On flew the felucca, urged by sails and oars. The _Ranger's_ boat
dashed after her.
"Give way, my lads, give way," cried Hemming; not that his crew required
the slightest inducement to pull as hard as they could lay their backs
to the oars.
The felucca had got considerably the start, and was going through the
water somewhat faster than the man-of-war's boat; the more also she drew
off the land the stronger she got the breeze.
"There's no use longer attempting concealment," cried Hemming, "the
chances are she has made us out already. Get a blue-light ready, Adair.
The frigate will see it by this time, and be on the look out for her.
Rogers, see to the gun forward. You may be able to send a shot into the
felucca and knock away a spar, perhaps."
These orders were promptly obeyed. While Jack sprang forward to fire
the gun, Adair's blue-light, blazing up, cast a lurid glare over the
figures of the crew as they tugged at their oars, and which also
extended far away across the surface of the ocean, while at the same
moment the sharp report of the gun broke the hitherto almost perfect
silence of the night. Jack could not see whether his shot had taken
effect, but he had some hopes that it had. Again, at Hemming's order,
he fired, while, as soon as the first blue-light had gone out, Adair
lighted another. Their eyes all the time were ranging the offing to try
and discover the whereabouts of the frigate.
"There is her light, sir," shouted Jack from forward, and when their own
blue-light grew dim, hers was seen shining like a star floating on the
water in the far distance.
Thus they went on, burning blue-lights, at longer intervals though than
at first, and firing shot after shot at the felucca. The slaver bore it
at first without attempting to return the compliment; but at length,
when Rogers hoped that he had hit her, her captain seemed to lose
patience, and she opened fire on the boat in return. The latter,
however, especially in the night, offered too small an object to be
easily hit. Still one shot came whistling over their heads, and another
struck the water close to them, showing them, as Paddy said, that they
were comfortably within range.
"I think that I have winged her," shouted Jack; "if so, even should the
breeze increase, and she escape from us, the frigate will get hold of
her."
Thus time sped on, the frigate and her boat showing at intervals their
blue-lights, while the slaver, caught between them, continued pretty
rapidly firing away at the latter. Still Hemming, at all events, did
not feel at all certain that the felucca would be caught. Though the
light on her deck could be seen, she was growing more and more
indistinct as she increased her distance from them. At last she ceased
firing. The breeze too was increasing.
"Do you still see her, Rogers?" asked Hemming.
"No, sir," answered Jack. "She's vanished altogether into thin air."
"Then there's no use firing at her, I suppose," said Paddy to himself.
Some little time longer had passed, when Jack shouted that he again saw
her light. Away the boat pulled towards it. The frigate, by sending up
a blue-light, showed that she saw it likewise.
"We'll have her this time, at all events," cried Adair, rubbing his
hands.
"Don't be too sure of that, Paddy," said Hemming; "still, towards the
light we must pull."
It was rather heavy work, for the people had been now some time at their
oars without a moment's rest. On they pulled, however, with renewed
vigour, fully believing that they were about to pounce down upon the
slaver. Nearer and nearer they drew to the light.
"The felucca must have hove-to," cried Adair. "It's strange, after
getting so well ahead she should have given in."
What Hemming thought he did not say. Some grave suspicions crossed
Jack's mind.
"There she is though. Starboard a little," he sang out, "or we shall
run into a tub with a light in it."
"Oh, the scoundrels!" broke from many lips. Jack was about to douse the
light, but Hemming told him to let it burn on. "It will serve as a
beacon to us, and the felucca's people will not know whether or not we
have been deceived by it," he observed.
It now became a question in which direction the slaver had gone. On
they pulled, therefore, once more towards the frigate. Hemming wished
to let Captain Lascelles know what had occurred, that he might thus
steer a course on which he was most likely to come up with the slaver.
With the increasing wind the boat would have little chance of overtaking
the felucca, but by staying where they were the lieutenant hoped that
they might possibly cut her off. The blue-lights and the flashes of the
guns had dazzled their eyes, and the night seemed darker than ever. In
vain Jack peered for some time into the darkness to make out the
frigate. A thick bank of mist, blown off the land, lay upon the water.
Suddenly, like a dark phantom stalking over the deep, the frigate's
hull, with her tall masts towering up into the sky, appeared, and he had
barely time to shout out, "Port the helm, pull round the port oars,"
before the boat was close under her bows, very narrowly escaping being
run down. In another minute they were on the quarter-deck, and Hemming
was reporting to Captain Lascelles all that had occurred. He suggested,
that while the frigate stood after the felucca in one direction, he
should be allowed to cruise in an opposite direction, to double the
chances of falling in with her. All he wanted was a further supply of
water, fuel, and provisions. To this the captain consented, and the
boat being furnished with what was required, Hemming and the two
midshipmen again shoved off from the frigate's side. Jack had of course
his faithful rifle with him, and he felt pretty certain that, should he
once get a sight of the enemy, he should be able to use it with good
effect. "I have not the slightest compunction about picking off those
slaving scoundrels," he observed, as he was busily employed in loading
his piece. "They seem to be completely lost to all sense of what is
right and just, such perfectly abandoned sinners, that there can be no
hope of their reforming, so I only feel as if I was destroying a wild
beast to prevent it doing further mischief."
"All very right," observed Hemming; "most people act from more than one
motive, and it's well that both should be good. It's enough for me that
it's my duty to kill the fellows if they don't give in."
It wanted still nearly an hour to daylight. The boat had lost sight of
the frigate for some time. She had made good way to the northward under
sail. At length, when the first faint streaks of sunlight were observed
breaking forth over the land, Hemming ordered the sail to be lowered.
By this they had a better chance of seeing the felucca without being
seen. The lieutenant stood up and slowly moved round, scanning every
part of the horizon. The land breeze had now completely died away, and
there was not a ripple on the water, though the slow moving glassy
undulations which came rolling in and constantly rocking the boat,
showed that they were not floating on an inland lake. Jack and Adair
began to fear that the felucca was not in sight, when Hemming slowly
sank down into his seat again, saying quietly, as he cast eyes on the
boat's compass, "There she is, though; out oars. Starboard the helm a
little, Rogers, west-north-west. That will do. Give way, my lads."
Away glided the boat, urged on by sturdy arms, in the direction
mentioned. After pulling some time the light increased, and the tops of
the felucca's sails appeared above the limited horizon of the rowers.
Once more Hemming stood up. The slaver lay perfectly becalmed. He
ordered all hands to breakfast. The cocoa was quickly heated, and the
meal was soon despatched with good appetite. Then he allowed those who
wished it to smoke for a few minutes, and once more, the oars being got
out, away went the boat in the direction of the slaver.
Before long they themselves must have been seen from her deck; but, to
his surprise, as Hemming looked at her through his glass, he saw that
her sweeps were not got out, nor was any attempt made to escape. There
she lay rocking slowly on the slow undulating water, as if no human
being was on board to rule her course. As they drew closer still, only
one person indeed was to be seen on her deck. He was walking up and
down it with a glass tucked under his arm, apparently scarcely noticing
their approach. Hemming naturally suspected treachery. He well knew
that the slavers were capable of the greatest atrocity. He was,
therefore, prepared for any emergency.
"Why, sir," exclaimed Jack, as they got almost alongside, "I do believe
that is my old acquaintance Don Diogo. He'll do us a mischief if he
can."
"Be ready, lads, to spring on board the moment the boat touches her
side," cried Hemming. Just before this three or four other men came up
from below rubbing their eyes as if lately awoke out of sleep. The
bowman the next instant hooked on, and the British sailors, led by their
officers, sprang on board. The slaver's people ran forward and aft to
get out of their way, except the man at first seen, whom Jack had no
doubt was no other than the old pirate, Don Diogo, as he called himself.
"Good morning, gentlemen," said he, quite coolly, making the politest of
bows to the lieutenant. "May I request to know what brings you on board
here at this early hour in the morning?"
"You are known to be a slaver, and we have come to capture you,"
answered Hemming, bluntly.
"Ho, ho, ho," cried the Don; "there may be two opinions about that. You
British officers don't go upon surmises. You want proofs, and you are
welcome to all you can discover."
The Don's coolness rather staggered Hemming and the two midshipmen.
Jack was certain that he had seen the slaves carried on board in
Elephant Bay, and he had no doubt as to the felucca being the same
vessel he had seen in Elephant Bay. To settle this point, they lifted
off the hatches.
"Don't disturb my poor men. Some of them are asleep below," said the
Don, in an ordinary tone of voice.
Hemming, however, paid very little attention to his remarks, but ordered
Jack and Adair to keep a sharp lookout on his movements on deck while he
descended below. Hemming looked round the dark hold of the supposed
slaver, but there was no sign of a slave-deck, nor, after a careful
search, could he find anything to warrant him in detaining her. In the
fore-peak a rather numerous crew for the size of the vessel were asleep,
or pretending to be asleep, for some lifted up their heads even to have
a look at the intruders. At length Hemming returned on deck.
"I told you so, gentlemen," said the Don, making another excessively
polite bow. "Suspicions, as I remarked, are not proofs. I might now
ask by what authority you ventured on board this craft and nearly
frightened some of my poor men out of their wits; but we are honest,
peaceably disposed people, and have no desire to quarrel with
strangers."
"Do you mean to say that you hadn't your vessel full of blacks last
night, whatever since you have done with them?" exclaimed Jack, stamping
on the deck with indignation, as he felt somewhat compromised in the
matter.
"Be calm, young gentleman," said the Don. "As I remarked, suspicions
are not proofs. I am not accustomed to answer questions as to my
movements, and therefore would advise you to be silent."
There was no more to be done on board the felucca. Although Don Diogo
was known to be a slave-dealer and guilty of numberless atrocities, he
could not be touched, nor could his craft be detained. As the English
returned to their boat he bowed and scraped, his mouth grinning, and his
countenance wearing at the same time an expression of the most intense
hatred. "We may meet again, gentlemen, before long, but perhaps you may
not find me in so placable a mood as at present."
Hemming made no answer, but the Don was seen bowing away and nourishing
his sombrero as long as they could see him. Not a little vexed at the
fruitless result of their expedition, Hemming and his companions pulled
to the northward in search of the frigate.
"I cannot make it out," observed Jack, after having been lost in thought
for some time.
"I can, though," said Hemming. "I have not the shadow of a doubt that,
somehow or other, the Don got notice that we were in the neighbourhood,
and that, as the slaves were taken in on one side of the vessel, he sent
them back again by the rafts over the other. Had we made a dash at the
felucca at once, we should have found some of them on board, and she
would have been condemned. We will be wiser in future."
It was not till late in the evening that they fell in with the frigate.
She kept cruising off the bay, and two other boats were sent in to watch
for the felucca; but the old Don was too wary a bird to be thus easily
caught, and nothing was seen of the felucca. Soon after this a steamer
hove in sight, and her commander, coming on board the _Ranger_, informed
Captain Lascelles of an unsuccessful attack having been made on Lagos;
at the same time delivering to him despatches from Mr Beecroft, the
British Consul for the Bight of Benin, residing at Fernando Po, asking
for further assistance. Sail was instantly, therefore, made for the
northward, and, the wind holding favourable, they were not long before
they got off the slave-coast in the neighbourhood of the place proposed
to be attacked. Great was the satisfaction expressed by all hands, both
in the gun-room and midshipmen's berth, and throughout the ship, at the
prospect of some real work being done. In the midshipmen's berth,
perhaps, the satisfaction was more vehemently expressed.
"There's nothing like getting a real enemy right before you, and having
an honest slap at him," exclaimed Jack Rogers. "It is all very right
hunting down those slave-dealers and chasing slavers, but the scoundrels
are such slippery fellows, it is difficult work to get hold of them."
"Or to keep them if you have got a grip of them," observed Adair. "But
I say, does anybody know who it is we are going to fight, and what we
are going to fight about?"
"Something about the slave-trade," said Hobson, one of the mates.
"The blacks hereabouts want a thrashing, so we are going to lick them,"
remarked Lister, another midshipman, who was never very exact in his
notions.
Just then Murray, who had had the forenoon watch on deck, came below.
He was, on the point I have mentioned, a great contrast to Lister. He
was forthwith applied to. "As soon as I have taken the sharp edge off
my appetite I will tell you all I know about the matter," he answered.
The edge of people's appetites on the coast is not very sharp, in the
dog-days especially, so Murray was soon in a condition to begin.
"Now just look here," he commenced, collecting some crumbs and bits of
biscuit, which he began to place about on the table. "To the north and
east of us is the slave-coast. Inland, due north, or thereabouts, is
Dahomey, the king of which is something like a king, for he can cut off
his subjects' heads at pleasure; he has got several regiments of
Amazons, who fight most furiously, besides other troops armed with
matchlocks. To the east is the Yoruba country, and to the south,
further round the bay, is the kingdom of Benin. The Yoruba country is
between the other two I have mentioned. Its chief river is the Ogun.
At the mouth is Lagos, a large town, held by an independent chief or
king of considerable wealth and power. About seventy miles up is
Abeokuta. Abeokuta is a very remarkable place. About twenty-five years
ago the remnants of the inhabitants of a number of villages which had
been broken up by the attacks made on them for the purpose of carrying
away these people as slaves, betook themselves to a large cavern on the
banks of the Ogun about seventy miles from the coast. In this place of
concealment they remained for some time undiscovered, living on roots,
and berries, and other natural productions of the ground, till they were
joined by other fugitives from the hated slave-dealers. At length,
their numbers increasing, they ventured forth from their cavern, and
began to cultivate the ground and to build themselves houses. They
chose as their chief a liberal-minded, talented man, called Shodeke; and
it is said that at present there are upwards of 80,000 people in their
community. They have built a large town, which they have called
Understone, or, in their own language, Abeokuta, in memory of the cave
under which they first took shelter. Now, if the blockading squadron
had never done more than what I am going to tell you about, they would
have performed a very great and blessed work. Among the thousands of
negroes they have captured and liberated were many hundreds who had been
taken from the Yoruba country, and who were settled at Sierra Leone.
Here many of them had grown rich, and a considerable proportion had been
converted to Christianity. Among them was a man named in their language
Adgai, but called in English Crowther. He had been embarked as a slave
on board of a slaver at Badagry in 1822. That slaver was captured by
one of our cruisers, and taken to Sierra Leone. At that place he was
well educated, was converted, and ordained as a minister of the Gospel.
Now, several of the Yoruba natives I have spoken of, who had become
possessed of property, purchased a vessel, and visited Lagos and Badagry
to trade. At those places they heard of Abeokuta and the stand it had
made against the slave-trade. On their return to Sierra Leone, from the
accounts they gave of the new settlement, a considerable number of their
countrymen resolved to go there. Among the first was Mr Crowther. He
is, I am assured, a man of high intellectual powers, and of eminent
piety. He persuaded other Christian Africans to accompany him. Nearly
the first people he met on arriving at the new city were his mother and
sisters, and they were his first converts. The greater part of the
inhabitants are now Christians, and Mr Crowther is engaged in
translating the Bible into the Yoruba language.
"The King of Dahomey looked with an evil eye on the growing power of
Abeokuta, and led his army to destroy it; but he and his forces were,
however, most signally defeated. On this he instigated the King of
Lagos to attack Abeokuta. That chief has got a hundred war canoes,
fully five thousand men all armed with muskets, and sixty guns.
"Happily the old King of Lagos lately died. He left his crown to a
fellow called Akitoye, the younger of two sons, the elder, Kosoko, being
a ragamuffin and banished. Akitoye, on coming to the throne, recalled
Kosoko; but, true to his character, the elder brother managed to bribe
the army, and to turn poor Akitoye out of the country. Akitoye took
shelter in Badagry, which place Kosoko was preparing to attack, being
promised a thousand men by the King of Dahomey. If he succeeds he will
undoubtedly attack Abeokuta. To prevent this, Mr Beecroft applied for
a naval force to bring Kosoko to reason.
"Accordingly, the _Bloodhound_ and a squadron of boats was sent off to
Lagos to reason with the usurper. He, however, did not understand what
they wanted, and, as they approached, opened a heavy fire on them from a
number of concealed batteries, both with great guns and small-arms.
Several poor fellows were killed and wounded, and at length the
expedition had to retire, there not being enough men to hold the town
had it been captured. The commodore has now resolved to send one of
ample strength to drive the slave-dealing sovereign, Kosoko, from his
throne and his stronghold altogether. This is the business we are
called on to perform. If we succeed, and there is no doubt about that I
should hope, we shall preserve Abeokuta, and enable the Christian
missionaries to labour on without interruption; we shall punish the
usurper, and restore the right man to his government; we shall rout out
a nest of slave-dealers, and put a stop to slave-dealing in Lagos; and
we shall teach the King of Dahomey to be cautious, lest the same
punishment we inflict on his friend there may overtake him. All these
things are well worth fighting for, you'll acknowledge."
All hands agreed that it would be difficult to have a better object than
that Murray had described for the proposed attack.
"Yes, indeed, it is a truly satisfactory feeling, to be sure, that the
cause you fight for is a righteous one," repeated Murray. "Still I do
not hold for one moment that it is not our duty to fight, as long as we
remain in the service, whenever we are ordered by our superiors. The
difference is this, in one case we fight heartily, in the other we do
only just what we are ordered; at all events we don't do it in the same
hearty way we would like."
"We'll fight heartily now, at all events," exclaimed Adair, with even
more than his usual enthusiasm. "If there is one cause more than
another in which I would rather expend my life, it would be that of
getting rid of this abominable slave-trade. No scoundrels are greater,
in my opinion, than the fellows who engage in it. No country can
prosper or be happy which allows it."
The conversation was cut short by the announcement that several sail of
men-of-war were in sight. The ships began working away with their
bunting, and, when they had collected, the commanders assembled on board
the Commodore to arrange the plan of attack.
The next day, by the evening, everything was ready. The squadron,
composed of steamers as well as sailing ships, brought up off the mouth
of the Ogun river. It has a bar across it. Inside it, on an island
about two miles in circumference, near the right bank, stands the
slave-dealing city of Lagos, whose houses could just be distinguished
peeping out among the cocoa-nut trees. It was known that the place was
strongly defended with stockades, some sixty guns, and from 1,500 to
2,000 men with firearms, and gunners trained by the Spaniards and other
slave-dealers to serve the artillery. All hands watched eagerly for the
signal to commence operations. The three midshipmen were delighted to
find that they were to be in the first squadron of boats. Preceded by a
steamer, they dashed across the bar, and then anchored inside, out of
reach of shot from the town, to commence operations the next morning.
Soon after sunrise men were seen assembling on the banks of the river,
and, on pulling over to them, they found that Mr Beecroft, with the
ex-king, Akitoye, had arrived, bringing with him 500 men from Abeokuta
and Badagry. That they might be known, they had white neckcloths
distributed among them, with which the black volunteers were highly
delighted. A number of canoes were then discovered at a slave station
on the left bank, and these having been brought off, the black auxiliary
force, now considerably augmented, was passed over to the right bank.
The steamer next dropped up the river with the tide to reconnoitre the
fortifications, and it was found that, at all points where boats could
land, stakes in double rows were driven in, while an embankment had been
thrown up with a ditch in front of it, and that twenty-five guns were
trained to guard all the narrower parts of the channel. On the north
side of the island were the houses of Kosoko and the slave-dealers, and
it was here accordingly, as it was right that they should be chiefly
punished, that the commander of the expedition resolved to commence the
attack. The following day being Christmas-day, he determined, in order
that that holy day should be spent as quietly as possible, and be a day
of rest, to wait till the 26th. This it was, except that the
slave-dealers wasted a large amount of ammunition by firing at the
squadron, which was far beyond their range. With infinite satisfaction,
soon after daybreak on the 26th, the order was received to proceed to
the attack. The scene may be easily pictured. Before them lay the
island surrounded by stockades, with palm-trees, and the huts and houses
of Lagos rising beyond them; the broad river in front full of shallows,
narrow channels only between them.
Towards the island the steamers and the squadron of boats now advanced.
At first all was calm and smiling. Jack and Paddy were in the same
boat.
"I wonder whether the scoundrels will give in without fighting,"
observed the latter; "I shouldn't be surprised."
"Not a bit of it," answered Jack. "They want first to be taught a
lesson or two which they cannot forget."
"But what can these miserable black fellows do against us? I should
think that we should blow them and their town up into the sky in a dozen
minutes or less," exclaimed Paddy, with a laugh.
Scarcely had he spoken when, from the whole line of stockades, showers
of round shot and bullets came rattling about the steamers and boats.
On dashed the whole squadron, the steamers keeping up a hot fire from
their great guns in return, though so well sheltered were the blacks
that not one of them could be seen. This sort of work continued for
some time, several officers and men being hit, when one of the steamers
grounded. She then became, of course, a target for the enemy, and
several people were wounded on board her. The boats meantime had opened
their fire to protect her, but so well were the batteries of the negroes
concealed that it was difficult to find out a point at which to aim. A
division of the boats was now sent round to the north-east point of the
island to ascertain the position and strength of the guns on that side.
These boats, after a hot fight, during which they upset some of the
enemy's guns, returned, and then made a gallant attempt to force the
stockades in order to land and spike the guns bearing heaviest on the
steamer. Away they dashed; they could see the barrels of the negroes'
muskets gleaming through the stockades, and a terrific fire was opened
on them. Still on they went, right up to the stockades. Axe in hand
the works were attacked, but in vain they hacked and hewed at the tough
posts. No sooner was one party of blacks driven from the defences than
others took their places. Many of the seamen were hit; some poor
fellows sank never to rise again. The British seamen cheered and loaded
and fired as rapidly as they could; the blacks shrieked and shouted, and
kept banging away in return. Jack heard a cry close to him. It came
from the boat next to his. He saw an officer fall. His heart sank; he
thought it was Murray. He sprang into the boat to lift him up--but no--
it was another gallant young midshipman, whom he had seen an instant
before bravely cheering on his men. Assistance was useless, he had
ceased to breathe. He placed him in the stern-sheets of his boat and
regained his own. Once more a desperate assault was made on the
stockades, but without effect, and, with numbers wounded, the boats were
compelled to haul off.
What to do with the steamer on shore was now the question. It was
resolved, to avoid the necessity of blowing her up, to land with a
strong force to destroy the guns annoying her. Till the tide rose there
seemed no prospect of getting her off. Some little time was expended in
arranging the expedition. Again the signal was given, and in line they
pulled gallantly up towards the stockade. As they approached a fire
from fully 1,500 muskets opened on them, to which they replied with
spherical, grape, and canister shot. Hotter and hotter grew the fire of
the blacks, but on the boats steadily advanced till their stems touched
the beach, when the men, springing on shore, formed in an instant, and,
led by their officers, rushed up to the stockades. Axes were plied
vigorously--some seized the timbers and hauled them down, and a breach
being made, in they rushed and drove the enemy before them. The fort
was gained, the blacks fled out of it into the thick bush in the rear,
and all the guns were spiked. While this work was being accomplished, a
party of the blacks had come down and, attacking one of the boats, had
carried her off along the beach, hoping probably to make their escape in
her. A party pursued them on discovering this for a considerable
distance, when the blacks who had fled into the woods, seeing what was
taking place, rushed from their concealment in the woods by swarms, and
poured a crushing fire into the boats at pistol range. One poor fellow,
who had been left on board the boat, when he saw the enemy coming, made
a desperate attempt to spike her guns, and was cut down while so
engaged. After all the boat could not be recovered. The Krooman on
board Mr Beecroft's boat by mistake let go her anchor directly in front
of the enemy's lines, and had not an officer, in the most gallant way,
cut her chain cable with a chisel, under a fearfully hot fire, during
which he was several times hit, she also would have been destroyed.
Everybody during the action behaved admirably, and no one deserved more
praise than did the surgeons sent on the expedition, who, throughout the
day, attended on the wounded, exposed to the hottest fire. Disastrous
in one respect had indeed been the result of the expedition, for upwards
of sixty men and officers had been wounded, and thirteen men and three
midshipmen killed. When it was found that the boat could not be
recovered, a mate of one of the ships and the gunner, in the most
gallant way, pulled back to the cutter, and by throwing a rocket into
her, so well-directed that it entered her magazine, blew her up,
destroying at the same time not a few of her captors. Towards the
evening the steamer was got off, and the order was then given for the
boats to return out of gun-shot for the night. British seamen are not
apt to indulge in low spirits or to give way to melancholy, but those
engaged in the expedition might well have been excused had they done so.
Had they been successful the case would have been different, but as yet
nothing had been accomplished; still probably there was not a man who
did not feel that before the end of another day something would be done,
nor did any one dream of abandoning the enterprise. Jack and Adair
looked out anxiously for Murray.
"Can he have been hit?" said Terence. "It surely was not his boat that
was taken."
"I trust not indeed," answered Jack, anxiously. "I'll hail the boats as
they come up, to learn if anybody knows where he is."
Boat after boat was hailed, but no information could be obtained of
Murray. They became seriously anxious about him. Jack had several men
wounded in his boat, and one poor fellow lay stark and cold in the bow.
The other boats had also several wounded on board them, while the
steamer had a still greater proportion. The groans and cries of the
poor fellows, as they lay racked with pain in the confined space which
could alone be afforded on board the small vessels and boats, sounded
sadly in the calm midnight air. The surgeons all the time were stepping
from boat to boat, or visiting the vessels in succession, and doing
their utmost to alleviate the sufferings of the wounded. Happy were
those who could sleep, but many, among whom were Jack and Terence, could
not close an eye. How anxiously, as they leant back and looked up to
the dark sky studded with its myriads of stars reflected in the calm
glassy waters, did they wish for the morrow, though that morrow might
bring death and wounds to themselves or their companions. Happy,
indeed, is it for all of us that we do not know what the morrow may
bring forth.