The _Thisbe_ had doubled the Cape.
On opening his sealed orders, Captain Headland found that he was to
proceed to the Eastern Seas, and to give notice of the commencement of
hostilities to any ships-of-war or merchantmen he could fall in with.
The _Thisbe_ had touched at Rio to obtain water and provisions, and had
since made the best of her way eastward.
Little did Sir Ralph suppose when he had got Headland appointed to a
ship destined for this service, that he was going to a part of the world
in which he was so much interested.
Headland, as soon as he had opened the orders, determined, as far as was
compatible with his duty, to visit every English settlement, and to make
inquiries which might tend to elucidate the mystery of his birth.
Although upwards of twenty years had passed since he had been put on
board the merchantman by his supposed father, the circumstance, he
thought, might still be recollected by some of the inhabitants, and if
so, he might be able to trace his parents. His heart beat high with
hope; Harry was sanguine of success.
"I am sure if you can find your parents you will have no more cause to
be ashamed of them than they will have of you," he said, "and find them
you will, I am very certain. I cannot help feeling that we were
providentially sent out to these seas for that very object."
"At all events, we may make use of the opportunity to obtain it," said
Headland, smiling.
Harry had taken the first opportunity of speaking to the young fisherman
who had volunteered from the lugger, and, ascertaining that he was no
other than Jacob Halliburt, had treated him with all the kindness which,
in their relative positions, he was able to show.
"Do your duty, Halliburt," he said, "and I can answer for it that
Captain Headland will endeavour to promote your interests, and give you
a higher rating as soon as possible. I will write by the first chance,
to give your friends notice of your safety, and you can do the same, and
let them know what I have said."
"I am much obliged to you for your kindness," answered Jacob. "I knew,
sir, when I saw you, that you must be Lieutenant Castleton who was at
Texford, and I was thankful to think that I had to serve under you. If
it had not been for that, I should have been heart-sick to return home
to help poor father, for he must be sorely missing me." Harry was able
to assure Jacob that his father's spirits were wonderfully kept up, and
that he hoped Ned Brown would stick by him, and help him during his
absence.
"And mother, sir, does she bear up as well as father?" asked Jacob.
Harry, who had seen the dame just before he left home, was able to give
a good account of her.
Jacob longed to ask after May, but he felt tongue-tied, and could not
bring himself to pronounce her name. Harry was surprised at his
silence. Jacob merely remarked that he hoped the family at Downside
were also well.
"The ladies were sorry when they heard of your being carried off."
"Thank you, Mr Castleton, thank you," said Jacob. "I will try and do
as you tell me, and though I could not have brought myself to leave
father of my own accord, it may be my coming aboard here won't be so bad
for me after all."
Harry was still under the belief that Jacob was May's brother, and Jacob
had said nothing to undeceive him. Jacob at the same time had not the
slightest suspicion that his lieutenant was engaged to marry the being
on whom his own honest affections were so hopelessly set.
It was observed by his messmates that Jacob Halliburt was a great
favourite with the captain and first lieutenant, but as he was a
well-behaved man, and did his duty thoroughly, this was easily accounted
for, as no particular favour was shown him of which others could be
jealous.
Harry would often gladly have talked with Jacob about Hurlston and his
family, but the etiquette of a man of war prevented him from doing so.
He thus remained in ignorance of a circumstance which would have greatly
raised his hopes of overcoming his father's objection to his marriage
with May, for all the time he had supposed that Sir Ralph believed May
to be, as he did, Dame Halliburt's daughter, and had been surprised that
he had not spoken more strongly on the subject. His only other
supposition was that Sir Ralph had made no enquiries as to May's
parentage, and took it for granted that she was the orphan child of some
friends of his cousins, whom they had charitably adopted.
The _Thisbe_ continued her course day after day over the world of
waters. Though a constant look-out had been kept, no prizes had been
made, and no enemy's cruisers encountered. Both the captain and
officers hoped before long to find some work either to bring them credit
or prize money.
Light and baffling winds had of late detained the _Thisbe_, when, having
got somewhat out of her course, Saint Ann, one of the Seychelle Islands,
was sighted. Captain Headland stood in for the Mahe Roads, in the hopes
that some of the enemy's privateers or merchantmen might be anchored
there, and might be cut out without detaining him long.
The opportunity must not be lost. The wind favoured them, for, instead
of blowing off-shore as it generally does, the sea-breeze carried them
swiftly towards the harbour.
Eager eyes were on the look-out. A large ship was discovered at anchor
without her foremast. From her appearance she would evidently be a
prize worth taking; but whether or not she was too strongly armed to
allow the _Thisbe_ to make the attempt was the question. As she could
not move, Captain Headland stood in close enough to ascertain this, and
determined, should her size give him a fair hope of conquest, to attack
her.
The cables were ranged with springs ready for anchoring, and the ship
cleared for action. All on board eagerly hoped that they might have
work to do, and every telescope was turned towards the stranger.
The _Thisbe_ had hoisted French colours, that her expected antagonist
might not take the alarm, and run on shore to avoid her.
It was at length ascertained that the stranger was a flush deck ship,
and ten guns were counted on the only side visible. Though she was
apparently larger than the _Thisbe_, and more heavily armed, Captain
Headland no longer hesitated, while the master volunteered to take the
ship in among the numerous shoals which guarded the entrance of the
harbour. Taking his station on the fore-yardarm, guided by the colour
of the water, he gave directions to the helmsman how to steer.
The stranger remained quietly at anchor, apparently not suspecting the
character of her visitor.
Harry was amused, as he went from gun to gun, to hear the remarks of
some of the men who saw the French flag flying at the peak of the
corvette.
"I thought our craft was an English ship, and we British tars, and now I
see we be turned into mounseers," said one, cocking his eye at the
tricoloured flag.
"If we be, my boy, we will show yonder ship that the mounseers can fight
their guns as well as British tars for once in a way," remarked another
who stood near him.
"Never you fear, mate, that gay-coloured flag will come down fast enough
before we open fire."
The last speaker was right--the moment to which all were looking forward
was approaching. Every man was at his station. Not a word was now
spoken except by the master as he issued his orders from the yardarm.
The stranger gave no signs that she was aware of the approach of an
enemy.
"We will run alongside and carry her by boarding; it will save our
anchoring, and we shall not injure her spars--an important object, as I
hope we may have to carry her off to sea," observed the captain to his
first lieutenant.
The _Thisbe_ was now within 200 yards of the stranger's bows, when the
master gave notice that there was a shoal ahead extending on either
hand, while on shore a battery was seen commanding the passage, and
several smaller vessels at anchor under it.
Headland instantly gave the order to anchor. The crew swarmed aloft to
hand sails, the French colours was hauled down, and the English run up
at the peak. At the same moment the stranger opened a hot fire from the
whole of her broadside.
"Fire," cried Captain Headland, and the _Thisbe_ returned the warm
salute she had received.
The battery on shore and the small vessels at the same time began
peppering away at her.
Broadsides were exchanged with great rapidity between the combatants.
The firing calming the light wind which had been blowing, the two ships
were soon shrouded in a canopy of smoke. The English crew redoubled
their efforts. Several had been struck, yet two only lay dead on her
deck.
The Frenchman's fire, however, at length began to slacken, and in little
more than a quarter of an hour down came the tricoloured flag, loud
cheers bursting from the throats of the _Thisbe's_ crew. A boat was
instantly sent under the command of the second lieutenant to take
possession of the prize, but as he was pulling alongside the Frenchmen
were seen lowering their boats, in which a considerable number made
their escape to the shore.
The battery continued firing, and Captain Headland directed Harry to
land with a boat's crew and silence it. Jacob accompanied him. The
smaller vessels meantime cut their cables, some running on shore, and
others endeavouring to make their escape through the intricate passages,
where the English ship could not follow them.
Harry, ordering his men to give way, pulled rapidly for the beach,
exposed to a hot fire of musketry in addition to that from the heavy
guns in the battery. Forming his men, he led the way up the steep bank.
The battery had been rapidly thrown up, and offered no insuperable
impediment. Sword in hand he leaped over the parapet, followed closely
by Jacob and the rest of his men.
At the same moment a bullet struck him on the shoulder, and a tall
French officer, supported by a party of his men, was on the point of
cutting him down as he fell forward, when Jacob, with uplifted cutlass,
saved him from the blow, returning it with such interest that his
assailant fell back wounded among his men.
At this juncture a number of the French who had landed from the ship
entered the fort to assist its defenders, and attacked the small party
of English who had accompanied Harry. Jacob threw himself across the
body of his lieutenant, and defended him bravely from the attacks of the
French, who attempted to bayonet him as he lay on the ground. The
remainder of the boat's crew springing over the entrenchments now came
to Jacob's support. The garrison fought bravely, and disputed every
inch of ground. Jacob's great object, however, was to protect Harry,
and as soon as the Frenchmen had given way, springing back, he lifted
Harry on his shoulders, and leaping over the entrenchments, carried him
down to the boat.
In the meantime, Headland suspecting that the fort was stronger than he
had at first supposed, despatched another boat to Harry's assistance.
The men sent in her landed just as a party of Frenchmen had come round
the hill, and were on the point of intercepting Jacob, who was hurrying
down with his burden, regardless of the shot whistling by him.
The Frenchmen on seeing this took to flight, while the last party of
English climbing the hill threw themselves into the fort, and quickly
cleared it of its defenders. The French flag was hauled down by the
young midshipman who had led the second party, and that of England
hoisted in its stead.
No further opposition was made, the French seeking shelter in the
neighbouring woods, where they were not likely to be followed. A few
had been cut down while defending the fort, while others, unable to make
their escape, were taken prisoners.
The fort was found to contain six guns landed from the ship, as also a
furnace for heating shot.
As soon as the Frenchmen had disappeared, one of the boats was sent back
with the wounded lieutenant, and two of the men who had also been hurt.
Jacob carried Harry up the side, evidently considering that it was his
duty to attend on him till he had placed him in the surgeon's hands.
No time was lost in getting the captured vessel ready for sea, while the
guns belonging to her, which had been in the fort, were brought on
board. A new mast was found on the beach, ready to be towed off. It
was soon got on board and stepped, and in a couple of days the
_Concord_, a fine new sloop of 22 guns, was following the _Thisbe_ out
of the roads.
The command had of necessity been given to Lieutenant De Vere, as Harry
was unable to assume it.
The surgeon looked grave when he spoke to the captain about him.
"We must keep a careful watch over him, for he has a good deal of fever,
and in these warm latitudes it is somewhat a serious matter."
Harry had expressed a wish to have Jacob Halliburt to attend on him, and
as it was necessary that some one should be constantly at his side,
Jacob was appointed to that duty.
It would have been impossible to have found a more tender nurse, and no
one could have attended more carefully to the directions given by the
surgeon.
The fever the surgeon dreaded, however, came on, and for several days
Harry was delirious. Often the name of "May" was on his lips, and
Jacob, as he listened, discovered that his lieutenant loved her.
Several days went by, and Harry appeared to get worse. On his return to
consciousness he felt how completely his strength had deserted him, and
though the doctor tried to keep up his spirits by telling him that he
would get better in time, so great was his weakness that he felt himself
to be dying. He was anxious not to alarm his friend Headland; but as
Jacob stood by his bedside, he told him what he believed would be the
case.
"And I hope, my good fellow, that you will be able to return to your
home, and if you do, I wish you to bear a message to your father and
mother, and to your sister. I know that she no longer lives with them,
and has become fit to occupy a different station in life; but you, I
doubt not, love her notwithstanding as much as ever. Tell your parents
how much I esteem them, and say to your sister that my love is
unchangeable, that my dying thoughts were of her, my last prayers for
her welfare. I have done what I could to secure it, and have left her
all the property I possess. Mr Shallard, the lawyer at Morbury, will
enable her to obtain possession of it."
"Miss May my sister!" exclaimed Jacob in a tone which aroused Harry's
attention. "I will tell her what you say, sir, if my eyes are ever
blessed by seeing her again, but she is not father and mother's child.
Father found her on board a wreck when she was a little child, and
though she is now a grown young lady, she does not mind still calling
them as she did when she lived with us, and that's made you fancy she is
their daughter."
This answer of Jacob's had a wonderful effect on Harry. He asked
question after question, entirely forgetting the weakness of which he
had been complaining. Jacob gave him a full account of the way May had
been preserved, how she had been brought up by his parents, and how the
Miss Pembertons had invited her to come and live with them.
At length the doctor coming into the cabin put an end to the
conversation.
From that moment Harry began to recover. It seemed to him at once that
the great difficulty which he had dreaded was removed, and, ready as he
had been to marry May although she was a fisherman's daughter, he was
not the less gratified to hear that she was in all probability of gentle
birth although her parents were unknown. How he had not learned this
before surprised him. He could only, as was really the case, fancy that
the Miss Pembertons and May herself supposed him to be aware of the
truth, and had therefore not alluded to it. He thought over all his
conversations with May; he recollected that they had generally spoken of
the future rather than of the past, by which alone he could account for
her silence on the subject.
"How remarkable it is," he thought, "that my beloved May and Headland
should be placed in precisely similar situations, both ignorant of their
parents, and yet enjoying the position in life in which they were
evidently born."
Headland was as much surprised as his friend when he heard the account
Harry gave him.
"It must indeed be satisfactory news to you, Harry, and I am grateful to
young Halliburt for giving it you, as it is the physic you wanted, and
has done more than all the doctor's tonics in bringing you round."
Harry, indeed, after this rapidly got well, and before the ship with her
prize arrived in Calcutta, he was able to return to his duty.