The _day_ before the eighteenth was a Monday. In consideration of
beginning a week's study to have it broken off again on Tuesday, and
because of the many preparations there were to make for the great day,
Mr Clare gave us the two holidays. We had our swim and boat-practice
on Monday morning, and then set to work to make arrangements for the
next day, every one taking a part with real zest. First the boat was
carefully hauled up on the shore, and turned over on a way of joists we
had prepared for her. The bottom was then carefully washed, and, after
that, thoroughly rubbed with the sand-paper--about an hour's work, at
which we all had a hand. Having got the sides and keel beautifully
smooth in that way, Clump brought a kettle of pure grease, which was
placed over a little fire of driftwood, and when the grease had become
liquid, Walter, with a large fine paint-brush, anointed the entire
boat's bottom in a most painstaking manner. We boys stood by, entering
into the operation, which was supposed to prove wonderfully efficacious
in increasing our boat's speed, with great interest, and Clump bent over
the kettle, stirring the oil, and puffing at the short stern of his pipe
eagerly.
Grouped with such absorbing concern about the body of the boat, Walter
moving slowly from stem to stern, and stern to stem, laying on the magic
oil, (unctuous of victory to our noses), with steady sweeps, and the
bent figure of black old Clump beside the caldron, from which rose a
curling smoke, we must have made a tableau of heathen offering
sacrifice, or some other savage mystery.
The all-important job was at length completed, and we left our ark of
many hopes to rest until the exciting hour of the morrow.
Clump was a sharer in our great expectations. His heart was set upon
our success. He had to fill his pipe again before we left the boat, and
pulled at it nervously and wrinkled his black skin into countless
puckers as he walked beside us, thinking of the vast interests at stake
and listening to our excited conversation. As we left him to go over to
the town for a small cannon we had borrowed to fire the signals, he
touched Walter on the sleeve, and said in the most slow and earnest
manner, as he drew the pipe from his mouth and knocked its ashes on the
ground--
"An I'se to be judge an' udder ting you'se talk of, Massa Walter, eh?
An I'se to fire de gun, eh? W-a-all, I'se an ole nigger, an my heart
ees shree-veled up like, I s'pose, but my gorry, young massas, ef you
don't beat, old Clump will jist loaden up do musket again an'--an'--an'
_but_ 'is 'ed agin de rock! Yah, fur sure!"
Having delivered himself of that tragical decision in a manner mixed of
sadness and frenzy, he hobbled off, amidst our laughter and assurances
that we should never allow him to injure the rock in that way, to
consult with Juno, and probably load his pipe again.
No noble lord, with his thousands of pounds wagered on the Derby or
Saint Leger, or perhaps, rather, I should say on some of the crack
yachts of the day, was ever half so excited as was this good old darky
about our boat-race.
Under the escort of Walter, Harry, Alfred, and Drake, the cannon arrived
in the afternoon, and, by their united efforts and the assistance of the
Captain, was mounted before sundown on a heavy piece of timber in the
_Clear the Track's_ bow.
By night the flags, ammunition, and many other necessaries for the
morrow's undertaking were in order and readiness for service.
After the day's work, and filled with anticipations of the eventful
morrow, we felt no desire for our usual outdoor games that evening, but
found seats on the great boulder beside our house, where Mr Clare was
resting, and the Captain was enjoying his smoke. Old Clump, too, having
finished his tea and swept out Juno's kitchen, loitered toward us with
his comforter--the pipe--and edged up respectfully within hearing of our
conversation. So we boys leaned on our elbows, looking out at the dimly
defined water, sometimes lighted in streaks by gleams of phosphorescence
where shoals of fish were jumping; or, stretched on our backs, we
watched the shooting-stars hurrying with speed quick as thought from one
part of the immeasurable blue to another; while our tutors talked
earnestly of former times, and we heard the shrill calls of gulls and
other sea birds, the occasional tender bleating of the lambs in the
distant sheepfold, and the soft regular splash of a summer sea on the
rocks, until the delicate young crescent had dozed slowly down to its
bed in the ocean,--and we, profiting by example, sought slumber in the
old dreamful attic.
Harry Higginson was the first one up in the morning. He shook us to our
senses, and whispered to get out of the house quietly, that we might
call our tutors with the cannon's voice. That was an acceptable
proposition, and we were soon stealing down the creaking stairs, shoes
in hand. Having put those on, seated by the door-stone, we started on a
run for the _Clear the Track_. It was just light, the soft dawn of a
warm summer's day--not yet half-past four. Walter said he would bet old
Sol had already fired a gun in honour of the glorious battle won that
day by England and her Allies, but so far off we could not hear it.
We got on board the wreck as carefully as we had quitted the house, and
I, being delegated to descend to the Captain's cabin and steal one of
the flannel powder cartridges, was soon creeping by the snoring Captain
with my booty secured. It took but a moment to ram home the charge and
pack it over with pockets full of wadding; and then Harry, our gunner,
touched it off. As the old brig shook with the report, Alfred jumped to
the bell, and the way that clanged was splendid.
"Boys," said Drake, who was shaking with the fun, "can't you see old
topgallant sail down below springing up in his berth with a lurch and
cracking his head against the beams, and our dignified fresh tute
jerking those long, thin legs out of bed, and wondering what's about to
happen this fine morning, and old Clump and Juno groaning out `O de
Lord!' and knocking their black pates together as they both try to get
out of bed at the same instant. How jolly!"
An immense red bandanna handkerchief at that moment popped above the
companionway--then a hearty, weather-marked face we well knew--then a
portion of an ample East Indian nightshirt, which threw up a pair of
arms and fired off a couple of boarding-pistols. The discharge was
followed by a stentorian "Three cheers for the great and glorious battle
won this day!--hip! hip! hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!" in which we fellows
joined with a yell.
"Ah! you young rascals have got before me this morning, but this
afternoon it will be my turn--mine and Mr Clare's, you roystering
middies!" and the Captain popped down again to finish his toilet.
We were soon joined by the Captain, and a little while after by Mr
Clare, who was in the best of spirits, complimented us on our display of
zeal and patriotism, and touched off the old gun once himself--"for
practice," he said.
"But," continued the jolly old Captain, having taken Mr Clare's arm,
"suppose we visit Ethiopia and see if a hot breakfast is not waiting for
us there. These boys would rather stay here and load this cannon."
"No sir, no sir!" replied Harry, "we must load our own personal guns,
for we mean to make our _report_ this afternoon."
Laughing over that threat to our tutors, we went with them to breakfast,
which we found ready as soon as our morning prayers were read. Clump
brought in the dishes--Clump in uniform--and I never saw a funnier
figure in my life. The coat was once my grandfather's--a colonel of
West India Militia, I believe. Now my grandfather had been a rather
short man, but very broad and stout, particularly round the stomach.
Old Clump was tall and thin as a spectre, so the epaulettes fell over
his shoulders, the waist flapped loosely eight inches above his
trousers, and the short swallow-tails did not sufficiently cover the
spot which the venerable darky usually placed on the chair to hide a
patch, the bigness of a frying-pan and of a different material from the
breeches themselves, that Juno's affectionate care had strengthened her
liege lord's garments with--which garments, far more pastoral than
military, and forced by suspenders as near the coat as Clump's anatomy
otherwise would allow, failed by three inches of woollen stocking to
meet his shoes. When you think how comical the excellent, old,
white-woolled darky appeared, remember, too, that he was perfectly
unconscious, until our laughter startled him, that he was not becomingly
attired.
As our irrepressible appreciation of the fun was shouted out, Clump did
not realise at first that he was its cause, but when he did all the
pride and alacrity died from his face in an instant. In a bewildered,
palsied way he put down the dish he carried, and, heaving a sad sigh,
drew himself up until the rheumatic spine must have twinged, and, fixing
his eyes on some point far above our head, stood in motionless dignity.
Even Mr Clare had laughed, but, recovering equanimity immediately that
he saw how deeply Clump was wounded, he said:
"Boys, stop that laughing." He might have addressed his reproof to the
Captain, too, for he was in paroxysms, and had his face buried in the
countless flags of that great red silk bandanna of his. "Is it so very
funny to see Clump doing honour to a day once so big with the fate of
England and the world? Had the Allies been beaten at Waterloo, what
might not have become of our beloved country? Instead of Napoleon being
an exile in Saint Helena, he might have carried out his darling project
of invading and humbling England to the dust. Though he cares no more
for the Pope of Rome than does the Sultan of Turkey or the Shah of
Persia, he would probably have established Popery with all its horrors
and impositions, for the sake of more completely bringing our country
into subjection to his will; and, once established, it would have been a
hard matter to throw off its iron shackles. Boys, you do not
sufficiently value your privileges as Englishmen and Protestants--or
rather, I should say, as inhabitants of this free and favoured island of
Great Britain. We are free to read our Bibles; we are free to worship
God as we think fit; we are free to go and come as we list; we have a
good constitution and good laws; we may think freely, speak freely, and
act freely."
"Yes, Massa Clare; you may tell de young gemmen dey may laff freely
too," broke in Clump. "I laff freely, I know, when I first set foot on
de English land. I no longer slave, I free man, and so dey may laff as
much as dey likes at ole Clump, perwided dey laffs wid him. I know one
ting, dey would not have laff if dey had been in deir grandfather's coat
when dis hole was made right through it into his arm." Clump held up
his right arm and showed the bullet-hole in the coat, and what he
declared to be the stain of blood still on it; and he then continued in
a triumphant strain--
"Dis ole man Clump was 'is body-sarvant: but Clump was not ole den, and
he follow his massa to de war--dat was long, long before dose young
gemmen was born--afore dey was tinked of--and Massa Tregellin deir fader
was young gemmen like dose, but more politer. We was sent wid de seamen
to take de island of Martinique; and so we landed and looked bery
fierce, and de Frenchmen thought we had come to eat dem; so dey say, no
use fighting; and so, after firing a great many shot at us; but doing no
harm, dey say when we land, `We give in, we no fight more.' So we take
de island, and no one hurt except one man scratch anoder's nose wid his
bagonet, and make blood come. When de generals and de admirals see we
done so well, dey say we go and take anoder island; so we all sets sail
for to take Guadeloupe. Some of de ships got in one day, some anoder,
and anchored in Grozier Bay. Ah, de enemy thought we come to eat him
up, but dis time he stop. Dere was de frigate _Winchelsea_, of which
Lord Garlies was de cap'en. He tun in, and bring his guns to bear on de
shore, and under deir cover de soldiers and de bluejackets landed. Dere
was a high hill, wid de fort full of French soldiers on de top of it.
`Dere, my brave fellow, we have to go up dere,' said de Kunnel. De
seamen was commanded by Cap'en Robert Faulkner. He bery brave man. I
could just tall you how many brave tings he did; how he lash de bowsprit
of de enemy to his own mainmast, and neber let her go till he took her,
and den was shot through de heart in de hour of victory. Well, de
gen'ral say to us--`Now, boys, we don't want firing, but just let de
enemy feel de cold steel. Dey don't like dat. Soldiers, use bagonets.
Bluejackets, use your pikes and cutlashes.' `Ay, ay, sir,' we shout;
and den up de hill we go--up! up! De faster we go de better for us, for
de French bullets come down peppering pretty sharp. We just near de
top, and de enemy begin to look bery blue, when I see de Kunnel's right
arm drop--he was only a cap'en den--his sword fell from his hand, but he
seize it wid de oder hand, and wave it above his head, shouting, `On,
boys, on.' We reach de fort: de Frenchmen fire wid de guns, and poke at
us wid de pikes, and swear at us wid deir mouds, and grapeshot and
musket-balls come rattling down about our heads; but dat no stop us; and
on we went till we got into de fort, and trou de gates, and den de
Frenchmen, who had fought bery well, but could fight no more, rushed
away. Just den I see de Kunnel look bery pale, just like one nigger
when he frightened, and he goed round and round, and would hab fallen,
but Clump caught him in de arms, and den Clump put him on de ground, and
shouted for de doctor, and ran and got some water, and de doctors came
and splashed water in de Kunnel's face, and he oped his eyes, and he
say, `Tank you, Clump.' Yes, de Kunnel, dis ole nigger's massa, tank
him on de field of battle. When de dear Massa got better, he one day
take de coat and say to me, `Here, Clump, you and I went up dat hill,
and it's a mercy we eber came down again. It's my belief if you hadn't
got de water dat day to throw in my face, I should never have come round
again; and so, Clump, here, take dis coat, I'll gub tur you to r'member
dis fite.' And now dese gemmen laff at deir gran'pa's coat! but black
Clump, ole nigger, _lub_ it! Yaas, he'll lub it till he's 'posited in
de bowels ob de arth."
The remembrance of my grandfather and that proud day for Clump, the
keenness with which he had felt our rudeness, and the excitement of
recital were, all together, too much for our good old castellan. The
erectness of his figure gave way as he concluded, the enthusiasm in his
features faded into dejection, and, as he turned from the table to leave
the room, I saw a big drop, that had trickled down his wrinkled face,
fall on his extended hand.
The cruelty of boys is an idiosyncrasy in their otherwise generous
character. Of course there are mean boys, hard-hearted boys, cowardly
boys; but Boyhood is more generous, open, tender-hearted, daring, than
Manhood, yet its cruelty stands out a distinguishing trait. An old
French teacher, loving children, wanting in dignity, broken in English,
irritable in disposition; a sensitive young stranger, fresh from home,
charming in innocence, sad with thoughts of a dear mother; a poor,
frightened kitten, are all objects for boys' cruelty to gloat over.
And so, too, on the oddities of that dear old Clump, that excellent,
noble-hearted old black man, who loved us with surpassing pride and
tenderness, we delighted to prey on as vultures on a carcass, and yet, I
am sure, we were neither vicious nor hard-hearted, but simply and
entirely--Boys.
All this time, since our Saturday afternoon, when the fight overset our
boat, Alfred Higginson and Drake had not spoken to one another. This
eighteenth of June, even, Drake did not wake Alfred, but left others of
us to do so. Thrown together so intimately every minute of the day, and
so often on the point of speaking--often almost necessitated to do so by
circumstances, and frequently through forgetfulness--their unfortunate
difficulty and enmity stole the freshness from their sports, and acted
as a check and damper on the spirits of all our little company.
However, the _finale_ was not far-distant, but it was postponed until
after the boat-race.