In the meantime, the fleet sailed away from the scene of action, after
honourably burying the dead and destroying our sunken vessels; so that
the Chinese, who had a weak habit at that time and in later years, too,
of indulging in fiction when referring to their martial exploits, should
not be able to boast of having captured our ships, the _Candahar_
putting in at Hong Kong to refit later on, after visiting Shanghai again
on leaving the Gulf of Pechili.
Here Larkyns, who had succeeded poor Mr Stormcock in his office as
caterer of the gunroom mess, distinguished himself, quite unwittingly,
in a financial operation which gained him the credit of being a very
"smart" fellow indeed in the sense in which our American cousins use the
term; besides earning for himself the good opinion of all of us in the
gunroom, whom he benefited by the exploit.
It happened in this wise.
Master Larkyns being ashore one day at Victoria, the chief town of Hong
Kong, which is built up the side of a hill facing the harbour, noticing
a lot of people collected round one of the merchant's stores, asked
naturally, midshipman like, "What the row was about?"
He was told an auction was going on; so, in he went to see the fun,
taking much interest in the biddings.
Presently, a hogshead of claret was put up by the auctioneer, and,
thinking this a good opportunity for laying in a stock for the mess, as
we would be in commission probably in warm latitudes, for the next two
or three years, when the wine would come in rather handy, Larkyns
listened eagerly for the price and heard it offered at 12 pounds.
This seemed a big sum, but, if the worst came to the worst, and his
messmates grumbled at his extravagance, he thought, he could pay for it
out of his own pocket, he thought; and so, in his impetuous way, he bid
12 pounds, 10 shillings, without waiting for anyone to make an offer,
which no one doing, his sudden jump having paralysed the brokers
present, to his great surprise and joy the wine was knocked down to him
at the price he named.
By-and-by, however, his joy was changed to grief; for, the auctioneer
asked him for a cheque or a reference, when he found out that, instead
of buying a single hogshead of claret, as he believed to be the case on
bidding for it, he had purchased a whole consignment of the wine, of
which the single specimen offered had been a sample--the transaction
involved the outlay of more than 1500 pounds, which of course he could
never pay, although he had the 12 pounds, 10 shillings he had offered,
and a few pounds more in his pocket as well.
Here was a pretty to-do; and, he was just wondering whether he should
solve the Gordian knot by cutting and running, when, luckily, a man
without a hat rushed in breathlessly from a neighbouring store, and
coming up to the auctioneer, asked him if the wine was sold yet.
"You're a bit too late," replied the master of the rostrum, pointing out
Larkyns to his astonished gaze. "I have just knocked it down to this
gentleman."
"Indeed!" exclaimed the stranger. "At what?"
"Twelve pounds, ten shillings."
"Ah, that all?" cried the hatless individual; and, turning to Larkyns,
he said with an entreating air, "I'll give you an advance of ten
shillings a hogshead if you let me have it."
Our caterer was quite bewildered.
"I don't mind," he said at last, looking from the auctioneer to the
stranger and back again to his creditor, who stood waiting for the 1500
pound cheque. "That is, if this gentleman here is satisfied."
"Oh, that's all right," said the auctioneer. "I know Mr --, and his
word is as good as his bond. He'll give you the difference between your
bid and his present offer, and you'll gain something by the deal."
"By Jove!" cried Larkyns. "I never thought of that, but I wanted some
wine for the mess."
"I daresay we can manage that," said the buyer, evidently pleased with
his bargain, though had he known of my friend's mistake in time before
he made his offer he might not have been so generous. "I'll tell you
what I'll do, I will give you 50 pounds to take over the consignment,
and a cask of the wine into the bargain."
This Master Larkyns readily agreed to, as may be well imagined; and the
upshot of the affair was, that our mess funds were 50 pounds richer by
this visit of Larkyns to the auction rooms.
This enabled us to live "like fighting cocks" while we remained in port;
and when the wardroom officers chanced to pay us a visit, which I
noticed they more frequently did now than formerly, we were able to
offer them a glass of claret, which was rather a novelty in those days
in the gunroom mess.
After refitting, we went for a cruise to the East Indies, where we found
the new admiral who had come out to replace Admiral Hope; and, in the
spring of the following year, having served for eighteen months as a
naval cadet, I was promoted to the rank of midshipman, the captain and
first lieutenant, having convinced themselves of my competency by asking
me how I would manage to get a six-pounder to the top of a perpendicular
hill, my answer to which question was that I would head it up in a cask
and "parbuckle" it up.
"Glass-eye" smiled rather quizzingly at this, requesting to know what
sort of cask I would employ. I settled him at once, however, by saying
that a claret cask would do; there having been a joke current of his
coming to see how the gunroom was getting on about luncheon time, at the
time our wine cellar had been so sumptuously replenished by Larkyns,
who, by the way, got his step to acting mate the same month that I was
made midshipman.