At daybreak, as we came on deck, the first thing we spied to leeward was
some of our own ships bearing down on us with signals flying of an enemy
in sight; and not long after, the line of the enemy's fleet, straggling
northeast and south-west, came into sight, hauled to the wind and
evidently awaiting us. We counted over twenty of them; and with the
additions that had joined us in the night, we were just as many.
The sea was rolling heavily, and a good many of our ships were lagging.
So, as we were already near enough to the Dutch side, the admiral
ordered sails to be shortened till the slow coaches came up, which they
did not too smartly.
I reported myself to the sailing-master as directed, and soon found
myself one of four in charge of the helm. After that I saw very little
of the famous battle of Camperdown, for I had no eyes or ears for
anything but the admiral's signals. We waited for our ships to get into
their proper stations till we could wait no longer.
"Confound them!" growled the quartermaster, a fresh, cheery salt at my
side, as one or two sail still dawdled on the horizon, "These lubbers
will spoil all. The Dutch are shallow sailers, and they'll have us on
the flats before we are ready to begin. What is the ad-- Ah, that's
better. Up she goes! Smart now and have at them!"
This jubilant exclamation was in response to a signal to wait no longer,
but bear down on the enemy, every vessel being ordered to engage her
opponent as best she could.
Up went the helm, round went the yards, and away sped the _Venerable_,
and with her the rest of the British fleet, full tilt at the Dutchmen.
I learned more of the battle from the ejaculations of the quartermaster
at my side than from my own observation.
"Confound the mist!" growled he as we reached out for the line. "They
won't see the signal to cut the line and get to leeward. Take my word
for it, mate, those Dutch dogs will pull us in on to the shallows before
we know where we are."
Suddenly the thunder of guns on our right proclaimed that the action had
begun in good earnest.
"That's the vice-admiral," said the boatswain, "at it already, and he's
making a hot corner down there. Ease her up a bit now. There's the
Dutch admiral's ship the _Vryheid_. It's her we're going for."
A sudden order came astern.
"Run under her stern?--right you are," said the quartermaster. "Keep
her down more, my lads.--Lie as you are, my beauty," said he,
apostrophising the _Vryheid_, "and we'll blacklead you somehow."
"What's that ship astern of her about?" said I. "She's closing up."
So she was. Before we could slip through and get under the _Vryheid's_
stern, she had neatly swung up into the gap, blocking us out, and
leaving us to put our helm hard a-port to avoid running in on the top of
her.
"Neatly done, by the powers," said the quartermaster; "but Duncan will
make her smart for it. Ah, I thought so," as the _Venerable_ shook from
stem to stern and poured the broadside intended for the _Vryheid_ into
the stern of the intruder instead. "Take that, my lass, and don't push
in where you're not wanted again."
It was a tremendous thunder-clap; and the _States-General_--that was the
name of the intruder--with her rigging all in shivers, and her stern-
guns knocked all on end, was glad enough to bear up and drop out of line
before she could get a second. This suited our admiral excellently, for
it enabled him to cut the enemy's line and bring the _Venerable_ snugly
round on the lee-side of Admiral De Winter's ship, his originally chosen
antagonist.
Then all was thunder and smoke. The _Venerable_ shook and staggered
under the crushing fire which struck her hull. But for every broadside
she got she poured two into the masts and rigging of her opponent. More
than once, as the two ships swung together, with yards almost locked, we
had to duck for our lives to escape the falling spars of the Dutchman.
I can remember once and again, as the _Vryheid_ lurched towards us,
seeing her deck covered with dead and wounded men; and every broadside
she put into us left its tale of destruction among our fellows.
Presently, with a crash that sounded even above the cannon, down came
her mainmast by the board, and the British cheers which greeted the fall
were even louder still.
But if we reckoned on having done with her, we were sorely mistaken; for
three other Dutchmen just then hove up to their admiral's help, and for
a quarter of an hour the _Venerable_ had as hot a time of it as ship
ever lived through. There was not much for us at the helm to do but
stand and be shot at; which we did so well that when at last (just as
the mizzen-mast of the _Vryheid_ followed the example of her mainmast)
the order came to haul off and wear round on the other tack, I found
myself the only one of four to answer, "Ay, ay," and ram down the helm.
The quartermaster, poor fellow, lay at my feet, shot nearly in two;
while of our other two mates, one was wounded, with an arm shot away,
another stunned by a falling timber.
It was a job to get the ship round; and when we did, there was the
_Vryheid_, with her one mast left, waiting for us as saucy as ever.
After that, all passed for me in even a greater maze than before; for a
bullet from the enemy's rigging found me out with a dull thud in the
shoulder, and sent me reeling on to the deck. I was able after the
first shock to stumble up and get my hands upon the helm; but I stood
there sick and silly, and of less use than the poor quartermaster at my
feet.
I was dimly conscious of a din and smoke, like the opening of the gate
of hell. Then, through a drift in the smoke, I could see the tall form
of the Dutch admiral standing almost alone on his quarter-deck, as cool
as if he were on the street at Amsterdam, passing a word of command
through his trumpet. Beyond him I caught a glimpse of the low Dutch
sand-hills, not two leagues to leeward. Then, away to our right, came
the faint noise of British cheers above the firing. Then some one near
me exclaimed, "Struck, by Saint George!" and almost directly after the
firing seemed to cease, and our fellows, springing on to the yards and
bulwarks, set up such a cheer that the _Venerable_ shook with it. I
tried to get up my head to see what it was all about, but as I did so I
tumbled all in a heap on the deck--and the battle of Camperdown was
finished for me.
It was nearly dark when I came to between decks, with a burning pain in
my shoulder and my mouth as dry as a brick. The place was full of
groaning men, some worse hit than myself, and one or two past the help
of the surgeon, who slowly went his round of the berths. By the time he
reached me I did not much care if he were to order me overboard, so long
as he put me out of my misery.
But, after all, mine was a simple case. There was a bullet in me
somewhere, and a few bone-splinters were wandering about my system.
Apparently I could wait till my neighbour, whose thigh bone was crushed,
was seen to. So while he, poor fellow, was having his leg cut off, and
beginning to bleed to death (for he didn't outlive the operation an
hour), I lay, with my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth, groaning.
"Ah, Mr Gallagher," said the first lieutenant, as he came the round,
"they picked you out, did they? Nothing much, I hope? It's cost us a
pretty penny in dead and wounded already."
"And we beat them?" groaned I.
"Beat? We made mincemeat of them! Haven't we the Dutch admiral a
prisoner on board this moment, playing cards with Admiral Duncan in his
cabin as comfortably as if he was in his own club at the Hague?"
"Could you give me some water?" I asked, with a sudden change of the
subject.
"Surely; and, Mr Gallagher, I'll see you again before we land, and
won't forget to put your name forward."
When at last the doctor came, I saved him a good deal of trouble by
swooning away the moment he touched my wound, and remained in that
condition, on and off, till I heard the anchor running out at the bows,
and understood from those who lay near that we were at the Nore.
Had I wanted any further proof of our arrival in English waters, the
shouting and saluting and bustle and laughter all around left no doubt
of it.
"Come, lad," said the lieutenant, standing over me, while two sailors
set down a stretcher beside my berth, "the tender's alongside to take
you poor fellows ashore. The doctor says you must go to hospital, and
they'll have another look for the bullet there. So keep up heart, man.
Here are your papers, and a good word thrown in from the admiral
himself, bless him!"
The pain of being lifted on to the stretcher and carried on deck was
almost beyond endurance, yet I could hardly help, as I passed the
cheering crowd of our fellows, giving a faint "hurrah" in time with
theirs. For our noble old admiral stood on the gangway, with a kind
word for every one, especially the wounded.
"Never say die, my brave lad," said he, as I was carried by; "you stuck
to your post bravely.--Steady, men," added he, as the two bearers broke
step for a moment; "the poor boy has had jolting enough without you.--
God bless you, my fellow!"
And so I parted company with the bravest and kindliest gentleman I ever
came across.
Every one ashore was wild with the news of the great victory, and we
poor cripples were escorted to the hospital like heroes. I wished, for
my part, I had been allowed to get there quietly, for the horses of our
waggon started and winced at the noise of the shouting and music, so
that my poor shoulder was all aflame long before I got to our journey's
end, and I myself in a high fever.
The doctors had a rare bullet-hunt over my poor body; and when it was
found, there were bone-splinters still harder to get at. The result was
that when I was at last bound up and left to mend, I was so weak and
shattered that for weeks--indeed, for nearly three months--I lay,
sometimes in a fever, sometimes recovering, sometimes relapsing,
sometimes recovering again, till I found myself one of the veterans of
the hospital.
What, during those weeks, were my fevered dreams you may guess. In
fancy I was hunting through the world for Miss Kit; and as sure as I
found her, Tim appeared and claimed my help; and ere Tim could be
helped, my little mistress had vanished again and a new search was
begun--now in Ireland, now in Paris, now in Holland, now up and down the
blood-stained deck of the _Zebra_. But it all ended in naught; and I
turned over wearily on my pillow, sick in body and mind, and longing, as
prisoner never longed, for wings.
Glad enough I was when one day, early in January, the doctor pronounced
me cured, and put me on board a ship for Dublin, there to report myself
to the Admiralty, and take my new sailing orders.
"But first," said I to myself, "cost what it may, I will have a peep at
Fanad."