God bless me--and God bless them--what a cheer! It turned me weak, as I
was passed on from hand to hand to the stern of the boat: every hand
patting me or grasping me in some way or other, in the moment of my going
by.
"Hold up, my brave fellow," says Captain Carton, clapping me on the
shoulder like a friend, and giving me a flask. "Put your lips to that,
and they'll be red again. Now, boys, give way!"
The banks flew by us as if the mightiest stream that ever ran was with
us; and so it was, I am sure, meaning the stream to those men's ardour
and spirit. The banks flew by us, and we came in sight of the rafts--the
banks flew by us, and we came alongside of the rafts--the banks stopped;
and there was a tumult of laughing and crying, and kissing and shaking of
hands, and catching up of children and setting of them down again, and a
wild hurry of thankfulness and joy that melted every one and softened all
hearts.
I had taken notice, in Captain Carton's boat, that there was a curious
and quite new sort of fitting on board. It was a kind of a little bower
made of flowers, and it was set up behind the captain, and betwixt him
and the rudder. Not only was this arbour, so to call it, neatly made of
flowers, but it was ornamented in a singular way. Some of the men had
taken the ribbons and buckles off their hats, and hung them among the
flowers; others had made festoons and streamers of their handkerchiefs,
and hung them there; others had intermixed such trifles as bits of glass
and shining fragments of lockets and tobacco-boxes with the flowers; so
that altogether it was a very bright and lively object in the sunshine.
But why there, or what for, I did not understand.
Now, as soon as the first bewilderment was over, Captain Carton gave the
order to land for the present. But this boat of his, with two hands left
in her, immediately put off again when the men were out of her, and kept
off, some yards from the shore. As she floated there, with the two hands
gently backing water to keep her from going down the stream, this pretty
little arbour attracted many eyes. None of the boat's crew, however, had
anything to say about it, except that it was the captain's fancy.
The captain--with the women and children clustering round him, and the
men of all ranks grouped outside them, and all listening--stood telling
how the Expedition, deceived by its bad intelligence, had chased the
light Pirate boats all that fatal night, and had still followed in their
wake next day, and had never suspected until many hours too late that the
great Pirate body had drawn off in the darkness when the chase began, and
shot over to the Island. He stood telling how the Expedition, supposing
the whole array of armed boats to be ahead of it, got tempted into
shallows and went aground; but not without having its revenge upon the
two decoy-boats, both of which it had come up with, overhand, and sent to
the bottom with all on board. He stood telling how the Expedition,
fearing then that the case stood as it did, got afloat again, by great
exertion, after the loss of four more tides, and returned to the Island,
where they found the sloop scuttled and the treasure gone. He stood
telling how my officer, Lieutenant Linderwood, was left upon the Island,
with as strong a force as could be got together hurriedly from the
mainland, and how the three boats we saw before us were manned and armed
and had come away, exploring the coast and inlets, in search of any
tidings of us. He stood telling all this, with his face to the river;
and, as he stood telling it, the little arbour of flowers floated in the
sunshine before all the faces there.
Leaning on Captain Carton's shoulder, between him and Miss Maryon, was
Mrs. Fisher, her head drooping on her arm. She asked him, without
raising it, when he had told so much, whether he had found her mother?
"Be comforted! She lies," said the Captain gently, "under the cocoa-nut
trees on the beach."
"And my child, Captain Carton, did you find my child, too? Does my
darling rest with my mother?"
"No. Your pretty child sleeps," said the Captain, "under a shade of
flowers."
His voice shook; but there was something in it that struck all the
hearers. At that moment there sprung from the arbour in his boat a
little creature, clapping her hands and stretching out her arms, and
crying, "Dear papa! Dear mamma! I am not killed. I am saved. I am
coming to kiss you. Take me to them, take me to them, good, kind
sailors!"
Nobody who saw that scene has ever forgotten it, I am sure, or ever will
forget it. The child had kept quite still, where her brave grandmamma
had put her (first whispering in her ear, "Whatever happens to me, do not
stir, my dear!"), and had remained quiet until the fort was deserted; she
had then crept out of the trench, and gone into her mother's house; and
there, alone on the solitary Island, in her mother's room, and asleep on
her mother's bed, the Captain had found her. Nothing could induce her to
be parted from him after he took her up in his arms, and he had brought
her away with him, and the men had made the bower for her. To see those
men now, was a sight. The joy of the women was beautiful; the joy of
those women who had lost their own children, was quite sacred and divine;
but, the ecstasies of Captain Carton's boat's crew, when their pet was
restored to her parents, were wonderful for the tenderness they showed in
the midst of roughness. As the Captain stood with the child in his arms,
and the child's own little arms now clinging round his neck, now round
her father's, now round her mother's, now round some one who pressed up
to kiss her, the boat's crew shook hands with one another, waved their
hats over their heads, laughed, sang, cried, danced--and all among
themselves, without wanting to interfere with anybody--in a manner never
to be represented. At last, I saw the coxswain and another, two very
hard-faced men, with grizzled heads, who had been the heartiest of the
hearty all along, close with one another, get each of them the other's
head under his arm, and pommel away at it with his fist as hard as he
could, in his excess of joy.
When we had well rested and refreshed ourselves--and very glad we were to
have some of the heartening things to eat and drink that had come up in
the boats--we recommenced our voyage down the river: rafts, and boats,
and all. I said to myself, it was a _very_ different kind of voyage now,
from what it had been; and I fell into my proper place and station among
my fellow-soldiers.
But, when we halted for the night, I found that Miss Maryon had spoken to
Captain Carton concerning me. For, the Captain came straight up to me,
and says he, "My brave fellow, you have been Miss Maryon's body-guard all
along, and you shall remain so. Nobody shall supersede you in the
distinction and pleasure of protecting that young lady." I thanked his
honour in the fittest words I could find, and that night I was placed on
my old post of watching the place where she slept. More than once in the
night, I saw Captain Carton come out into the air, and stroll about
there, to see that all was well. I have now this other singular
confession to make, that I saw him with a heavy heart. Yes; I saw him
with a heavy, heavy heart.
In the day-time, I had the like post in Captain Carton's boat. I had a
special station of my own, behind Miss Maryon, and no hands but hers ever
touched my wound. (It has been healed these many long years; but, no
other hands have ever touched it.) Mr. Pordage was kept tolerably quiet
now, with pen and ink, and began to pick up his senses a little. Seated
in the second boat, he made documents with Mr. Kitten, pretty well all
day; and he generally handed in a Protest about something whenever we
stopped. The Captain, however, made so very light of these papers, that
it grew into a saying among the men, when one of them wanted a match for
his pipe, "Hand us over a Protest, Jack!" As to Mrs. Pordage, she still
wore the nightcap, and she now had cut all the ladies on account of her
not having been formally and separately rescued by Captain Carton before
anybody else. The end of Mr. Pordage, to bring to an end all I know
about him, was, that he got great compliments at home for his conduct on
these trying occasions, and that he died of yellow jaundice, a Governor
and a K.C.B.
Sergeant Drooce had fallen from a high fever into a low one. Tom
Packer--the only man who could have pulled the Sergeant through it--kept
hospital aboard the old raft, and Mrs. Belltott, as brisk as ever again
(but the spirit of that little woman, when things tried it, was not equal
to appearances), was head-nurse under his directions. Before we got down
to the Mosquito coast, the joke had been made by one of our men, that we
should see her gazetted Mrs. Tom Packer, _vice_ Belltott exchanged.
When we reached the coast, we got native boats as substitutes for the
rafts; and we rowed along under the land; and in that beautiful climate,
and upon that beautiful water, the blooming days were like enchantment.
Ah! They were running away, faster than any sea or river, and there was
no tide to bring them back. We were coming very near the settlement
where the people of Silver-Store were to be left, and from which we
Marines were under orders to return to Belize.
Captain Carton had, in the boat by him, a curious long-barrelled Spanish
gun, and he had said to Miss Maryon one day that it was the best of guns,
and had turned his head to me, and said:
"Gill Davis, load her fresh with a couple of slugs, against a chance of
showing how good she is."
So, I had discharged the gun over the sea, and had loaded her, according
to orders, and there it had lain at the Captain's feet, convenient to the
Captain's hand.
The last day but one of our journey was an uncommonly hot day. We
started very early; but, there was no cool air on the sea as the day got
on, and by noon the heat was really hard to bear, considering that there
were women and children to bear it. Now, we happened to open, just at
that time, a very pleasant little cove or bay, where there was a deep
shade from a great growth of trees. Now, the Captain, therefore, made
the signal to the other boats to follow him in and lie by a while.
The men who were off duty went ashore, and lay down, but were ordered,
for caution's sake, not to stray, and to keep within view. The others
rested on their oars, and dozed. Awnings had been made of one thing and
another, in all the boats, and the passengers found it cooler to be under
them in the shade, when there was room enough, than to be in the thick
woods. So, the passengers were all afloat, and mostly sleeping. I kept
my post behind Miss Maryon, and she was on Captain Carton's right in the
boat, and Mrs. Fisher sat on her right again. The Captain had Mrs.
Fisher's daughter on his knee. He and the two ladies were talking about
the Pirates, and were talking softly; partly, because people do talk
softly under such indolent circumstances, and partly because the little
girl had gone off asleep.
I think I have before given it out for my Lady to write down, that
Captain Carton had a fine bright eye of his own. All at once, he darted
me a side look, as much as to say, "Steady--don't take on--I see
something!"--and gave the child into her mother's arms. That eye of his
was so easy to understand, that I obeyed it by not so much as looking
either to the right or to the left out of a corner of my own, or changing
my attitude the least trifle. The Captain went on talking in the same
mild and easy way; but began--with his arms resting across his knees, and
his head a little hanging forward, as if the heat were rather too much
for him--began to play with the Spanish gun.
"They had laid their plans, you see," says the Captain, taking up the
Spanish gun across his knees, and looking, lazily, at the inlaying on the
stock, "with a great deal of art; and the corrupt or blundering local
authorities were so easily deceived;" he ran his left hand idly along the
barrel, but I saw, with my breath held, that he covered the action of
cocking the gun with his right--"so easily deceived, that they summoned
us out to come into the trap. But my intention as to future operations--"
In a flash the Spanish gun was at his bright eye, and he fired.
All started up; innumerable echoes repeated the sound of the discharge; a
cloud of bright-coloured birds flew out of the woods screaming; a handful
of leaves were scattered in the place where the shot had struck; a
crackling of branches was heard; and some lithe but heavy creature sprang
into the air, and fell forward, head down, over the muddy bank.
"What is it?" cries Captain Maryon from his boat. All silent then, but
the echoes rolling away.
"It is a Traitor and a Spy," said Captain Carton, handing me the gun to
load again. "And I think the other name of the animal is Christian
George King!"
Shot through the heart. Some of the people ran round to the spot, and
drew him out, with the slime and wet trickling down his face; but his
face itself would never stir any more to the end of time.
"Leave him hanging to that tree," cried Captain Carton; his boat's crew
giving way, and he leaping ashore. "But first into this wood, every man
in his place. And boats! Out of gunshot!"
It was a quick change, well meant and well made, though it ended in
disappointment. No Pirates were there; no one but the Spy was found. It
was supposed that the Pirates, unable to retake us, and expecting a great
attack upon them to be the consequence of our escape, had made from the
ruins in the Forest, taken to their ship along with the Treasure, and
left the Spy to pick up what intelligence he could. In the evening we
went away, and he was left hanging to the tree, all alone, with the red
sun making a kind of a dead sunset on his black face.
Next day, we gained the settlement on the Mosquito coast for which we
were bound. Having stayed there to refresh seven days, and having been
much commended, and highly spoken of, and finely entertained, we Marines
stood under orders to march from the Town-Gate (it was neither much of a
town nor much of a gate), at five in the morning.
My officer had joined us before then. When we turned out at the gate,
all the people were there; in the front of them all those who had been
our fellow-prisoners, and all the seamen.
"Davis," says Lieutenant Linderwood. "Stand out, my friend!"
I stood out from the ranks, and Miss Maryon and Captain Carton came up to
me.
"Dear Davis," says Miss Maryon, while the tears fell fast down her face,
"your grateful friends, in most unwillingly taking leave of you, ask the
favour that, while you bear away with you their affectionate remembrance,
which nothing can ever impair, you will also take this purse of money--far
more valuable to you, we all know, for the deep attachment and
thankfulness with which it is offered, than for its own contents, though
we hope those may prove useful to you, too, in after life."
I got out, in answer, that I thankfully accepted the attachment and
affection, but not the money. Captain Carton looked at me very
attentively, and stepped back, and moved away. I made him my bow as he
stepped back, to thank him for being so delicate.
"No, miss," said I, "I think it would break my heart to accept of money.
But, if you could condescend to give to a man so ignorant and common as
myself, any little thing you have worn--such as a bit of ribbon--"
She took a ring from her finger, and put it in my hand. And she rested
her hand in mine, while she said these words:
"The brave gentlemen of old--but not one of them was braver, or had a
nobler nature than you--took such gifts from ladies, and did all their
good actions for the givers' sakes. If you will do yours for mine, I
shall think with pride that I continue to have some share in the life of
a gallant and generous man."
For the second time in my life she kissed my hand. I made so bold, for
the first time, as to kiss hers; and I tied the ring at my breast, and I
fell back to my place.
Then, the horse-litter went out at the gate with Sergeant Drooce in it;
and the horse-litter went out at the gate with Mrs. Belltott in it; and
Lieutenant Linderwood gave the word of command, "Quick march!" and,
cheered and cried for, we went out of the gate too, marching along the
level plain towards the serene blue sky, as if we were marching straight
to Heaven.
When I have added here that the Pirate scheme was blown to shivers, by
the Pirate-ship which had the Treasure on board being so vigorously
attacked by one of His Majesty's cruisers, among the West India Keys, and
being so swiftly boarded and carried, that nobody suspected anything
about the scheme until three-fourths of the Pirates were killed, and the
other fourth were in irons, and the Treasure was recovered; I come to the
last singular confession I have got to make.
It is this. I well knew what an immense and hopeless distance there was
between me and Miss Maryon; I well knew that I was no fitter company for
her than I was for the angels; I well knew, that she was as high above my
reach as the sky over my head; and yet I loved her. What put it in my
low heart to be so daring, or whether such a thing ever happened before
or since, as that a man so uninstructed and obscure as myself got his
unhappy thoughts lifted up to such a height, while knowing very well how
presumptuous and impossible to be realised they were, I am unable to say;
still, the suffering to me was just as great as if I had been a
gentleman. I suffered agony--agony. I suffered hard, and I suffered
long. I thought of her last words to me, however, and I never disgraced
them. If it had not been for those dear words, I think I should have
lost myself in despair and recklessness.
The ring will be found lying on my heart, of course, and will be laid
with me wherever I am laid. I am getting on in years now, though I am
able and hearty. I was recommended for promotion, and everything was
done to reward me that could be done; but my total want of all learning
stood in my way, and I found myself so completely out of the road to it
that I could not conquer any learning, though I tried. I was long in the
service, and I respected it, and was respected in it, and the service is
dear to me at this present hour.
At this present hour, when I give this out to my Lady to be written down,
all my old pain has softened away, and I am as happy as a man can be, at
this present fine old country-house of Admiral Sir George Carton,
Baronet. It was my Lady Carton who herself sought me out, over a great
many miles of the wide world, and found me in Hospital wounded, and
brought me here. It is my Lady Carton who writes down my words. My Lady
was Miss Maryon. And now, that I conclude what I had to tell, I see my
Lady's honoured gray hair droop over her face, as she leans a little
lower at her desk; and I fervently thank her for being so tender as I see
she is, towards the past pain and trouble of her poor, old, faithful,
humble soldier.