assailed me, by an endeavour to devise some means for our continued
preservation. After a long consultation with Woodford respecting our
probable position, it was agreed between us that, as soon as the weather
moderated and the sea went down sufficiently, an endeavour should be
made to construct some sort of a raft out of the wreckage which was then
supporting us, and on it to make our way, if possible, to the southward,
hoping to be fallen in with and picked up by the _Dido_; failing which
we would try to reach the mainland, and either seize a small vessel or
give ourselves up to the Spaniards, according as circumstances turned
out.
We had just come to the above-mentioned conclusion when Collins
remarked, hopefully:
"The gale seems to have broken, sir; it is certainly not blowing so
hard; and the seas don't seem to be breaking quite so heavily; and--
look, sir--look, lads, the sky is breaking away overhead; I can see a
star. Ah! it's gone again--but there's another. Hurrah, my hearties!
keep up your spirits and hold on to the spar like grim death; we'll
weather upon old Davy yet, this bout."
It was quite true; the sky was rapidly clearing, and half an hour later
it was a brilliant starlight night; the wind, too, was dropping rapidly,
and the sea no longer broke so heavily or so incessantly over us as it
had done at first. Fortunately for us the water was quite warm; we
therefore suffered no inconvenience whatever from the immersion.
At length, after what seemed to us an endless night, day broke; the
atmosphere was gloriously bright and clear, the wind had dropped to a
fine topgallant breeze, and the sea had gone down sufficiently to allow
of our commencing operations; as, therefore, we had no breakfast to get
or anything else to detain us, we started at once; and all hands were
soon busy cutting adrift the spars, knotting and splicing cordage, and
in other ways forwarding the work as actively as possible under the
circumstances. We found, however, that we had a long and, from lack of
sufficient timber, a difficult job before us; and as the morning wore on
it was made additionally so by the appearance of several ravenous sharks
close to us, which were only restrained from making an attack by an
incessant splashing maintained by all hands except the half-dozen we
could spare to get on with the work.
At length--it was getting well on in the afternoon, by the appearance of
the sun--when, in despite of all our difficulties, we were beginning to
bring our raft into something like shape, we were suddenly startled from
our work by the hoarse cry of "Sail ho!" raised by one of the men; and,
lifting our eyes from our work, we waited until we rose to the top of a
wave, when there she was, sure enough, a large ship apparently, under
topsails, approaching us from the southward and westward, and only about
five miles distant. A hearty cheer was at once raised by all hands at
this unexpected prospect of rescue; and then we went to work once more
with renewed vigour and activity to establish a means of making our
presence known, as we felt convinced that, though she was heading
straight for us, we had not yet been discovered by her.
It will be remembered that, when making preparations for the gale, we
had sent down our topgallant and royal-yards. When the project of
cutting away the masts to serve as a last retreat for the crew had been
carried out, somebody had had the forethought to get these spars
overboard and secured to the wreck of the foremast; and in subsequently
planning our raft it had been our intention to get the topgallant-yard
on end to serve as a mast, with the sail as our means of propulsion
through the water. Our plans were not carried out to such a stage of
completeness as this when the strange sail hove in sight, and all our
energies were now employed to get this part of the work done forthwith;
as I felt convinced that, lying so low in the water as we were, we might
be passed at a very short distance unobserved, unless we could raise a
spar of some sort to attract attention.
But, owing to our very limited amount of standing room, and the
aggravating way in which the water still washed over our structure, this
particular task of getting the topgallant-yard on end proved most
difficult; and we were still struggling ineffectually for success when a
loud groan of disappointment, instantly followed by a frantic hail, told
me that something was wrong; and, looking again toward the ship, now
distant only some two miles, we saw that she had altered her course a
couple of points, by which proceeding she would pass to the southward of
us without approaching any nearer.
For a minute or two something very like a panic took possession of all
hands, and everybody began to shout and gesticulate to the utmost of his
ability without reference to the efforts of the rest. At length,
however, Woodford and I managed between us to secure silence; upon which
we directed that, whilst as many as could do so should stand up and wave
jackets, shirts, or any other article most handy, the whole should at a
given signal unite in a simultaneous hail. This we did, waiting each
time until we rose to the crest of a sea; but it soon became evident
that our voices were not powerful enough to reach the ship--I never
expected that they would be--for she swept on unheeding, and was very
soon to the eastward of us, increasing her distance every minute.
This most disheartening state of affairs continued until she had run
about three miles to leeward of us, when we suddenly saw her round to
and back her main-yard. I ought to mention, by the bye, that we had ere
this discovered her to be a full-rigged ship--and not the _Dido_, as
some had at first declared her to be--with her mizzen-topmast and fore
and main-topgallant-masts gone, showing that she too must have
encountered the hurricane which had proved so disastrous to us. She was
evidently a foreigner; many of us pronounced her to be a Spaniard; and I
thought that, if so, it was more than probable she was the identical
vessel we had been sent out to look for.
"Hurrah!" shouted Tompion, as the stranger rounded to, "she sees us, my
hearties; and--look, if my eyes don't deceive me, there goes one of her
quarter-boats down into the water. Now, ain't that just like a lubberly
Spaniard, to lie there with his main-topsail to the mast and give his
boat's crew a three-miles pull to windward when he might just as well
make a couple of short boards and heave to within a cable's length of
us?"
By this time I had scrambled to my feet, and was with half a dozen
others watching with mingled curiosity and apprehension the movements of
the stranger, which were certainly not such as I should have expected
her to make had her object in heaving to been _our_ rescue. A boat had
certainly been lowered, but we had not as yet caught a glimpse of it,
from the exasperating circumstance that whenever we rose upon a sea the
boat happened to be sunk in a hollow. At length, however, we got a
moment's view of her, and not only of her but also of something else
which looked remarkably like another raft or a piece of wreckage, and it
was toward this that the boat was steering and _not_ toward us.
"By heaven!" I exclaimed, "they have _not_ seen us after all; they are
not coming here, and unless we can make them hear us within the next ten
minutes our chance will be lost. It is a piece of wreckage--possibly
part of the poor old _Dolphin_--that they have stopped to examine. We
must shout, lads, and with a will, the ship is to leeward of us and
_may_ catch the sound. Now then, when we rise stand by--one, two,
three, _Ship ahoy_!"
We shouted as we had probably never shouted before, not once but at
least fifty times; we shouted ourselves hoarse, and at last had the
vexation to see the boat being again hoisted up. We now fully expected
to see the ship immediately bear up on her course, but she did not; her
topsail remained aback for nearly ten minutes longer, during which we
continued to shout and wave for our very lives. At length, however, the
ponderous main-yard swung, the square canvas was braced sharp up, and
the ship gathered way. A breathless half minute passed, during which
every eye among us was unwaveringly fixed upon the distant ship, except
when she vanished behind a wave-crest, and then a joyous shout went up.
"_Now_ she sees us! she is standing this way, hurrah! hurrah!" And in
the midst of it all the boom of a gun came sullenly up against the wind
from the stranger, as an assurance of help and rescue.
Oh, how anxiously we watched the noble fabric as she ponderously
ploughed her way obliquely toward us over the liquid ridges, now
plunging to her hawse-holes and rolling heavily to leeward as she dived
into the trough, and anon raising her dripping bows, richly carved and
gilt, high in air as she slowly climbed to the surge's crest! Her
motion was slow and stately, for the wind had dropped very considerably,
whilst, owing to the loss of her upper spars, she was under short
canvas, and her approach consequently seemed to us most tediously slow.
At length, however, she arrived within a biscuit-throw of us, backed her
main-topsail again, and once more lowered a boat, which a dozen oar-
strokes sufficed to bring alongside our raft. The bowman laid in his
oar and hove us a rope, and as he did so the officer in charge of the
boat--a young man in the undress uniform of a Spanish naval lieutenant--
rose to his feet in the stern-sheets and, raising his hat to the little
cluster of uniforms he saw among us, said in Spanish:
"Are you a portion of the crew of the _Dolphin_, British cruiser, which
foundered last night?"
"We are," I answered, very much surprised at the question, and wondering
how in the world he came to know anything about the _Dolphin_ and her
having foundered.
"Then," said he, "you will be gratified to learn that we have already
picked up twenty-six of your company which we discovered about three
miles to leeward, floating on a portion of the ship's deck; and it was
in consequence of the representations made to my captain by one of your
officers picked up by us that an examination of the sea was made from
our mastheads, resulting in your discovery. But I will not waste time
by entering into further explanations at present; have I the honour of
addressing the captain of the _Dolphin_?"
"I was her commanding officer," I replied; "and I thank you greatly for
the pleasing intelligence you have so promptly afforded us. How many of
us can you take at once?"
"I am afraid we dare not venture alongside with more than twelve in
addition to the boat's crew; the swell is still very heavy. Will you
have the goodness to tell off that number for our first trip?"
I called out the names of the men, one by one, as the boat was brought
cautiously alongside the raft, and in a few minutes her complement was
complete.
"Adieu, Senor Lascelles," said the young officer, raising his hat again
as he shoved off; "we will not leave you in your present uncomfortable
position one moment longer than is absolutely necessary."
I mechanically returned the salute, again wondering where he had picked
up my name, until it occurred to me that he must have heard it mentioned
by some of the party taken off the floating deck. The news that our
loss was not as heavy by twenty-six as I had supposed it to be was
intensely gratifying, and my spirits rose under its influence to a pitch
of almost extravagant hilarity. Twenty-eight poor fellows still
remained unaccounted for, and they had undoubtedly gone down with the
schooner; but the loss was, after all comparatively trifling, taking
into consideration the suddenness and completeness of the disaster, and
I was inexpressibly thankful that matters had turned out to be no worse.
The boat was soon alongside again for a second moiety of my companions
in misfortune, and a third trip sufficed to clear the raft of its living
occupants, I, of course, as in duty bound, being the last to leave the
clumsy structure which had served us in such good stead.
As I sat beside the young lieutenant in the stern-sheets of the boat
during our journey to the ship--which occupied about a quarter of an
hour, she having drifted considerably to leeward during the process of
transhipment--he asked a few questions which elicited from me the
leading particulars of our mishap; and having learned these he informed
me that his ship, the _Santa Catalina_, had sailed four days previously
from Cartagena for Cadiz, that she, like ourselves, had been caught in
the hurricane, from which, however, she had escaped with only the damage
to her spars already referred to. As we approached the ship's side near
enough to discern the crowd of curious faces peering at us over the
lofty bulwarks, my new friend remarked with a peculiar smile:
"You will find among our passengers two former acquaintances of your
own, unless I am greatly mistaken."
We were alongside before I had time to ask him the names of these two
former acquaintances, and in another moment, accepting the precedence
which the courteous young Spaniard, with a graceful wave of the hand
accorded me, I found myself on the side ladder of the _Santa Catalina_.
As I stepped in through the entering port a small, withered-up, sun-
dried, yellow-complexioned man in full captain's uniform met me, and,
introducing himself somewhat pompously as Don Felix Calderon, the
captain of the _Santa Catalina_, bade me, and through me my companions,
welcome on board his ship, congratulating us upon our speedy rescue, and
expressing the gratification he felt at being the means of saving so
many gallant _enemies_ from a possible watery grave. I made my
acknowledgments as gracefully as I could under the circumstances, and
was about to proceed with an inquiry relative to those previously picked
up off the floating deck when the ring of people who had gathered round
us during our somewhat ceremonious exchange of compliments was abruptly
broken through by a female figure, and in another instant my neck was
encircled by a pair of lovely arms, a beautiful head was laid lovingly
upon my breast, and the clear silvery notes of Dona Inez de Guzman's
voice sobbed out:
"Oh, Leo, Leo, my darling! what joy is this to meet you so unexpectedly,
when I feared that fate had separated us for ever!"
I was about to reply when, to my horror I must confess, my eye
encountered that of Don Luis, Inez's father, as he stepped forward and
laid his hand somewhat sternly on his daughter's shoulder.
"There, Inez," said he, "that will do. You are doubtless overjoyed to
again meet a friend who possesses so large a share of our regard; but do
not allow your enthusiasm to carry you too far. Senor Lascelles is
suffering from the effects of a long immersion in the sea; he is
doubtless both hungry and thirsty; and he is also undoubtedly anxious to
make arrangements with Don Felix as to the disposal of his men. Come,
my dear girl, let us return to the cabin for the present; when our young
friend has refreshed himself and is at liberty we shall both be glad of
an opportunity to renew our acquaintance and to have a little
conversation with him. Senor," he continued, turning to me and offering
his hand with a stately and somewhat distant bow, "accept my
felicitations upon your most fortunate escape."
My beautiful Inez upon this released me and retired, somewhat abashed,
with her father; but as she went she managed to throw back a parting
glance from her brimming eyes which assured me that my hold upon her
affections was still as firm as it had ever been.
This most unexpected meeting with Inez and her father, with the
restraint and coolness of the latter's manner to me, coming as it did
close upon the heels of several hours of exposure and, what was worse,
extreme excitement and anxiety of mind, rather pushed me off my balance,
and for a moment or two after my lady-love vanished into the cabin I
scarcely knew where I was. Don Felix saw this, and coming forward
placed his hand under my arm and very kindly invited me to accompany him
to his private cabin, delicately suggesting that I appeared to be much
exhausted, and that a glass of wine would do me good. Like most
youngsters, however, I was too proud to yield to the weakness which had
momentarily overpowered me, so, rallying with an effort, I murmured that
it was a mere nothing, and turned the subject by asking his permission
to muster my men in the waist that I might ascertain exactly who were
the missing ones. The permission was at once accorded, and I then
discovered that, of the entire crew of the _Dolphin_, the surgeon, Boyne
the senior mid, and twenty-six men still remained unaccounted for.
The question now arose: In what light would Don Felix regard us, and how
dispose of us? I thought it desirable that this question should be
settled at once; and I was about to submit it to the Spanish captain
before dismissing the men, when the individual most concerned
forestalled me by calling me aside to the quarter-deck, where he and
several of his officers had been in apparently anxious consultation
whilst I had been mustering the remnant of the schooner's crew. He
informed me, upon my joining him, that, pleased as he was to have been
the means of rescuing us, his duty to his government left him no
alternative but to regard us as prisoners of war; and, whilst he should
be pleased to receive my parole and that of the other officers, he
feared he would be compelled to put the seamen in close confinement
below--unless I would undertake on their behalf that no attempt should
be made by them to capture or otherwise interfere with the _Santa
Catalina_ and her crew, in which case the confinement should be merely
nominal.
I could scarcely refrain from smiling at the suggestion thus thrown out,
for the Spaniards mustered twice as strong as we did; and they were
moreover armed, which we were not. But, preserving my gravity, I
unhesitatingly replied that gratitude alone for the important service
rendered us would have sufficed to prevent any such attempt as that
hinted at, and that I therefore cheerfully entered upon the required
undertaking.
This matter satisfactorily settled, I retired below with the young
officer who had had charge of the boat which effected our removal from
the raft. His name, he informed me, was Silvio Hermoso Villacampa y
Albuquerque; he was second lieutenant of the ship; and being very nearly
my size and build he had very kindly proffered me the use of a suit of
his clothing with which to replace my own drenched garments. He was a
very pleasant, chatty young fellow, remarkably free and unreserved in
his manner--for a Spaniard--and whilst I was shifting my rig, and
subsequently partaking of some refreshments which had been laid out for
me upon the ward-room table, I learned from him a great deal about the
ship and her skipper, one item of my acquired information being the fact
that the _Santa Catalina_ was undoubtedly the identical vessel which I
had been despatched to look out for. I learned that Don Felix, though a
good enough man in the main, was not very greatly respected by his
officers, who found him very deficient in seamanship, and suspected him
of being also somewhat wanting in courage. He was new to the ship, it
seemed, this being his first voyage in her; and young Albuquerque more
than hinted his suspicion that Don Felix owed his command a great deal
more to influence than to merit. My meal ended, I returned to the deck,
and was then introduced in due form to each of the quarter-deck officers
in succession, more than one of whom were polite enough to compliment me
upon my Spanish.
When I had time to look about a bit I was greatly surprised to notice
that no preparations were going forward to replace the spars lost by the
ship during the hurricane; and upon my noticing it to the first
lieutenant he replied, with rather a contemptuous shrug of the
shoulders, that it was Captain Calderon's intention to put into Cumana
to refit, and also to land us Englishmen.
This was by no means pleasant news for me. I was in hopes we should
have been carried across the Atlantic, which would have afforded us at
least a chance of recapture by one of our own men-of-war; moreover Inez
and her father were on board, and though I augured ill from the studied
coolness of the latter's reception of me, I thought I should never have
a better opportunity than that afforded by an Atlantic voyage for
ingratiating myself with him and forwarding my love affairs. I thought
matters over a little, and at length hit upon a plan which I thought
might serve to render our visit to Cumana unnecessary, at least so far
as the spars were concerned. I knew that a quick passage was regarded
by the authorities as of the most vital importance, for my friend the
second lieutenant had told me so; I therefore awaited my opportunity,
and, taking advantage of a moment when Don Felix and several of his
officers were chatting with me, I suddenly changed the topic of
conversation by thanking the captain for the arrangements he had made
for the comfort of myself and my men, which I begged he would allow me
to acknowledge in the only way I then could, namely by assisting his
crew to replace the lost spars of the ship, which I assured him we could
and would do, unaided if necessary, before noon next day. He flushed up
a little, stammered something unintelligible, and finally declined the
assistance rather curtly.
I saw no more of Don Luis or his daughter until after the commencement
of the first watch that evening, when the former joined me and proposed
a little private chat on the poop.
I of course acceded to the proposal at once and followed my stately
friend to the poop, fully expecting to be severely reproached for having
presumed to entangle the affections of his daughter.
I quite looked for an exhibition of righteous anger; but in this I was
agreeably disappointed. Whatever Don Luis' feeling might have been he
remained, outwardly at least, perfectly calm, speaking throughout our
short interview in a low, sonorous, and steady voice.
"Since meeting you so unexpectedly on the quarter-deck this afternoon,"
he commenced, "I have had a private conversation with my daughter, which
has resulted in a full and complete explanation by her of the singular
scene I then witnessed, and of all that has led up to it. I will not
reproach you with anything that is past, because I feel that it is
really _I_ who am more to blame than anybody else for it. I have never
thought it necessary to provide my daughter with any staid female
companion--any duenna--to watch and control her actions; she has been
allowed to run wild about the place from her infancy, and to have her
own way in everything. I ought to have remembered this, and to have
provided against all that has happened, before I ventured to introduce
two young men beneath my roof. However, there is no very great harm
done, so far--a few love-letters, and so on, but nothing serious. Now,
young sir, I wish you to understand me clearly; I am quite willing to
forget everything that has happened--but so must you. I am fully aware
that, so long as we all remain on board the same ship, it will be quite
impossible that you and my daughter should avoid meeting more or less;
and after the scene of this afternoon on the quarter-deck I do not
choose to excite comment and curiosity by forbidding your speaking to
each other. But let me remind you that I am a parent, and that I
possess rights which no _gentleman_ will for a moment dream of
infringing or disputing; in virtue of these, therefore, I must insist
that, henceforward, you never presume to address my daughter in the
language of love. Nay, do not look so angry, my young friend; I meant
not to speak quite so harshly, but I was and am most anxious you should
understand that there must be an end to all this business."
"May I venture to ask your grounds for insisting so strongly on what
will inevitably wreck the happiness of one if not of two persons!" I
demanded, not quite as respectfully as I ought, I am afraid.
"Assuredly," answered Don Luis; "it is the difference in position--the
difference of rank--which exists between yourself and my daughter. In
every other respect I have not a fault to find. You are a fine, gallant
young fellow--your fame has reached even to La Guayra, I may tell you--I
believe you to be perfectly honourable, honest, and straightforward, and
I feel sure that you will advance rapidly in your profession; but, my
dear young friend, you are not _noble_; and you are consequently quite
ineligible--"
"Not noble--ineligible!" I interrupted. "Have you forgotten that I am
an officer of the British navy? Or is it that you are unaware of the
fact that every wearer of our uniform--"
"Is qualified by it to stand in the presence of kings?" retorted he with
a laugh. "Oh, yes, I know all this; but it does not alter facts one
iota.--There," he continued, "we will say no more about it; we quite
understand each other, I am sure; I have demanded that you will respect
certain rights of mine, and you _will_ respect them, as any other
gentleman would. Now let us talk about something else."
"One moment, Don Luis," said I, "and then, if you choose, we will drop
the subject for ever. I acknowledge your rights, and will respect them.
But--understand me, sir--I will _never_ give up the hope of winning
your daughter--with your approval--until I learn that she is wedded to
someone else. And I shall most assuredly tell her so, before I fall
back into the position of a mere ordinary acquaintance to which you wish
to relegate me."
Don Luis laughed a little, said that, after all, what I insisted upon
was perhaps only fair, and then the subject was dropped and we had a
long and quite friendly chat about other matters. I then learned that
the poor fellow was in trouble with his government, and was going home,
in something almost like disgrace, in obedience to an unexpected and
most peremptory message from Spain. He attributed the whole business to
the machinations and misrepresentations of certain enemies in La Guayra;
and complained bitterly that if he had been allowed a little more time
he could have collected an ample sufficiency of evidence to have refuted
every one of the charges against him. He explained the whole affair to
me in full detail; but as it has no direct bearing upon my story I shall
not inflict the particulars upon the reader.
Upon our separating, somewhat late, I was intercepted by a messenger
from Don Felix, who, I was informed, wished to see me in his private
cabin. I joined him at once; and found that the business was that,
after thinking matters over further, he was now prepared to accept my
offer of assistance in the replacing of his spars if I would waive his
former refusal, which he now endeavoured to explain away, and for which
he very handsomely apologised. I assured him that I should still be
very happy to be of any service I possibly could; upon which it was
agreed that the work should be commenced immediately after breakfast on
the following morning; and I then retired, quite worn out, to the
quarters allotted to me.