A LETTER OF MARQUE.
It has already been said that the account of the battle of Toulon had
been sent to the _Times_ by Lieutenant Thomas Bowling, R.N., a half-pay
officer who had been a guest in the _Benbow_. In thus corresponding
with a newspaper this officer had, of course, broken the regulations;
and it must be admitted that the peculiar circumstances of the case did
not tend to diminish his fault in the eyes of his superiors. All that
he had to say should have been said to their Lordships, and not to the
public; and when the natural excitement consequent upon participation
in the stirring events concerning which he telegraphed had subsided,
Mr. Bowling was as willing as anyone to admit this. Unfortunately, he
had acted upon the impulse of the moment, and under the conviction that
a whole country was waiting in awful suspense to hear what he happened
to be able to relate; and this rashness cost him dearly. On Wednesday
the moribund Admiralty summarily removed Mr. Bowling’s name from the
Navy List, and ordered that the delinquent should be informed that his
services were no longer required by Her Majesty.
The next step taken by their Lordships was more important, and possibly
more necessary. They convened by telegraph a meeting of certain naval
officers of high rank and great experience at the Admiralty. They
also obtained the presence of the sorely-worried Prime Minister, and
of several of his colleagues; and by three o’clock in the afternoon
of Friday, the Admiralty, as such, had ceased to exist. Its place had
been taken by, and its powers transferred to, a Supreme Board of War,
and the nominations to the Board had all been duly confirmed by Her
Majesty. This Board was constituted under the presidency of one of the
Royal princes, a personage of great tact and experience in the conduct
of affairs, and devoid, of course, of political bias; and it consisted
of two branches, the Naval and the Military. Of the Military it is
unnecessary here to say more than that it was not, as the Naval branch
was, a new formation. The Naval branch was placed under the control of
a Chief Director of Fleets; and for that high and responsible office
Sir Humphrey Thornbeigh, an Admiral of the widest knowledge, remarkable
decision of character, and unrivalled administrative ability, was
chosen by acclamation. Immediately under him were the chiefs of the
various departments--_viz_., the Staff and Intelligence Department,
the Construction Department, the Engineering Department, the Ordnance
Department, the Victualling Department, the Hydrographic Department,
the Stores Department, the Sanitary Department, and the Secretarial
Department. Many of the old permanent officials were retained, but
many also were discharged; and for these, retired officers and a few
civilians, who were chosen because they possessed special technical
knowledge, were substituted. The chiefs of departments were, in all
cases, officers of flag or post rank; several being men who, although
they were on the retired list, were still full of work and energy;
and, in spite of the fact that the new arrangements could obviously be
not expected to work with perfect smoothness at first, the knowledge
that such officers as Sir Humphrey Thornbeigh, Sir George Lyon, Sir
William Howl, Sir Mewstone Hewart, and their like, had undertaken
the management of affairs, exerted, from the very first, a salutary
influence on the rather depressed spirits of the Royal Navy.
[Illustration: “THE ‘BELLONA’ ASHORE.”]
The Channel Fleet had sailed from Vigo before the advent of the new
Board to office: but several fast cruisers were despatched to intercept
it, and new orders were sent to the coastguard vessels and the various
dockyards; with the result, that by Saturday, May 2nd, without the
occurrence in the interim of any further mishap, the following ships,
with steam up and everything ready for sea, were assembled within
proper defences at Spithead. Battleships: _Hercules_, _Neptune_,
_Audacious_, _Iron Duke_, _Hotspur_, _Belleisle_, _Royal Sovereign_,
_Anson_, _Agamemnon_, _Howe_, _Rodney_, _Triumph_, _Superb_,
_Conqueror_, _Achilles_, and _Black Prince_. At Plymouth were the
coast defence ironclads _Hecate_, _Hydra_, _Gorgon_, _Cyclops_, and
_Prince Albert_, and the armoured cruisers _Northampton_, _Shannon_,
_Aurora_, _Immortalité_, and _Narcissus_. And in the Channel were
the lighter cruisers _Forth_, _Thames_, _Mersey_, _Indefatigable_,
_Latona_, _Melampus_, _Inconstant_, _Intrepid_, _Naiad_, _Arethusa_,
_Medea_, _Medusa_, _Barham_, _Bellona_, _Barossa_, _Seagull_,
_Rattlesnake_, _Spanker_, _Sharpshooter_, _Barracouta_, _Grasshopper_,
_Salamander_, _Skipjack_, _Curlew_, _Speedwell_, and _Sheldrake_.
These ships were largely manned by Naval Reserve men, who had by this
time become available in considerable numbers, and by members of the
recently-disbanded Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers, a corps which at
last began to be appreciated. The reinforced French Channel Fleet,
consisting of the ironclads _Tonnerre_, _Requin_, _Victorieuse_,
_Furieux_, _Suffren_, _Vengeur_, _Fulminant_, _La Galissonnière_, and
_Tempête_, with the cruisers and gun-vessels _Surcouf_ _Aréthuse_,
_Coëtlogon_, _Duguay-Trouin_, _Epervier_, _Lance_, and _Salve_, besides
torpedo vessels, had gone out with the intention of meeting our Fleet
on its way from Vigo, but had been evaded, and was still at sea. For
the moment the country was almost reassured, although reports that
were in themselves sufficiently bad reached England almost every hour,
of merchant vessels captured or burnt, both in the Channel and in the
Mediterranean as well as elsewhere.
[Illustration: “THE FLEET AT SPITHEAD.”]
In the meantime, Mr. Thomas Bowling, after having travelled with all
haste by way of Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and Holland, had reached
England on Friday, May 1st, and had found, to his intense chagrin, that
his occupation had deserted him. An officer who loved his profession
as he did could have received no heavier blow. No one doubted his
bravery, his capacity, or his single-heartedness. He owed the loss of
his commission to no fault that reflected on his honour, but solely to
the very impulsiveness which, in other circumstances, might have shown
him the way to professional distinction. His position was not enviable,
so far as his professional prospects were concerned.
Thomas Bowling, or, as he was invariably called in the service, Tom
Bowling, was a lieutenant of a little more than eight years’ seniority,
and had worn his extra half stripe for scarcely three months when all
was taken from him. Rich and well connected, a favourite in society,
and a man of great ability, he was, according to the opinion of nearly
all his unprofessional friends, wasted in the service. They would have
preferred to see him in Parliament, or in the army, or even living the
life of an English country gentleman. But Tom Bowling did not adopt
that view. He was not fond of unnecessary talk, therefore he had no
Parliamentary aspirations. He did not think that the army opened a
more suitable career than the Royal Navy to an Englishman. And as for
country life, he liked it only as a temporary relaxation. It must be
admitted that he was not particularly well fitted for military life as
we know it in England. His small wiry figure would have looked wholly
insignificant in the uniform of any regiment; and he had for what may
be called the superior niceties of dress an unaffected contempt, which
would scarcely have harmonised with the pipe-clay conventionalities
of the parade ground, or the fashions of a woman’s boudoir. The sea
was the only place where he felt completely at home. He could shoot or
hunt on every day of a fortnight’s leave, but at the end of that time
he had always had enough of it, and invariably longed to be on board
ship again. He was completely wrapt up in his profession; and although
he had an income of nearly twenty thousand a year, he would, when he
returned to England on the 1st of May, have gladly surrendered the
whole of it rather than lose his commission.
He heard the news as soon as he arrived in town, and for a moment it
overwhelmed him. But he was not a man to be for long cast down. He
had been foolish, but he had done nothing to be ashamed of. His naval
friends still had confidence in him: he was rich, young, and strong,
and he had an equable buoyancy of spirits that no misfortune could
permanently depress.
“They have kicked me out of the service,” he said to an officer whom
he met in that cheerless waiting-room in which the Admiralty has for
generations permitted its professional visitors to cool their heels,
“and I suppose that they are right. But if I live I am going to find my
way in again, so I’m not going to sell my uniform yet, though I hope
that when I put it on once more, I shall find another half stripe at
least on it.”
“I’m devilish sorry, Bowling,” said his friend, “and I wish you all the
luck in the world, but you’ll find it an uphill game, I’m afraid.
After all, you know, they’ve let you down pretty easily. They might
have court-martialled you.”
“And shot me, perhaps,” continued Bowling, laughing; “for Heaven only
knows what they can do in war time. One of the things that I must
certainly do is to take a course of Queen’s Regulations before I get
back into the service.”
“And what else are you thinking of doing in the meantime?” asked his
friend.
“Well, I’ve come here to take Uncle Humphrey’s advice, if I can get it,
and whether I can get it depends upon whether, in his new billet, he
has leisure to see me. I was at sea with him years ago. You see, France
has decided not to observe the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris, and
both she and we are issuing letters of marque. My own idea is to get
a ship and make a privateer of myself. Do you know of anyone who will
stand in with me?”
The officer smiled. “I shouldn’t mind something of the sort myself,” he
said, “but I’m going to commission the _Gossamer_ to-morrow morning. I
wish you were going with me, old chap; and I’ll take you on board as a
passenger if you like to come; but as for helping you in the privateer
business, why, I haven’t any money to put into it. I wish I had.”
“I can get the money, I suppose,” said Bowling, awkwardly. “The most
serious difficulty is to get men. It is a pity that I can’t serve under
you as my skipper. That’s what I should like.”
“Thanks for the compliment,” returned Lieutenant St. John warmly; “but
I am booked. If you take my advice, you will command your own craft.
You won’t find a better qualified man. They are digging up all the
retired commanders and lieutenants for the new men-of-war, the coast
defence business, or the merchant cruisers. There is a terrible dearth
of officers, as well as of seamen-gunners and stokers; and I really am
almost astonished that they plucked up courage to get rid of you. You
may take it as settled that you won’t be able to get any retired naval
officer, who is fit for duty, to join you.”
“That’s encouraging. Then I must get the best men I can. Do you know
any yachtsmen who are worth their grub and who know something of
navigation?”
“I know Day. He would, I am sure, go with you if I were to advise
him to do so. I will give you a line to him. He is a barrister, who,
instead of practising, likes to wander about the world in a twenty ton
yawl, or to hunt for treasures on desert islands, or to do anything
of that kind. You may trust him as a sailorman as you would trust
yourself, and I happen to know that he is in town. I daresay, too, that
he can introduce you to some more men of the same sort. How are you
going to get a ship?”
“I haven’t the ghost of an idea yet. I only got home this morning, and
I haven’t had time to look about.”
“And what sort of a sum are you prepared to pay for her? Don’t think me
inquisitive. I may be able to help you.”
“As much as I can raise,” answered Bowling. “I’m ready to put all I am
worth into the business, and I fancy that I know others who will take a
share. Do you really know of a vessel?”
“Yes, I do, but the figure is high. Of course, since war broke out,
no man-of-war that happened to be lying in the contractors’ yards has
been allowed to leave. Now, there’s a very fine armoured cruiser in the
Tyne. She has been built for one of the South American Governments, and
she is practically ready for sea. Indeed she was to have been handed
over yesterday. I happen to know that the builders are going to offer
her to the Admiralty for £300,000. That’s a big sum, but the craft is
a very smart and likely one, and she can do her 17 knots without using
forced draught. Why not try to get her? The Admiralty--I mean the Board
of War--is scarcely likely to buy her; for we can hardly man the ships
we have.”
Bowling knitted his brows and gazed reflectively at the bare floor.
“Humph!” he exclaimed after a pause, “it is a big sum; but I’ll think
about it. Who are the builders?”
“The Elswick Company; and the ship’s name is the _Valdivia_.”
“Then give me that line to your friend Day. I’m staying at the Grand
Hotel.”
St. John scribbled a hasty note and gave it to Bowling. “Good-bye,”
he said, “and good luck to you, and don’t forget to drink the saucy
_Gossamer’s_ health.” And, having been at length summoned to the
presence of one of the chiefs, he hurried away upstairs.
Bowling himself saw Sir Humphrey Thornbeigh, or Uncle Humphrey as
he was affectionately called in the service; but when, after giving
him as many details as possible of the Toulon affair, he sounded him
upon the subject of restoration to the Navy, the Admiral assumed a
rather horny-eyed expression, and gave him no encouragement. “You have
contravened the Queen’s Regulations; you must take the consequences
as they have been dealt to you by the late Board.” That was Uncle
Humphrey’s verdict, and the brief interview was ended.
But Bowling, who knew the Admiral well, was not very astonished when,
later in the day, a messenger brought him a note which ran: “My dear
Bowling, make it convenient to take an unofficial breakfast with
me to-morrow morning at the Admiralty at eight o’clock, and in the
meantime believe me yours faithfully, Humphrey Thornbeigh.”
It was barely noon when Bowling left the Admiralty--noon on Friday,
the 1st of May. He walked thoughtfully to his hotel, sat for five
minutes with a pipe between his lips in the smoking-room, and then rose
suddenly, left a message as to where he might be found, and hurried
across the road to Craig’s Court. His solicitor had an office there.
The solicitor was a little Jew, shrewd, but honest as the day.
[Illustration: THE LETTER OF MARQUE, “VALDIVIA” (AFTERWARDS “MARY
ROSE”).]
“Look here, Lawson,” Bowling began, as soon as he was in the presence
of the lawyer. “I’ve not come to spin you a yarn about the battle,
and I don’t want sympathy, and I don’t want advice; I just want your
help. Can you give me the rest of the day, luncheon time and all?”
“I suppose I can, if it is a matter of business,” said Mr. Lawson.
“Very good. First of all, tell me how much money have you in the house?
I want a deuce of a lot at once. In the meantime be good enough to send
this note to Mr. Day, of Gray’s Inn, and let the messenger ask Mr. Day,
with my compliments, whether he can make it convenient to call and see
me here as soon as possible.”
The solicitor called a clerk, and despatched him with the note. “I
could let you have a thousand in an hour, Mr. Bowling,” he said.
“A thousand! Why, man, that’s of no use to me. I want heaps more. What
am I good for? How much can you raise on me? How much can you borrow on
me?”
“What do you want?”
“I want three hundred thousand pounds by this time to-morrow.”
Mr. Lawson fell back gasping. “Three hundred thousand pounds!” he
ejaculated. “What?”
“Three hundred thousand pounds,” repeated Bowling. “Can you raise it,
or can you not?”
“I daresay I can raise it, if only I have time enough; but by this time
to-morrow--”
“If you can’t do it, or the greater part of it, someone else must. But
you can do it; you have interest with bankers and people of that sort.
Now, be a good fellow and spare no pains and no expense; and, above
all, waste no time over the business. Sell me up entirely if necessary,
body and soul. Get rid of everything.”
“But, Mr. Bowling,” said the solicitor, who suspected his client of
sudden madness, “in justice to yourself, let me know what you are going
to do?”
“You know that they have deprived me of my commission?”
“Yes.”
“Well, I’m going to buy it back again. I’m going to endeavour to render
them anxious to have my services once more. To be brief: I’m going to
buy a ship and take out letters of marque, and get to sea as soon as I
can manage it. Now you know all you want to know.”
“But surely you are not going thus hastily to embark your whole fortune
in such a precarious venture?”
“Well, don’t let us argue: that is my intention. Now, will you take the
needful steps at once? This office must be mine for the next day or
two. You must give me a room in which I can see people, and a clerk to
write letters, and a boy to run messages; and I must be able to carry
on here, if necessary, night and day.”
Lawson made no audible reply, but rang a bell, in answer to which a
second gentleman of Hebrew physiognomy entered.
“Lazarus,” said the solicitor, “Mr. Bowling wants to raise three
hundred thousand pounds at once--mind you, at once. Please see what can
be done, and don’t lose a moment. You have the papers, and Mr. Bowling
will be close at hand. I wish him to have a table here. Put another
also for Mr. Brownlow, who is to hold himself at Mr. Bowling’s entire
disposal until further notice. I can undertake no further business
to-day. If anyone calls, say that I am engaged.”
Mr. Lazarus disappeared. “He’ll do his best,” said Lawson, “and I’ll do
mine.”
Mr. Brownlow was a most capable clerk and shorthand writer, and he
saved Bowling no end of trouble. He took down from Bowling’s dictation
a long telegram to Sir W. Armstrong, Mitchell & Co., asking that firm
to send immediately to London an agent fully competent to negotiate for
the disposal of the _Valdivia_. He also took down telegrams to several
people who, Bowling imagined, might be willing to assist or join him.
Finally, the clerk took down a telegram addressed to the proprietors of
the _Times_. “In consequence of my dispatch to you from San Remo,” it
ran, “the Admiralty has removed my name from the Navy List. I intend
to take out letters of marque, and I shall be glad to learn what
assistance or co-operation you may be inclined to render me in fitting
out a vessel. Time presses.”
In the course of the afternoon Mr. Day called in reply to Bowling’s
note. He was a tall, untidy, slim, slightly bowed man, with black hair
and moustache, spectacles, and a somewhat hesitating and nervous
manner of speech. He looked very little like a barrister, and still
less like a sailor; and at first, Bowling was very far from being
favourably impressed. But it soon appeared from his conversation that
Mr. Day knew a good deal about the sea, and, what was perhaps as
important, he proved to be an intimate friend of the Duke of Norland, a
nobleman who, besides being of immense wealth, possessed an adventurous
spirit, and had much influence.
“It is very curious,” said Day, after Bowling’s plans had been
partially explained to him, “that only last night, when I was dining
with the Duke, he suggested that I should buy a steam yacht and fit
her out as a privateer. He offered to supply some money--he didn’t
say how much--and I told him that I was quite ready to put down what
I could afford, though that, I am sorry to say, is only a matter of a
few hundreds. The worst of it is, however--and I told him so--that I
know nothing about steamships. I’m quite willing to join you in any
capacity; indeed I shall be only too pleased if I can be useful. I’ll
go and see the duke at once, and try whether I can’t persuade him to
take a hand in your venture. Of course, he won’t go himself; but I
don’t doubt that he’ll take a share, possibly a big one.” And Mr. Day
departed, promising to lose no time and to return later.
This was satisfactory, as far as it went. Not less so was the reply of
the proprietors of the _Times_, who, in the course of the afternoon,
sent a representative to Craig’s Court. This gentleman, after thanking
Bowling for his account of the Toulon affair, listened to the outlines
of the scheme, and then said he was empowered by his principals to take
on their behalf a twentieth share in the first cost of the vessel, on
condition that a twenty-fourth share in the net profits--if any--of
the venture should be guaranteed to them, and that Bowling should
contrive to act as their correspondent. Lawson at once drew up a form
of agreement to this effect, and the representative of the _Times_ took
it away with him, he also promising to return later.
The next visitor of importance was an emissary from Elswick. He had,
upon receipt of Bowling’s telegram, been despatched by special train to
town, and brought with him full particulars of the _Valdivia_. These
were briefly as follows:--
The _Valdivia_ is a steel twin-screw armoured cruiser of 6900 tons
displacement, with engines capable of developing 8000 indicated
horse-power with natural draught, and of giving a speed of seventeen
knots; and capable of developing 12,000 indicated horse-power with
forced draught, and of giving a speed of nineteen knots. The vessel’s
dimensions are: length, 328 ft.; beam, 60 ft. 8 in.; depth to upper
deck beams, 35 ft.; mean draught, 21 ft. 10 in. She has a complete
water-line belt of compound armour, over 6 ft. 5 in. wide, with a
maximum thickness of 11¾ in., a complete protective deck of 2-in.
steel, and above the deck a light central redoubt 134 ft. 6 in. long,
armoured with 4-in. steel. The armament consists of four 9·2-in. 23-ton
breech-loaders thus disposed--_viz._, one on the forecastle, having
an arc of training over 135 deg. on each bow; one on the poop, with a
similar arc of training on each quarter; and one in a sponson on each
broadside amidships, with an arc of training over 180 deg. on the beam.
Each of these guns fires _en barbette_ over an armoured breastwork,
and is covered by a steel screen. The secondary armament consists of
eight 4·7-in. quick-firing guns disposed in pairs in lightly armoured
steel turrets, one on each bow somewhat abaft the barbette, and one
on each quarter somewhat before the barbette. These guns all train
over arcs of 135 deg. The twelve guns above named are on the upper
deck, where also are mounted four 6-pounder quick-firing guns, and six
5-barrelled Nordenfelt machine-guns. In each of the two tops there
is a Maxim gun of rifle calibre; and on the main deck there are ten
6-pounder quick-firing guns, three being on each broadside within the
redoubt, two forward and two aft. There are six ejectors for Whitehead
torpedoes, one in the bow and one in the stern being under water.
There are also three powerful electric search-lights, a steam cutter,
and steam pinnace, and the usual boats and fittings. The ship has two
funnels, and has fore-and-aft sail on two light masts, each of which is
provided with a military top. The coal capacity of the bunkers is 400
tons, an amount sufficient for 7000 knots, steaming at a speed of ten
knots.
[Illustration: DECK PLAN OF THE “VALDIVIA”.]
The Elswick agent laid before Bowling these, together with more
detailed particulars, as well as plans, diagrams, and inventories; and
Bowling very speedily decided that, if he could raise the necessary
money, the vessel would exactly suit his views. She was of a
type, fast and well armed and fairly well protected, especially at
the water-line, that was absolutely unrepresented in the Royal Navy,
although the Chilian ship _Arturo Prat_ was on very similar lines.
He felt that, while she promised to be an excellent cruiser, she was
powerful enough to tackle, in case of need, any but the most formidable
battleship. Having, therefore, engaged the agent to remain for
twenty-four hours in London, and to keep open Messrs. Armstrong’s offer
for that length of time, Bowling set to work with renewed energy to
solve the financial problem.
In this he was greatly assisted by the Duke of Norland, who in the
course of the evening drove to Craig’s Court with Day. The Duke was an
eminently practical man. He was too old, he said, to go to sea in the
_Valdivia_, and he could, he knew, be more useful on shore. What he
would do was this. He would undertake, in conjunction with his friends,
to form a syndicate which should take a half share in the cost and a
two-fifths share in the proceeds of the venture, provided that Bowling
and his friends would bear the remaining half of the cost and accept
the remaining three-fifths of the proceeds. In the meantime, Bowling
might draw on him personally to the amount of a hundred thousand pounds.
During the interview, in the course of which this unexpectedly
satisfactory arrangement was arrived at, several of Bowling’s friends,
who had been summoned by telegraph, called; and as Day had mentioned
the business to some of his acquaintances who were yachting men,
several of them also dropped in. Moreover, the representative of the
_Times_ returned; the Duke sent round to the clubs for certain of
his friends, naval and otherwise, in whom he placed confidence; and
the emissary from Elswick was summoned from his hotel. By midnight,
therefore, a committee of ways and means, with full powers, was in
session in the largest room of Mr. Lawson’s office, and when it broke
up at daylight, nearly everything was settled. The Duke drove home;
Day and two of his friends departed to visit the various ports and to
engage men; and Bowling, finding that it was nearly five o’clock, and
remembering that he was due at Sir Humphrey Thornbeigh’s breakfast
table at the Admiralty at eight, relinquished every idea of turning
in, and, instead, wrote some letters, had a cold tub in the kitchen by
favour of Lawson’s housekeeper, and then walked over to Whitehall.
Sir Humphrey was waiting for him. “Well, Bowling,” he said, “yesterday
you came to see the Admiral, who, I hope, made you feel that you had
behaved most improperly. To-day you have come to breakfast with the old
friend and shipmate, who is very sorry that you are out of the service,
and who will do all that is in his power to help you. I don’t mind
saying that I look upon you as too good an officer to lie rusting on
shore in such times as these. What are you going to do? Have you any
plans?”
Bowling related not only what he proposed to do, but what he had
already done; and Uncle Humphrey’s grey eyes sparkled. “You haven’t
let the grass grow under your feet,” he said: “but you don’t suppose
that I’m going to let you take such a fine fighting craft as the
_Valdivia_ out of the country, and man her with a lot of ‘long-shore
ullage’ that will render her anything but a credit to everyone
concerned. Not I! yet since you have been so prompt, so energetic, and,
I may add, so disinterested, I don’t feel that I should be altogether
consulting Her Majesty’s interests by thwarting you. Perhaps, even, it
is my duty to help you a bit. Oblige me by ringing the bell, Bowling.”
A servant appeared, and Sir Humphrey ordered him to bring in certain
volumes and lists which he mentioned. When they were before him, he
said, “Now, Bowling, you know how hard pressed we are for men. I’m
afraid we can’t spare you much that is worth having. But here are the
names of some retired officers, commissioned and otherwise, whom we
intend to call out. Some have not been long out of employment, as you
may see. If you like to choose half-a-dozen of them, and can let me
know that they are willing to go with you, I’ll undertake that the
Royal Navy shall not want them just at present. Do you understand?
I believe that they may be as useful with you as with us, for the
_Valdivia_ is a fine craft, and you ought to be able to make something
of her. But, mind you, I reserve the right to take these officers when
I want them, and I expect you to submit yourself in a general way to my
orders. You know me well enough to understand exactly what I mean. You
have your chance, Bowling, and it seems to me a bright one. May God
bless you.”
Bowling was much moved by Sir Humphrey’s kindness to and confidence
in him. He selected two warrant officers and three lieutenants,
substituting for his first choice one or two names which Sir Humphrey
suggested as being more suitable. Then, with a feeling that some of
his most formidable initial difficulties had been removed, he bade
good-bye to his patron, walked to his hotel, packed up his gear, and,
in pursuance of an understanding which had been come to at the meeting
in Craig’s Court, took the earliest possible train to Newcastle,
where, alone, he could attend to the immediate fitting for sea of his
first command. In the train he enjoyed the most refreshing sleep that
had come to him since the catastrophe off Toulon, for new hopes and
enthusiasms had taken the place of old anxieties and despondencies.