FRESH TRIUMPHS.
No sooner had Stephen reached the landing-place than he hired a native
boat to take him off to the flag-ship, which, with several of her
consorts, was lying some little distance off the shore and in front of the
Naval establishment. Several others were close in by the wharfs.
“They look in a slovenly state indeed,” he said to himself, “infinitely
worse than the Chilian ships did when we first got out there. There are
two or three by the flag-ship that look in a fair state of order, but the
rest might be a fleet of big colliers, with their yards up and down
anyhow, their rigging all slack, and everything dirty and untidy.”
In ten minutes they were alongside of the flag-ship, whose appearance
presented a strong contrast to that of the others.
Telling the boatman to bring up his bundle after him, Stephen ascended the
ladder. A petty officer came up to him as he stepped on to the deck.
“What is your business?” he asked him in Portuguese, which Stephen now
spoke fluently.
“I wish to speak to the admiral.”
The sailor looked at him from head to foot. “Have you an appointment with
him?”
“I have not, but he will see me, nevertheless, when he knows that I am
here.”
On looking round while the man hesitated, Stephen saw the admiral speaking
to an officer in captain’s uniform. The petty officer, after some
hesitation, went up to the officer on watch, who at once came over to
Stephen.
“You want to speak to the admiral?”
“I do, lieutenant. I see him yonder, and if you will be good enough to
inform him that Lieutenant Embleton is here and ready to report himself
for duty, you will find that he will not mind being disturbed.”
The officer looked at him doubtfully. “You have neither the appearance of
an Englishman nor of a lieutenant,” he said.
“That may be, sir, but it does not alter the fact.”
At this moment the captain left the admiral’s side and walked forward.
“What is it, Lieutenant Romoro?” he asked as he passed them.
“This gentleman,” and he hesitated over the word, “says that he is
Lieutenant Embleton, and desires to speak to the admiral.”
“Lieutenant Embleton!” the captain repeated in English; “not the admiral’s
flag-lieutenant in Chili, surely? If so, Lord Cochrane will be delighted
to see you; he has spoken of you to me several times. He believed you to
be dead, and but yesterday he was saying how he missed your services.”
“I am the man, sir,” Stephen replied. “I have been eighteen months in
crossing the continent, and to get here from Para had to make the voyage
to the Cape de Verde and back again.”
“I congratulate you on your escape,” the captain said, shaking his hand
warmly. “My name is Crosbie, I am Lord Cochrane’s flag-captain, I will
take you to him at once.”
The admiral had left the deck and retired to his cabin. Captain Crosbie
took Stephen there, and at once knocked at the door and entered.
“Excuse my troubling you now, admiral,” he said, “but my object will, I am
sure, excuse my intrusion. I have a gentleman here that you will, I know,
be glad to meet.”
Lord Cochrane looked earnestly at Stephen; he had not seen him since he
had sent him down to Valparaiso after the capture of the _Esmeralda_. The
two years that had elapsed had greatly changed his appearance, and he had
grown from a tall lad of eighteen into a powerful young man. A flash of
recognition came into his face, he made a step forward and exclaimed:
“Good heavens, can it be—”
“Stephen Embleton, sir. I have come on board to report for duty.”
“My dear boy, my dear boy,” Lord Cochrane said, holding out both hands and
wringing those of Stephen, “I am glad to see you indeed. I thank God that
I see you alive and well again, which I never dreamt that I should do, for
I thought that you had died or had been tortured to death in the dungeons
of that accursed Inquisition at Callao. But where have you sprung from,
where have you been all this time, by what miracle are you here?”
[Illustration: “MY DEAR BOY”, EXCLAIMED LORD COCHRANE, “THANK GOD INDEED
THAT I SEE YOU ALIVE.”]
“I escaped the night before I was to be handed over to the Inquisition,”
Stephen replied, “then finding it impossible to make my way down to Chili
I crossed the Andes and have come down the Amazon. I had an unfortunate
adventure which detained me for eight months; at least, I thought it
unfortunate at the time, but I cannot think it so now, as I have just
arrived in time to join your lordship here.”
“And now, admiral, if you will excuse me I will be off to my duties,”
Captain Crosbie put in. “I could not deny myself the pleasure of bringing
in Mr. Embleton, but his story will assuredly be a long one, and, as you
know, my hands are pretty full.”
“Well now, lad,” the admiral said when they were alone, “sit down and tell
me all about it. Here I am with my old worry again, but worse. I thought
the Chilians were as bad as could be in matters of business, but these
fellows are infinitely worse. I have had no end of trouble with them, and
have been obliged to threaten, three or four times already, to resign. As
it is, I have only been able to get four ships out of a dozen ready, and
even these, with the exception of this ship, are in a shameful state, and
deficient in every necessary. What is worse, I cannot even rely upon the
crews, which I always could do in the Chilian service. Well, before you
begin your story I must tell you that I did not forget you, but tried
every means in my power to effect your release. When I got a letter from
my wife mentioning that you had sailed in that store-ship that had been so
long missing, I set about making inquiries, and sent a boat ashore with a
white flag to inquire if any such ship had been wrecked on the coast, for
there had been a heavy gale at the time that she was making her passage. I
was informed that she and all hands had been lost.
“From some deserters, however, I learned that this was a lie; a few
sailors had got ashore and had been killed. I then sent a frigate down to
the place where the wreck had been and sent a letter ashore to the
governor. He replied that an English officer had been captured, and had
been sent to Callao and handed over to the authorities there. When the
frigate returned with the news I sent a furious letter ashore to the
governor. He replied that he was not before aware that the officer in
question had belonged to the ship that was wrecked, and that the person I
spoke of had escaped from prison and had not been recaptured. A few days
after this a fresh governor was appointed at Callao. I wrote to him, and
he gave me substantially the same reply that the other had done. However,
I opened negotiations with a merchant there and got him to make inquiries.
He sent word that he had talked to some of the prison officials, and that
they told the same story as the governor had done; they said that you had,
in some extraordinary way, overpowered two prison officials and had made
your escape. Of course I did not believe this, and supposed that
instructions had been given to all the people connected with the prison to
tell the same story. So I sent again to the merchant, and told him to use
whatever means were necessary to get at the truth, as bribery will do
anything on that coast. He found that the new governor on taking the
command had found a book with a record as to the disposition of the
prisoners on leaving. Some were marked merely discharged, others as
returned to their regiments, many as having died in prison. There were
also a large number of official documents relating to these matters, and
among them the governor found an order for you to be handed over to the
Inquisition on the day following that on which you were said to have
escaped. As soon as I heard this, it seemed to me that there was no doubt
about your fate. You had been handed over, and this cock-and-bull story
was only intended to throw dust in my eyes if I captured Callao. I
therefore sent a demand to the Peruvian authorities for your release and
surrender, saying what I had learned; and in reply they declared that I
had been misinformed, for that you had escaped, and that the authorities
of the Inquisition denied positively that you had ever been handed over to
them.
“I wrote a strong letter in reply, saying that no one ever believed the
word of an inquisitor, and that if it should ever be my good fortune to
capture Callao I would burn their buildings to the ground, and hang every
official, priest, and layman belonging to it. There the matter dropped. Of
course I did not get the chance of carrying my threat into execution, but
if I had done so I should have certainly carried it out; and even if I had
found afterwards that I had been mistaken about you I should not have
regretted it, for they have deserved the fate a hundred times over. Well,
tell me about your escape; the story afterwards must keep. You know the
state the Chilian navy was in when I took the command; well, this is much
worse, and the factions here are even more bitter and unscrupulous than
they were in Chili, impossible as that may seem to you.”
“The affair was a very easy one, sir, for it was by bribery rather than
force that I got away.” And he then related the manner in which he had
been befriended by Don Filippo Conchas and his cousin.
“A noble young fellow!” the admiral exclaimed when he brought his story to
a conclusion. “Of course there are fine fellows among the Spaniards as
among other nations, but we have heard only of their worst side, that told
by people who hated them bitterly. Well, I shall like them better in
future, and I hope some day that I may run across that young fellow and
his wife—no doubt she is his wife long ere this. Let us call Crosbie in.
He is a fine fellow, and I am very certain he will be heartily glad to
have you with him, for at present he has not a soul he can rely on.”
On Captain Crosbie’s arrival the admiral told him that Stephen was ready
to set to work at once, in any capacity in which he could make himself
useful.
“I shall be glad indeed of his aid,” the captain said, “for there is not
an officer or man who knows his work.”
“Knows!” the admiral repeated; “there is not a man who has the faintest
idea of it. I should have liked Stephen, above all things, for our first
lieutenant, but our complement is complete.”
“I think you might manage it,” Captain Crosbie said after a few minutes’
reflection. “No captain has yet been appointed to command the _Carolina_.
You might appoint Morales to it. He belongs to a powerful family here, and
they would be pleased at his promotion. So it might be a politic step, as
well as serving our purpose by making a vacancy for Embleton.”
“That would be just the thing,” the admiral said.
“I am sure I should be delighted,” Captain Crosbie went on, “for Morales
is of very little use; and with Mr. Embleton to aid me I should be able to
get the crew into something like shape in half the time that it would take
me to do it single-handed.”
“Very well, then; the thing is done. I have full powers to make any
changes and appointments in the fleet, so I will write out the orders at
once. If you will send Lieutenant Morales in here, Captain Crosbie, I will
announce his promotion to him and tell him to take up his duties at once,
and then Embleton can enter upon his as soon as he has provided himself
with a uniform.”
Stephen was about to leave the room with Captain Crosbie when the admiral
stopped him.
“I have no doubt that you are short of cash, Stephen,” he said, “and just
at the present moment of course you cannot draw upon your bankers in
England, for your father will naturally have long since believed you dead,
and the account will be transferred to himself; so I must be your banker
for the present. Here are two hundred and fifty dollars. Tell the fellows
who make your uniform—Crosbie will tell you where to go to—that you will
pay them something extra to get one suit finished by to-morrow. We shall
sail in a couple of days.”
After thanking the admiral, Stephen retired just as the lieutenant entered
the cabin. On asking the captain as to the address of the best firm of
tailors the latter said:
“I am just going ashore myself to see about some stores from the dockyard,
and will go there with you. As I am known to them they will probably
sharpen up more than if you, a stranger, went by yourself.”
As they rowed ashore Stephen learned from Captain Crosbie that the fleet
ready for sea consisted, in addition to the flagship, of one fine frigate,
the _Piranza_, the _Maria da Gloria_, a converted merchantman mounting
thirty-three small guns, and the _Liberal_, about the same size.
“We take with us two old vessels that will be used as fire-ships, and the
_Carolina_ and another ship that are not yet equipped will join us later
on. We are first going to attack Bahia, where we shall have all our work
cut out. The Portuguese have three line-of-battle ships, five frigates,
five corvettes, a brig, and a schooner. The worst of the thing is that we
cannot depend upon our crews. I think that our ship will be all right, but
the others are all largely manned by Portuguese, who are as likely as not
to mutiny directly we get near the enemy, and to take the ships over to
them. Besides that, our equipments are simply miserable—the cartridges are
all unfit for service, the fuses of the shells are absolutely
untrustworthy, the powder is wretched, the marines know nothing either of
working the big guns or of the use of the small ones, and are moreover an
insolent, lazy set of rascals, and consider themselves as something
infinitely superior to the sailors. Lord Cochrane will doubtless add to
his own great reputation by the deeds he will perform here, but assuredly
he will find that he will be harassed well-nigh to death by the different
factions, and will have difficulties placed in his way at every turn, will
be unable to obtain justice for his crews, and will ere long find his
position altogether insufferable. The emperor is well-intentioned and
honest, but is altogether devoid of any real power, and he is as
completely in the hands of the clique of schemers round him, as was the
President of Chili. There is not an English officer now in the service of
Don Pedro who would not be delighted to leave it if they could obtain an
appointment at one-fourth of the pay elsewhere.”
On the 3rd of April the little squadron set sail. They arrived off Bahia
on the 1st of May, and the Portuguese fleet at once sailed out of the
harbour to meet them. The force was altogether too formidable to be
engaged by four ill-manned and ill-equipped ships, but Lord Cochrane
manœuvred so that he was able with his flag-ship to cut off the four
rearmost ships of their fleet. He signalled at once to his consorts to
join him in attacking these vessels, but to his astonishment and anger the
signal was disregarded, and not one of them made the slightest movement to
join him. Hoping that when they saw him actively engaged they would bear
down and take part in the fight, he opened fire upon the Portuguese; but
the guns and powder were alike so defective, and the crews so incapable of
handling them, that he did but little damage to the enemy and was forced
to draw off. He found that the Portuguese on his other three ships had
absolutely refused to obey their captains’ orders, and even on the
flag-ship the Portuguese employed in sending up ammunition from below, had
so wilfully delayed in their work that the guns were often idle for want
of ammunition.
He wrote at once a very strong letter to the Brazilian authorities as to
the manning and equipment of the ships, and declared that he could do
nothing until these matters were remedied, for that it was necessary for
one-half of the squadron to be incessantly watching the other. However, it
was not in his nature to wait until his complaints were attended to, for
his experience had already taught him that this would be to condemn
himself to protracted inactivity. He consequently sailed to the nearest
Brazilian port, and there transferred all the best men and the most
serviceable fittings to his flag-ship and the _Maria da Gloria_. Leaving
the other vessels to remain in port until properly refitted and until
their captains could obtain disciplined and sufficient crews, he sailed
with the _Maria __da Gloria_ for Bahia. As the commander of the smaller
ship, Captain Beaurepaire, was an active and efficient officer, good
results were soon obtained by the change. Several small captures were made
of vessels coming in with supplies. The port was completely blockaded, and
the Portuguese squadron, cowed by Cochrane’s great reputation, dared not
venture out to engage him.
After remaining there for three weeks the admiral returned to the port to
see how the other ships were getting on, and in six days was back again.
The Portuguese fleet had ventured out, but as soon as Lord Cochrane
arrived they withdrew again. A week later information was obtained from a
ship captured while attempting to leave the port, that the Portuguese were
seriously thinking of evacuating the place altogether, before the
fire-ships that were, they had learned, in course of preparation, should
arrive. The admiral despatched the _Maria da Gloria_ to the port to lay in
water and victuals for three months. The other ships there were also to be
victualled, and the _Piranza_ was directed to join at once. In the
meantime Lord Cochrane determined to increase, if possible, the alarm of
the Portuguese, though he had now only the flag-ship off the port.
The enemies’ fleet lay ten or twelve miles up the bay under shelter of the
guns of the fort.
“As to attacking them by daylight,” he said when talking over the matter
with Captain Crosbie and Stephen, “it would be altogether too desperate.
Were this ship manned with English sailors I would do it without
hesitation, and even with Chilians a good deal might be effected; but
although the crew have gained greatly in discipline since we got rid of
the Portuguese, I could not count upon them. The Chilians had gradually
gained experience and confidence in themselves, but our crew are
altogether new to the work and could not be trusted to fight against such
enormous odds. Still, by going up at night we might get in among their
fleet unnoticed, and might even capture one or two vessels. At any rate,
it would heighten their alarm even to know that we had got up through the
channel into their midst.”
As soon as it became dark on the evening of the 12th of June the _Pedro
Primeiro_ sailed up the river, sounding her way as she went. Absolute
silence was observed on board the ship. Unfortunately just as they reached
the outermost vessels the wind began to drop so light that the ship could
hardly stem the tide that was running out; however, she made her way some
little distance further. Even in the darkness so large a ship was noticed;
the alarm was given and the drums beat to quarters on board the Portuguese
ships of war. In answer to a hail as to who she was the answer was given,
“An English ship”. This satisfied the Portuguese; but as the wind had now
altogether failed and the tide was growing in strength nothing more could
be done. An anchor was dropped, but with enough chain to allow it to drag
on the ground, and stern foremost she drifted out from the shipping and
regained her old position at the mouth of the river. But although no
material advantage had been gained the moral effect more than answered the
admiral’s hopes. When it became known that his ship had been in the midst
of the Portuguese squadron, something like a panic took place on board,
and this was increased by the news they received that the fitting out of
the fire-ships had almost been completed.
Dependent, as the garrison and shipping were, almost entirely upon
provisions brought by sea, they were already very seriously inconvenienced
by the blockade. Accordingly, on the 2nd of July the whole squadron of
war-ships, and seventy merchantmen and transports carrying the troops,
evacuated Bahia. All on board the flag-ship were delighted when they saw
the great fleet sail; for even Lord Cochrane had felt that even with the
whole of his little squadron it would be a desperate undertaking to
attempt to attack them when supported by the guns of their forts; now,
however, that they were at sea he could at least harass them, for if the
ships of war turned upon him he could bear away. Already an immense
service had been performed, for the evacuation of Bahia practically handed
over the whole of the province of that name to Brazil. The admiral had not
been joined by the two ships left in port, but the _Maria da Gloria_ had
returned, and the _Carolina_ and _Nitherohy_, which had been left at Rio
to complete their outfit, came up three hours after the Portuguese sailed.
He directed these three ships to pick up any Portuguese vessels that
lagged behind or made off to the right or left hand, while with the
flag-ship he followed close on the rear of the main body. The Portuguese
had intended to make for Maranham, where another squadron was lying, but
Cochrane pressed them so closely that they were forced to abandon this
plan and continued to sail south. The men-of-war did not attempt to turn
on their pursuer, but kept steadily on, while the merchant ships and
transports scattered right and left in order to escape from the reach of
his guns. Those that did so were all picked up by the other Brazilian
ships, while Lord Cochrane pursued the main body. Five days after they had
sailed, he sent off the other vessels with their prizes to Pernambuco, the
nearest port, with a despatch to the minister of marine, informing him
that half the enemy’s army, their colours, cannon, ammunition, stores, and
baggage had already been taken. He stated that he should continue the
pursuit, directing his attention at present to the transports, in order
that he might if possible capture the whole of the troops and so lessen
the risk of any future operations by the Portuguese against Brazil. After
effecting this he should, he said, direct his operations against their
war-ships.
For another week he followed the flying fleet. Each night he swept down
among them, capturing many vessels and causing the utmost confusion and
alarm among the rest. He chased them past the equator and more than
half-way to Cape Verde, and then left them to make their way back to
Portugal, and report that a single vessel had driven thirteen ships of war
home, accompanied by only thirteen of the seventy vessels that had started
under their protection. The pursuit would not have terminated even then,
but would have been pressed until the rest of the convoy fell into his
hands, but several of the transports had made their escape during the
night attacks, and Lord Cochrane was anxious to prevent them from carrying
their troops safely into Maranham. Upon abandoning the pursuit, therefore,
he sailed for that port, and entered the river with Portuguese colours
flying.
The authorities at once sent off an officer to congratulate their supposed
friend on his safe arrival, and to express their satisfaction at this
reinforcement to their strength. On arriving on board, the officer found
that he had fallen into a trap. Lord Cochrane announced to him that the
flag-ship would be followed by a numerous fleet with a military force, and
that resistance would therefore bring about the destruction of the place
and the capture of the fleet and garrison, and he then sent him on shore
with letters to the governor to the same effect.
“You will already have learned,” he said, “of the flight of the naval and
military forces from Bahia. I have now to inform you of the capture of
two-thirds of the transports and troops with all their stores and
ammunition. I am anxious not to let loose the imperial troops upon
Maranham, exasperated as they are at the injuries and cruelties exercised
towards them and their countrymen, as well as by the plunder of the
merchants and churches of Bahia.”
The letter had a prompt effect, and on the following day a deputation came
off and surrendered the city and forts. The Portuguese troops were at once
embarked on their ships and allowed to sail to Europe, as, had they
learned the truth, they might again have obtained possession of the forts
and town, which the admiral had no means of preventing them from doing.
The delight of the people at being free from the dominion of the
Portuguese was unbounded, and they would have massacred the civilians
remaining had not Lord Cochrane interfered and allowed all who were
willing, to take the oath of allegiance to Brazil. Many of the leading
Portuguese merchants and traders did so, but the admiral was obliged to
remain two months in the port to protect them from the effect of the
exasperation of the native population. But although compelled to remain
inactive for a time, the admiral continued his work by sending off Captain
Grenfell with a Portuguese brig, which he had seized in the river, to
Para, the last stronghold remaining to the Portuguese, to follow there the
example that he had set him, by reporting the capture of Bahia and
Maranham, and announcing the coming of a great fleet and demanding
immediate surrender.
The expedient was again completely successful. Astounded and cowed at the
disasters that had befallen their countrymen, Para and the ships of war in
the harbour at once surrendered, and the troops were embarked without
delay for Portugal. Thus, in the course of six months, Lord Cochrane had
with practically but one fighting ship put an end to the Portuguese
domination in Brazil, had captured three strong fortresses, driven three
large bodies of troops across the Atlantic, taken an immense number of
prizes, a vast quantity of naval and military stores, and had annexed to
Brazil a territory more than half as large as Europe, a record
unapproached in the world’s history. Upon his return to the capital Lord
Cochrane was received with the greatest enthusiasm. The emperor came on
board and personally tendered him his thanks. The title of Marquis of
Maranham was bestowed upon him, and he was made a privy-councillor of
Brazil.
These, however, were but empty honours. His sailors remained unpaid; by a
system of wholesale fraud they received but an insignificant fraction of
the prize-money due to them; for the Portuguese faction were still
predominant in the Brazilian ministry, and Lord Cochrane was so openly
insulted that he felt his position untenable. He remained, however, for a
year longer in the service, in order to obtain for his sailors some
portion of the arrears of pay and of the insignificant amount of
prize-money that was admittedly their due. His resignation could not be
much longer delayed, but finally it was brought about by accident. He was
cruising in the _Piranza_, to which he had shifted his flag, when he was
carried far out to sea by strong easterly winds. These increased to a
heavy gale, when it was discovered that many of the spars were so
unserviceable that sail could not be set on them.
The rigging was absolutely rotten, as were the provisions on board. He
could do nothing but run before the gale as long as it lasted, and by that
time he had sailed far across the Atlantic. Return was impossible for him,
seeing the condition of the ship, and the fact that there was not more
than a week’s supply of wholesome food remaining. He therefore decided
that the only chance of safety was to continue his voyage to England. This
he did, and reached Portsmouth in safety, and his first step was to
advance £2000 to refit the ship. But his enemies in Brazil made out that
his voyage to England was an absolute desertion, and sent instructions to
the officers and crew no longer to obey his orders. He therefore sent off
the letter of resignation he had so long intended. Thus, at the close of
his two commands, in which he had brought about the expulsion of the
Spaniards from the western coast of South America, and that of the
Portuguese from the eastern, Lord Cochrane, so far from having reaped any
personal benefit from his splendid services and daring exploits, was
absolutely a poorer man by £20,000 than when he left the shores of
England.
Stephen had, by Lord Cochrane’s advice, resigned his commission as soon as
the admiral saw that there was no hope of obtaining fair treatment from
the Portuguese faction, who determined that the sailors should derive no
benefit from the work they had done.
“Chili was bad,” he said; “but in Chili there was some honest popular
feeling, and this acted as a check and prevented the council carrying
their rascally course too far. In Brazil there is practically no public
opinion. The people are on a level with those in Peru, and naturally
indolent; they have grown so accustomed to oppression that they dare not
protest against any iniquity. I foresee that it will not be long before I
too shall resign; indeed, I would gladly do so now, were it not that I am
forced to stay here to do what I can to obtain justice for the fleet. You
are but one-and-twenty and your life is before you; you have had enough
adventures to last an ordinary man for his lifetime, and you have acquired
some six or seven thousand pounds by your rescue of that treasure, and
your Chilian prize-money as lieutenant of the flag-ship. Here you ought to
get more than that, but I can see already that the fleet will be cheated
out of a great share of their prize-money. Still, however meagre the
amount the scoundrels may consider themselves bound to dole out, you ought
to get a thousand out of them as your share of the capture of a hundred
ships, to say nothing of the men-of-war and the stores. With six or seven
thousand pounds you can buy a ship, command her yourself and go in for
trade; you can settle down on a little estate in the country, or buy
yourself a share in some business. Were there any chance of further
fighting here, I would keep you with me gladly, but as it is it would be a
pure waste of time for you to remain.”
Stephen took the advice, resigned, and went home. He had, of course,
written to his father as soon as he arrived in Brazil, and when the vessel
touched at Plymouth he posted a letter to prepare him for his arrival at
home. He found him somewhat altered, but the lieutenant said: “I am in
excellent health now, Stephen. Your disappearance, and Cochrane’s letter
telling me that he feared that he could give me no hope whatever, broke me
down a good deal, and I felt myself that I was going downhill rapidly.
However, I have been picking up fast ever since I got your letter giving
me an account of your journey across South America. Now that I have you
home again I shall soon be completely myself. I have invested all that
money of yours in good securities, and as soon as I got your letter I sent
the order, as you requested me, to Spain, for Don Filippo Conchas. I
received a letter from him two months later acknowledging its receipt, and
saying how pleased he and his wife were to hear of your safe arrival on
the sea-coast, for they had long before given you up. Don Filippo said
that he was a captain now, and that his regiment, the 15th Cavalry, was
stationed at Seville, and that he hoped, when I had news again of you, I
would write to him there.”
“I shall go out myself, father, in the course of a month or two, to pay
him a visit. He and his wife saved my life at the risk of disgrace and
punishment to themselves, and I promised them that if I should get safely
home I would go over to see them, and I will certainly do so.”
“Quite right, Stephen. The sin of ingratitude is one of the meanest and
basest that a man can commit, and I will spare you willingly on such an
errand.”
Captain Conchas and his wife were indeed delighted to see Stephen, and he
spent a very pleasant fortnight with them. On the occasion of his first
visit to London he made inquiries of Mr. Hewson, and found that Wilcox,
the sailor who had been with him when they so nearly fell into the hands
of the natives, was still in his service; and when, some time afterwards,
the ship in which he was in returned to port, he had Wilcox down to
Ramsgate, and installed him in the place of gardener and general factotum
there. When Lord Cochrane returned to England Stephen went at once down to
Portsmouth.
“I should have done better if I had come back with you, Embleton. I should
have spared myself nearly two years of trial, humiliation, and disgust,
and should have been a good many thousand pounds in pocket. What are you
doing with yourself?”
“I am doing nothing at present, sir. These two long absences of mine, and
the belief that I was dead, knocked my father down completely. He
recovered a bit, but gradually went back again, and I fear that he has not
long to live. However, my presence with him is a great satisfaction to
him, and for the present I cannot think of leaving him.”
“Quite right, lad. A man’s first duty is to his father, especially when
his father has been a kind one, and you are quite right in sticking to him
until the end.”
For this reason Lord Cochrane abstained from urging Stephen to accompany
him, when, shortly afterwards, he was offered the command of the naval
forces of Greece, which was at the time engaged in its struggle for
independence. Stephen was the more pleased at his decision to stay at home
with his father, that intrigues and want of means caused some eighteen
months to pass before Lord Cochrane proceeded to take up his command. Even
his experience of Chili, Peru, and Brazil had hardly prepared the admiral
for the corruption, the incapacity, the faction, and the rascality of the
Greeks. His efforts were always crippled; and although he accomplished all
that a man could do in their service, and obtained many minor successes,
he never had an opportunity of repeating the exploits that had made him
famous in the service of his own country and in those of Chili and Brazil.
When the battle of Navarino had practically put an end to the war he
returned to England for a short time, heartily wearied of his struggle
against men whom he pronounced arrogant, ignorant, despotic, and cruel,
and “who were collectively the greatest cowards that I have ever met”.
He returned after a short stay in England, but found that, now that his
services were no longer indispensable, he was treated with such insolence
that he resigned his commission and returned home, suffering from a sort
of mental fever, the result of the trials, troubles, and disappointments
that he had met with during his four years in the service of Greece. In
1831 he succeeded, on the death of his father, to the earldom of
Dundonald, and applied himself to the work of obtaining restitution of the
ranks and honours of which he had been so unjustly deprived. After the
Reform Bill had passed in 1832, and the clique that had persecuted him so
long had lost office, a free pardon was granted him, he was restored to
his position in the royal navy, and gazetted rear-admiral. But naturally
the Earl of Dundonald was still dissatisfied. The term “free pardon” for
an offence that he had never committed galled him, and while he now
devoted himself to various inventions connected with steam-engines and
war-ships, he never ceased to strive for a full recognition of the
injustice to which he had been subjected. His father had been devoted to
scientific inventions, and as the earl inherited that talent many of his
inventions were of the highest scientific value.
In 1848 Lord Dundonald was appointed admiral of the North American and
West Indian fleet. Later still in life other recognitions of his character
and services were bestowed upon him. He had been restored to his honours
as Knight of the Bath by the Queen in 1854. He was appointed Rear-admiral
of the Fleet, and a month later was named by Prince Albert as honorary
Brother of the Trinity House. He died on the 31st of October, 1860, at the
age of eighty-five.
Stephen Embleton went no more to sea. Contrary to his fears, his father
lived for many years, but was a confirmed invalid, and suffered so
severely from his old wound that he never went beyond the limit of his
garden. Four years after his return from Brazil Stephen married, and
before his father’s death the cottage had to be enlarged to make room for
the increasing number of its occupants; and Stephen Embleton continued to
reside there until, a few years ago, he died at a great age.
THE END.
PRINTED BY BLACKIE AND SON, LIMITED, GLASGOW.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
The following typographical errors were corrected:
page 11, comma changed to period (after “DAUNTLESS”)
page 36, “in in” changed to “in”
page 39, double quote changed to single quote (“there is something
moving.”)
page 46, quote removed (after “reloaded.”)
page 88, quote added (after “half-asleep.”)
page 187, “anyrate” changed to “any rate”
page 206, quote removed (after “all along the edge of the inlet.”)
page 209, “eat” changed to “ate” (“they ate some of these”)
page 231, period added (after “sea-water.”)
page 331, quote added (after “along it to the mission.”)
page 354, “Spanish” changed to “Portuguese” (“a Portuguese official
talking to the landlord”)
page 369, quote added (before “for Morales is of very little use;”)