ATTACKED WITH FEVER.--MAMMY GOBO, MY BLACK NURSE.--RECOVERY.--DEATH OF
DELISLE.--SAIL FOR JAMAICA.--PROMOTED.--JOIN THE PORCUPINE.--CHASE.--A
MISHAP.--BECALMED.--PROVISIONS RUN SHORT.--SUFFERINGS.--A FRESH BREEZE
BRINGS US RELIEF.--JAMAICA AGAIN.
I had long held out against the attacks of that arch enemy, the yellow
fever, to which so many of my companions in misfortune had succumbed.
Several vacancies having occurred in the house, Manby had gone there and
left me to the society of Tom Rockets and my cocks and hens. I,
however, had got so accustomed to the place that I had no wish to go
elsewhere. Impunity had made me fancy that I was proof against the
fever. It found me out, however. In an instant I was struck down. I
entreated that I might be left where I was. Tom made me up as
comfortable a bed as he could, and covered me with a boat-cloak and a
blanket. Strange as it may seem, in that climate I felt excessively
cold, and thought that nothing would warm me. Hour after hour I lay
shivering as if nothing could ever make me warm again, and expecting all
the time that I was about to die, and thinking that those I loved most
on earth would perhaps never gain tidings of my fate. Then I felt so
hot that I had a longing to jump into the nearest stream to cool my
fevered blood. Poor Tom sat by my side, often wringing his hands in
despair, not knowing how to treat me, and yet anxious to do all in his
power to be of assistance. At length one day he jumped up as if a
bright thought had just struck him, and out he ran, leaving me alone. I
scarcely expected that I should be alive when he came back, so weak and
wretched did I feel. An hour or more passed when he reappeared,
accompanied by an old black woman with whom I had occasionally exchanged
a joke in passing, and I believe bestowed on her some trifle or other,--
Mammy Gobo I used to call her,--little thinking the service she would be
to me. She felt me all over and looked at my tongue, and then off she
trotted. She soon, however, came back with some pots and herbs and some
bricks. She first made Tom dig a hole, in which she lighted a fire and
at it heated some bricks. These she applied at once to my feet, and,
putting on her pots, formed some decoctions with the herbs, which she
made me swallow in large quantities. Had she not providentially come, I
believe that I should have died that very night. As it was, I was
evidently a subject requiring all her care and skill. She seemed
anxious to bestow both on me. All night long she sat up by my side, and
all day she watched over me. It appeared to me that she never slept.
If I opened my eyes they were certain to fall on her jolly ugly visage,
with her large eyes turned full upon me, seemingly to inquire what I
wanted. When at last she began to go away occasionally for half an hour
at a time to collect more herbs, or for some other purpose, Rockets was
always ready to take her place, and attended me with all the affection
of a true and warm friend. Strong as my constitution was, I am very
sure that had I not been watched over by Mammy Gobo and Tom I should not
have recovered--that is to say, I felt then, and I feel more strongly
now, that they were the instruments, under a merciful Providence, by
which I was preserved so long from destruction while hanging between
life and death, and ultimately of my recovery, though it was long before
that took place. Probably in consequence of his constant attendance on
me, before I had begun to recover, Tom himself was attacked with the
fever, and there he lay in the stall next to me, moaning and groaning,
and occasionally raging with delirium. I ought to have mentioned that
some time before this our old horse had been removed to a place of
superior accommodation--I suspect to our tumble-down, rickety stable;
but, as we wanted his room more than his company, we did not complain of
this. Mammy Gobo was no respecter of persons, and I was glad to find
that she attended on Tom with as much care as she had done on me. The
poor fellow was very grateful.
"Ah, sir," he said, "though that 'ere nigger woman has got a black skin,
to my mind she has as good and red a heart in her body as any
white-faced person. It's just the painting of the outside which ain't
altogether according to our notions; but after all, sir, beauty is, as
you know, sir, only skin deep."
I fully agreed with him on this point, and at that moment poor Mammy
Gobo was more welcome to our sight than the most beautiful creature in
existence. What cooling drinks she concocted out of herbs and simples,
and what delicious messes out of various sorts of vegetables and fruits
and roots, the productions of that fruitful climate! However, Mammy
Gobo could not always attend on us, for she had several other patients
and had to look after her own affairs at home. During her absence our
poor chickens fared but ill, for we could not go out to collect food for
them, and the supply we had before stored up was soon expended. They,
in consequence, had to go forth to forage for themselves. At first they
came back regularly enough, but then we remarked that one was missing;
then next day another did not make its appearance, and so on the third
day two were missing. In a few days half our stock were lost. We told
Mammy Gobo of what had occurred, and she said she would try and find out
who had robbed us. When, however, she was present, all the chickens
came back. We certainly did not suspect her of being the thief, but we
felt sure that the real thieves watched her movements and ran off with
our fowls when she was out of the way. We were compelled also to kill
several of our stock of chickens for food, Mammy Gobo having especially
prescribed chicken-broth when we became somewhat convalescent. They
were now reduced to a very small number. One by one they also
disappeared till none remained, and then we were indeed in a very
miserable and forlorn condition. We were still too ill, however, to
think much of the future, but we found it impossible to supply even our
present wants; and had not the kind-hearted black woman catered for us,
assuring the hucksters that I was certain to recover and pay them, I
believe that we should have starved.
At last I was able to get about a little, though the fever was still on
me, and I managed to crawl to the house to see some of my
brother-officers. The greater number of them were sick, or had been ill
and nearer death's door. I inquired for my old shipmate and friend,
Delisle. "He is ill in that room," was the reply. I went forthwith to
him. A few short weeks of sickness had made a great change in his
countenance. He took my hand when I approached the wretched pallet on
which he was stretched.
"I am glad to see you recovering, my dear Hurry," he said in a low,
feeble voice. "It is all up with me, though. I shall never be a
post-captain--never command a ship--my last battle is fought. I must
yield to God's will. It seems hard, though. You know all about my
friends. If you ever reach home, go and tell them about me. I can't
talk more. I am weak--very weak--couldn't hail the maintop if I was to
try. Oh, it's hard, very hard, to be thus cut off by the arm of this
vile climate--very, very."
He was silent. I tried to console him, to raise his spirits, for I was
certain they had a good deal to do in enabling a person to recover. In
vain were all my efforts. He sank slowly, and before morning one who
had long been my friend and the companion of my Orlopian days on board
the Orpheus, and lately my messmate also in the Bristol, was no more.
The blow prostrated me in body and spirits, and I felt inclined to give
in, and lay my head down beside his. Soon after daylight we sallied
forth with the body of our brother-officer, and took our way towards the
dreary savannah. We were followed by some of our guards and other
individuals, anxious, we concluded, to watch our proceedings. Our party
was but small, for alas! the greater number of the lieutenants were
unable from sickness to attend the funeral. We were a melancholy
party--pale, haggard, and squalid. We placed the body on the grass.
What a fine, handsome young fellow he looked! We began to dig his
grave. Without consideration, we began to dig it east and west. When
we had proceeded some way in our work, our French masters interfered and
said that we ought to dig it north and south, that only Christian men,
good Catholics, should be buried east and west, that they might be ready
to rise when summoned by the sound of the last trump. We resolved,
however, not to give in to so absurd a demand, and continued our
labours. Again the Frenchmen interfered. On a further consultation one
of our party recollected that graves were usually placed east and west
in England, and so we told our tyrants that we were only following one
of our own national customs, and to it we intended to adhere. From our
not recollecting the custom, all our other countrymen had been buried
north and south. After some further dispute about the matter we were
allowed to proceed, and thus poor Delisle rests in the position which is
considered most orthodox, though I cannot say that I should be inclined
to attach much importance to the matter. Sad and sick, I went back to
our stable. The exertion I had gone through almost finished me. The
other lieutenants wanted me to go to their house, but I had no spirits
for society. I preferred my own wretched abode and the companionship of
Tom Rockets and the old black woman. Never did one brother mourn for
another more sincerely than I did for Gerard Delisle. Thus the days and
weeks and months drew slowly along till April arrived. That month was
passed much as the others till on the 28th, a day not likely to be
forgotten by me. Several of my friends had come in to see me, and they
were all sitting about in the stable. We were bemoaning, as we often
did, our hard fate.
"As for me," I exclaimed, "I fully expect to lay my bones in that dark,
dreary savannah! What hope have I of ever getting away?"
Suddenly a voice was heard outside the door shouting lustily. We
thought it was one of our friends running about in the delirium of
fever, when in rushed Lieutenant Moriarty with an open letter in his
hand of a very official appearance.
"It was directed to me, so I broke the seal. You and Manby and I are
free. Hurrah, boys, hurrah!" he exclaimed. "Hurrah, hurrah!"
I thought at first that he was mad, and could not believe him till he
let me inspect the letter. It was from General D'Argue, informing us
that, in consequence of a request from Sir Peter Parker, we had leave to
embark on board a cartel for Jamaica. I turned the document over and
over again in my hand. There could be no doubt about its genuineness.
Ill and weak as we all were, for we still had the fever on us, we
resolved to set off the moment we were able. After the first ebullition
of our feelings was over, we recollected what must be the sensation of
the friends we were leaving behind, and Moriarty did his best to soothe
them by assuring them how rejoiced we should be if they were able to go
likewise. Some of them, I thought, looked compassionately on me, for I
was at that time confined to my bed, such as it was, and, as I thought,
utterly unable to walk. The news of my liberty, however, worked more
wonders towards my cure than all the physic the first of doctors could
have given me, or the decoctions of good Mammy Gobo. The next day,
however, when it was known that I had got my liberty, the hucksters,
shoemakers, and washerwomen poured in their bills on me, which, though
not of any great amount, I found totally beyond my means to pay. I
promised them that I would transmit the amounts the instant I got back
to Jamaica; but they said that would not do, and that if I could not pay
them they must appeal to the authorities, and that I must be detained.
I was in despair. I was eager to be gone. I felt that I should not
live if I remained. In my dilemma Lieutenant Lawford, who had a letter
of credit on a merchant at Cape Francois, came forward in the most
liberal and generous way, and supplied me with fifty dollars, which was
all I required to satisfy the demands of my creditors. My mind being
thus relieved, I felt myself strong enough to get up and assist in
making the preparations for our journey. We engaged a carriage to
convey us to the coast, for none of us were in a fit state to ride on
horseback. I will not dwell on the sad countenances and the depressed
spirits of our brother-officers whom we left behind.
On the morning of the 30th of April, with a buoyancy of spirits to which
I had long been a stranger, I with my companions got into the rickety
vehicle which was to convey us the first part of our journey, Tom
Rockets being perched on a seat behind. We arrived at about eight
o'clock at the village of Lemonade--an attractive name on a hot day--and
near there found a boat in readiness to carry us to Cape Francois. How
delicious the sea-breeze smelt!--how refreshing to our parched skins and
stagnant blood! It appeared to me to drive away at once all the remains
of the fever. I felt like a new being, strong and hearty, in a moment.
I found, however, when I attempted to exert my strength, that I had very
little of that left. Once more we found ourselves in the
far-from-delectable town of Cape Francois. As the cartel was not ready,
we had to take up our abode at a tavern, where we were joined by two
other naval officers who had been imprisoned in another part of the
island. We had some difficulty in amusing ourselves during our stay,
but every day we were picking up health and strength, and at length, on
the 8th, we all five embarked, with two masters of merchantmen who had
lost their vessels, and thirty seamen, on board the cartel, and
commenced our voyage to Jamaica. On the 10th we put into Saint
Germains, another part of Saint Domingo, where we received some more
released prisoners, and on the following day we bid what I hoped would
prove an eternal adieu to the most inhospitable of islands. With the
exception of the houses we had stopped at on our way to Ou Trou, we had
not been received into the abodes of any of the white inhabitants of the
country. Some of the coloured people would willingly have treated us
kindly, but they were kept in awe by the authorities, and thus the only
real kindness we received was from the poor unsophisticated blacks. For
my own part, I have felt ever since deeply grateful to Mammy Gobo and
her ebony-skinned countrymen and countrywomen, and have been most
anxious to do them all the good in my power. With regard to the French
residents, all I can say is that I recognised among them none of the
supposed characteristics of the French nation. Instead of proving
hospitable and polite, I should say that I never saw a greater set of
bears in my life.
Our voyage was short and merry, though one of the subjects which
afforded us most amusement was our own forlorn, half-starved, almost
naked condition. We were all much alike, so we could afford to laugh at
each other. The weather held fine and our voyage was speedy, and on the
ever-to-be-remembered 13th of May we sighted the entrance of Port Royal
harbour, where we dropped anchor in the afternoon. I found that I had
been absent exactly nine months and three days. In spite of my
tatter-demalion appearance and my consciousness that I was much like the
wretched apothecary who supplied the love-lorn Romeo with the fatal
potion, as soon as I got on shore I hastened up to pay my respects to
Sir Peter Parker. He received me, as I knew he would, with the greatest
kindness, and when I apologised for my ragged appearance he laughed and
assured me that he would much rather see an officer in a threadbare
uniform, worn out in active service, than in one shining and bright in
consequence of want of use.
"You'll stay to dinner with me, Mr Hurry," said the admiral. "We must
try to put some more flesh on those bones of yours."