If the Frenchmen were very much astonished at finding us among them, we
were not the less so on discovering the number of our opponents.
Besides the crew, we found ourselves engaged with thirty or forty
soldiers; but had there been more, it would have been the better for us,
for so crowded were the schooner's decks, that they impeded each other's
movements. By the suddenness of our rush, we had gained the after part
of the vessel, and had killed or wounded half a dozen of the enemy
before they knew exactly what to do. The bodies of these men served as
a sort of rampart, while the bowman of our boat, having secured her,
climbed up the side to our support, thus allowing us a few seconds to
look about. In the centre of a group of vociferating, gesticulating,
grimace-making Frenchmen, some armed with muskets, others with swords
and cutlasses, and others pistols and boarding-pikes, stood a tall,
gaunt, soldier officer, eyeing us very sternly, and tugging hard to get
a sword out of a long scabbard, while he kept screaming to his men, as I
understood, to annihilate the dogs of Englishmen, and to kick them into
the sea. But though he kept shouting louder and louder, till his cries
resembled the rabid howls of a wild beast, his soldiers found that
though it might be easy to order them to kick five stout British seamen
overboard, and two rather precocious midshipmen, it was not quite as
easy for them to obey. I saw, too, that our only chance of success was
to push on without further delay. Had Mr Johnson been with us I should
have felt less doubt as to the result of our exploit.
"On, my lads!" I shouted, "we must drive these Frenchmen off the deck."
Grey echoed my words, as did another faint voice, and I found that Toby
Bluff, in spite of his wound, had climbed on board the schooner, and was
ready to do battle by my side. On we all pushed. A sturdy French
seaman, on my left, raised his cutlass, while I was engaged with another
on my right. I could just see, out of the corner of my left eye, his
weapon descending, and fully believed that my last moment had come, for
it was impossible to ward it off. Before, however, the cutlass reached
my head, there was the report of a pistol close to my ear, and my enemy
tumbled over dead on the deck. Toby had saved my life, just as I had
before saved the boatswain's. We continued cutting and slashing away so
furiously, that the Frenchmen no longer attempted to contend against us.
Jumping aside like a troop of monkeys, as we got among them, they
tumbled over each other down the hatchways, the old officer with them;
whether he went of his own accord, or could not help it, I was unable to
tell. All I know is, that he disappeared with most of his army, the
remainder of whom lay sprawling on deck, or clinging to the bowsprit,
while some of the crew had run up the rigging, and others had tumbled
into the hold with the soldiers. Over these latter we took the liberty
of clapping the hatches, while Billy Wise did the wisest thing he had
been guilty of for a long time; he pointed his musket at the men aloft,
and intimated that he would shoot the first who attempted to descend.
Some of them had pistols, but they had fortunately already fired them at
us, and they were afraid of throwing them at our heads, lest Billy
should put his threat into execution. His adventure with the sea
monster had evidently roused his wits, for he had, besides this, done
good service in boarding, and several of the foe owed their fall to his
sturdy arm. In less than five minutes from the time we sprang on board,
Grey and I were shaking hands, as we stood on the hatch, with the
Frenchmen below us.
"I hope, though, that the Monsieurs won't blow up the ship," he
observed; "they must begin to feel heartily ashamed of the way they have
allowed us to take her from them."
"No fear of it; they are not the fellows for that," I answered: "but it
is just possible that they may attempt to take her back again, so we
must keep a very bright look-out to prevent them."
Grey agreed with me.
"I wish that I could talk to them, though," he remarked; "I don't
suppose that one of our party knows a word of French."
"No; we must learn, however, on the first opportunity," said I. "It
would be very convenient, and very likely useful. If the captain had
not known it, we should probably have been caught by the enemy's fleet
when we got among them."
The puzzle was now to settle how to manage with these prisoners. As we
had only seven effectives, and they had more than forty, it was no
slight task. Billy Wise, touching his hat, suggested that we should
shoot them, or send them overboard with round-shots at their heels, to
swim ashore if they could; but as that mode of procedure was somewhat
contrary to the customs of civilised warfare, we declined to adopt it,
though undoubtedly it would have solved our difficulties. We ultimately
agreed that our best plan would be to get hold of all those on deck, and
to lash their hands behind them, and then to summon a few at a time of
those below to be treated in the same way. We soon had all those above
deck secured. It seemed extraordinary that men should submit in so
abject a manner to a party of men and boys. They appeared, indeed,
entirely to have lost their wits. It shows what boldness and audacity
will accomplish. However, it might have been the other way, and we
might all have been knocked on the head, or tumbled down as prisoners
into the Frenchman's hold. Having accomplished this, we sent a hand to
the helm, trimmed sails, though there was not much wind to fill them,
and steered in the direction in which we hoped to fall in with the
frigate. I must own that it was not till then that we thought of poor
Ned Dawlish. We drew the boat alongside, and had him lifted on deck.
We had some faint hopes that, though he lay so still, he might be alive,
but his glazed eyes and stiffened limbs too plainly told us that his
last fight was over, and that we should hear his cheery voice and hearty
laugh no more. We then, turned our attention to Toby Bluff. He had
shown himself a true hero, for though his wound must have given him
intense pain, he had not given utterance to a complaint or a single
groan, but had endeavoured to work away as if nothing was the matter
with him. I had observed a good deal of blood about his dress, but it
was not till I came to examine him that I found it had flowed from his
own veins, and that his shirt and trousers on one side were literally
saturated. He was looking deadly pale, and would in a few seconds have
fainted, had not Grey and I set to work to staunch the blood. We had
not much experience as surgeons, but we succeeded after some time.
"Thank ye, sir; thank ye," said Toby, his voice growing weaker every
moment; "I'll be up and at 'em again directly. I wants another pistol,
please, sir. I don't know what tricks the mounseers may be up to, and
they shan't hurt you if I can help it, that they shan't. I shot one on
'em, and I'll shoot another."
By this time his voice grew indistinct, and we began to be alarmed about
him. We happily had some rum and water left. We poured it down his
throat, and it evidently revived him. We then placed him under charge
of the helmsman, and continued our other duties.
"Now, Merry, what's to be done?" asked Grey, when we had got all who
remained on deck in limbo. "If those gentlemen down there find it's
hot, which I suspect they will very soon, they will begin to grow
obstreperous, and try to force their way out. When men get desperate,
they are somewhat difficult to manage."
"People cannot live without air, I fancy, and they cannot have much of
it in the hold of this craft, which must naturally have a pretty strong
smell of bilge-water," I answered. "We must get them up somehow or
other, so that they don't overpower us. However, we may as well first
get the dead men overboard; they are only in the way where they are."
"We should see to the wounded first," remarked Grey, more thoughtful and
humane than I was. "If we could get below, I dare say that we should
find spirits and wine, and other good things for them."
The first man we came to had received the stroke of a British cutlass
full on the top of his head, and did not require our assistance, so he
was pitched overboard. The next was the man shot dead by Toby, so his
body was treated in the same way. A third still breathed, but was
bleeding profusely from a deep wound in his shoulder, and a shot through
his side. His case seemed hopeless, but we bound up his hurts and
placed him against the bulwarks, under the shade of the sail. Two more
we came to were dead, and two badly wounded. When we had done what we
could for them, and placed them with their companions, we saw a fourth
man, whom we supposed to be dead, right forward. When we lifted him up
his limbs did not seem very stiff, nor could we see any wound about him.
Billy Wise was assisting us.
"Why, sirs," he exclaimed, "the chap has got a big knife in his clutch,
and those eyes of his ain't dead men's eyes, but maybe it will be just
as well to pitch him overboard; he can't do no harm then, anyhow."
Billy was right, for as he spoke I saw the supposed dead man's eyes
twinkle. Calling another of our people to our assistance, we snatched
the knife out of the man's hand, and then lifting him up we seemed as if
about to heave him overboard. Indeed, Billy thought that was our
object. The Frenchman, however, did not approve of this, and gave
strong evidence that he was alive, by struggling violently, and uttering
with extraordinary volubility a variety of expletives on the matter.
When we had frightened him a little, we lashed his arms behind him and
placed him with the rest of the prisoners on deck. There could be
little doubt that he had shammed dead, and kept a knife ready, with the
hopes of releasing his companions while we were off our guard, and
retaking the vessel. For this we could not blame him, so we treated him
with the same care as the other prisoners--only, perhaps, we kept rather
a sharper watch over him, lest he might attempt to play us some other
trick.
There were some casks of water on the deck, so we served some of it out
to ourselves and our prisoners on deck alike. Most of the Frenchmen
looked as if they were grateful, but the sulky countenances of some of
them did not alter. However, that made no difference in our behaviour,
as Grey and I agreed it must have been terribly annoying to their
feelings to find themselves thus hopelessly prisoners.
We had done thus much, when we heard thumping and shouts from below.
This was what we expected, but we had hoped to have fallen in with the
frigate before it became absolutely necessary to open the hatches. We
looked round. From the deck she was nowhere to be seen, so charging
Grey and our men to watch the hatches--the companion and forehatch, as
well as the main, I went aloft to obtain a wider circle, in the
expectation that I might thus discover her.
Not a sail was in sight. The low island with its groves of palm trees
lay to the northward, and the wide expanse of the Caribbean Sea to the
south. I scarcely knew what to do. I sat at the mast-head to consider,
but was speedily aroused by a shout from Grey.
In a second, as the Yankees say, like greased lightning, I slid down the
topmast backstay on deck. A Frenchman's head was protruding through the
fore hatchway, he having forced off the hatch, and Billy Wise, who had
been stationed there, was endeavouring to drive him back--not an easy
task, as others below were shoving a boarding-pike at him for the
purpose of compelling him to retreat. Billy, however, stood his ground,
and was working away with his elbow to get at his cutlass, while he kept
his musket pointed at the man's head.
In the meantime others were thundering away at the main hatch, and, what
was still more dangerous, a party had evidently cut their way aft, and
were trying to force back the companion-hatch. We knew, too, that they
must have firearms, so that we were altogether placed in a very
difficult position. The fore hatch must first be secured. I was
running to help Billy, when I saw him whip out his cutlass, and before I
could stop him, it flashed in the sun, and the unfortunate Frenchman's
head rolled on the deck.
"There, you Johnny Crapeaus, if any of you likes it, I'll do the same
for you," he shouted, flourishing his weapon.
The body of the man fell below, stopping his companions from ascending,
and though they might not have understood the words in which Billy's
liberal offer was made, they must have caught sight of the glittering
cutlass sweeping over the hatchway, and hesitated about placing their
necks within its influence.
I sprang forward. So excited was Billy that he did not see me, and very
nearly treated me as he had threatened to do the Frenchmen--taking me
for one of them.
"Lauk, Master Merry, if I had a done it," he exclaimed, when he
discovered his mistake.
I did not speak, but popping on the hatch, secured it before our
captives could make a rush to get out. It was breathless work, it may
be believed--indeed, I even to this day feel almost out of breath when I
think of it. Leaving Billy at the post he had guarded so well, I ran
back to the companion-hatch, inside of which we could hear the men
working away with most disagreeable vigour.
"Oh dear! oh dear!" exclaimed Grey over and over again. "If we could
but speak French, we could tell the men what we would do if they would
behave themselves."
"But, as we cannot, we must show them what we will do if they don't," I
rejoined. "We must get them on deck somehow or other, for if we keep
them much longer below they will die, I am afraid. It is hot up here--
it must be ten times worse in that close hold."
"I'll tell you, then," he answered. "We must keep our loaded pistols in
our hands, and get up one at a time through the companion-hatchway. If
more than one attempts to come, we must shoot him; there's no help for
it. It will be a long process, but I suppose those who first come will
tell the others how we treat them, and they will be content to wait."
"We must have some water, then, for they will be terribly thirsty," said
I. "And we must have a good supply of lashings ready, to secure them."
We accordingly unrove all the running rigging that could be spared, and
cut it into lengths, and then, leaving Billy Wise as sentry at his
former post, we rolled two water casks over the main hatch, adding a
spare sail and spars, so that there was little danger of its being
forced. We all then collected round the after hatch. We slipped back
the hatch sufficiently far to allow of one man passing through at a
time, then, holding our pistols so that those below might see them, we
beckoned to the Frenchmen to come up. At first, from having discovered
probably the way that Billy Wise had treated their countryman, they were
unwilling to take advantage of our invitation, which was not to be
wondered at. I ordered the men to take care lest they might fire up at
us, for I suspected some treachery.
"Come along, mounseers, come along; we won't hurt ye," said Ned
Bambrick, the best man with us; indeed, there was not a better in the
ship, though certain wild pranks in which he had indulged had prevented
him from becoming a petty officer. "Come along, now, we'll treat ye as
if ye was all sucking babies."
Though the Frenchmen did not understand the words addressed to them, the
tone of his voice somewhat reassured them, and at last one ventured up.
We immediately seized him by the arms, hauled him out, and shut to the
hatch, greatly to the disappointment of those who were following. The
Frenchman, who was a sailor, looked dreadfully frightened, and began to
struggle violently, expecting probably that we were going to throw him
overboard. We had, however, his arms very soon lashed behind him, and
we then gave him water, and pointed to his shipmates sitting quietly
round the side. He was once more satisfied, and we then signed to him,
as well as we could, that he was to tell his companions below that no
harm would happen to them. We concluded that he did so, for after he
had shouted down the hatchway, another cautiously lifted his head above
the coaming. He gave a cry as we seized hold of him, but we quickly had
him up, and treated like the other. In the same way we got up a dozen,
the last showing clear signs of having suffered most. At length a
nearly bald head appeared, with a silver plate covering part of it, on
which I read the word "Arcole," and then the high narrow forehead, gaunt
cheeks, and thin body of the old colonel slowly emerged from the cabin.
He looked round with a confused expression on his countenance, as if not
very certain what had happened; but, before he had had much time for
consideration, Ned Bambrick politely took him by the hand, and helped
him to step out on deck. When he found himself seized to be pinioned,
he looked very indignant, and struggled to get loose, but we had the
ropes round his arms in a moment. As a compliment, however, we secured
him to the mainmast, with a heap of sail-cloth to sit on. He made so
many extraordinary grimaces that even poor Toby, who was sitting
opposite to him, in spite of his suffering, burst into a fit of
laughter. Grey and I had, however, just then too much to do to laugh.
There were still nearly twenty men below, enough to overpower us and to
release their countrymen, so it was necessary to be as cautious as at
first. From the horrible effluvium which came rushing up the hatchway
each time the hatch was slid off, we might have known that the men who
had to exist in it long were not likely to be very difficult to manage.
In those days midshipmen, at all events, knew nothing of hydrogen and
oxygen, and that human beings could not exist without a certain supply
of the latter. A few more climbed slowly up. We thought that they were
shamming, and treated them like the rest. At last no more appeared.
"What can they be about?" I asked of Grey. Then we heard some groans.
"What shall we do?" said Grey.
"I'll tell you, sir, I'll go below and find out," exclaimed Ned
Bambrick.
It was the only way of solving the difficulty. We put on the
companion-hatch, and lifted off the main hatch. We were nearly knocked
down with the abominable odour which arose as we did so.
Notwithstanding this, Ned sprang down into the hold. He groped about
for half a minute, when he sang out, "Send a whip down and get these
fellows on deck, or they'll be dead altogether."
We lowered the end of a rope, and ran up the men one after another, as
he made them fast to it. They were in a very exhausted condition; but
the fresh air, though it was still very hot, and the water we poured
down their throats, soon revived them, and we had to lash their arms
behind them, as we had the others. During this time Billy Wise
volunteered to go down and assist Ned. We had hoisted up ten or a dozen
when they both declared that they could find no more, so we took all the
hatches off to ventilate the vessel, not forgetting to throw overboard
the corpse of the poor fellow whose head Billy's cutlass had cut off.
Billy wanted to keep the head as a trophy, but we did not approve of
that, and made him pitch it after the body.
"Well, now I hope you'll find each other," observed Billy, with perfect
gravity, as he did so.
It had certainly a very odd appearance to see our forty prisoners
arranged round the vessel, with the colonel at the mainmast and the man
we supposed to be the master at the foremast. We had, however, to wait
on them, and to carry them water and food. Grey and I agreed that,
though it was a very honourable thing to command a ship, we should be
very glad to be relieved of the honour. Since we captured the vessel we
had not had a moment to take any food. Hunger made us rather inclined
to despond. We, however, found out what was the matter with us, and
sent Billy Wise down into the cabin to forage. He soon returned with
some biscuit and white cheese, and dried plums and raisins, and a few
bottles of claret, but there was no honest cold beef or rum.
"It's no wonder we licked the Johnny Crapeaus when that's the stuff they
feeds on," observed Ned Bambrick, turning over the food with a look of
contempt.
However, he and the rest stowed away no small amount of the comestibles,
notwithstanding his contempt for them. When, however, he came to the
liquid, tossing off the contents of a bottle, he made a woefully wry
face and exclaimed,--
"Billy, my boy, we must have a full cask of this on deck--a chap must
drink a bucket or two before he finds out he has taken anything. It's
vinegar and water, to my mind."
Grey and I took a few glasses of the wine. It did not taste so bad,
especially in that hot weather, but we fancied that there was but little
strength in it. As the men required refreshment, we did not object to
their taking as much as they fancied. Persuaded by Bambrick, Billy went
below, and soon sang out that he had found a cask of the same stuff as
that in the bottles. A whip was sent below. A cask was hoisted on
deck, and found to contain what was undoubtedly claret. When the old
colonel saw it he shrieked out something about "monsieur le gouverneur."
"Well, Mounzeer Governor! here's to your health, then," said Bambrick,
draining off a mugful of the claret, which had been quickly tapped.
"This is better tipple than the other. Here, old boy, you shall have a
glass, to see if we can't put a smile into that ugly mug of yours."
The old soldier seemed not at all to object to the wine which Ned poured
down his throat, and he smacked his lips as if he would like some more.
Fortunately Grey and I now tasted the claret, and though we were no
great judges of wine, we knew enough to ascertain that it was remarkably
fine and strong; and moreover we discovered, by the way Ned and Billy
and the rest began to talk, that they had had enough, if not too much of
it already.
"It was unwise of us to let them have any at all," observed Grey. "How
we shall keep them from it I do not know; and if they get drunk, as they
certainly will if they have much more, the chances are the Frenchmen
will take the vessel from us."
"We must knock the head in," I answered. "It is our only security. I
know from experience, that if seamen can by any means get hold of
liquor, they will do so at all risks, and that they are in no way
particular what it is."
"It will be better to serve it out to the prisoners," said Grey. "If we
appeal to these men's kind feelings they will do it, and if there is
more than enough we must leave the spile out."
Bambrick and Billy, and the other men, were perfectly ready to do as we
proposed. When the old colonel saw what we were doing he again shrieked
out about the Governor, but this did not prevent the men from serving
out the wine. It only made Bambrick turn round and say:
"All right, Mr Governor, you shall have some more, old boy."
He took care, at all events, that the old gentleman should have enough,
for he gave him the greater portion of the contents of a jug.
We waited till nearly all the men were served, and then Grey pulled out
the spile, and a good deal ran out. He had to put it in before the men
returned for their last supply. Still, for fear that too much might
remain, he kicked away the block of wood which kept it in its place, and
then rolling over the cask, it was emptied of its remaining contents. I
must do our fellows the justice to say that they treated the prisoners
as they would like to have been treated themselves, and gave them as
much wine as they would drink. The only difference was that they would
have drunk five times as much as the Frenchmen, and not have been the
worse for it.
They were rather inclined to grumble when they found that there was no
more. I saw that it was time to exert my authority.
"You've done very well, lads," I exclaimed. "But suppose you were all
to get drunk, what would the Frenchmen do with us, I should like to
know? Shall I tell you? They would manage to wriggle themselves free,
and heave us all overboard. If we don't want to disgrace ourselves, let
us keep what we've got. Not another drop of liquor does anyone have
aboard here till we fall in with the frigate."
My speech appeared to have some effect, and I took care to give all
hands ample employment, that they might not think of the liquor. As it
was, by the springy way in which they moved about the deck, and the
harangues uttered by Ned Bambrick on every trivial occasion, I saw that
they had already had quite enough for our safety. Night was now
approaching, but still the frigate was nowhere to be seen. Grey went
aloft, and took an anxious look round.
"Not a sign of her," he said, as he returned on deck.
Darkness came on. All hands were naturally feeling very sleepy, but
with so many prisoners to guard, even though their hands were lashed
behind them, it was necessary for us to keep awake. However, Grey and I
agreed that--if we were rested and brisk we could do more than if we
were worn out--it would be best for us to take a little sleep at
intervals, and allow one or two of the men to sleep at the same time.
One man was at the helm, and two others kept walking up and down the
deck, with pistols in their hands and cutlasses ready for use. Grey lay
down first. He slept so soundly that I did not like to call him. The
night was dark, but the prisoners were quiet, and there was but little
wind; even that little had died away. I did not altogether like the
look of the weather. The heat was very great, and though it was calm
then, I knew that it was not far off the hurricane season, and I thought
if we were to be caught in a hurricane how greatly our difficulties
would be increased, even if we were not lost altogether. After a time
Grey started up of his own accord. The instant I lay down on the after
part of the deck I was asleep. It appeared to me that I had scarcely
closed my eyes, when I was aroused by shouts and cries. I started up,
fully persuaded that the Frenchmen were loose and upon us. The sounds
appeared to come from the hold. As I ran to the main hatchway I heard a
noise of scuffling and struggling, and a voice shouting "Oh, Master
Merry, Master Grey, the ghosteses have got hold of me, the ghosteses
have got hold of me." Looking into the hold, I saw, by the light of a
lanthorn, Billy Wise struggling with two Frenchmen, while, forward, Grey
and one of our men were, I discovered rather by my ears than by sight,
engaged with another of the prisoners, who had apparently worked himself
loose. Ned Bambrick had started to his feet at the moment that I did.
Together we leaped down below. We were not an instant too soon. Billy
was almost overpowered, and as there were some cutlasses at hand, the
Frenchmen might have armed themselves and killed us while we were
asleep. Bambrick knocked one over with a blow of his fist, and the
other was easily managed. Where they had come from we could not tell.
They were none of those who had appeared on deck, and must have been
concealed very cleverly when we sent down to search below. It was a
lesson to Grey and me ever after to go and look ourselves when a search
of importance was to be made. While Bambrick and Billy held the men
down, I ran for some rope, with which we made them fast pretty tightly
to some stanchions between decks. Grey and his companion had in the
meantime re-secured the prisoner who had managed nearly to release
himself, and we then made a more careful search than before through
every part of the vessel. We had pretty well satisfied ourselves that
no one else was stowed away below, when a loud cry, and finding the
vessel suddenly heeling over, made us spring on deck. A squall had
struck her. I did not expect to see her recover herself. Everything
was flying away; yards were cracking, the sails in shreds fluttering in
the gale; the masts were bending as if about to go over the side; blocks
were falling from aloft; ropes slashing and whipping furiously; the
water was rushing in through the lee scuppers half up the deck, and
nearly drowning the unfortunate Frenchmen sitting there, who were
shrieking out in dismay, believing that their last moments had come.
Ned Bambrick sprang aft and put up the helm: the after canvas was
chiefly off her; she had gathered way, and now answering her helm, she
flew before it. Never had I been in such a scene of confusion,
increased by the roaring of the wind, the shrieks of the prisoners, the
rattling of the blocks and ropes, the cracking of spars, and the loud
slush of the water as it rushed about the deck. What had become of Grey
I could not tell. It was too dark now to distinguish anyone. I called:
he did not answer. A horrid feeling seized me. He must have been
knocked overboard. I called again in despair. At that moment it would
have been a matter of indifference to me if the Frenchmen had risen and
taken the vessel from us. A faint voice answered me. It was that of
Toby Bluff. "He was there, sir, but just now."
I had been standing on the weather side. I slid down to leeward, for I
saw some one there. I grasped hold of the person, and hauled him up.
It was Grey. When the vessel was first struck, he had been knocked over
by the tiller, which he must have just taken, believing that there was
to be but a slight breeze. He had been half stunned and half drowned.
He speedily, however, to my great joy, recovered. I now mustered all
hands, most of whom had been sent sprawling in among the Frenchmen, who
kicked and bit at them, they declared, but which Grey and I did not
believe to be the fact. We now set to work to get the ship to rights.
We squared yards as well as we could, furled the remnant of the canvas,
and set a close-reefed fore-topsail, under which the little vessel ran
on very comfortably. Our chief concern was, that we were, as we
thought, running away from the frigate. None of us felt disposed to go
to sleep again, so we kept a bright look-out, not knowing whether we
might not be hurrying directly on to a coral reef, or another island.
The wind, however, soon began to go down, and I was proposing to Grey to
haul up again, when Billy Wise, who was stationed forward, sang out--
"Starboard--starboard the helm--or we shall run down the frigate!"
Sure enough, in half a minute, we were gliding by close under her stern.
A voice from the deck hailed us.
"What schooner is that?"
"The ---, I don't know her name--prize to the second cutter of His
Majesty's frigate Doris," I answered. "We've a heap of prisoners, and I
don't know what to do with them!"
"Heave-to, and we will send a boat on board," was shouted in return.
Day was just breaking, and the increasing light enabled us to manage
better than we could otherwise have done. We had now less fear of our
enemies breaking loose, so all hands were able to assist in getting some
after sail on the vessel, and bringing her up to the wind.
"Now we shall catch it for all this," said Grey, as we saw the boat
pulling towards us from the frigate.
"I hope not," said I. "At all events, we must make the best of it.
There's Mr Fitzgerald in the boat. We'll get him to stand our friend."
"Well, boys, this is a nate piece of work you've been after doing now!"
remarked our handsome second lieutenant, as he surveyed the deck. "You
don't mean to say that you captured all these heroes?"
"Every one of them, sir," said Grey, with perfect seriousness. "I hope
the captain won't be angry."
"There's no saying. However, we'll see," he answered with a smile.
We now made more sail, and ran in close under the lee of the frigate.
Perigal was sent on board the schooner to take charge of her, and the
prisoners were transferred to the deck of the frigate, where the captain
and most of the officers were assembled. Mr Johnson met me. He had
just time to say, "I congratulate you, Mr Merry. You've done well.
You are worthy of my teaching!" when the prisoners were summoned aft.
We had given the old colonel his sword, that he might present it in due
form. He marched aft at the head of his men, and presented it to
Captain Collyer with a profound bow.
The Captain then addressed him. I was afterwards told what he said. It
was--
"I am surprised, monsieur, that you, an experienced soldier, who have
seen much service, should allow yourself and your men to be captured by
a single boat's crew and two midshipmen."
"Ma foi!" exclaimed the colonel, with an inimitable shrug of his
shoulders, and an indescribable expression of countenance, indicative of
intense disgust. "I am a brave man; I fear nothing--mais c'est ce
terrible mal de mer!" (this terrible sea-sickness.)
I do not know what Captain Collyer said in return, but I fancy he did
not pay the colonel any compliments on his gallantry. [I only hope that
Frenchmen, on other occasions, may have their valour cooled down to zero
by that terrible sea-sickness.] Grey and I were very agreeably surprised
when, instead of being reprimanded for what we had done, the captain
praised us very much for the daring way in which we had taken the
schooner. Mr Fitzgerald had told him all the particulars beforehand.
Somebody, however, was to blame for having taken the arms in the boat.
All the men, however, declared that they knew nothing about it, but that
the getting them in had been entirely managed by Ned Dawlish, who, being
dead, could say nothing in his defence, and was therefore found guilty.
The truth was, that the captain was very well-pleased at what had been
done, and was ready to overlook the disobedience of orders of which the
men had been guilty.
Grey and I were in high feather. We dined that day with the captain,
who complimented us on our exploit, and made us give him all the
particulars. He told us that the carpenter, who had been sent on board
to survey the schooner, had reported favourably of her, and that he
proposed to employ her as a tender, while the frigate was refitting at
Port Royal.
As it was necessary to get rid of our prisoners, a course was steered at
once for Jamaica, so that we might land them there. We found, after a
little time, that the French colonel was not a bad old fellow. I really
believe that he was as brave as most men, and that he had spoken the
truth when he said that "le mal de mer had overcome him." Probably most
of his men were in the same condition. Grey and I did not forget our
resolution to try and learn French, and as one of the mates, Duncan
McAllister, could speak a little, we begged him to ask the old colonel
if he would teach us. He replied that he would do so gladly, and would
teach any one else who wished to learn. Indeed our proposal was
ultimately of great service to him, for when he got on shore, and was
admitted as a prisoner on his parole, he gained a very comfortable
livelihood by teaching French. I afterwards heard that, when the war
was over, he declined going back to la belle France, and settled among
his friends the English. It is just possible, that the way in which he
had allowed himself and his thirty men to be taken by us had something
to do with this decision.
The colonel's name was, I remember, Painchaud, which is translated
Hotbread,--a funny name, which I never met elsewhere. We invited him
into the berth to give his lessons, but we had to clear away several
boxes and hampers to afford him space to stretch his legs under the
table. As he sat on the narrow locker with his bald head touching the
deck above, his elbows resting on the table, and his long legs stretched
out to the other side of the berth, while we youngsters in every variety
of attitude grouped ourselves round him, he looked like some antiquated
Gulliver among a party of rather overgrown Lilliputians. At first he
had a considerable number of pupils, but it was very evident that they
assembled more for the sake of trying if any fun could be found, than
with any serious intention of learning French. We had forgotten when we
had made our proposal that books would be necessary to enable us to make
any progress in the language, but not a French work of any sort was to
be procured on board, still less a grammar. At length the colonel
produced two from his valise. They were, I have reason to believe, not
such as would have tended to our edification; but happily, in the then
state of our knowledge of the language in which they were written, they
were not likely to hurt our morals. As we had no grammar, the colonel
made us understand that he wanted paper and pens and ink; and then he
wrote out words, and intimated to us that we were to repeat them after
him. He would take the hand of one of his pupils and exclaim "_main_,"
and make each of us repeat it after him. Then he would seize an ear and
cry out "_oreille_," and pretty hard he pinched too. If any of us cried
out, it evidently afforded him infinite amusement. We, of course, gave
him the name which he always afterwards kept, of Colonel Pinchard. When
any of his pupils pronounced the word wrongly, it was highly amusing to
watch the wonderful way in which his shoulders went up and his head sank
down between them. No English pair of shoulders could have behaved in
the same way; nor could certainly any English mouth have rolled out the
extraordinary expletives with which he was wont to give force to his
sentiments. His great delight was, however, pulling Grey's and my ears,
which, we agreed, was in revenge for taking him prisoner. One day he
wrote down _nez_, and asked me what it meant. I replied by a loud neigh
like a horse. The rest of the party took the joke and laughed, as I
intended they should; but he, not understanding the cause of this, and
thinking that they were laughing at him, seized my nose and gave it a
tweak, which made me fancy he was pulling it off. In the impulse of the
moment I sprang on the table, and seizing his nasal promontory, hauled
away at it with hearty goodwill, and there we sat, he sending forth with
unsurpassable rapidity a torrent of "Sa-c-r-r-es," which almost
overwhelmed me; neither of us willing to be the first to let go. At
last, from sheer exhaustion and pain, we both of us fell back. I might
have boasted of the victory, for, though I felt acute pain, my nose did
not alter its shape, while the Frenchman's swelled up to twice its usual
proportions. The contest, however, very nearly put an end to our French
lessons. However, as our master was really a good-natured man, he was
soon pacified, and we set to work again as before.