"If it gives you no painful recollections, my dear Headland, I shall
much like to hear your history," said Harry. "On this calm night the
thread of your narrative is not likely to be broken."
"I will try to go back, then, as far as my memory will help me," said
Headland.
I have a dim recollection of living in a large Eastern style of house,
with a number of black servants dressed in white, and a black woman who
spoke in a language which has now become strange, though I think I then
understood it. She attended especially on me. There was a tall
gentleman of a slight figure, and a very fair lady, who was, I am sure,
my mother. I have a faint recollection of her blue eyes and sweet smile
as she took me in her arms, or looked down upon me as I played at her
feet. Still, it is only now and then like the vision in a dream that
her countenance rises to my memory. After that there comes a blank, and
I found myself on board a ship--brought there by my black nurse,
accompanied by the tall gentleman. I remember him clearly in the cabin,
talking to a lady who then took charge of me, my nurse, I conclude,
returning on shore, for she disappears from my recollection. While the
gentleman was on deck, as I was afterwards told by Jack Headland, he
suddenly, looking at the mate, asked him if he was not somebody he had
known in England. The mate seemed for a moment taken aback, but,
recovering himself, replied quite quietly that the gentleman was
mistaken; that he had never heard of such a person, and that his name
was Michael Golding, which, as Jack said, as far as he knew to the
contrary, was the case, for that was the name he went by on board,
though he was generally spoken of as the mate. The gentleman at last
seemed satisfied, and returned on shore.
The ship sailed, and I remember seeing the blue water bubbling and
hissing alongside as she clove her way through it, and playing with a
ball on deck, which rolled out through one of the ports. The lady was
very kind, and used to sing to me, and tell me stories, and, I fancied,
tried to teach me my letters, though I was somewhat young to learn them.
She was, however, very different to my mother, much older I suspect,
and I did not love her half so much.
It came on to blow after a time, the sea got up and the ship tumbled
about, and the poor lady was unable to watch over me.
There were other passengers, but they were all ill, and the stewardess
was too busy to attend to me, but the mate came one day and told the
lady that he would watch over me, or get some one else to do so when he
was engaged.
From the first I did not like him, for he was a dark, black bearded man,
with an unpleasant expression of countenance, so I cried out whenever he
came near me. The captain must, I think, therefore, have given me in
charge to Jack Headland, a young apprentice, whose looks I liked much
better than the mate's. At all events, I was frequently with Jack, and
no one could have taken better care of me.
There were not many English seamen, most of the crew being dark-skinned
fellows--Malays, I suppose.
The vessel was, I know, not an Indiaman, but a country trader bound to
Calcutta or Bombay.
I told Jack--so I learned from him--that I did not like the mate. He
advised me not to say that to any one else, and promised that he would
be my friend.
Most thoroughly he fulfilled his promise. Strange as it may seem, the
mate intentionally left me near an open port several times, in the hopes
that I might by chance slip through, so Jack thought, though he could
not guess at his motive. Still it was clear that the mate had a bitter
spite against me.
We had been some time at sea when we were caught in a fearful hurricane.
The ship was dismasted, and I remember hearing a dreadful crash, when
all was confusion on board. The sea broke over the ship, and a number
of people were washed away. Even then Jack did not forget me. He found
me in the cabin, and seizing me in his arms carried me to the fore part
of the ship, which still hung to the rocks, while the after part,
directly we had left it, broke up, and the poor lady who had had charge
of me with many others was lost. The mate, who had made his way forward
with half-a-dozen men, advised Jack to let me go, as it was impossible I
should survive, and that he would probably lose his own life in
attempting to save mine.
"No, no," answered Jack. "I promised to take care of the youngster, and
I will as long as I have life in me."
The noble fellow held me the faster with one arm, while he clung to the
wreck with the other. Scarcely had the mate spoken than he was washed
away; but Jack saw him gain a piece of the wreck to which he was
clinging, when he disappeared in the gloom at night.
When morning broke, the shore was seen. The hurricane was over, and the
sea was becoming calmer. Jack securing me to the stump of the bowsprit
with three or four of our surviving shipmates, contrived to form a raft.
When this was launched he came for me, and fed me with some biscuit
which he had in his pocket, I conclude. We then embarked, and partly by
paddling with pieces of plank, and partly by sailing, we reached the
shore.
We had not long landed when a number of natives came, and made the whole
party prisoners. While they were consulting what to do with us, some
others were seen along the shore dragging the mate in their midst.
Three Malays had been saved on the raft, who, poor fellows, were quickly
knocked on the head. The lives of the white men were spared. Jack kept
me tightly in his arms, and entreated the natives not to take me from
him. The mate, however, seemed to be able to make them understand him,
and Jack said that he was certain from the way he looked at me, that he
was endeavouring to persuade the natives to separate us. Though we had
fallen among a tribe of murderous pirates, such as frequent the coasts
of many of the Indian Islands, they had still some of the kinder
feelings of human nature lingering in their breasts. Notwithstanding
what the mate might have said Jack was allowed to keep possession of me,
and our captors making signs to us to accompany them, we proceeded to
their village, situated on the shores of a creek, on the bank of which
several piratical proas lay moored.
By this time I was suffering dreadfully from thirst. Jack seeing this
entreated the natives to give me some water. The houses were raised on
platforms, with steps leading to them some height from the ground.
One of the natives, a headman, calling out a pleasant-looking young
woman, brought down a calabash of water, which she gave me to drink.
She smiled as she watched me. As soon as I had satisfied my thirst, I
put it to Jack's mouth, and he swallowed the remainder. The young woman
seemed to have taken a fancy to me, and saying something to the head
man, who was her husband, the latter made signs to Jack that he was to
give me to her. On this she seemed highly pleased, and Jack, thinking I
should be safe in her keeping, made no resistance.
As soon as she got me, she carried me up into the house. Jack was going
to follow, when some of the natives seized him and dragged him away. My
new nurse brought me some dry native clothing, and while doing so
discovered round my neck a gold chain to which an ornament was attached;
but she did not attempt to take it off, and I have ever since carefully
preserved it in the hopes that it might assist to identify me. She then
gave me food, and placed me on a mat, where I soon fell asleep.
Day after day passed by, and though I frequently asked for Jack, he did
not appear. The young woman who had no children of her own, treated me
with great kindness, and dressed me up like a native. I do not remember
having had my own clothes restored.
I remember once, if not twice, seeing the mate while I was playing in
front of the house; but my protectress, fancying that he wanted to take
me from her, ran out and carried me inside.
I was beginning to learn the language of the people with whom I was
thrown, and could make my wants known, so that I must have been some
time with them. I had not forgotten Jack, however, and continued hoping
that he would come back for me; and whenever I went out I was on the
watch for him. Once I fancied I saw him in the distance, but as I was
dressed as a native child, he did not recognise me.
Many months went by. I afterwards found that the white men had been
compelled to labour as slaves, though the mate had managed to gain the
confidence of one of the chiefs, and had risen in his favour. The proas
frequently went out of harbour, and were absent often for a considerable
time. When they came back they brought all sorts of things, which were
placed in their store houses, and were certainly not obtained by
peaceable commerce.
One day the young woman who had charge of me seemed very unhappy. I was
now able to understand all she said, so I asked her the cause of her
grief, and she told me that the chief whose slave the mate had become,
wanted to persuade her husband to give me up to him, and that she could
not bear the thoughts of parting from me. I entreated her to keep me,
and promised that if I was taken away I would run back to her. I then
asked her if she knew what had become of my friend Jack. She said he
was not far off, but that his master would not let him come to see me.
I begged her, at all events, not to let me be given up to the mate. She
at last told me one day that I need have no fear of the mate, as he had
disappeared, and was supposed to have made his way out to sea in a canoe
to a vessel which had appeared off the coast.
The pirates lived tolerably easy lives on shore, apparently believing
that though they must have made enemies in all directions, their village
was so securely hidden, they were not likely to be molested.
Thus time went on, when one night I was awoke by hearing a fearful
uproar, rapid reports of firearms, shouts and shrieks of men fighting
desperately. Presently flames burst forth from different parts of the
village. They were approaching the house where I was. The one next to
it was on fire. My kind protectress did not forget me. At first, not
knowing what to do, she had remained watching the progress of events,
hoping probably that the enemy would be driven back. When, however, the
fire surrounded her house, she saw that it was time to fly. Seizing me
in her arms she was about to do so, when the crackling and hissing
flames burst forth around us. At that moment a man leaped up the steps.
Though so long a time had passed since we had parted, I at once
recognised my friend Jack. Snatching me from the woman's arms, he
sprang down to the ground, telling her to follow him. Bullets were
whizzing through the air in all directions. He made his way as fast as
his legs could carry him out of the range of fire, and then directed his
course towards the river, where he sat down on the ground beneath some
bushes, and I believe I fell asleep.
It was just daylight when I awoke, and Jack creeping with me down to the
water's edge, we saw several boats full of men. Jack shouted to them,
and one of them put in and took us on board. They were, he afterwards
told me, the boats of two Dutch men-of-war, which had been sent up the
river to destroy the nest of pirates. This they had done effectually,
and were now on their way back to their ships. Jack was the only one of
the shipwrecked crew who had escaped; what had become of the others he
could not tell, but concluded that they had been murdered.
It was a long time, however, before I could speak to him or understand
what he said, for I had been so long without hearing a word of English
that I had almost forgotten it, while he knew but very little of the
native language in which I had in the meantime learned to express my
wants.
We were kindly received on board one of the Dutch frigates. Jack tried
to tell the captain the little he knew about me, but as the Dutchman
spoke no English, and Jack was ignorant of Dutch, he did not, I suspect,
give him a very lucid account. Jack having been but a short time at the
port from which we sailed, as he had joined the ship from a vessel which
had arrived only the day before, had entirely forgotten its name, and
being no navigator he had not the slightest notion from what direction
we had come. He was not much happier in recollecting the name of the
vessel, except that there were two of them both ending, as he said, in
"jee."
Before long a Dutch seaman who spoke English was found on board, and
through his interpretation Jack was able to give a rather more clear
account of me than at first. The captain was at all events satisfied
that I was the child of English parents of a good position in life, and
taking compassion on my destitute condition, he desired Jack to leave me
in the cabin, giving him permission, however, to come aft and attend to
me. Jack would rather have kept me forward with himself, but believing
that this arrangement was for my good, he submitted to it. I was soon
rigged out like a young Dutchman by the ship's tailor, and Jack used to
come into the cabin to look after me in the morning, and to attend to me
at my meals, while he watched during the best part of the day as I ran
about the deck.
The frigates were bound for Batavia. As soon as we arrived there the
captain took me on shore, and he so interested a wealthy Dutch merchant
and his wife in my favour that they offered to receive me into their
house and adopt me should my parents not be discovered. I at once
became a great favourite of the lady's, who had no children of her own,
and for my sake they sent for Jack and asked if he would wish to remain
on shore and enter their service. As he was very unwilling to part with
me he accepted their offer, though, as he afterwards said, kind as they
were, he did not like the thoughts of my being turned into a Dutchman.
He was my constant companion when I was not with Mynheer Vanderveldt or
his excellent Frau, and he did his best to teach me English. They,
however, did not neglect either my education or my manners, but took
great pains to bring me up as a young gentleman.
Three or four years more passed by, and I had become a biggish boy, and
should, in spite of Jack's efforts, have been soon turned into a
Dutchman, when my kind friends determined to return to Europe. I
suspect that all this time, from their wish to keep me, they had taken
no great pains to discover to whom I belonged; indeed, the only clue
that Jack could give them was so slight that I feel that they really had
a sufficient excuse for their negligence. My faithful friend Jack,
still unwilling to part from me, accompanied my friends in the _Prinz
Mauritz_, on board which we embarked. He and I were doomed, however, to
be unfortunate in our voyages, though more fortunate than our
companions.
We had been some weeks at sea when, during a dark and blowing night, a
terrific crash was heard. I sprang out of my berth and dressed, and
within a minute my faithful Jack was by my side.
"The ship is on shore and will go to pieces before daylight, but I will
not desert you, my boy," he said. "As I came aft I made out a rock
close aboard of us, and as the masts are sure to go over we may manage
to gain it if we take the proper time. I wish I could help Mynheer and
the Frau, but I must look after you first."
Scarcely had he said this when another and another crashing sound
reached our ears.
"There go the masts!" he exclaimed. "Come along!" and seizing me by the
arm he dragged me on deck.
As he had expected, the head of the mainmast rested on the rock, which
could now be seen as a bright flash of lightning darted from the sky.
We were the first on the spar, and making our way along it gained the
rock. A few others seeing us followed. I entreated Jack to look after
my friends, forgetting the danger to which he would be exposed in doing
so. The people coming along the mast prevented him from going, and just
then a heavy sea rolling in sent a sheet of spray over us, completely
hiding the ship. When we looked again she was gone. The sea had lifted
her, and falling off the rock she had sunk, dragging her fallen masts
with those still clinging to them.
Six people, besides Jack and me, had alone escaped, all the other human
beings on board, including my kind friends, had perished. We remained
till daylight on the rock, and at daybreak managed to get to the island,
partly by wading and partly by swimming. It was itself only a huge
rock, about three miles long, rising in some places to the height of a
couple of hundred feet above the sea.
We employed the whole day in collecting provisions and part of the cargo
washed ashore. We went in search of water and found a spring, so that
we had no fear of dying from hunger or thirst for some time to come.
One of our first cares was to erect a flagstaff as a signal to any
passing ship. I felt deeply grieved for the loss of my friends; but I
did not think so much about the fact that I was reduced from affluence
to perfect poverty. Jack told me that he knew Mynheer Vanderveldt
intended to leave me all his property.
"He made his will before he left Batavia, and I am pretty sure he had it
with him, so that if any of his chests are washed on shore, as I should
know them, there may still be a chance of finding it. Though I am no
scholar myself, you might make it out, and some day get what the good
man intended to be yours."
So impressed was Jack with this idea that he employed a considerable
portion of his time in hunting along the shore for my friend's chests.
Though we did not get them, we found several articles which were of more
use to us just then, so that the time was not fruitlessly spent.
We lived in a hut built partly of stones and partly of the wreck, and
thus suffered no great hardship. After we had spent three months on the
rock we saw a sail in the distance. She approached--our signal was
discovered. A boat came and took us off, when we found ourselves on
board an English frigate, the _Nymph_, which had been driven by a gale
out of her course. Had it not been for this circumstance we might have
remained on the rock many months longer, or till we had all died of
starvation.
Captain Biddell sent for me, and desired to know who I was.
"That's more than I can very well tell you, sir," I answered in the
broken English I then spoke; "but my friend Jack Headland can tell you
more about me than I can."
He accordingly sent for Jack, who told him all he knew. He seemed, by
his remarks, to have some doubts of the truth of the story.
"Well, all I can do is to enter you both on the ship's books," he
observed. "I shall see how the boy behaves himself and act
accordingly."
Jack was asked by what name I should be entered.
"I'll give him mine," he answered. "I don't want him to be a Dutchman,
and I don't know any other to call him by."
And so I was entered as young Jack Headland, and young Jack I was called
ever afterwards, while he was known as old Jack, though he was not very
old either, for he was still a fine active young fellow.
"You heard what the captain said," observed old Jack to me. "What you
have got to look after is to behave yourself and to do your duty.
Though he is somewhat cross-grained in his manner, he is all right at
bottom, or the ship would not be in the good order she is, or the men so
well contented. Though I have never served on board a man-of-war before
I can judge of that."
I followed Jack's advice, and having shifted my shore-going clothes,
which were pretty nearly worn out, for a seaman's suit, I was soon able
to do my duty as well as any of the other boys in the ship.
Captain Fancourt was then first lieutenant of the frigate, and having
heard Jack's account he spoke to me and found that at all events I was a
young gentleman in manners and education.
"Do you wish to keep your present knowledge, my lad?" he asked one day,
calling me to him. "It is a pity you should lose what you know."
I replied that I especially wished to do so, but that I had no books,
and should find it a hard matter to read them for'ard, even if I had.
"Very well," he answered. "You shall come to my cabin every day, and I
will assist you in your studies."
The other officers following his example, also took me in hand. The
master gave me lessons in mathematics and navigation, and the purser
taught me writing and arithmetic, so that though I was still berthed
for'ard I had advantages which even the midshipmen did not possess.
They, in a short time, finding I was a gentleman in manners, applied for
leave to the captain, and I was admitted into their berth. I do not
know that I gained much by the change in some respects, but I was glad
to escape from the rough boys with whom I had at first to associate. I
still did duty as a ship's boy, and by this means Jack was able to
instruct me in knotting and splicing, and other minutiae of a seaman's
education, which I found especially useful.
We had been in the Indian Seas about three years, chiefly engaged in
protecting British merchantmen from the pirates which swarmed there.
The boats had been sent away in chase of three or four of their craft,
cut off from a piratical fleet which were endeavouring to make their
escape along shore. My friend Jack belonged to the second cutter.
Night came on, and the frigate stood after the boats, making signals for
their return. Three of the boats at length got alongside, but the
second cutter did not appear. The weather changed--a heavy gale sprang
up, and we were compelled to stand out to sea. As soon as the weather
moderated, we returned and cruised up and down the coast, the boats
being sent on shore at various places; but nothing could be seen of the
second cutter, and we had every reason to fear that the officer in
charge of her and all hands, had either been killed or fallen into the
power of the pirates. I was very much cut up at the loss of my kind
friend, who had indeed acted like a father towards me. The captain sent
for me into his cabin, and expressed his regret at the loss of my old
protector.
"I wish to make all the amends I can to you, my lad," he said. "As your
conduct has been thoroughly to my satisfaction since you came on board,
and as there is now a vacancy by the death of Mr Watson (the midshipman
lost in the boat), I will place you on the quarter-deck and give you the
rating of a midshipman."
I thanked him very much; but I remember saying, "I would rather old Jack
were alive though."
"I appreciate your feeling, my lad," he answered; "but even if he does
return I won't disrate you, and I will see how we can best manage to get
you an outfit."
Thus by the loss of my honest friend, whom I greatly lamented, I got my
first step on the ratlines.
After a further search for the missing boat we left the coast, and soon
afterwards going to Calcutta received our orders to return home.
Your uncle has been my friend ever since. He obtained his promotion on
our arrival in England, and was at once appointed to the command of the
_Ariel_, corvette, in which I accompanied him to the West Indies, where
we were actively engaged, and I had there the opportunity I had so much
wished for of performing two or three acts which gained me credit. I
was still more anxious than ever to make a name for myself, as since the
loss of my protector, Jack Headland, I had no possible clue by which to
discover my parents with the exception of the gold chain, which I wore
round my neck, and which I still preserved. A small bundle containing a
child's clothes and shoes, and the figure of an Indian tumbler, which
were found in Jack's kit, I felt sure had belonged to me. Whether or
not they are sufficient to identify me I am very doubtful. Not wishing
to throw a chance away I deposited them for safety with my agents in
London.
Such was Headland's history, and Harry assured him at its close that he
always knew he must be a gentleman by birth, as he was in every other
possible way.
"I heartily wish," he said, "that you may some day find out to whom you
belong. Whoever they are you may depend on it they will welcome you
joyfully. Why there goes eight bells. Our watch has indeed passed
quickly away."
The two midshipmen were relieved and went below. They had scarcely, as
they supposed, closed their eyes, when the boatswain's rough voice and
shrill pipe roused them up with a cry of "All hands on deck!" followed
by the quick roll of the drum, the well known beat to quarters.