"You're an impudent fellow, and I shall make known your conduct to your
superiors. I know your name, my fine fellow, so you'll not get off." I
had observed his name, as I thought, on his musket.
Just then Tom Pim popped his head above the hatchway, and I, finding
that I was discovered, made chase after him. He quickly distanced me;
and as I was rushing blindly along, I ran my head right into the stomach
of old Rough-and-Ready, who, as ill-luck would have it, was on his way
round the lower deck. I nearly upset him, and completely upset myself.
"Shure, sir, I never intended to behave so rudely," I said, as, picking
myself up, I discovered whom I had encountered.
"Go to the masthead, and stay there till I call you down," thundered the
lieutenant, rubbing the part of his body I had assaulted.
"Please, sir, I had no intention in the world of running against you," I
said, trying to look humble, but feeling much inclined to laugh at the
comical expression of his countenance.
"Look to the rules and regulations of the service, where all inferiors
are ordered to pay implicit obedience to their superiors," cried Mr
Saunders. "To the masthead with you."
"If you please, sir, I should be happy to do that same if I knew the
way; but I haven't been up there yet, as the men have been painting the
rigging with some black stuff, and I should be after spoiling my new
uniform," I answered.
"Go to the masthead," again shouted the first lieutenant; "and you, Pim,
go and show him the way," he exclaimed, catching sight of Tom Pim, who
was grinning at me from the other side of the deck.
Tom well knew that it was against the rules and regulations of the
service to expostulate; therefore, saying, "Come along, Paddy," he led
the way on deck.
"Do as I do," he said, as he began to mount the rigging. "Just hold on
with your hands and feet, and don't let the rest of your body touch the
rattlings or shrouds, and don't be letting go with one hand till you
have got fast hold with the other."
Up he went, and I followed. He was nimble as a monkey, so I had
difficulty in keeping pace with him. Looking up, I saw him with his
back almost horizontal above me, going along the futtock shrouds to get
into the top. These are the shrouds which run from the side of the mast
to the outer side of the top, and consequently a person going along them
has his face to the sky and his back to the deck. Tom was over them in
a moment, and out of sight. I didn't like the look of things, but did
my best; and though he stood ready to give me a helping hand into the
top, I got round without assistance. We now had to ascend the topmost
rigging to the cross-trees, where we were to stay till called down.
This was a comparatively easy matter, and as I didn't once cast my eyes
below I felt no giddiness. Tom seated himself as if perfectly at home,
and bade me cross my legs on the other side of the mast.
"It's lucky for you, Paddy, that you are able to gain your experience
while the ship is in harbour and as steady as a church steeple. It
would be a different matter if she were rolling away across the Bay of
Biscay with a strong breeze right aft; so you ought to be duly thankful
to old Saunders for mastheading you without waiting till we get there.
And now I'd advise you to have a look at the rules and regulations of
the service. It will please old Rough-and-Ready if you can tell him you
have employed your time up here studying them, but don't forget you are
up here, and go tumbling down on deck."
I was very well disposed to follow Tom's advice, and I held tight on
with one hand while I pulled the paper out of my pocket and read a page
or two relating to obedience to superiors. Having thus relieved my
conscience, I took a look round at the beautiful panorama in the midst
of which the ship floated: the wooded banks, the magnificent harbour
dotted over with numerous vessels; ships of war and merchantmen,--the
latter waiting for convoy,--while among the former was the admiral's
flag-ship riding proudly, surrounded by the smaller fry. The pretty
town of Cove, with neat houses and villas on the one side, and the mouth
of the river Lee, running down from Cork, to the westward.
Sooner than we expected we heard old Rough-and-Ready's voice summoning
us down. He was not an ill-natured man. He knew well that my fault had
been unintentional, and that Tom had certainly not deserved any
punishment at all, for grinning at a brother midshipman in his presence
could scarcely be considered disrespectful.
"You may go through the lubber's hole," said Tom, when we reached the
top.
"No, no. If you go round, I'll go to," I answered. For being thus put
on my mettle, I determined to do whatever he did. By holding fast with
my feet and following him, I managed to put them on the rattlings
underneath, and thus, though I didn't like it at all, got down on to the
main rigging.
"Next time you run along the deck, youngster, you'll look where you're
going," said the first lieutenant, when I reached the deck.
"Ay, ay, sir," I said, touching my hat.
"Did you read the rules and regulations?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," I answered; "though I hadn't time to get through them all."
He was pleased with the respect I paid him.
"Well, you'll know them by heart soon; and to ensure that, remember to
take them with you whenever you're mastheaded."
"Of course, sir, if you wish it," I answered.
He gave a comical look at me under his bushy eyebrows, and turned on his
heel.
After this I accompanied Tom into the berth. Old Nettleship was there.
I told him of the way the marine had behaved, and said that for the sake
of keeping up the dignity of the midshipmen, I considered it necessary
to make his conduct known, though I had no ill-feeling towards the man
himself.
At this remark the old mate burst into a hearty fit of laughter.
"Midshipmen generally find it necessary to carry their dignity in their
pockets; and I'd advise you, Paddy, to put yours there, though I approve
of your spirit. The man will have been relieved some time ago, and
you'll find it difficult to recognise him among others."
"Oh! I know his name--it was Tower," I said in a tone of confidence.
At this there was a general roar of laughter.
"According to your notion all the jollies are Towers," cried Nettleship,
when he regained his voice. "Why, Paddy, the muskets are all marked
with the name of the Tower of London, where the arms are stored before
they are served out."
"Shure how should I know anything about the Tower of London?" I asked.
"I'm after thinking it's a poor place compared with Castle Ballinahone."
This remark produced another roar of laughter from my messmates.
"What are you after laughing at? I exclaimed. If any of you will
honour us with a visit at Castle Ballinahone, you'll be able to compare
the two places, and my father and mother, and brothers and sisters, will
be mighty plaised to see you."
The invitation was at once accepted by all hands, though for the present
my family were pretty safe from the chances of an inundation of nautical
heroes.
"And what sort of girls are your sisters?" asked Sims, who, I had
discovered, was always ready for some impudence.
"Shure they're Irish young ladies, and that's all I intend to say about
them," I answered, giving him a look which made him hold his tongue.
Still, in spite of the bantering I received, I got on wonderfully well
with my new messmates; and though I had a fight now and then, I
generally, being older than many of them, and stronger than others who
had been some time at sea, came off victorious; and as I was always
ready to befriend, and never bullied, my weaker messmates, I was on very
good terms with all of them.
Tom Pim took a liking to me from the first, and though he didn't require
my protection, I felt ready to afford it him on all occasions. He was
sometimes quizzed by Sims and others for his small size. "I don't mind
it," he answered. "Though I'm little, I'm good. If I've a chance, I'll
do something to show what's in me." The chance came sooner than he
expected. There were a good many raw hands lately entered, Larry among
others. From the first he showed no fear of going aloft, looking upon
the business much as he would have done climbing a high tree; but how
the ropes were rove, and what were their uses, he naturally had no
conception. "Is it to the end of them long boughs there I've got to go,
Misther Terence?" he asked the first time he was ordered aloft, looking
up at the yards as he encountered me, I having been sent forward with an
order to the third lieutenant.
"There's no doubt about it, Larry," I said; "but take care you catch
hold of one rope before you let go of the other," said I, giving him the
same advice which I had myself received.
"Shure I'll be after doing that same, Misther Terence," he answered, as,
following the example of the other men, he sprang into the rigging. I
watched him going up as long as I could, and he seemed to be getting on
capitally, exactly imitating the movements of the other men.
A day or two afterwards we were all on deck, the men exercising in
reefing and furling sails. The new hands were ordered to lay out on the
yards, and a few of the older ones to show them what to do. Larry
obeyed with alacrity; no one would have supposed that he had been only a
few times before aloft. I had to return to the quarter-deck, where I
was standing with Tom Pim, and we were remarking the activity displayed
by the men. I saw Larry on the starboard fore-topsail yard-arm, and had
just left Tom, being sent with a message to the gun-room, when, as my
head was flush with the hatchway, I saw an object drop from the yard-arm
into the water. It looked more like a large ball falling than a human
being, and it didn't occur to me that it was the latter until I heard
the cry of "Man overboard!" Hastening up again, I sprang into the
mizzen rigging, from which, just before I got there, Tom Pim had plunged
off into the water. It was ebb tide, and a strong current was running
out of the river Lee past the ship. The man who had fallen had not
sunk, but was fast drifting astern, and seemed unconscious, for he was
not struggling, lying like a log on the water. Tom Pim, with rapid
strokes, was swimming after him. I heard the order given to lower a
boat. Though not a great swimmer, I was about to follow Tom to try and
help him, when a strong arm held me back.
"Are you a good swimmer, youngster?" asked the first lieutenant, the
person who had seized hold of me.
"Not very," I answered.
"Then stay aboard, or we shall be having to pick you up instead of
saving the man who fell overboard. I know Pim well; he'll take care of
himself."
Saying this, the lieutenant stepped in on deck again, taking me with
him. While he superintended the lowering of the boat, I ran aft, and
watched Tom and the drowning man. Just then I caught sight of the
countenance of the latter, and to my dismay, I saw that he was no other
than Larry Harrigan. The boats usually employed were away, and the one
now lowered was not in general use, and consequently had in her all
sorts of things which should not have been there. It appeared a long
time before she was in the water. I watched my poor foster-brother with
intense anxiety, expecting to see him go down before Tom could reach
him. He was on the point of sinking when my gallant little messmate got
up to him, and throwing himself on his back, placed Larry's head on his
own breast, so as completely to keep it out of the water. My fear was
that Larry might come to himself and begin to struggle or get hold of
Tom, which might be fatal to both. They were drifting farther and
farther away from the ship. Tom had not uttered one cry for help,
evidently being confident that the boat would be sent to pick them up.
Every movement of his showed that he was calm, and knew perfectly what
he was about. At length the boat was got into the water, the first
lieutenant and four hands jumped into her, and away the men pulled as
fast as they could lay their backs to the oars. It was blowing fresh,
and there was a good deal of ripple in the harbour, so that the wavelets
every now and then washed over Tom. Suddenly Larry, coming to himself,
did what I feared; he seized hold of Tom, and in another instant would
have dragged him down had not Tom dexterously got clear and held him up
by the collar of his shirt. The boat was quickly up to them, and they
were, to my intense satisfaction, safely hauled on board. She then
rapidly pulled back to the ship, and both greatly exhausted, Larry being
scarcely conscious, were lifted up on deck. McPherson, the
assistant-surgeon, who had been summoned at once, ordered Tom to be
taken below.
"Never mind me," said Tom. "I shall be all to rights presently, when
I've changed and had a cup of grog. You'll let me have that, won't you,
McPherson? And now you go and attend to the poor fellow who wants you
more than I do."
"Vara true; he ought, from the way he fell, to have broken every bone in
his body; and it's wonderful he did not do it. He seems, indeed, not to
be much the worse for his fall, except a slight paralysis," he remarked
when he had finished his examination. "Take him down to the sick bay,
and I'll treat him as he requires."
I first went below to thank Tom Pim for saving my follower, and to
express my admiration of his courage and resolution.
"Oh, it's nothing," he answered; "I can swim better than you, or you'd
have done the same."
I then went forward, where I found Larry--his wet clothes stripped off--
between the blankets, in a hammock.
The doctor administered a stimulant, and directed that he should be
rubbed on the side on which he had fallen.
"Shure that's a brave young gentleman to save me from going to the
bottom, Misther Terence dear; and I'll be mighty grateful to him as long
as I live," he said to me.
Having spent some time with Larry, who was ordered to remain in his
hammock, I returned to the midshipmen's berth.
All were loud in their praises of Tom. Tom received them very modestly,
and said that though he felt very glad at being able to save the poor
fellow, he didn't see anything to be especially proud of in what he had
done.
By the next morning Larry was almost well, only complaining of a little
stiffness in one side of the body.
"He may thank his stars for being an Irishman," said McPherson; "no
ordinary mortal could have fallen from aloft as he did, into the water,
without breaking his bones, or being stunned."
Larry could scarcely believe that it was little Tom Pim who had saved
him from drowning.
"Shure, young gintleman, I'll be after lovin' ye, and fightin' for ye,
and seein' that no harm comes to ye, all the days of my life!" he
exclaimed, the first time he met Tom afterwards on deck. "I'm mighty
grateful to ye, sir, that I am."
I was very sure that Larry meant what he said, and, should opportunity
offer, would carry out his intentions.
We were seated talking in the berth after tea, when old Nettleship was
sent for into the cabin. There were many surmises as to what the
captain wanted him for. After some time, to my surprise, I was
summoned. I found it was only Nettleship that wanted to see me on deck.
"Paddy," he said, "we are to have an expedition on shore, and you are
wanted to take part in it, and so is your countryman, Larry Harrigan.
The captain, Mr Saunders, and I have planned it. We want some more
hands, and we hear that there are a goodish lot hiding away in the town.
They are waiting till the men-of-war put to sea, when they think that
they will be safe. They are in the hands of some cunning fellows, and
it'll be no easy matter to trap them unless we can manage to play them a
trick. I can't say that I like particularly doing what we propose, but
we're bound to sacrifice our own feelings for the good of the service."
"What is it?" I asked. "Of course I should be proud to be employed in
anything for the good of the service."
"All right, Paddy; that's the spirit which should animate you. Now
listen. Mr Saunders and I are going on shore with a strong party of
well-armed men, and we want you and the boy Harrigan--or rather, the
captain wants you, for remember he gives the order--to go first and
pretend that you have run away from a man-of-war, and want to be kept in
hiding till she has sailed. You, of course, are to dress up as seamen
in old clothes--the more disreputable and dirty you look the better. We
know the houses where the men are stowed away, in the lowest slums of
Cork, and we can direct you to them. You're to get into the confidence
of the men, and learn what they intend doing; when you've gained that,
you're to tell them that one of the lieutenants of your ship is going on
shore with a small party of men, to try and press anybody he can find,
and that you don't think he knows much about the business, as he is a
stupid Englishman, and advise them to lie snug where they are. Then
either you or Harrigan can offer to creep out and try and ascertain in
what direction the press-gang is going. There are several houses
together, with passages leading from one to the other, so that if we get
into one, the men are sure to bolt off into another; and it must be your
business to see where they go, and Harrigan must shut the door to
prevent their escape, or open it to let us in. I now only describe the
outlines of our plan. I'll give you more particulars as we pull up the
river. We shall remain at Passage till after dark, and you and your
companion in the meanwhile must make your way into the town."
"But shure won't I be after telling a lie if I say that Larry and I are
runaway ship-boys?" I asked.
"Hush, that's a strong expression. Remember that it's all for the good
of the service," said Nettleship.
Still I was not altogether satisfied that the part I was about to play
was altogether an honourable one.
He, however, argued the point with me, acknowledging that he himself
didn't think so, but that we were bound to put our private feelings into
our pockets when the good of the service required it. He now told me to
go and speak to Larry, but on no account to let any one hear me, lest
the expedition might get wind among the bumboat women, who would be sure
to convey it on shore.
To my surprise, Larry was perfectly prepared to undertake the duty
imposed on him, feeling flattered at being employed, and taking rather a
pleasure at the thoughts of having to entrap some of our countrymen.
"They may grumble a little at first, but they'll be a mighty deal better
off on board ship than digging praties, or sailing in one of those
little craft out there," he said, with a look of contempt at the
merchant vessels.
Mr Saunders took me into his cabin, and made me rig out in a suit of
clothes supplied by the purser. I had to rub my hair about till it was
like a mop; then, with some charcoal and a mixture of some sort, he
daubed my face over in such a way that I didn't know myself when I
looked in his shaving-glass.
"You'll do, Paddy," said Nettleship when he saw me. "We must be giving
a touch or two to Harrigan. He seems a sharp fellow, and will play his
part well, I have no doubt."
In a short time the boats were ready. We went with Mr Saunders and
Nettleship in the pinnace. She was accompanied by the jolly-boat, which
it was intended should convey Larry and me into the neighbourhood of the
town. We were, however, not to go on board her until we reached
Passage. The crew gave way, and as the tide was in our favour we got
along rapidly. I found that the expedition we were engaged in was a
hazardous one, especially for Larry and me; for should the men we were
in search of discover who we were, they might treat us as spies, and
either knock our brains out, or stow us away in some place from which we
should not be likely to make our escape. This, however, rather enhanced
the interest I began to feel in it, and recompensed me for its doubtful
character.
Neither Mr Saunders nor Nettleship looked in the slightest degree like
officers of the Royal Navy. They were dressed in Flushing coats; the
lieutenant in a battered old sou'-wester, with a red woollen comforter
round his throat; Nettleship had on an equally ancient-looking
tarpaulin, and both wore high-boots, long unacquainted with blacking.
They carried stout cudgels in their hands, their hangers and pistols
being concealed under their coats. In about an hour and a half we
reached Passage, when Nettleship and Larry and I got into the
jolly-boat.
"I'm going with you," said Nettleship, "that I may direct you to the
scene of operations, and am to wait for Mr Saunders at the `Fox and
Goose,'--a small public-house, the master of which knows our object and
can be trusted."
Nettleship, as we pulled away, minutely described over and over again
what Larry and I were to do, so that I thought there was no chance of
our making any mistake, provided matters went as he expected. It was
dark by the time we reached Cork. The boat pulled into the
landing-place, and Larry and I, with two of the men, went ashore, and
strolled lazily along a short distance, looking about us. This we did
in case we should be observed; but on reaching the corner, Larry and I,
as we had been directed, set off running, when the two men returned to
the boat, which was to go to another landing-place a little way higher
up, whence Nettleship and his party were to proceed to our rendezvous.
When we had got a little distance we pulled up, and to be certain that
we had made no mistake, we inquired the name of the street of a
passer-by. We found that we were all right. We now proceeded
stealthily along to the lane where Mother McCleary's whisky-shop was
situated. I had no difficulty in recognising the old woman, as she had
been well described to me. Her stout slatternly figure, her bleared
eyes, her grog-blossomed nose,--anything but a beauty to look at. Her
proceedings were not beautiful either. Going to the end of the counter
where she was standing, I tipped her a wink.
"Hist, mither! Can yer be after taking care of two poor boys for a
night or so?" I asked.
"Where do yer come from?" she inquired, eyeing us.
"Shure it's from the say," answered Larry, who had undertaken to be
chief spokesman. "We've just run away from a thundering big king's
ship, and don't want to go back again."
"Why for?" asked the old woman.
"For fear of a big baste of a cat which may chance to score our backs,
if she doesn't treat us worse than that."