UNCLE BOB TELLS TOM'S STORY.
"If to engage they give the word,
To quarters all repair;
While splintered masts go by the board,
And shots sing through the air."--DIBDIN.
"Mr. Merryweather," Uncle Bob began, "it's many years since the old
_Turtle_ was re-commissioned out at Bermuda, and you and I parted."
"That it is, Bob. Ten, if a dog-watch."
"And you stopped in the tub, as we used to call her, and I went out
to join the _Billy Ruffian_ at Jamaica. Now, mate--for mate I will
call you, though you're a bold lieutenant now--take a hold o' young
Tom there, and turn him round to the light. Focus the little chap
right, and see if he doesn't put you in mind o' someone you know."
Lieutenant Merryweather did as he was told.
"Why not Miss Raymond, surely? Yet indeed he does. The dark eyes,
the small mouth and nose, and all complete. Come, Bob, I shall
listen with more marked attention to this yarn of yours, now."
"Well, first and foremost, it must be pipe down hammocks as far as
young Tom is concerned," Bob began.
"I'll turn in at once, Uncle Bob," said Tom.
So he bade good-night to all hands and trotted off.
"Did you say ten years, mate, since you and I parted? Why it's going
on for a round dozen. Let me see, I'm two-and-thirty, and you can't
want a deal of thirty."
"Worse luck, Bob, and only lieutenant yet. Should have been promoted
long ago. Don't think me on the swagger, Bob, if I say that my
services have been meritorious enough since I saw the last of you.
But I've seen youngster after youngster promoted over my head. More
interest, Bob; more interest!"
"Well, Mr. Merryweather, you were a jolly young waterman anyhow when
I left you in Bermuda. And it was about this very Miss Raymond you
fought the duel on the very morning after the ball--aye, and winged
your soldier too."
"So it was, Bob, and I remember how sleepy I was. But I resolved not
to take life; so instead of firing at the major, I took aim at a
bunch of bananas that hung on a tree some yards to his right."
"Yes," said Bob, laughing, "and that was why you hit the major. If
you'd aimed at the major you'd have hit the bananas. Plucky little
fellow, though, he was, for even when the surgeon was probing his arm
with his pipe-cleaner he apologised to you most handsomely. Think I
see him yet, reclining in his second's arms on the grass, and you
standing forenenst him, stem on, and taking all the honour and glory
of that shot. 'Sir! It was a pretty shot,' cried the major, 'and I
owe you my life. A man who could rip open his opponent's pistol arm
so neatly as that could have put his bullet through the bridge of his
nose and spoiled his beauty for life. Excuse my left hand, sir, but
I want to grasp the fist of a brave and generous gentleman.'
"'I don't believe in taking life, major,' you drawled out, 'when it
can be avoided, and so----'
"'And so you wing your men. Bravo! I shall remember that, and sir,
you must dine with me as soon's I'm out of the doctor's hands.'"
"Did you dine with him, Mr. Merryweather?"
"I did, Bob, and he proved a brick; but then the bone of contention,
pretty Miss Raymond, had disappeared. I' faith, Bob, I did fall in
love with that girl, head over heels, and if she'd asked me to cut
the buttons off my coat, and pitch them at the admiral's head, I'd
have done it. But heave round, Bob."
"Well, mate, Miss Raymond came to Jamaica with her father the
colonel. There were some disturbances in the bush, and Commander
Bure was sent on shore with a party of bluejackets to support the
soldiers. Why these Joeys were behaving about as silly as silly
could be, marching through the country with drums and pipes, to
attack an enemy that killed them right and left from behind the scrub
and the bush, but never showed a head. We altered all that, we took
the enemy in the rear, we never piped, and we never drummed, but we
killed 'em by the score, and the prisoners we hung like herrings on
the trees. It was wild work, but it had to be done."
"Well, mate, Bure, our good commander, was a very active gentleman,
he would push on, and he would show himself at times when he didn't
ought to; so he got downed, ay, and would have been scuppered too, if
I and my mates hadn't rushed in and drove the butchers off."
"Where did you drive them to, Bob?"
"Made flies' meat o' them, sir. But the commander swore I'd saved
his life, and he would make me his servant, and have me always about
him on shore or afloat; and when he got engaged to Miss Raymond, why,
mate, it was me that carried all the billy-doos back and fore, you
know. Sometimes I'd be ashore and off again twice in every watch.
Well, Mr. Merryweather, what with all the billing and cooing and
billy-doo-ing the commander and she got spliced at last. Ah! that
was a spree, I can tell you. And a sweet bonnie bride the charming
lady looked!"
"Hush, hush, Bob; you're opening old sores."
"Well, mate, the commander was nearly always on shore after this, and
our old captain--O'Hare was his name--told Bure one day straight to
his face that marriage made muffs of men, and spoiled 'em for the
service."
"It was pretty nearly ten months after my good commander's marriage
that we hove up anchor and went off east to look out for some flighty
Frenchees, that were playin' fast and loose with our merchant ships
that scorned to go in convoys. I never saw anything in my life,
mate, so affecting-like as the parting atween the commander and his
young wife--she in tears and clinging to him, and he----, well, it
doesn't do to say that a sailor pipes his eyes, but la! sir, I was
glad when it was all over and our boat was speedin' away towards the
ship.
"For six mortal months we kept our weather eyes open looking for the
Frenchee's cruisers, and then we came up with two. And--why they
must between the pair of them have carried twice our number of guns.
"We crowded all sail, mate, put her dead afore the wind, and the race
began. We were running away though, and however the Frenchees didn't
see through the caper is more than I can tell. In less than half an
hour there was three-quarters of a mile betwixt the foremost Frenchee
and her consort. So we got ready for action without making any extra
fuss about it. Then we wore ship, and the captain of that foremost
frigate must have begun to scratch his head. Seems to me, Mr.
Merryweather, he knew just as much about navy tactics as a cow does
about chess. Presently she put about though, with signals flying to
her consort--signals of distress we called them. When near enough we
sent a round shot or two roaring through her rigging, but if the
Frenchee thought our game was to be a stand-off fight he was
miserably mistaken. Under one pretence or another, and always firing
another shot or two, we got far enough to windward to bear down on
her with a beam wind. Why we were near enough to shave her stern
almost when we raked her. I think her wheel and steersman must have
been blown up to the moon. Down went her mast, and before the
confusion was over we had tacked and filled, and come up on her port
quarter. Our master laid the _Ruffian_ aboard as prettily as you
please, and next minute we were on the Frenchman's decks.
"It was hammer and tongs for a good five minutes, then, on a
blood-stained battle-deck, a smiling and bowing French officer gave
up his sword to our bold Commander Bure.
"O'Hare complimented him when he returned on board. 'Marriage,' he
said, 'may make muffs of some men, but it hasn't taken the heart of
oak out of you, Bure.'
"I must make a long story short, Mr. Merryweather, for it's two bells
if it's a tick. Almost the first man to board us when we got back to
Kingston harbour was Colonel Raymond himself. I knew the moment I
saw him that poor Mary, as my commander called her, was dead. But
I'll never forget the state of utter collapse--the doctor called it
that--I found Bure in when I entered his cabin.
"'Oh, Bob, Bob,' he cried, 'My poor Mary! my poor Mary!'
"He was weeping like a school-girl, the self-same hero that had
received the French commander's blood-stained sword.
"For months Bure never laughed or smiled. His chief pleasure and
delight was to go on shore and play with or talk to his baby boy.
"Well, mate, we stuck together all the commission, and did a bit o'
fighting too whenever we had the chance. To tell you the truth,
after poor Mrs. Bure had been dead about two years, there were only
just two situations in which you might have said the commander was
happy--one was when little Tom was brought on board by his nurse, and
the other when Bure had a sword in his hand, and was boarding a
frog-eating Frenchee.
"But it was in a boat action that my dear commander received a shot
that, for the time being, seemed to have clean knocked the life out
of him, and--I do think even now--was the beginning of the end. He
lay in hospital on shore for a long time, three months I think, and
it wasn't till the end of that time that the doctors found the
bullet. The beggarly thing had entered his shoulder in front, and
instead o' lodging there as a respectable bullet ought, it must go on
a cruise on its own hook, and was finally fished out of the poor
fellow's side.
"'Bob,' he said to me one day, sometime after this, 'they are going
to send me home with a batch of invalids in convoy. I'm not sorry
for my little lad's sake, but, mind you, I don't think I'm going to
weather this illness.'
"I tried to laugh away his fears, but he stopped me.
"'Belay that, Bob!' he said, or words to that effect, 'and listen. I
like you, Bob, because you're a good, faithful fellow.'
"I felt ashamed like when he told me that, and maybe he noticed it,
for he spoke up.
"'Oh, yes, you have been faithful to me, Bob, and you love my little
chap Tom. Well, Bob, I'm not saying that I can't weather this, the
doctor says I may; but just for the present, imagine that you're
listening to the words of a dying man. You're like myself, Bob, a
Norfolk man, and, singularly enough, you come from the very coast
where relations of mine have estates that might--mind you, Bob, I
only say might--eventually belong to my little fellow. But--are you
listening, Bob?'
"'That I am, heartily, sir,' I replied.
"'Well, Bob, my cousin, who owned these estates, is dead, only a
month ago. He leaves behind him a son some years older than Tom, and
a baby daughter. Now this baby daughter doesn't count, the son is
the owner, and the mother, who loves me, Bob, about as a much as a
Frenchman loves red-hot shot, holds the estates in his behalf. I
hear the lad is sickly, and if anything happened to him I'd come in,
if alive, and if dead, my little Tom. If there was no little Tom,
Bob, the estates would pass to her ladyship's male relations, second
cousins of mine and hers, for there has been marrying and
inter-marrying, Bob.'
"'Well, sir?'
"'Well, Bob, you see that box?'
"'Yes, sir.'
"'Look to that, Bob, if I should die. Take it with you to your
brother's house when you go there. If your brother is half as good
as you, Bob----'
"'He's twice as good, sir,' I cried.
"'You and he will take it to my Yarmouth bankers, and they will keep
it safe for Tom.'
"He held out his hand--a thin white one it was--and I gave him mine
with a heave O! and a hearty O! and the compact was made.
"'About little Tom, here,' he said after a pause. 'I don't want him
to be a sailor you know, but if he wants to be--why he must be.'
"'And his friends and relations, sir?' I made bold to ask.
"The commander laughed bitterly.
"'Friends, he has none,' he replied, 'except his father, you Bob, and
perhaps your brother.'
"'Well, sir,' I said, 'I hope it won't come to that.'
"'Hush! Bob, hush!' he said, 'It is our duty in this world to be
always prepared for the unseen.'
"Well, Mr. Merryweather, I thought my poor commander was much better
after this. So indeed he told me. 'I've relieved my mind, Bob,' he
said, 'and the doctors have relieved my body.'"
"After this he would chat with me for an hour at a time, about the
quiet and happy life he meant to lead on shore with his little son.
How they would shoot and fish on the broads throughout all the long
summer days, and how they'd live in a pretty little cottage in the
land o' poppies, all surrounded by gardens and shrubberies, and how
he himself would attend to the boy's education, and try to make a man
of him, fit to take his place in the battle of life, whether that
battle was to be fought on shore or on the deep blue sea.
"Our voyage home in convoy was a long but not very eventful one. It
was long because the fleet o' merchantmen guarded by the convoys was
a very big one, and some kept dropping behind, or getting lost, and
as there was always, or nearly always, a Frenchman or two hovering
like hawks about us, we had to be cautious I can tell you.
"But long before we reached the Downs little Tom had received his
baptism o' the briny, there wasn't a doubt about it. He was the pet
of the ship, he was dressed like a little tar, and looked it all
over. I only wonder he never tumbled overboard, for I've seen the
young nipper half-way up to the maintop, and nobody near him.
"One day he told his father on the quarter-deck that he was going to
be 'a sailor man, and nuffin else, and fight the Flenchman for his
king and country O!'
"I daresay some of the blue-jackets had piped this into him, but his
father looked about to where I was standing laughing--I couldn't help
it--and said, 'Ah, Bob, I'm afraid it's born in him.'
"'I'm afraid so too,' I said, and his father kind o' sighed, but
didn't say any more.
"We got into the Downs at last safe and sound, and lay there
wind-bound for a fortnight. But at last we got just the breeze we
were waiting for, and slipped away past the North Foreland, and in a
day or so more our ship was safe in dock.
"I wrote to brother Dan here, and told him my master and myself would
start for Yarmouth within a week in the saucy _Polly Ann_.
"But there, now, Dan will tell you the rest, but just stick my pipe
in my mouth first, Dan.'"
Dan cleared his throat, lit Bob's pipe, and sat down near his bed to
hold it for the poor helpless fellow, while he himself continued the
yarn.