The grass did not grow in the streets of Portsmouth in those busy times;
I managed, however, to get leave to run over to Ryde for a couple of
days, and took Harry and Reginald Leslie with me. The youngsters got a
hearty welcome; and when I told the captain how Harry had behaved, he
complimented him greatly. The youngsters were made much of by the
ladies, and they ran no small risk of being spoilt, so it seemed to me.
Miss Fanny especially, the captain's youngest daughter, seemed never
tired of talking to Harry, and asking him questions which he was well
pleased to answer. She was a pretty, fair-haired, blue-eyed little
girl, about three years younger than him. Neither the captain nor his
lady troubled themselves about the matter, looking upon them as
children; of course they were not much more. Harry, however, came home
in the evening to Susan and me, and I was pleased to see that he was not
a bit set up, but just as affectionate to my wife as he had ever been.
The day after I got home I received the long-looked-for letter from
Jerry; but there was not much in it which I could make out, except that
he had come to an anchor near his old home, and had half-resolved not to
go wandering any more. He had made himself known to his sister, who was
trying to persuade him to remain quiet. He was very mysterious about
the affair I had at heart. He still insisted that he was on the right
track; but as he might spoil all if it was discovered what he was about
until the right time came, it would be wiser not to mention names, in
case anybody should get hold of his letter.
"The youngster has friends," he added, "and is doing very well, and can
wait without damage for a few years. There is another person also for
whose sake, even more than for his, I should like to have the mystery
cleared up, but the risk is too great to make the attempt. We must,
therefore, as I have said, let both wait till the proper opportunity,
and that is in the hands of One who orders all things for the best."
I should say that Jerry wrote in a very different way to that in which
he spoke, and it seemed to me that when he got a pen in his hand he was
no longer the rough sailor, but the educated man he had once been before
he got into bad ways and ran off to sea. He signed his letter "JD," and
told me to send my answer to the post-office, but on no account to
direct my letter by the name I knew him by. I of course did as he
desired, thanking him heartily for what he had already done, and
expressing a hope that he would not neglect the interests of one whom my
wife and I loved so much.
I have not time to describe one-tenth part of the events in young
Harry's career.
After serving in the _Nymph_ some time longer, I was transferred to the
_Juno_ frigate; and Captain Leslie succeeded in getting the two
youngsters appointed to her. I had belonged to her when she was first
in commission in the West Indies, commanded by Captain Hood. A braver
man never stepped. I remember an incident which will show his
character. We were lying at Saint Anne's Harbour, Jamaica, a heavy gale
of wind blowing, when the look-out from the masthead discovered far out
at sea a raft; tossing about on the foaming waves, which threatened
every moment to wash off three men who were seen clinging to it. The
captain at once ordered a boat to put off to their assistance, but the
sea was so heavy that the boat's crew held back, thinking that they
should lose their own lives if they made the attempt.
"I never order men to undertake what I dare not do myself," exclaimed
Captain Hood, springing into the boat.
Away he pulled amid the foam-crested, tumbling seas. Every moment we
thought that the boat and all on board would be lost; but he at last
succeeded in reaching the raft, and taking the three poor men off it
just as they were exhausted, and would have in another minute been
washed away.
Such a man I was heartily glad to serve under again. We sailed
immediately for the Mediterranean, where we joined Lord Hood's fleet
lying in the harbour of Toulon. The French Royalists had given up the
city to the English and Spaniards, who were at that time our allies, and
their troops assisted to man the fortifications. A Republican army,
however, invested the place, and a good deal of fighting had been going
on. The English had, however, not quite two thousand men on shore, and,
though they could trust the French Royalists, the Spaniards,
Neapolitans, and other troops could not be relied on. Serving in the
Republican army was Napoleon Buonaparte, then an officer of artillery;
not that I knew of it at the time, but I afterwards heard that he had
been there when he became Emperor of the French.
The French had one night surprised a detachment of Spanish troops posted
on an important height above Toulon, and thereby got possession of it.
No time was to be lost in driving them out, and the marines and a party
of bluejackets from the ships close at hand were ordered on shore to
assist the Spaniards in storming the heights and turning out the
Republicans. The seamen, twenty of whom went from our ship, were headed
by Lieutenant Seagrave: I went to assist in the landing. We had shoved
off, when I found that Reginald Leslie and Harry had jumped into the
boat. Reginald said that he was resolved to see the fun. Harry told me
that he had been ordered to take charge of the men instead of a master's
mate, who was unable to go, so he was all right; but Reginald had no
business to be where he was, and had there been time I should have sent
him on board again. It was dark by the time we had reached the shore;
the troops and bluejackets, mustering eight hundred, formed as they
landed, and were immediately ordered to push forward. I had intended,
as in duty bound, to keep Reginald Leslie in the boat, but he leapt on
shore among the first, and I was too busy to see what became of him.
The hills which rose above our heads were steep and rugged,
notwithstanding which, soldiers and bluejackets pushed up them by a long
and narrow path, with a rugged precipice on one side. At any moment
they might arouse the enemy, who would soon have stopped their progress.
I knew it would take a couple of hours or more, from the distance they
had to go, before the party could be back. I waited anxiously, thinking
more perhaps of Harry and his messmate than of the success of the
expedition, about which I had little doubt. The time seemed very long.
At last, hearing the sound of firing from among the hills, I knew that
the batteries were being attacked. The firing then ceased, the sound of
only an occasional shot reaching my ears. I now waited more anxiously
than before for the return of the party. Suddenly the sound of great
guns and musketry came down from over the hills, and I began to fear
that our party were being again attacked by a superior force. I had
posted a couple of lookouts on the neighbouring heights which commanded
the path, to give notice of the approach of either friends or foes. One
of them came running down, crying out--
"They are coming, sir, they are coming!"
"Our people or the French?" I asked.
"Sure it must be our people, sir," answered the man, who was Irish but
as he seemed somewhat doubtful about the matter, I ordered the men into
the boats, to be ready to shove off, should by any chance our party have
been cut off. At last I saw a large body of men coming down the hill,
and was greatly relieved when I discovered that they were Spaniards, and
that our other allies were following close behind. Soon afterwards the
English troops came in sight, the bluejackets bringing up the rear.
They were at once embarked, and I heard that they had stormed and
captured the batteries, and spiked the guns, but had been attacked on
their way back by a large body of Republicans, who, however, had been
defeated with great loss. I anxiously looked out for the two
midshipmen, but could nowhere find them. I made inquiries, and was told
that they had been seen with the sailors, unhurt, just before the last
attack, but that several men had fallen just as they had received orders
to charge the enemy. It was very evident, I feared, that they had
either been killed or taken prisoners. Still, as I could not bear the
thoughts of leaving them, I obtained permission from the commanding
officer to take a party of men and to go in search of them, as, should
they have been only wounded, they might not be far off. I had plenty of
volunteers, but chose only ten men, with a French Royalist officer who
had been aboard our ship and knew the country. There was no time to be
lost, so we started at once up the steep path. I felt my heart greatly
cast down, for I would have sooner lost my life than have had the brave
boys cut off. Still I had some faint hopes of finding them; but should
they have been taken prisoners by the Republicans, I had too much reason
to fear that they would be shot; for those fellows were terrible
savages, and many of their Royalist countrymen who had fallen into their
hands had been mercilessly put to death. As we approached the spot
where the Republicans had attacked our friends, we carefully examined
the ground on either side. Pushing on, we came upon several dead bodies
of men who had been shot, two or three of whom were Spaniards, the
others Neapolitans; and farther on were a still greater number of
Republicans who had been killed in the attack on the troops; still we
went on till we got near the batteries, when our guide, though a brave
man, refused to go farther, saying that we should probably lose our own
lives, as the enemy were likely to be in the neighbourhood, and that it
was most probable the midshipmen had been taken prisoners. Very
unwillingly, therefore, I agreed to return. We still examined every
place on either side of the road into which a person could have crept
for concealment, for my idea was that one of the youngsters had been
wounded, and that the other had refused to desert him. All this time we
had been careful not to speak above a whisper, for fear, should an enemy
be in the neighbourhood, of giving notice of our approach. We had got
more than half-way down the hill, when, just as we turned a sharp angle
of the path, I caught sight, through the gloom, of a figure, some fifty
yards ahead of us, moving on, it seemed slowly; the person, whoever he
was, must have heard our footsteps, for he appeared to run on, we of
course making chase; presently he stopped, and the next instant we lost
sight of him. Some of the men fancied that he must have gone over the
precipice. We were quickly up to the spot, and were speaking pretty
loudly about what had become of the man, when I heard a voice crying out
my name, and, turning round, there in a hole of the rock I discovered
Harry supporting Reginald in his arms.
"Thank Heaven!" he exclaimed; "I thought you were Republicans, and that
we should have been taken off by them."
All hands were very glad to find the young gentlemen, but we lost no
time in talking. It had been just as I had supposed; Reginald had been
wounded, and falling by the edge of a bank had rolled down it, and
Harry, who had been at his side at the time, followed him. Just then
the Republicans who had been coming up had charged our men, and, in the
darkness, the lads being unable to tell which party had gained the
victory, they had been afraid to climb up the bank till all was again
silent. By this time Reginald's wound prevented him from walking, and
Harry had had great difficulty in getting him up the bank; he then had
taken him on his shoulders, intending to carry him down the hill, but
when he had got some way Reginald fainted from pain and loss of blood.
On this he had carried him to a copse on the hillside, some little way
off; here he had put him down, and had done his best to bind up his
wound, intending to go on again as soon as Reginald was somewhat
recovered. He had heard us hunting about, but thinking that we might be
enemies he had kept silent, though it was a wonder that no one had
discovered the youngsters. After we had passed by, Reginald having come
to, Harry had taken him on his back, and was proceeding down the hill
when he overtook them as I have mentioned. We, of course, lifted up
Reginald, and hurried as fast as we could down to the boat.
Harry, as he deserved, gained great credit for the way he had behaved,
for he had undoubtedly saved Reginald's life; and, in consideration of
his wound, the captain forgave Reginald for having left the ship without
leave.
I never had a fancy for fighting on shore, and I was not sorry when we
were ordered to Malta, to bring away a party of Maltese marines, engaged
to serve on board the fleet.
We had light and unfavourable winds going, and, on returning with the
soldiers aboard, we met with a succession of strong contrary gales from
the eastward, and a lee current, which prevented us from arriving
abreast of the harbour's mouth till about ten o'clock at night on the
11th of January. The captain, not wishing to run the risk of being
thrown to leeward, considering the number of men we had on board,
determined to sail into the harbour at once. We had no pilot, but the
master felt confident that he could take the ship in without risk. The
hands were at their stations, and the captain ordered Harry and another
midshipman to go forward with night-glasses and look out for the fleet.
We had a moderate leading wind, which sent us under our topsails at a
fair rate through the water. As we neared the outer roads of Toulon we
were somewhat surprised at not seeing any of the fleet, but the captain
concluded that the ships had run for shelter into the inner harbour.
The night, was clear, the moon was shining brightly, and the water
smooth. As we advanced we made out a brig ahead, and beyond her the
lights of several others. The captain, therefore, had no doubt but that
he was right in his conjectures. Having passed the forts, we were
standing on, when we found that we could not weather the brig-of-war we
had seen ahead of us. We were close to her stern, when a hail came from
her, but what was said we could not make out. The captain, however,
supposing that the brig was Spanish, and wanted to know what ship ours
was, answered--
"His Britannic Majesty's frigate _Juno_!"
Again a hail came from the brig, and several people shouted out, "Viva!"
The captain then inquired what English ships were in the harbour, but
we could not make out a word of what was said in reply; still, of
course, taking her for Spanish, this did not surprise us, except that it
seemed somewhat strange that an English vessel should not have been
stationed at the mouth of the harbour. Just as we passed under the
stern of the brig, someone again hailed from her--
"Luff! luff!"
The captain, fearing that we had shoal water aboard, ordered the helm to
be put a-lee, but before the frigate got her head to the wind we were
aground. The captain immediately ordered the sails to be clewed up and
handed. While the people were on the yards, we caught sight of a boat
pulling from the brig towards the town. Just then, before the people
were off the yards, a sudden flaw of wind drove the ship's head off the
bank. Hoping now to get off, the order was given to hoist the driver
and mizzen-staysail, and to keep the sheets to windward. The instant
the ship lost her way, the bower-anchor was let go, on which she tended
to the wind; but the after-part of her keel was still aground. The
launch and cutter were now hoisted out, and I jumped into the first to
carry out the kedge-anchor, with two hawsers, in order to warp the ship
clear. We worked away with a will, for we did not like the thoughts of
being seen on shore by the rest of the fleet at daybreak. That was all
we just then thought about. At length we succeeded in getting her
completely afloat, and were returning to the ship, when we saw a boat go
alongside, and being hailed, she answered, "Captain Someone," but we did
not catch the name, and up the side he went with two other persons, who
seemed to be officers. On reaching the deck he introduced himself as a
French captain, and said that it was the regulation of the port, and
according to the commands of the admiral, that vessels should go into
another part of the harbour and do ten days' quarantine.
On this, Captain Hood asked where the _Victory_, the admiral's ship,
lay. The French officer hesitated, and then said she was far up the
harbour.
Just then Harry, who had a sharp eye, exclaimed somewhat loudly to a
messmate--
"Why, the fellows have the Republican cockades in their hats!"
The captain overheard him; and, looking more earnestly at the
Frenchmen's hats, he saw by the light of the moon, to his dismay, the
three Republican colours. He put another question about the admiral,
when the French officer, finding that he and his companions were
suspected, replied--
"Make yourselves easy; the English are good people, and we will treat
them kindly; the English admiral has departed some time."