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A ROVING COMMISSION
[Illustration: "I HAVE HEARD A GREAT DEAL OF YOU, MR. GLOVER," THE
ADMIRAL SAID.]
A ROVING COMMISSION
OR
_THROUGH THE BLACK INSURRECTION AT HAYTI_
BY
G. A. HENTY
Author of "With Frederick the Great," "The Dash for Khartoum"
"Both Sides the Border," etc.
_WITH TWELVE ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILLIAM RAINEY, R.I._
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1904
_Copyright_, 1899,
BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS.
PREFACE
Horrible as were the atrocities of which the monsters of the French
Revolution were guilty, they paled before the fiendish outrages
committed by their black imitators in Hayti. Indeed, for some six
years the island presented a saturnalia of massacre, attended with
indescribable tortures. It may be admitted that the retaliation
inflicted by the maddened whites after the first massacre was as full of
horrors as were the outrages perpetrated by the blacks, and both were
rivalled by the mulattoes when they joined in the general madness for
blood. The result was ruin to all concerned. France lost one of her
fairest possessions, and a wealthy race of cultivators, many belonging
to the best blood of France, were annihilated or driven into poverty
among strangers. The mulattoes, many of whom were also wealthy, soon
found that the passions they had done so much to foment were too
powerful for them; their position under the blacks was far worse and
more precarious, than it had been under the whites. The negroes gained a
nominal liberty. Nowhere were the slaves so well treated as by the
French colonists, and they soon discovered that, so far from profiting
by the massacre of their masters and families, they were infinitely
worse off than before. They were still obliged to work to some extent to
save themselves from starvation; they had none to look to for aid in the
time of sickness and old age; hardships and fevers had swept them away
wholesale; the trade of the island dwindled almost to nothing; and at
last the condition of the negroes in Hayti has fallen to the level of
that of the savage African tribes. Unless some strong white power should
occupy the island and enforce law and order, sternly repress crime, and
demand a certain amount of labour from all able-bodied men, there seems
no hope that any amelioration can take place in the present situation.
G. A. HENTY.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. A FIGHT WITH A BLOODHOUND 1
II. REJOINED 21
III. A SLAVE DEPOT 38
IV. A SHARP FIGHT 58
V. A PIRATE HOLD 76
VI. THE NEGRO RISING 93
VII. IN HIDING 112
VIII. A TIME OF WAITING 132
IX. AN ATTACK ON THE CAVE 152
X. AFLOAT AGAIN 172
XI. A FIRST COMMAND 191
XII. A RESCUE 211
XIII. TWO CAPTURES 232
XIV. THE ATTACK ON PORT-AU-PRINCE 253
XV. THE ATTACK ON PORT-AU-PRINCE 273
XVI. TOUSSAIT L'OUVERTURE 293
XVII. A FRENCH FRIGATE 311
XVIII. ANOTHER ENGAGEMENT 331
XIX. HOME 352
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
"I HAVE HEARD A GREAT DEAL OF YOU, MR. GLOVER," THE ADMIRAL
SAID _Frontispiece_
"HEADED BY NAT, THE CREW OF THE GIG LEAPT DOWN ON TO THE DECK" 40
THE GUNS ON THE RAMPART SEND A SHOWER OF GRAPE INTO THE PIRATE 64
"IT WAS NOT LONG BEFORE HE CAME ACROSS THE FIGURE OF A
PROSTRATE MAN" 122
"HE FELL LIKE A LOG OVER THE PRECIPICE" 164
THE JOURNEY TO THE COAST 178
THE RESCUE OF LOUISE PICKARD 212
"FOUR SHOTS WERE FIRED AND AS MANY NEGROES FELL" 226
"THE CAPTAIN OF THE PIRATES SHOOK HIS FIST IN DEFIANCE" 246
A MESSAGE FROM TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE 294
"DROP IT!" NAT REPEATED 308
"NAT SPRANG ON TO THE RAIL" 318
A ROVING COMMISSION
CHAPTER I
A FIGHT WITH A BLOODHOUND
"Now, look here, Nathaniel--"
"Drop that, Curtis, you know very well that I won't have it. I can't
help having such a beast of a name, and why it was given me I have never
been able to make out, and if I had been consulted in the matter all the
godfathers and godmothers in the world wouldn't have persuaded me to
take such a name. Nat I don't mind. I don't say that it is a name that I
should choose; still, I can put up with that, but the other I won't
have. You have only just joined the ship, but if you ask the others they
will tell you that I have had at least half a dozen fights over the
name, and it is an understood thing here that if anyone wants a row with
me he has only got to call me Nathaniel, and there is no occasion for
any more words after that."
The speaker was a pleasant-faced lad, between fifteen and sixteen, and
his words were half in jest half in earnest. He was a general favourite
among his mess-mates on board H. M. frigate _Orpheus_. He was full of
life and fun, exceptionally good-tempered, and able to stand any amount
of chaff and joking, and it was understood by his comrades that there
was but one point that it was unsafe to touch on, and that sore point
was his name. It had been the choice of his godmother, a maiden aunt,
who had in her earlier days had a disappointment. Nat had once closely
questioned his father as to how he came by his name, and the latter had
replied testily:
"Well, my boy, your Aunt Eliza, who is, you know, a very good woman--no
one can doubt that--had a weakness. I never myself got at the rights of
the matter. Anyhow, his name was Nathaniel. I don't think there was ever
any formal engagement between them. Her own idea is that he loved her,
but that his parents forbade him to think of her; for that was at a time
before her Aunt Lydia left all her money to her. Anyhow, he went abroad,
and I don't think she ever heard of him again. I am inclined to think it
was an entire mistake on her part, and that the young fellow had never
had the slightest fancy for her. However, that was the one romance of
her life, and she has clung to it like a limpet to a rock. At any rate
when we asked her to be your godmother she said she would be so if we
would give you the name of Nathaniel. I own it is not a name that I like
myself; but when we raised an objection, she said that the name was very
dear to her, and that if you took it she would certainly make you her
heir, and more than hinted that if you had any other name she would
leave her money to charitable purposes. Well, you see, as she is worth
thirty thousand pounds if she is worth a penny, your mother and I both
thought it would be folly to allow the money to go out of the family for
the sake of a name, which after all is not such a bad name."
"I think it beastly, father, in the first place because it is long."
"Well, my boy, if you like we can shorten it to Nathan."
"Oh, that would be a hundred times worse! Nathan indeed! Nat is not so
bad. If I had been christened Nat I should not have particularly minded
it. Why did you not propose that to aunt?"
His father shook his head. "That would never have done. To her he was
always Nathaniel. Possibly if they had been married it might some day
have become Nat, but, you see, it never got to that."
"Well, of course, father," the boy said with a sigh, "as the thing is
done it cannot be helped. And I don't say that aunt isn't a good
sort--first-rate in some things, for she has always tipped me well
whenever she came here, and she says she is going to allow me fifty
pounds a year directly I get my appointment as midshipman; but it is
certainly hard on me that she could not have fallen in love with some
man with a decent name. Nathaniel is always getting me into rows. Why,
the first two or three years I went to school I should say that I had a
fight over it once a month. Of course I have not had one lately, for
since I licked Smith major fellows are more careful. I expect it will be
just as bad in the navy."
So when he first joined Nat had found it, but now that he was nearly
sixteen, and very strong and active, and with the experience of many
past combats, the name Nathaniel had been dropped. It was six months
since the obnoxious Christian name had been used, as it was now by a
young fellow of seventeen who had been transferred to the _Orpheus_ when
the frigate to which he belonged was ordered home. He was tall and
lanky, very particular about his dress, spoke in a drawling supercilious
way, and had the knack of saying unpleasant things with an air of
innocence. Supposing that Glover's name must be Nathaniel, he had
thought it smart so to address him, but although he guessed that it
might irritate him, he was unprepared for an explosion on the part of a
lad who was proverbially good-tempered.
"Dear me," he said, in assumed surprise, "I had no idea that you
objected so much to be called by your proper name! However, I will, of
course, in future use the abbreviation."
"You had better call me Glover," Nat replied sharply. "My friends can
call me Nat, but to other people I am Glover, and if you call me out of
that name there will be squalls; so I warn you."
Curtis thought it was well not to pursue the subject further. He was no
coward, but he had the sense to see that as Nat was a favourite with the
others, while he was a new-comer, a fight, even if he were the victor,
would not conduce to his popularity among his mess-mates. The president
of the mess, a master's mate, a good-tempered fellow, who hated
quarrels, broke what would have been an awkward silence by saying:
"We seem to be out of luck altogether this trip; we have been out three
weeks and not fired a shot. It is especially hard, for we caught sight
of that brigantine we have been in search of, and should have had her if
she hadn't run into that channel where there was not water enough for us
to follow her."
"Yes, that was rough upon us, and one hates to go back to Port Royal
without a prize, after having taken so many that we have come to be
considered the luckiest ship on the station," another said. "Still, the
cruise is not over yet. I suppose by the way we are laying our course,
Marston, we are going into Cape Francois?"
The mate nodded. "Yes; we want fresh meat, fruit, and water, and it is
about the pleasantest place among these islands. I have no doubt, too,
that the captain hopes to get some news that may help him to find out
where those piratical craft that are doing so much mischief have their
rendezvous. They are all so fast that unless in a strong breeze a
frigate has no chance whatever of overhauling them; there is no doubt
that they are all of Spanish build, and in a light breeze they sail
like witches. I believe our only chance of catching them is in finding
them at their head-quarters, wherever that may be, or by coming upon
them in a calm in a bay. In that case it would be a boat affair; and a
pretty sharp one I should think, for they all carry very strong crews
and are heavily armed, and as the scoundrels know that they fight with
ropes round their necks they would be awkward customers to tackle."
"Yes, if we happened to find them all together, I don't think the
captain would risk sending in the boats. One at a time we could manage,
but with three of them mounting about fifty guns between them, and
carrying, I should say, from two hundred to two hundred and fifty men,
the odds would be very great, and the loss, even if we captured them, so
heavy that I hardly think the captain would be justified in attempting
it. I should say that he would be more likely to get out all the boats
and tow the frigate into easy range. She would give a good account of
the whole of them."
"Yes, there is no doubt about that; but even then we should only succeed
if the bay was a very narrow one, for otherwise their boats would
certainly tow them faster than we could take the frigate along."
It was Glover who spoke last.
"I don't think myself that we shall ever catch them in the frigate. It
seems to me that the only chance will be to get hold of an old
merchantman, put a strong crew on board and a dozen of our guns, and
cruise about until one of them gets a sight of us and comes skimming
along to capture us."
"Yes, that would be a good plan; but it has been tried several times
with success, and I fancy the pirates would not fall into the trap.
Besides, there is very little doubt that they have friends at all these
ports, and get early information of any movements of our ships, and
would hear of what we were doing long before the disguised ship came
near them. It can hardly be chance, that it matters not which way we
cruise these fellows begin their work in another direction altogether.
Now that we are here in this great bay, they are probably cruising off
the west of Cuba or down by Porto Rico or the Windward Islands. That is
the advantage that three or four craft working together have: they are
able to keep spies in every port that our ships of war are likely to go
into, while a single vessel cannot afford such expenses."
"I don't think that the expenses, Low, would be heavy; the negroes would
do it for next to nothing, and so would the mulattoes, simply because
they hate the whites. I don't mean the best of the mulattoes, because
many of them are gentlemen and good fellows; but the lower class are
worse than the negroes, they are up to any devilment, and will do
anything they can to injure a white man."
"Poor beggars, one can hardly blame them; they are neither one thing nor
the other! These old French planters are as aristocratic as their
noblesse at home, and indeed many of them belong to noble families. Even
the meanest white--and they are pretty mean some of them--looks down
upon a mulatto, although the latter may have been educated in France and
own great plantations. The negroes don't like them because of their
strain of white blood. They are treated as if they were pariahs. Their
children may not go to school with the whites, they themselves may not
sit down in a theatre or kneel at church next to them, they may not use
the same restaurants or hotels. No wonder they are discontented."
"It is hard on them," Glover said, "but one can't be surprised that the
whites do fight shy of them. Great numbers of them are brutes and no
mistake, ready for any crime and up to any wickedness. There is lots of
good in the niggers; they are merry fellows; and I must say for these
old French planters they use their slaves a great deal better than they
are as a rule treated by our planters in Jamaica. Of course there are
bad masters everywhere, but if I were a slave I would certainly rather
be under a French master than an English one, or, from what I have
heard, than an American."
"Very well, Glover, I will make a note of that, and if you ever
misbehave yourself and we have to sell you, I will drop a line to the
first luff how your preference lies."
Early the next morning the frigate dropped anchor at Cape Francois, the
largest and most important town in the island, with the exception of the
capital of the Spanish portion of San Domingo. The _Orpheus_ carried six
midshipmen. Four of these had been ashore when on the previous occasion
the _Orpheus_ had entered the port. Nat Glover and Curtis were the
exceptions, Curtis having at that time belonged to the frigate for but a
very few weeks, and Nat having been in the first lieutenant's bad books,
owing to a scrape into which he had got at the last port they had
touched at. After breakfast they went up together to the first
lieutenant, whose name was Hill.
"Please, sir, if we are not wanted, can we have leave for the day?"
The lieutenant hesitated, and then said:
"Yes, I think the other four will be enough for the boats. You did not
go ashore last time you were here, I think, Mr. Glover," he added with a
slight smile.
"No, sir."
"Very well, then, you can go, but don't get into any scrape."
"I will try not to, sir," Nat said demurely.
"Well, I hope your trial will be successful, Mr. Glover, for if not, I
can tell you that it will be a long time before you have leave again.
These people don't understand that sort of thing."
"He is a nice lad," Mr. Hill said to the second lieutenant as the two
midshipmen walked away, "and when he has worked off those animal spirits
of his he will make a capital officer, but at present he is one of the
most mischievous young monkeys I ever came across."
"He does not let them interfere with his duty," the other said. "He is
the smartest of our mids; he is well up in navigation, and has any
amount of pluck. You remember how he jumped overboard in Port Royal when
a marine fell into the water, although the harbour was swarming with
sharks. It was a near touch. Luckily we threw a bowline to him, and the
two were hauled up together. A few seconds more and it would have been
too late, for there was a shark within twenty feet of them."
"Yes, there is no doubt about his pluck, Playford, and indeed I partly
owe my life to him. When we captured that piratical brigantine near
Santa Lucia I boarded by the stern, and she had such a strong crew that
we were being beaten back, and things looked very bad until he with the
gig's crew swarmed in over the bow. Even then it was a very tough
struggle till they cut their way through the pirates and joined us, and
we went at them together, and that youngster fought like a young fiend.
He was in the thick of it everywhere, and yet he was as cool as a
cucumber. Oh yes, he has the making of a very fine officer. Although I
am obliged to be sharp with him, there is not a shadow of harm in the
lad, but he certainly has a genius for getting into scrapes."
The two midshipmen went ashore together. "I don't know what you are
going to do, Curtis, but after I have walked through the place and had a
look at it, I shall hire a horse and ride out into the country."
"It is too hot for riding," the other said. "Of course I shall see what
there is to be seen, and then I shall look for a seat in some place in
the shade and eat fruit."
"Well, we may as well walk through the town together," Nat said
cheerfully. "From the look of the place I should fancy there was not
much in it, and I know the fellows who went on shore before said that
the town contained nothing but native huts, a few churches, and two or
three dozen old French houses."
Half an hour indeed sufficed to explore the place. When they separated
Nat had no difficulty in hiring a horse. He had been accustomed, when in
England, to ride a pony, and was therefore at home in the saddle; he
proceeded at a leisurely pace along the road across the flat plain that
surrounded Cape Francois. On either side were plantations,--sugar-cane
and tobacco,--and he occasionally passed the abode of some wealthy
planter, surrounded by shady trees and gardens gorgeous with tropical
plants and flowers. He was going by one of these, half a mile from the
town, when he heard a loud scream, raised evidently by a woman in
extreme pain or terror. He was just opposite the entrance, and,
springing from his horse, he ran in.
On the ground, twenty yards from the gate, lay a girl. A huge hound had
hold of her shoulder, and was shaking her violently. Nat drew his dirk
and gave a loud shout as he rushed forward. The hound loosed his hold of
the girl and turned to meet him, and, springing upon him with a savage
growl, threw him to the ground. Nat drove his dirk into the animal as he
fell, and threw his left arm across his throat to prevent the dog
seizing him there. A moment later the hound had seized it with a grip
that extracted a shout of pain from the midshipman. As he again buried
his dirk in the hound's side, the dog shifted his hold from Nat's
forearm to his shoulder and shook him as if he had been a child.
Nat made no effort to free himself, for he knew that were he to uncover
his throat for a moment the dog would seize him there. Though the pain
was terrible he continued to deal stroke after stroke to the dog. One of
these blows must have reached the heart, for suddenly its hold relaxed
and it rolled over, just as half a dozen negroes armed with sticks came
rushing out of the house. Nat tried to raise himself on his right arm,
but the pain of the left was so great that he leant back again
half-fainting. Presently he felt himself being lifted up and carried
along; he heard a lady's voice giving directions, and then for a time he
knew no more. When he came to himself he saw the ship's doctor leaning
over him.
"What is the matter, doctor?" he asked.
"You are badly hurt, lad, and must lie perfectly quiet. Luckily the
messenger who was sent to fetch a doctor, seeing Mr. Curtis and me
walking up the street, ran up to us and said that a young officer of our
ship was hurt, and that he was sent in to fetch a doctor. He had, in
fact, already seen one, and was in the act of returning with him when he
met us. Of course I introduced myself to the French doctor as we came
along together, for we fortunately got hold of a trap directly, so that
no time was lost. The black boy who brought the message told me that you
and a young lady had been bitten by a great hound belonging to his
master, and that you had killed it. Now, my lad, I am going to cut off
your coat and look at your wounds. The Frenchman is attending to the
young lady."
"Mind how you touch my arm, doctor! it is broken somewhere between the
elbow and the wrist; I heard it snap when the brute seized me. It threw
me down, and I put my arm across over my throat, so as to prevent it
from getting at that. It would have been all up with me if it had
gripped me there."
"That it would, Glover. I saw the dog lying on the grass as I came in.
It is a big bloodhound; and your presence of mind undoubtedly saved your
life."
By this time he had cut the jacket and shirt up to the neck. Nat saw his
lips tighten as he caught sight of the wound on the shoulder.
"It is a bad bite, eh, doctor?"
"Yes, it has mangled the flesh badly. The dog seems to have shifted his
hold several times."
"Yes, doctor, each time I stabbed him he gave a sort of start, and then
caught hold again and shook me furiously. After the first bite I did not
seem to feel any pain. I suppose the limb was numbed."
"Very likely, lad. Now I must first of all see what damage was done to
the forearm. I am afraid I shall hurt you, but I will be as gentle as I
can."
Nat clenched his teeth and pressed his lips tightly together. Not a
sound was heard as the examination was being made, although the sweat
that started out on his forehead showed how intense was the pain.
"Both bones are broken," the surgeon said to his French colleague, who
had just entered the room and came up to the bedside. "The first thing
to do is to extemporize some splints, and of course we shall want some
stuff for bandages."
"I will get them made at once," the doctor replied. "Madame Demaine said
that she put the whole house at my disposal."
He went out, and in a few minutes returned with some thin slips of wood
eighteen inches long and a number of strips of sheeting sewn together.
"It is very fortunate," the surgeon said, "that the ends of the bone
have kept pretty fairly in their places instead of working through the
flesh, which they might very well have done."
Very carefully the two surgeons bandaged the arm from the elbow to the
finger-tips.
"Now for the shoulder," the doctor said.
They first sponged the wounds and then began feeling the bones again,
giving exquisite pain to Nat. Then they drew apart and consulted for two
or three minutes.
"This is a much worse business than the other," Dr. Bemish said when he
returned to the bedside; "the arm is broken near the shoulder, the
collar-bone is broken too, and the flesh is almost in a pulp."
"Don't say I must lose the arm, doctor," Nat said.
"Well, I hope not, Glover, but I can't say for certain. You see I am
speaking frankly to you, for I know that you have pluck. The injury to
the collar-bone is not in itself serious, but the other is a comminuted
fracture."
"What is comminuted, doctor?"
"It means that the bone is splintered, lad. Still, there is no reason
why it should not heal again; you have a strong constitution, and Nature
works wonders."
For the next half-hour the two surgeons were at work picking out the
fragments of bone, getting the ends together, and bandaging the arm and
shoulder. Nat fainted under the pain within the first few minutes, and
did not recover until the surgeons had completed their work. Then his
lips were wetted with brandy and a few drops of brandy and water were
poured down his throat. In a minute or two he opened his eyes.
"It is all over now, lad." He lay for sometime without speaking, and
then whispered, "How is the girl?"
"Her shoulder is broken," Dr. Bemish replied. "I have not seen her; but
the doctor says that it is a comparatively simple case."
"How was it the dog came to bite her?"
"She was a stranger to it. She is not the daughter of your hostess. It
seems her father's plantation is some twelve miles away; he drove her in
and left her here with Madame Demaine, who is his sister, while he went
into town on business. Madame's own daughter was away, and the girl
sauntered down into the garden, when the hound, not knowing her, sprang
upon her, and I have not the least doubt would have killed her had you
not arrived."
"Are you going to take me on board, doctor?"
"Not at present, Glover; you need absolute quiet, and if the frigate got
into a heavy sea it might undo all our work, and in that case there
would be little hope of saving your arm. Madame Demaine told the French
doctor that she would nurse you as if you were her own child, and that
everything was to be done to make you comfortable. The house is cool,
and your wound will have a much better chance of getting well here than
in our sick-bay. She wanted to come in to thank you, but I said that,
now we had dressed your arm, it was better that you should have nothing
to disturb or excite you. When the girl's father returns--and I have no
doubt he will do so soon, for as yet, though half-a-dozen boys have been
sent down to the town, they have not been able to find him--he must on
no account come in to see you at present. Here is a tumbler of fresh
lime-juice and water. Doctor Lepel will remain here all night and see
that you have everything that you require."
The tumbler was held to Nat's lips, and he drained it to the bottom. The
drink was iced, and seemed to him the most delicious that he had ever
tasted.
"I shall come ashore again to see you in the morning. Dr. Lepel will go
back with me now, and make up a soothing draught for you both. Remember
that above all things it is essential for you to lie quiet. He will put
bandages round your body, and fasten the ends to the bedstead so as to
prevent you from turning in your sleep."
"All right, sir; I can assure you that I have no intention of moving. My
arm does not hurt me much now, and I would not set it off aching again
for any money."
"It is a rum thing," Nat thought to himself, "that I should always be
getting into some scrape or other when I go ashore. This is the worst of
all by a long way."
A negro girl presently came in noiselessly and placed a small table on
the right-hand side of the bed. She then brought in a large jug of the
same drink that Nat had before taken, and some oranges and limes both
peeled and cut up into small pieces.
"It is lucky it was not the right arm," Nat said to himself. "I suppose
one can do without the left pretty well when one gets accustomed to it,
though it would be rather awkward going aloft."
In an hour Dr. Lepel returned, and gave him the draught.
"Now try and go to sleep," he said in broken English. "I shall lie down
on that sofa, and if you wake up be sure and call me. I am a light
sleeper."
"Had you not better stay with the young lady?"
"She will have her mother and her aunt with her, so she will do very
well. I hope that you will soon go to sleep."
It was but a few minutes before Nat dozed off. Beyond a numbed feeling
his arm was not hurting him very much. Once or twice during the night he
woke and took a drink. A slight stir in the room aroused him, and to his
surprise he found that the sun was already up. The doctor was feeling
his pulse, a negro girl was fanning him, and a lady stood at the foot of
the bed looking at him pitifully.
"Do you speak French, monsieur?" she asked.
"A little," he replied, for he had learned French while at school, and
since the frigate had been among the West Indian islands he had studied
it for a couple of hours a day, as it was the language that was spoken
in all the French islands and might be useful to him if put in charge of
a prize.
"Have you slept well?" she asked.
"Very well."
"Does your arm hurt you very much now?"
"It hurts a bit, ma'am, but nothing to make any fuss about."
"You must ask for anything that you want," she said. "I have told off
two of my negro girls to wait upon you. Of course they both speak
French."
Half an hour later Dr. Bemish arrived.
"You are going on very well, Glover," he said after feeling the lad's
pulse and putting his hand on his forehead. "At present you have no
fever. You cannot expect to get through without some, but I hardly
expected to find you so comfortable this morning. The captain told me to
say that he would come and see you to-day, and I can assure you that
there is not one among your mess-mates who is not deeply sorry at what
has happened, although they all feel proud of your pluck in fighting
that great hound with nothing but a dirk."
"They are useless sort of things, doctor, and I cannot think why they
give them to us; but it was a far better weapon yesterday than a sword
would have been."
"Yes, it was. The room is nice and cool, isn't it?"
"Wonderfully cool, sir. I was wondering about it before you came in, for
it is a great deal cooler than it is on board."
"There are four great pans full of ice in the room, and they have got up
matting before each of the windows, and are keeping it soaked with
water."
"That is very good of them, doctor. Please thank Madame Demaine for me.
She was in here this morning--at least I suppose it was she--and she
did not bother me with thanks, which was a great comfort. You are not
going to take these bandages off and put them on again, I hope?"
"Oh, no. We may loosen them a little when inflammation sets in, which it
is sure to do sooner or later."
Captain Crosbie came to see Nat that afternoon.
"Well, my lad," he said cheerfully, "I see that you have fallen into
good hands, and I am sure that everything that is possible will be done
for you. I was talking to the girl's mother and aunt before I came in.
Their gratitude to you is quite touching, and they are lamenting that
Dr. Bemish has given the strictest orders that they are not to say
anything more about it. And now I must not stay and talk; the doctor
gave me only two minutes to be in the room with you. I don't know
whether the frigate is likely to put in here again soon, but I will take
care to let you know from time to time what we are doing and where we
are likely to be, so that you can rejoin when the doctor here gives you
leave; but mind, you are not to dream of attempting it until he does so,
and you must be a discontented spirit indeed if you are not willing to
stay for a time in such surroundings. Good-bye, lad! I sincerely trust
that it will not be very long before you rejoin us, and I can assure you
of a hearty welcome from officers and men."
Three days later, fever set in, but, thanks to the coolness of the room
and to the bandages being constantly moistened with iced water, it
passed away in the course of a week. For two or three days Nat was
light-headed, but he woke one morning feeling strangely weak. It was
some minutes before he could remember where he was or how he had got
there, but a sharp twinge in his arm brought the facts home to him.
"Thank God that you are better, my brave boy," a voice said in French,
as a cool hand was placed on his forehead; and turning his head Nat saw
a lady standing by his bedside. She was not the one whom he had seen
before; tears were streaming down her cheeks, and, evidently unable to
speak, she hurried from the room, and a minute later Doctor Lepel
entered.
"Madame Duchesne has given me the good news that you are better," he
said. "I had just driven up to the door when she ran down."
"Have I been very bad, doctor?"
"Well, you have been pretty bad, my lad, and have been light-headed for
the past three or four days, and I did not for a moment expect that you
would come round so soon. You must have a magnificent constitution, for
most men, even if they recovered at all from such terrible wounds as you
have had, would probably have been three or four times as long before
the fever had run its course."
"And how is the young lady?"
"She is going on well, and I intended to give permission for her to be
carried home in a hammock to-day, but when I spoke of it yesterday to
her mother, she said that nothing would induce her to go until you were
out of danger. She or Madame Demaine have not left your bedside for the
past week, and next to your own good constitution you owe your rapid
recovery to their care. I have no doubt that she will go home now, and
you are to be moved to Monsieur Duchesne's house as soon as you are
strong enough. It lies up among the hills, and the change and cooler air
will do you good."
"I have not felt it hot here, doctor, thanks to the care that they have
taken in keeping the room cool. I hope now that there is no fear of my
losing my arm?"
"No; I think that I can promise you that. In a day or two I shall
re-bandage it, and I shall then be able to see how the wounds are
getting on; but there can be no doubt that they are doing well, or you
would never have shaken off the fever so soon as you have done."
"Of course the _Orpheus_ has sailed, doctor?"
"Yes. She put to sea a week ago. I have a letter here that the captain
gave me to hand to you when you were fit to read it. I should not open
it now if I were you. You are very weak, and sleep is the best medicine
for you. Now, drink a little of this fresh lime-juice. I have no doubt
that you will doze off again."
Almost before the door closed on the doctor Nat was asleep. A fortnight
later he was able to get up and sit in an easy-chair.
"How long shall I have to keep these bandages on, doctor?"
"I should say in another fortnight or so you might take them off the
forearm, for the bones seem to have knit there, but it would be better
that you should wear them for another month or six weeks. There would
indeed be no use in taking them off earlier, for the bandages on the
shoulder and the fracture below it cannot be removed for some time, and
you will have to carry your arm in a sling for another three months. I
do not mean that you may not move your arm before that, indeed it is
desirable that you should do so, but the action must be quiet and
simple, and done methodically, and the sling will be necessary at other
times to prevent sudden jerks."
"But I shall be able to go away and join my ship before that, surely?"
"Yes, if the arm goes on as well as at present you may be able to do so
in a month's time; only you will have to be very careful. You must
remember that a fall, or even a lurch against the rail, or a slip in
going down below, or anything of that kind, might very well undo our
work, for it must be some time before the newly-formed bone is as strong
as the old. As I told you the other day, your arm will be some two
inches shorter than it was."
"That won't matter a rap," Nat said.
That afternoon Nat had to submit to what he had dreaded. The doctor had
pronounced that he was now quite convalescent, and that there was no
fear whatever of a relapse, and Monsieur and Madame Duchesne therefore
came over to see him. He had seen the latter but once, and then only for
a minute, for she found herself unable to observe the condition on which
alone the doctor had allowed her to enter, namely, to repress all
emotion. Madame Demaine came in with them. Since her niece had been
taken away, she had spent much of her time in Nat's room, talking
quietly to him about his English home or his ship, and sometimes reading
aloud to him, but studiously avoiding any allusion to the accident.
Monsieur Duchesne was a man of some thirty-five years of age, his wife
was about five years younger, and they were an exceptionally handsome
couple of the best French type. Madame Duchesne pressed forward before
the others, and to Nat's embarrassment bent over him and kissed him.
"You cannot tell how we have longed for this time to come," she said.
"It seemed so cold and ungrateful that for a whole month we should have
said no word of thanks to you for saving our darling's life, but the
doctor would not allow it. He said that the smallest excitement might
bring on the fever again, so we have been obliged to abstain. Now he has
given us leave to come, and now we have come, what can we say to you?
Ah, monsieur, it was our only child that you saved, the joy of our
lives! Think of the grief into which we should have been plunged by her
loss, and you can then imagine the depth of our gratitude to you."
While she was speaking her husband had taken Nat's right hand and
pressed it silently. There were tears in his eyes, and his lips quivered
with emotion.
"Pray do not say anything more about it, madam," Nat said. "Of course I
am very glad to have saved your daughter's life, but anyone else would
have done the same. You don't suppose that anyone could stand by and see
a girl mauled by a dog without rushing forward to save her, even if he
had had no arm of any kind, while I had my dirk, which was about as good
a weapon for that sort of thing as one could want. Why, Harpur, our
youngest middy, who is only fourteen, would have done it. Of course I
have had a good deal of pain, but I would have borne twice as much for
the sake of the pleasure I feel in having saved your daughter's life,
and I am sure that I have had a very nice time of it since I have begun
to get better. Madame Demaine has been awfully good to me. If she had
been my own mother she could not have been kinder. I felt quite ashamed
of being so much trouble to her, and of being fanned and petted as if I
had been a sick girl. And how is your daughter getting on? The doctor
gave me a very good account of her, but you know one can't always quite
believe doctors; they like to say pleasant things to you so as not to
upset you."
"She is getting on very well indeed. Of course she has her arm in a
sling still, but she is going about the house, and is quite merry and
bright again. She wanted to come over with us to-day, but Dr. Lepel
would not have it. He said that a sudden jolt over a stone might do a
good deal of mischief. However, it will not be long before she sees you,
for we have got leave to have you carried over early next week."