"Hillo! where's the sentry?"
He and the other captains then gathered round the box. The sentry was
fast asleep. They shouted to him. He made no reply. There was a good
deal of laughing and talking. Then they called several of the men, and
in another minute they brought the sentry-box, with the sentry in it
still fast asleep--or rather dead drunk--down to the boats. Securing
two together, the sentry-box was placed across them, and, the order
being given, we shoved off. Instead, however, of returning to our
ships, we made our way across the harbour to the Gosport side, when the
sentry-box was safely landed, and placed with the sentry, his head
fortunately uppermost, and his musket by his side, on the beach.
We then left him, the boats casting off from each other amidst shouts of
laughter, and we pulled back to the _Jason_. The captain didn't say
much, for the best of reasons, he was not very well able to use his
tongue, but rubbed his hands, chuckling at the thoughts of what he had
done. I helped him up the side, and assisted him to his cabin.
I believe most of the other captains were also, as he was, three sheets
in the wind, or they probably would not have engaged in the proceeding.
Next morning, soon after daybreak, Nettleship and I were sent ashore by
the first lieutenant to look out for three men who had not come off on
the previous evening, and who, it was supposed, might have deserted.
"Something like looking for a needle in a bundle of hay," said
Nettleship, as we pulled towards the Hard. "The chances are we shall
find them drunk in some house or other, or perhaps in the gutter with
black eyes and broken heads. It's not pleasant work, but it must be
done."
I said nothing about the condition in which the captains had come off
the previous evening, but I thought to myself if captains set such an
example, no wonder if the men follow it in their own fashion.
On landing we found an unusual number of people on the Hard for that
early hour, while parties of soldiers, headed by sergeants, were passing
at the double-quick march. We inquired of one of the men we met what
had happened. He said that on the relief coming to the spot where the
sentry-box had stood, and finding neither box nor sentry, they had been
seized with alarm. The captain of the guard had immediately reported
the circumstance to the fort major, and, forgetting that peace had been
established, he roundly asserted that the French squadron was at
Spithead, that the Isle of Wight had been captured, and that Portsmouth
would be attacked. The whole garrison was aroused, and the telegraphs
on the hills set to work to communicate the intelligence far and wide.
As I was the only person in the boat who knew what had actually
occurred, I thought it prudent to hold my tongue and let things take
their course. Nettleship and I therefore proceeded in search of the
men, and before long found them, much in the condition we had expected,
though sufficiently recovered to walk. Helped along by their shipmates,
we got them down to the boats. The excitement was still at its height,
when, just as we were shoving off, a boat arrived from the Gosport side,
with the astounding intelligence that the missing sentry-box, with the
sentry in it, was standing upright on the beach. Immediately a number
of boats, one of which contained the captain of the guard and several
other officials, pulled across to investigate the matter.
"We may as well go to see the fun," said Nettleship; "the first
lieutenant won't find fault with us when I explain the object."
Away we pulled with the rest, and lay off the beach, while Captain
Bouncer and his party landed.
The sentry, who was standing in his box, stepped out, and saluted in due
form.
"How did you get here, my man?" inquired Captain Bouncer in an angry
tone.
"Faith, captain, that's more than I can be after telling you," answered
the sentry, whom I recognised as a countryman.
"You don't mean to tell me that you don't know how you and your
sentry-box were transported across the harbour in the middle of the
night!" exclaimed Captain Bouncer.
"That's just what I'm saying I can't do, captain dear," replied the
sentry.
"You must have been drunk as a fiddler," shouted the captain.
"I can swear, your honour, by all the holy saints, that I was sober as a
judge," answered Pat. "Shure it's my belief I was lifted up by a couple
of witches riding on broomsticks, and carried across without so much as
wetting my feet, for my boots are as dry as if they had been roasting
before the fire."
"If witches carried the man across, they must be hunted up and
punished," cried one of the bystanders.
"Witches be hanged!" exclaimed the captain; "the man must give a better
account than that of the way he came across."
"Then, captain, if it was not witches, it must have been a score of
will-o'-the-wisps, who just upset the sentry-box and towed it across the
harbour while I was sitting quiet, not dreaming of what was happening,
and only just looking up at the stars shining brightly above me," said
Pat in a wheedling tone.
"You must have been asleep, at all events, or you would have discovered
that your box was being moved," said the captain.
"Asleep is it, your honour!" exclaimed the sentry; "shure Pat Donovan,
and that's myself, never went to sleep on guard since he listed in His
Majesty's army."
"Whether the sentry was drunk or asleep, whether transported across by
witches or imps, we must have the sentry-box back again," said Captain
Bouncer, and he gave orders to have it lifted into a boat. This was
found, from its weight, not to be an easy matter, confirming the people
in their belief that the sentry had been carried across as he stated,
for if heavy when empty, it must have been much heavier with him in it.
Poor Pat meantime was placed under arrest, and carried away to be
further examined by the town major, and dealt with as might seem
expedient, while we pulled back to our ship. There were many among the
crowd who believed that Pat Donovan, of her Majesty's 3---th regiment,
had been spirited across Portsmouth harbour by a couple of witches
riding on broomsticks, though where they were to be found was more than
one could say. We heard afterwards that a dozen old women had been
seized and accused of the crime, and that had it not been for the
interference of certain naval officers, whose names were not mentioned,
they would have been subjected to the ordeal of being ducked in the
harbour, or tossed in a blanket. It was reported that our captain had
seen what he took to be a sentry-box floating across the harbour on the
night in question, and he could swear that no such agency as was
reported had been employed. Whatever the educated might have believed,
the lower classes were still forcibly impressed with the idea that the
sentry-box and sentry had been carried across by witches; but on board
ship the real state of the case was soon known, and the men, who kept
the secret, chuckled over the credulity of their friends on shore.
Portsmouth had become very dull, I was told, since the war was over, and
we certainly at times found a difficulty in knowing how to pass our
time. Our captain occasionally posted up to London, but, having no
business there, received a hint from the Admiralty that he must remain
on board his ship, and therefore had to post down again as fast as he
could. He consoled himself by spending nearly all the day on shore,
generally at the houses of people in the neighbourhood. He had one
evening gone to dine at a house situated some way in the country, on the
Gosport side, and he had ordered his boat to be waiting for him at the
nearest landing-place to it, punctually at ten o'clock. As he had a
picked crew, not likely to desert, no midshipman went in the boat. As
it happened, the doctor, the second lieutenant, and the lieutenant of
marines had been invited to spend the evening close to Gosport, and I
was ordered to go and bring them off at half-past ten, not far from the
place where the captain had intended to embark. When I got in I found
his boat still there. The men had been talking and laughing, and had
evidently managed to get some liquor on board. They did not see me, and
as I was afraid that they might send over some to my men, I kept my boat
as far off as I could get.
Presently the steward came down, and told the coxswain that his lordship
had made up his mind to stay on shore, and that the boat was to return
to the ship. Just then, however, I saw an animal of some sort, but what
it was I could not distinguish through the gloom of night, come close
down to the water. A couple of the men instantly jumped ashore, and,
catching hold of it, lifted it into the boat, laughing and chuckling
loudly. I had a short time longer to wait before the officers came
down.
Of course I said nothing of what I had seen. We pulled alongside the
frigate, the boats were hoisted up, and my watch being over, I turned in
to my hammock. I had not been long asleep when my ears were saluted by
the most unearthly sounds, so it seemed to me, that ever broke the
stillness of night. A universal panic seemed to be prevailing. Men
were rushing up on deck, shouting out that Old Nick himself had gained
possession of the ship, some carrying their clothes with them, but
others only in their shirts, leaving in their terror everything else
behind.
The alarm which had begun forward extended aft; the marines, headed by
their sergeant and corporal,--though the sentries still remained at
their posts,--ever mindful of their duty, and ready to do battle with
foes human or infernal. I and the other midshipmen, thus awakened from
our sleep by the fearful sounds, jumped out of our hammocks, and began
dressing as fast as we could. It was not until I was half-way up the
ladder, and still not quite awake, that I recollected the occurrence at
the landing-place. Again the sounds which had alarmed us came forth
from the lower depths of the ship. Many of the men in their terror
seemed inclined to jump overboard.
Before long, however, old Rough-and-Ready came hurrying on deck, with
his small-clothes over his arm and night-cap on head; his voice rang out
above the uproar, inquiring what was the matter. The drum beat to
quarters, the boatswain's whistle sounded shrilly, piping all hands on
deck, though the greater number were there already. No one answered the
first lieutenant's question.
Again the sound was heard. The men who were at their stations seemed
inclined to desert them, when it struck me that only one animal in
existence could make that fearful noise, and as matters were getting
serious, I went up to the first lieutenant and said--
"I fancy, sir, that it's a donkey's bray."
"Of course it is," exclaimed Mr Saunders. "How in the name of wonder
came a donkey on board the ship?"
I thought it prudent not to reply; and the second lieutenant and other
officers who had come off with me of course said that they knew nothing
about it.
The first lieutenant, having now got into his breeches, calling the mate
of the lower deck, the master-at-arms, and others, to bring lanterns,
descended to the fore-hold. None of the men, however, except those who
were summoned, appeared inclined to follow them. I, however, expecting
to have my suspicions verified, went forward with Tom Pim. We heard old
Rough-and-Ready shouting out for a tackle, and in another minute up came
an unfortunate donkey. The poor brute, having fallen into the hold, had
given expression to its dissatisfaction by the sounds which had driven
the ship's company well-nigh out of their wits.
How the donkey had come on board was still to be discovered. My boat's
crew knew nothing about the matter; and it was surprising that the
captain's crew, including the coxswain, were equally unable to account
for the mysterious occurrence. As they had been engaged in transporting
the sentry-box across the harbour, it was just possible that they might
have taken it into their heads to imitate the example of their
superiors, and play a trick on their own account.
Whatever the first lieutenant might have thought on the subject, he took
no steps in the matter, but awaited the return of the captain. The
first thing the next morning, however, he sent the poor donkey ashore.
Late in the afternoon Lord Robert came on board, and received due
information of what had occurred. Perhaps he might have suspected how
the donkey had entered the ship; at the same time it is possible that
his conscience may have smote him for having set the example of
practical joking. At all events, he made no strenuous attempts to
discover the culprits. The next day he issued an order that, even if
his satanic majesty and a thousand of his imps should come aboard, the
men were not to turn out of their hammocks till piped up by the
boatswain.