Running away from a poor home and the tyranny of a cruel step-father, he
had, in the first instance, providentially succeeded in getting `a free
passage,' as the Captain expressed it, to Portsmouth, the goal of his
fondest ambition.
Then, after thus successfully overcoming the obstacles that lay in the
way of his going to sea, so far as this initial stage to that ultimate
end was concerned, the lucky fellow, in addition to gaining the
Captain's favour and making the acquaintance of Bob and Nellie, put the
finishing-touch to his good fortune by winning over Mrs Gilmour to his
side--a lady who, as a friend, was worth perhaps all the rest, she being
true as steel and thoughtful and considerate in every way.
For the Captain's sake alone, she would willingly have given the poor
homeless lad house-room; but, beyond that, she had taken a strong fancy
to Dick from noticing his willing manner and anxiety to oblige those who
had been kind to him at the station, an impression that was more than
confirmed subsequently when she witnessed his gallant conduct in
plunging into the water to try and save the impulsive Bob.
So, Dick was in clover!
Like Master Bob, he had his wet clothes stripped off as soon as he got
within doors, and wrapped in warm blankets was put into an equally cosy
little bed; a hot treacle posset being afterwards given to each boy when
comfortably tucked in by Mrs Gilmour herself, which drink even Bob,
accustomed as he was to good things, said was `not so bad, you know,'
while to poor Lazarus-like Dick it tasted as nectar!
Nor was this the end of our runaway's good fortune.
In the morning, after a sound sleep which effectually banished all the
ill effects of their impromptu ducking from both Bob and himself, Dick
awoke, or rather was awakened by his hostess in person, to be told that
the Captain was waiting and wanted to see him particularly.
"I think too, my boy, it really is time for you to get up," added the
lady kindly. "Do you know it's past ten o'clock?"
"Law, mum!" exclaimed Dick, ashamed of his laziness, having been
accustomed at Guildford to turn out at sunrise, that is if he went to
bed at all; for his unkind step-father often locked him out of a night
when in an especially angry mood. "Law, mum, whatever be I a-doing of
a-lying here in broad daylight! I humbly asks yer parding, mum."
"Oh, never mind that, you're not so very late, my poor boy, considering
all you went through yesterday and last night," said Mrs Gilmour
smiling. "But, come now, you mustn't keep the Captain waiting, or we'll
have him trotting upstairs after you himself. Dress as quickly as you
can; I have had your things dried at the kitchen fire, and here they are
in this chair near the door."
So saying, Mrs Gilmour left the room, and Dick hopped out of bed
immediately afterwards, proceeding to put on his clothes; thinking, poor
fellow, as he did so, how shabby and ragged they were, and that they and
he were altogether sadly out of place in an apartment which, to his
rustic eyes, used only to the surroundings of his village home, appeared
a palace.
As soon as he was dressed and opened the door of the room, he found,
waiting on the landing, a maidservant, who, first taking him downstairs
to the kitchen, where she gave him a good breakfast, afterwards showed
him the way to the parlour.
Here Mrs Gilmour and the Captain, with Bob and Nellie, were all
assembled, apparently ready to go out, the ladies having their walking
things on.
"A pretty time of day for a youngster like you to be getting up," cried
the old sailor jocularly as he entered. "I wonder the bright sun hasn't
scorched your eyes out long before this, sir!"
Dick was commencing an abject apology, but Mrs Gilmour stopped him.
"Oh, never mind the Captain," she said laughing at the poor lad's look
of contrition. "He's only `taking a rise' out of you, as he would call
it."
"Humph! is he?" growled the Captain, blinking away and pretending to be
very serious. "But, come now, we must be off. I want you to go along
with me into Portsmouth; so, get your cap and we'll start at once."
"Mayn't we come too?" shouted Bob and Nellie in one breath together.
"Do say yes, Captain Dresser!"
"Well, I don't know about you, Miss Nellie, for I may have to go into
places where little girls may be in the way; besides which, I don't
think you would like to leave your aunt all alone, eh?"
"Of course not, dear Captain, I forgot that," said Nellie, accepting
this quiet suggestion of the old sailor as a final settlement of the
question, without betraying a particle of ill-temper or dissatisfaction.
"I will stop with auntie."
"Ah, you shan't lose anything by doing it, me darlint," smilingly said
Mrs Gilmour, giving her an approving little pat on the cheek by way of
caress. "You and I, Nell, may have a little expedition of our own,
perhaps."
"But I may go with you and Dick," interposed Bob, by no means content to
be left behind. "Mayn't I, Captain?"
"Oh yes, you may go or come, just as you please to call it," replied the
Captain, making a move towards the door, with an energetic thump of his
malacca cane on the floor. "Look sharp, though, or it will be midday
before we're out of the house!"
This contingency, however, did not happen, for within a minute or so he
and the two boys were out on the parade; the party being further
increased by the presence of Rover, who had been lurking in the passage
and followed them out unobserved. Not a bark or a gambol betrayed that
he was after them, until the Captain on turning round suddenly saw him
in their rear, close up to Bob's heels.
"Hullo!" he exclaimed; "I can't have that dog with us. Rover is a very
fine fellow and a brave animal too; but, he's somewhat skittish as
yesterday's proceedings at the railway-station showed me. I don't want
to get into any more scrapes with him, such as knocking down harmless
old women--she was a tartar, though, by Jove! Besides, I may have to go
into the dockyard, and they do not allow dogs in there."
"Don't they?" asked Bob, catching hold of Rover's collar and preparing
to take him back to the house. "Not even if they're well-behaved?"
"No, my boy, they draw the line at puppies! I mean those jackanapes of
midshipmen and sub-lieutenants, as they call mates now, with their
dandified airs. In my time, the reefers weren't half so conceited and
didn't try to turn themselves into land swabs as they do now-a-days,"
said the Captain grimly, he being, like most sailors of the old school,
a thorough believer in the times gone by. "But, go back now, and take
that rascal of a dog in. Dick and I will wait for you at the corner."
Rover did not like this arrangement at all, but he had to submit to the
force of circumstances; so, Bob disposing of him within doors and
closing the outside gate as well for additional precaution, all
presently made a fresh start for their destination.
While crossing Southsea Common, the boys were delighted with the sight
of the soldiers of the garrison mustered for brigade drill, the troops
marching and wheeling and countermarching to the music of the bands,
which played such inspiriting airs that even the old Captain could not
help keeping step, his trusty malacca coming down with a thump on the
springy turf, in time with the rub-a-dub-dub of the drums.
Bob had seen a regiment or two before in London, at parades in front of
the Horse Guards, or when reviewed on a small scale in Hyde Park; but,
never previously, had he witnessed so many battalions marshalled
together in all the pomp of war as now--the men formed up in double
columns of companies, with the sunlight glinting on the bayonets of
their sloped rifles and their legs looking like those of gigantic
centipedes as they stepped forward in changing ground to the left, first
the red stripe showing on one trouser-leg and then only the dark cloth
of the other.
"How funny they look!" exclaimed Bob, lost in admiration as he took note
of these little details, not a thing escaping him, the hoarse commands
of the officers, the galloping to and fro of mounted _aides-de-camp_ and
`orderlies,' the tooting bugle-calls, each in turn attracting his
attention. "All move as if they were one man!"
"Aye, they march well, my boy," replied the Captain, taking advantage of
the opportunity to point a moral lesson. "But, recollect it's all owing
to discipline and obedience to orders!"
Beyond the troops, the blue sea could be seen reflecting the hue of the
cloudless sky overhead, its surface dotted here and there with the white
sail of some yacht or other, passing between Cowes and Spithead, or
beating out into the Channel in the distance; while, in the more
immediate foreground, anchored abreast of one of the harbour forts, was
a modern ironclad man-of-war.
"What is that?" inquired Bob, pointing in the direction where the vessel
lay, looking like some marine monster asleep on the water.
"Humph! you may well ask the question," growled the Captain, jobbing his
stick down with an extra thump. "That is what they call a `ship' now-a-
days! She's an `armour-clad' of the latest type, with all the
improvements, though very different to the craft I and your Uncle Ted
were accustomed to see in the good old times when ships were ships!"
"Why, Captain Dresser," said Bob sympathetically, "she's just like the
roof of a house!"
"You're not far out, my boy. They all resemble floating barns more than
anything else," grumbled the old sailor, bewailing the gallant frigates
and three-deckers of the past. "But, come on now, let us get to the
dockyard, and I will show you one or two vessels of the right sort that
we still have got left, thank God, to remind us of what England's navy
once was!"
With these words, he dragged the boys, much against their will, away
from the busy scene on the common and past the last remaining bastion of
the old fortifications that once encircled Portsmouth; and, finally
getting into the town he dived through all sorts of queer little streets
and alleys, and then along the new road running by the side of the
Gunwharf until they reached the Hard.
Here, stopping outside an outfitter's shop not far from the dockyard,
the Captain seized hold of Dick and pulled him forwards towards the
door.
"Do you know what I'm going to do with you, eh, you young rascal?" he
asked him, with a chuckle which took all the sternness out of his
threatening tones. "Can you guess?"
"No, sir," replied the lad; but, evidently did not anticipate anything
very dreadful, for he grinned all over his face. "I carn't!"
"I'm going to give you a new rig-out," went on the other. "Do you know
what that is, eh?"
"No, sir," again answered Dick, thinking though that the Captain perhaps
meant something to eat. "I dunno."
"Well, come in here and you shall see."
So saying, the old sailor led the way into the shop, where on his giving
a few short, sharp, and curt directions to an attendant, Dick was taken
in hand and twisted this way and that and measured; the whilom ragged
runaway being in the end apparelled in a bran-new suit of navy serge
that made him look like a smart young reefer, very different indeed to
the ragged runaway who had forced his way into the railway-carriage
frightening Bob and Nellie during their journey Portsmouth-wards from
Guildford twenty-four hours before.
"There, what do you think of yourself now?" asked the Captain, wheeling
him round in front of a cheval glass so that he could see his reflection
in the mirror. "Eh, you rascal?"
Dick did not say anything; but, the look, of mingled wonder, self-
satisfaction and gratitude, that overspread his speaking face more than
rewarded the good-hearted sailor for his thoughtful generosity.
"He only wants his 'air cut and a pair o' decent boots, sir, and then
he'll be a reg'ler tiptopper," suggested the shopman. "I wouldn't know
him now for the same chap ag'in, sir!"
"Thank you, my friend, for the hint," said the Captain politely. "You
can fit him with some boots, and we'll see about the `'air' when we get
outside!"
Bob, of course, went into convulsions of laughter when the Captain thus
mimicked the man's disregard of his aspirates.
The shopman's failing in this respect was all the more amusing from the
fact that the poor fellow was quite unaware of his `little weakness';
and, one boy's merriment affecting the other, while the Captain joined
in from sympathy, they all went out of the shop in the highest of
spirits, the old sailor before leaving directing the attendant to send
home another suit of clothes with a complete sailor's kit, so that Dick
might have what he called "a regular rig-out."
Subsequently, Dick had his hair cut, after which the Captain took him
into the dockyard, with the intention of his being entered for service
in the Navy, the boy having expressed so strong a desire to go to sea.
However, as he was not broad enough in his chest measurements, although
sufficiently tall for his age, his joining a training ship had to be
postponed until our runaway had, as the old warrant officer at the depot
said, "Stowed a lot more beef and bread in his skid."
But, even beyond this material point, Captain Dresser was reminded by
this courteous veteran of something he had entirely forgotten; namely,
that Dick would have to produce a certificate of birth to show his
proper age, and also a paper containing the written consent to his going
to sea of his parents, or guardians in the case of his being an orphan--
which he was nearly if not quite--before Dick would be permitted to join
"Her Majesty's Service."
These documents, it may be mentioned here, slightly anticipating
matters, Captain Dresser subsequently obtained through the clergyman of
Dick's parish at Guildford, to whom he wrote, and who gave the young
runaway the best of characters.
This gentleman stated that the lad was not only honest and truthful, but
the steadiest scholar he had in his Sunday school; and he added that the
good news which he had been able to tell Dick's mother after hearing
from the Captain, of his having fallen into such friendly hands, had
made up in some way for her sorrow at being forced to part with her dear
son.
"Well, what shall we do with you now?" said the Captain to Dick on their
leaving the dockyard, where, in addition to going on board the training
ship attached to the port, the boys had seen most that was to be seen--
going over the smithery; the building-sheds, in which ponderous
leviathans of iron, that would anon plough the deep, were being welded
together; the mast and rigging houses; the sail-loft; they had gone over
everything in fact! "You see they won't have you yet in the Navy, my
lad; so, what is to be done with you, eh?"
"Dunno, sir," answered Dick, scratching his newly-shorn head
reflectively and staring in the face of the old sailor, who had stopped
abruptly just outside the dockyard-gates to ask him the question. "I'll
leave it to yer for to settle anythink yer likes."
"Humph! I tell you what, we'll wait a bit and then try again for the
training ship three months hence, or so; when, perhaps, you'll have
better luck," decided the Captain, who it need hardly be told had
already made up his mind on the subject. "But, in the meantime, my lad,
you shall stop with me and see if you can make yourself of use."
"Oh, sir," said Dick with tears in his eyes and his voice broken with
emotion. "I can never thank yer, sir, for all as ye've done for me!
I'll work day and night, sir, and do anythink as yer tells me!"
"We'll see, my lad," replied the Captain, walking on again, the watermen
along the Hard touching their hats to him. "I shall probably take you
on board my yacht by and by, when the racing season begins. You will,
thus, learn something of your future profession; and be able to pull a
rope and box the compass before the time comes for you to join the
training ship."
"O-o-oh!" exclaimed Bob, the vista of delight thus presented being
almost too great for words; for the sight of the sea, now that he had
seen it and been actually on board a ship, had made him long for a sail,
his involuntary dip of the previous night not having any deterrent
influence. "Won't that be jolly, Dick?"
Dick grinned a sympathetic grin, his own peculiar way of showing how
pleased he was.
"I only hopes as how I'll suit the Capting," said he earnestly. "I'll
try to--that I will!"
"Suit me, eh?" cried that worthy with a chuckle, and his little black
eyes twinkling away. "That will be `changey for changey, black dog for
white monkey,' as the niggers say. You will have to suit me in return
for my having _suit-ed_ you, my lad, eh? Ho--ho--ho!"