HOME AGAIN.
Ordered to the Black River—Meet the magistrate there, and “bow to
his bishop”—Sail with a convoy of thirty ships—Arrive at Deal—A
cruise on horseback on a baker’s nag, which conscientiously goes
the bread round—The Author’s brother comes on board, but he fails
to recognise him—Paid off at Deptford.
At daylight next morning we catted the anchors, made all sail, and were
the next day reposing like a swan in a lake at Black River. As notices
from the merchants at Kingston had been sent to the different ports round
the island that two men-of-war were going to take convoy to England, we
were soon joined by several West Indiamen. This place can scarcely be
called even a village, there being so few houses, and those straggling.
The first time I went on shore I was called to by a stout man wearing a
linen jacket and trousers, with an immense broad-brimmed straw hat on his
head, and his address was abrupt and by no means polished. “What ship,”
said he, “officer?” “The _Volage_,” replied I, not in love with the
person’s face, which was bluish-red, with a large nose. “Then,” said he,
“you bloody dog, come and bow to my bishop,” pointing to the best house
there. I stared with astonishment, and was turning away presuming he was a
cloth in the wind or some madman escaped from his keeper. “Ho, ho! but you
can’t go before you have bowed to my bishop,” he again called out; “come
with me to my house, and we shall be better acquainted.” He took my arm; I
thought him a character, which I afterwards found he was, and gave in to
his whim. On entering the verandah of the house, which was shaded by close
Venetian blinds and very cool, he stopped before an immense large jug in
the shape of a bishop. It was placed on a bracket slab, so that to drink
out of the corner of its hat, which was its beak or spout, you were
obliged to stoop. This I found he called bowing to his bishop. It
contained delicious sangaree, and I bowed to it without being entreated to
do so a second time. “Now,” said he, “you bloody dog, you have complied
like a good fellow with my first request. Your captain dines with me
to-morrow; I must insist on your doing so too, and then I shall consider
you an obedient officer and worthy to bow to my bishop whenever you are
thirsty. My dinner-hour is five o’clock, and as I am the magistrate of
this overgrown metropolis I admit of no excuse.” I could not help smiling
at this rough urbanity. I accepted the invitation, and at the appointed
hour repaired to his house with the captain and surgeon. He received us
with great good humour, and insisted, as we were bloody dogs—I understood
afterwards he was very partial to naval officers and always called them by
that pet name—that we should bow to his bishop before dinner. We met at
his table our kind acquaintance Mr. S., his daughter, another gentleman,
his wife and two nieces, who were going to England in one of the ships of
the convoy. The dining-room was entirely of cedar, and the floor like a
mirror, very spacious, and it partly projected over the river. Above the
dining-table was a large punkah, which was kept in constant motion during
dinner by two young grinning black girls. The table groaned with good
things, and we did ample justice to our host’s entertainment. He was
evidently a great humourist, and amused us at dinner by relating anecdotes
of Lord Rodney and Admiral Benbow’s time. “There are,” said he, “twelve
tough old fellows, of which I am the chairman, who keep up the twelfth of
April by an annual dinner, and as he never flinched from the enemy, we
never flinch from the bottle, and keep it up till daylight, when we are so
gloriously sober that we are carried home by our slaves.” “Is it true,”
said he, addressing the captain, “that Sir Eyre Coote is to supersede the
Earl of B. as Governor of our Islands? Do you know anything of him?” “Only
from report,” was the reply; “I think he distinguished himself by a
brilliant victory over Hyder Ali in the East Indies.” “Why, the devil,”
said he, “I beg your pardon, ladies, for swearing, do they send us
soldiers as governors? We want something in the shape of a statesman with
a lawyer’s head, with his wig and litigation. I have no fault to find with
the earl; he has governed us very fairly, and I hope his successor will do
the same, although we prefer a civilian to a soldier.”
After dinner we were amused by the feats of one of his household slaves
named Paddy Whack, who threw somersaults round the drawing-room, walked on
his hands, and afterwards threw himself several times from the highest
part of the bridge, about twenty-four feet, into the river. After coffee
we took leave of our eccentric but warm-hearted host, who, on shaking
hands, insisted on our bloody dogships dining with him once more before we
sailed. We promised to do so conditionally. Eighteen sail of merchant
vessels had assembled, and we expected seven more. The surf had been high
on the bar, and we had not had communication with the shore for the last
two days. A canoe came off from Mr. C. with Paddy Whack, who delivered a
note to the captain. “What is it about, boy?” said he. “Paper peak,
massa,” was the reply; “Paddy only wait answer from Massa Captain.” The
note was a pressing invitation to dine on shore the following day, and
included the captain and officers. As I had dined with the worthy planter
I persuaded the second lieutenant to go. The rest of the convoy having
joined us, our sails were again swelling to a strong sea-breeze. The
convoy of thirty sail of sugar-laden ships were hovering round us like
chickens round the mother hen. Four others joined us at Bluefields, and
off Negril Point we fell in with the S. frigate, with the former Governor
of Jamaica on board and three other West Indiamen. The captain went on
board the S. to pay his respects and to receive his orders.
After his return on board the signal was made to make all sail, and away
we bowled for the Gulf of Florida. We touched at the Caymans for turtle,
and were cheated as usual. Nothing particular occurred during our passage
but our nearly being run down by one of the ships of the convoy, and my
having my left shoulder unshipped by being washed off one of the weather
guns by a heavy sea, which obliged me to keep my cot for more than a
fortnight. The eighth week brought us in sight of the Land’s End, when we
repeated the signal for the convoy to separate for their respective ports.
Those bound to London kept company with us as far as the Downs. I longed
to be once more on my native shore, but I was doomed to be mortified for
two days, as the surf on the beach was too high to admit a boat to land.
On the third day I jumped on shore with a light heart and a thin pair of
trousers, and repaired to the “Hoop and Griffin.” I had a desperate desire
to have a cruise on horseback. I rang the bell, which was answered by one
of the finest formed young women I ever beheld. I was taken aback, and my
heart, which I had brought from the West Indies, went like the handle of
the chain pumps up and down. “What do you please to want, sir,” said she,
with a most musically toned voice. I blushed and modestly requested to
have a horse as soon as he could be got ready. “I am really sorry, sir,”
answered she, “that all our horses are post-horses, but” continued she,
with the gentlest accent in this world and probably many more, “we will
procure you one.” “Many thanks,” said I; “and will you oblige me by
sending up some bread and butter with some oysters, but not those which
are gathered from the mangrove trees,” for I had the West Indies in my
mind. “Gathered from trees!—oysters from trees! I never heard of such a
thing before,” said she, and she went laughing out of the room. The waiter
soon appeared with what I had ordered, and a foaming tankard of ale which
I had forgotten to order. During my repast I envied no one. I was as happy
as a city alderman at a Lord Mayor’s feast; I could not contain myself or
believe I was in England; I could not sit quietly in my chair; I paced the
room, jumped, rubbed my hands and head, and in one of my ecstatic fits I
rang the bell. My beautiful maid (not Braham’s) entered as I was cutting a
caper extraordinary. “Did you ring, sir?” said she with a smile becoming
an angel. “I believe I did,” I replied, “but I am not certain. I scarcely
know what I am about. I have eaten my oysters, and now I wish for my
horse.” “He is not quite ready yet, sir. You said something about oysters
growing on trees, didn’t you, sir. I told it to my mother, and she thinks
I did not understand what you said. Will you be good enough to tell me if
they grow in orchards like our apples?” “I have seen thousands, and have
eaten thousands that have grown on trees,” said I, “but not in orchards.
The tree that bears them grows close to the water side; its lower branches
dip into it, and are clustered by the shell-fish, which are very small,
and you may swallow a dozen at a mouthful.” “Thank you, sir; my mother I
am sure will believe me now. I will desire John to take away. Did you like
our country oysters as well as those in foreign parts?” “They are,” said
I, “like you, excellent.” “I will see if the horse is ready,” said she, as
she dropped a curtsey and quitted the room.
Shortly after up came John to announce my horse being at the door. “Will
you have a pair of master’s spurs, sir?” said he. “No, I thank you, my
good fellow,” returned I. “Lend me a whip, and I shall be able to manage
without spurs.” Behold a sailor on horseback, gentle reader, to the
admiration or astonishment of all the bystanders, of which there were as
many as would man a king’s cutter. I kept under moderate sail until I
reached Middle Deal, when my companion brought up all standing at the door
of a decent-looking house, nor could I make him again break ground until a
maidservant opened the door. “Lord,” said she, “I thought it was the
baker, sir, for you are on his horse.” “That accounts,” I said, “for his
halting at your door. I wish, Betty, you would get him once more into
plain sailing.” She most kindly took hold of the bridle and led him into
the middle of the street. I now thought myself in the fair way, and I gave
him a stroke with the whip, which I nearly repented, for he kicked up with
his hind legs, and had not I seized the after part of the saddle I should
have gone over his forecastle. I held on until he righted. After this
freak, which was nearly knocking up my cruise, we jogged on steadily until
we came to a narrow street, down which he turned in spite of all my
endeavours to prevent him, and again hove to at the door of another house.
“This turning to windward,” thinks I, “will never do. It reminds me of
Commodore Trunnion making a Tom Coxe’s traverse to fetch the church.”
Whilst I was puzzling my wise noddle what I was to do next, a man passed
me. “I wish you would get this horse under weigh,” said I, “for here have
I been at single anchor for these five minutes at this door, and cannot
cast him the right way.” “Why,” said he, “I knows that there horse; it be
the baker’s.” “D——n the baker, and his horse too,” said I, not much
pleased at his remark. “You are close to the Canterbury road, and mayhap
if I leads him he may go on.” “You are the best fellow I have met for a
quarter of an hour. Do get him into open cruising ground as fast as you
can, for I have been on his back more than an hour, and have not gained
half a mile.” He gave me a broad grin, and good-naturedly led the horse
until I got clear of the houses. He then let go the bridle, gave the
animal a smart slap on the flank, which set him off at a hand-gallop, and
nearly jerked me over the taffrail. I kept him to his speed, and in about
half an hour he stopped suddenly near a small farmhouse, and I was again
nearly going over his bows. A slovenly kind of woman hove in sight. I
hailed her, and asked her to bring me a tumbler of milk, but I might as
well have spoken to a Porto Rico donkey. She showed me her stern, and
brought up in a piggery. “The devil take your hospitality,” said I. The
weather was exceedingly warm, and I was very thirsty, which made me more
hasty in my expressions to the Dulciana of the pigstye than I ought to
have been. But show me the fair one who would not excuse a sailor thirsty
and on the back of an animal as obstinate as a boat’s crew when cutting
out. After a fruitless attempt to proceed further on my voyage of
discovery, I hove about. The animal answered stays as well as any frigate,
and was round sooner than the captain of the forecastle could clap the jib
traveller over the end of the jib-boom. I was heartily tired of my horse
cruise, and was glad when I hove to at the “Hoop and Griffin.”
As soon as I had thrown myself on the sofa, my beautiful maid entered.
“Will you favour me with your name?” said I, addressing her with
quarter-deck modesty. “I am called Lucy,” said she. “That’s a very pretty
name,” returned I. “Pray, Miss Lucy, may I ask where the horse came from I
have been riding? I have had a worse cruise than a dismantled Dutch dogger
on the Goodwin Sands. I have, into the bargain, lost out of my
waistcoat-pocket two two-pound notes and five new gloves out of six which
I very stupidly stuffed into my coat-pocket.” “I am very sorry, sir,
indeed, for your misfortune,” answered she. “The horse came from the
‘Royal Oak.’ We desired them to send a quiet one, as it was for a
gentleman who was not in the habit of riding.” “I wish they had sent me a
donkey instead of the baker’s horse,” said I; “he took it into his head to
stop at his master’s customers’ houses, nor could I make him leave them
without assistance. No more cruising on horseback for me,” continued I.
“Pray do let me have plenty of oysters and bread and butter, with a
tankard of ale as smiling as yourself, as soon as the waiter can bring
them up, for I am very hungry.” “We have a nice cold chicken in the house
and some ham; shall I send them up too?” “That’s the stuff for trousers,”
answered I. “Let all be handed up in the turn of a handspike, and if I do
not do ample justice to the whole, you are not the prettiest girl I have
seen. I suppose it would be treason to ask you to partake of the good
things I have ordered?” “Oh, no, sir,” said she; “that is not the fashion
in our house, for me to sit down with a strange gentleman.” Saying this,
she left the room, and as I observed the smile which dimpled her blooming
cheeks had vanished, I began to think I had said too much. Whilst I was in
a blue study, up came chicken, ham, oysters, bread and butter, with the
ale. I drew to the table and began with a keen West-country appetite, and
for the first ten minutes forgot Lucy, baker’s horse, pound notes and
gloves, and almost that it was growing dark, and that we were to sail by
the next morning’s tide. Before I had finished moving my under jaw, which
had been in constant motion for the last twenty minutes, in came the
purser and one of the mids to report the boat being on shore. “You have
saved me from a surfeit,” exclaimed I. “Come,” said I to the youngster,
“sit down and finish the feast. As for you, Master Purser, I know you have
been faring well elsewhere, therefore I shall not ask you to take
anything.”
Having paid the bill and shaken hands with Lucy, I jumped into the boat,
and was soon on board. On seating myself in the gun-room, “Now,
messmates,” said I, addressing the second lieutenant and surgeon, “you
commissioned me to buy you each a pair of gloves. I fulfilled it to the
letter, but I have left them on the Canterbury road.” I then related my
adventure, which elicited a hearty laugh. “Now,” added I, “we will have a
glass of grog, and drink to fair Lucy at the ‘Hoop and Griffin,’ for she
is a very pretty girl, and I have lost half my heart.” “If we do not sail
to-morrow,” replied they, “we will go on shore and see whether she
deserves the appellation you have given her.” “Do,” said I, “and give my
love to her.”
At daylight our signal was made to remain at anchor until further orders.
On sending the last boat on shore for the officers, I ordered the
midshipman who had charge of her to acquaint my messmates not to bring off
any strangers to dinner, as no boat would leave the ship after they
returned. About 3 P.M. the boat came on board, and, in contradiction to my
order, brought off a stranger. The second lieutenant was first up the
side, and the stranger followed. On his reaching the quarter-deck, he
introduced him to me as a person sent off by the admiral as a broker to
exchange English for foreign coin. He gave me his card, which I put into
my pocket without looking at it. I began by telling him he had come on
board at a very inconvenient time, and that, in consequence of the spring
tide, the boat would not leave the ship until the morning. “It is of
little consequence to me,” said he, very coolly; “I can remain where I am
until that time.” “Respecting the errand you have come on,” I resumed, “I
am afraid you will be disappointed, as two persons have already been
before you.” “How came you,” said I to the youngster who had charge of the
boat, “to disobey the order I gave you?” Before he could answer the
surgeon came up and whispered to me, “It is your brother.” I examined his
countenance more closely. He gave me one of his schoolboy grins and his
hand, and then I was convinced. We had not seen each other for nearly nine
years, and he had grown entirely out of my recollection. I did not give
him the fraternal hug, but I shook him affectionately by the hand and told
him I should not part with him until we reached Deptford, to which he
willingly consented. He acquainted me with all family concerns, and that
my mother was waiting in London, anxious to see me.
The following day we received on board eighteen French prisoners for the
prison-ships in the river. We wished them at Jericho, where the man fell
among those who used him worse than a Turk would have done. The same
afternoon we daylighted the anchor, mastheaded the sails, crested the
briny wave like a Yankee sea-serpent, and on the second day let go no fool
of a piece of crooked iron off dirty Deptford. As orders were received to
pay us off, we were fully occupied for nearly a week dismantling the ship
and returning stores, etc. On the second day I ran up to London and saw my
mother. She did not, luckily for both parties, shed a flood of tears, but
received me with maternal affection, though she said she scarcely knew
me—I was grown, as my sister was pleased to say, such a black man. On the
sixth day after our anchoring I ordered the ship to be put out of
commission, and the cook hauled down the pendant. We had a parting dinner
at the “Gun” Inn, shook hands and separated.