"Better, my lad?" said one of the gentlemen, smiling; but I was looking
at the other, who was Captain Brace, as I said in a puzzled way--
"Better? What's the matter? Have I been ill?"
"Only nearly drowned. I hope you haven't swallowed much of that filthy
dock water."
"Drowned? Dock water?" I said in a puzzled way; and then "Oh!" and I
started up, but lay down and said "Oh!" again in a different tone of
voice, for I had given my head a sounding rap against the beam above my
berth.
"Hurt yourself?" said Captain Brace.
"Not very much," I cried, "but I recollect now. That woman--was she
saved?"
"Ask yourself," said the first speaker. "You saved her, and it was a
precious plucky thing to do. Oh yes, they'd soon bring her round.
There, you don't want me," he continued, as he felt my pulse, and then
laid his hand upon my forehead. "Lie still a bit, and have a nap."
He nodded in a friendly way, and then went out of the cabin, leaving me
with Captain Brace, whose dark stern face did not look half so repellent
now, for it was lit up by a grave sad smile.
"Head ache?" he said gently.
"No--yes--a little. Who was that?"
"The ship's doctor."
"Oh. Did I go off in a faint?"
"Well, hardly that. You were nearly drowned."
"I couldn't keep up," I said excitedly. "She clung to me so."
"Yes, of course; we could see that. But be calm. Don't get excited."
"No," I said. "I'm no worse for it, only I ought to have managed
better. I should have swum behind her, and held her up by the hair."
"Yes," said my companion, smiling, "that is one theory; but it is very
hard to put theory into practice at such a time."
I lay looking at him searchingly for a few minutes, and thinking I
should never like him, for he was cold and sad and stern in his manner.
He smiled at me when he caught my eye, but the smile kept fading away
again directly, like wintry sunshine, and I was thinking that I would
ask if I could not have another berth in a cabin to myself, however
small, when another thought occurred to me, and I turned to him sharply.
"I say, that dirty water will spoil all my clothes!"
"Never mind your clothes, my lad," he said smiling. "A _few_ pounds
will put that right. They are as nothing compared to a human life.
Besides, it was not the brand-new uniform in that case."
I felt the blood come into my cheeks, for he was smiling rather
contemptuously.
"I'm not so proud of my uniform as all that," I said hurriedly.
"Don't be a humbug, my dear fellow," he replied quietly. "You would not
be natural if you were not proud of it. I was very proud of mine, I
know. Stop; what are you going to do?"
"Get up," I said quickly.
"Nonsense; not yet. What about your clothes?"
"My clothes?"
"Yes; you have no other suit unpacked. I gave your wet things to the
steward to get dry."
"I can soon unpack another suit," I said, "if--if you will go."
"Oh, I'll go, if you like, my lad," he replied with a smile; "but as we
are to be chums through this voyage, we cannot afford to be very
particular, especially as the accommodation is so limited. There, I
will be your valet now; you shall be mine if I am ill. Here are your
keys, purse, and pocket-book. I took everything out of your wet things.
There," he continued, "tell me which is the key, and I will get out
clean linen and another suit. Then I'll tell my servant to see that a
bath is prepared; and, by the way, you have no servant yet, I suppose?"
I shook my head, as I lay wondering whether I liked this stern, cold,
dark man, or whether I did not.
"Ah, well, we will soon pick out a man from the draft. This looks like
the key."
It was the right one, and in a quiet matter-of-fact way, and with very
little help from me, he selected the necessary articles; and an hour
later I went on deck, saving a slight headache, very little the worse.
I was eager to see how far we had dropped down the river; but at the end
of ten minutes I was back in the cabin, flushed, hot, and excited, to
find the door unfastened this time, and Captain Brace unpacking and
arranging such articles as he wanted on the voyage.
"Hullo!" he cried; "not so well?"
"Oh, it's horrid!" I cried excitedly. "How can people be so stupid!"
"Why, what is the matter?"
"I felt quite ashamed of myself," I cried. "I had no sooner got on deck
than the men began to cheer. I did not know then that it was meant for
me, but directly after the captain came up and shook hands with me."
"Very civil of him," said my brother-officer, drily.
"Oh yes, if he had only meant it civilly; but then the chief officer
came up, and a lot of passengers, and they all shook hands, and there
was quite a crowd, and before I knew what was going to happen, I found a
pack of ladies had come up, and one, a very stout little woman, called
me her dear boy, and kissed me, and two others took out their
handkerchiefs and began to cry."
Captain Brace laughed unpleasantly, and I grew hotter.
"Why, you are quite the hero of the day, Vincent," he said grimly.
"It's horrid!" I cried pettishly. "I declare I wouldn't have done it
if I had known what they meant to do. Such nonsense!"
"Ah, you are talking nonsense, boy. Bah! take no notice. They'll
forget it all in a few hours. People soon get over these hysterical
displays."
I sat down sulkily on one of my cases, while he went on coolly arranging
his shaving tackle, night things, and the boots and shoes.
"I like him less and less," I said to myself, as I sat and watched him,
while, as I fancied, he treated me in the most cavalier of ways, only
speaking now and then; but when he did speak it was to ask me some
question about myself, and each time he made me think how young and
inexperienced I was, for he appeared to be getting to know everything,
while he was still quite a stranger to me.
"Yes," he said at last, "I have heard of Colonel Vincent--a
brother-officer of mine once met him at dinner somewhere up the country.
I was in quite a different part."
"Then you have been out in India before?" I cried eagerly.
"I?" he said, with a faint smile. "Oh yes. I was out there seven
years--quite an apprenticeship. I was just such a griffin as you when I
went out first, but a couple of years older."
"Griffin!" I thought; and I felt I disliked him more and more; just,
too, as I was warming up to him a little, and thinking he was improving.
We were silent for a time, and I waited for him to speak, which he did
at last, but in a forced, half-bantering way.
"You'll find it pretty hot, squire," he said; "and sometimes you'll wish
your uniform back at the tailor's. It is terribly hot at times."
"Yes, I've heard so," I said, with my curiosity getting the better of my
annoyance. "Tell me something about the country."
"Eh? About the country? Ah! Of course you, in your young enthusiasm,
are full of romantic fancies."
"Oh, I don't know," I replied haughtily.
"Yes, you are," he said laughing. "All boys going out are. I was. But
don't expect too much, my lad," he continued coldly. "There are grand
and lovely bits of scenery, and times when the place looks too beautiful
for earth; but, to balance this, deserts and storms, terrible rains, and
dust borne on winds that seem as if they had come from the mouth of a
furnace. There are times, too, when the state of the atmosphere affects
your nerves, and life seems to be unendurable."
"It doesn't sound very cheerful," I said bitterly.
"No; and I am acting like a wet blanket to you," he said, with a sad
smile. "But you will do your duty, and make friends, and it is not such
a bad life after all."
There was another silence, and I waited in vain for him to speak.
"What regiment are you in, sir?" I said at last, as he stood with his
back to me, as if wrapped in thought.
"I?" he said, starting, and looking round. "Oh, I am in the artillery--
the horse artillery. I thought you would know."