"Ask him which is the Bwitish fleet," suggested the skipper.
I put this question also, and the confusion appeared to become worse
confounded; some half-a-dozen replies coming back to us all jumbled up
together, English and French words being so hopelessly intermixed, that
it was utterly impossible to make head or tail of what they were saying.
We were by this time passing close under the brig's stern, and Percival
was remarking to the first lieutenant that it was quite time to heave
about, as he was sure we must be close upon the shoal, when the voice,
which had hailed us first, shouted out for us to "Luff!"
"Hard down with your helm!" exclaimed Annesley; "over with it, my man:
tacks and sheets! Ah! we have cut it too fine," as with a gentle surge
the frigate was brought up all standing on the shoal. "Away aloft, men;
clew up and haul down; furl everything!"
The topsail and jib halliards were let run, the canvas was clewed up,
and in a minute or two more all was snugly stowed. The men were just in
the act of laying in off the yards, when a little puff of wind coming
down the harbour caught the frigate's bow, and to our great
gratification paid her head round until her fore-foot scraped off the
bank. The order was at once given to let go the anchor; the cable
smoked out through the hawse-pipe, and the ship swung round, head to
wind. We found, however, that her heel was still fast on the shoal, and
the rudder immovable; it was therefore determined, as the tide was on
the turn, to hoist out the launch at once, and run away a kedge, in
order to haul the ship off while the operation was still possible.
Tackles were accordingly got up on the fore and main-yardarms, and in
less than five minutes the launch was in the water alongside.
"Where is Mr Chester?" said the first lieutenant, looking round.
"Here, sir!" I replied, emerging from the shadow of the bulwarks, where
I had been taking a peep at things in general through an open port, from
which I had observed, among other things, a six-oared gig pull from the
brig, and make towards the town; but foolishly I failed to report the
circumstance, not at that moment attaching the slightest importance to
it. "Jump into the launch, Mr Chester, and take charge," said Mr
Annesley. "I want the kedge run away here, about two points on our port
bow. You must not go farther to windward than that, or the tide will
take our quarter, when we float, and drive us down on the brig. Now off
you go, and be as smart as you can."
"Ay, ay, sir!" I replied, touching my cap, and away I scrambled down
into the launch, where I found the kedge already stowed, with hawsers
coiled down on top of it until the boat's stern was barely a couple of
inches out of water.
"Shove off and give way, men!" I exclaimed, as my foot touched the
thwart; the bowman shoved the boat's head off, the oars dropped into the
phosphorescent water with a luminous splash, and we pulled down the
harbour in the direction indicated by Mr Annesley. We pulled steadily
on until all the hawser in the boat had been paid out, when we let go
the kedge, and hailing the frigate to "heave in," paddled back
alongside.
While running out the kedge, I had observed a boat pulling toward the
"Juno," and when we reached the frigate, we found this craft alongside.
In the meantime the frigate had been hove off the bank without much
difficulty, and the tide acting strongly on her hull the moment that she
floated, she had drifted down to her kedge, which had been lifted, and
the anchor having been tripped as she drifted over it was once more let
go, just as we got alongside. The launch, not being required any
farther at the moment, was passed astern, the crew being first ordered
out of her. In order to regain the frigate's deck, it was necessary for
us to pass over the boat alongside, which was lying in the wake of the
gangway, and as we did so, I noticed that the eight men composing her
crew were unmistakably French, and that, strange to say, they were fully
armed. This struck me as so singular a circumstance, that I resolved to
have a good look at the other individuals who had come off to us, and
who were doubtless on deck in confabulation with the skipper. I found
them, as I expected, on the quarter-deck, talking to the captain and the
first lieutenant. There were two of them, apparently French officers;
but the one who was talking spoke excellent English, and was, at the
moment when I drew near the group, explaining to Captain Hood that, in
compliance with a regulation of the port, and the commanding officer's
orders, it would be necessary for the ship at once to proceed higher up
the harbour to the quarantine ground, there to perform ten days'
quarantine, and that he, the speaker, was deputed to pilot the ship then
and there to her new berth.
"Phew!" ejaculated the skipper. "Quarantine, eh? with all these people
on board; this is a pretty business, truly. I can't understand it at
all; there is no sickness at present at Malta, and we carry a perfectly
clean bill of health. Surely there must be a mistake somewhere. Before
taking up a berth in this quarantine ground, I should like to
communicate with Lord Hood. Can you point me out his ship, monsieur?"
"You cannot see her from here, Monsieur le Capitaine," replied the
Frenchman. "Besides, an interview with the British Admiral will avail
you nothing; he is doubtless retired by this time, and, even if he were
not, he could not interfere; he has no authority whatever in the present
matter."
I thought I detected a covert smile of derision passing over the
speaker's face as he said this, and I turned to see whether I could
detect anything of the kind on that of his companion, but I found he had
withdrawn to the gangway, apparently to call his people up out of the
boat, for they were just coming up over the side, as I looked. In
another moment he sauntered back, and rejoined the group from which he
had so quietly slipped away.
"Do you say that we cannot see the British flag-ship from here, sir?"
inquired Mr Annesley. "Then pray where is she? It seems to me that
every ship in the harbour is within view from here; yet, now I come to
look, I cannot see a single British ship among them all. Does it not
strike you, sir, that there is something rather peculiar about this
business?" turning to the skipper.
I was sure I saw the two French officers start and glance quickly at
each other at this remark; and then, for the first time, I noticed that
they wore tri-coloured cockades in their hats.
"Why, those gentlemen have _national_ cockades in their hats!" I
exclaimed involuntarily.
"By Jove! you are right, young gentleman, they have!" ejaculated the
skipper. "What is the meaning of all this, monsieur? Are you a
Nationalist, or are you a Royalist in disguise? And I beg that you will
at once tell me the whereabouts of Lord Hood and his fleet. Unless I
receive a distinct answer, I shall be forced to believe that treachery
is meditated, and shall take the necessary precautionary steps
forthwith."
The Frenchmen looked in each other's faces for an instant, and then the
one who had called his boat's crew on deck turned to the skipper and
said, in French,--
"Calm yourself, monsieur, I have the honour to inform you that you and
your ship's company are prisoners. But the English are a good people,
and we will treat you all with the utmost kindness. The English admiral
went away some time ago, and Toulon is now in the hands of the
Nationalists."
The expression of mingled horror and disgust which slowly overspread the
features of the skipper and the first luff, like a summer cloud sailing
slowly across the disc of the full moon, would have been irresistibly
laughable under other circumstances, but as matters stood nobody felt
the slightest inclination to laugh.
"_Prisoners_!!" ejaculated Mr Annesley. He was apparently too full for
further utterance, but he had already said quite enough. "We are
prisoners!" flew from mouth to mouth, like wildfire, and in less than
two minutes every man in the ship had become acquainted with our
position. Every officer came crowding aft, to ascertain the truth of
the startling rumour, and a more disgusted and dejected-looking group of
mortals than we appeared, it would have been difficult to find.
The disagreeable announcement once made, the French officers hastened to
place matters upon a more agreeable basis, exerting themselves to the
utmost to get up a lively general conversation, and explaining how it
was that we had so easily run into the trap. A very few words sufficed
for this, the matter was so excessively simple.
It appeared, from the French officers' statement, that Lord Hood, after
sustaining a long and harassing siege of nearly four months, had, on the
night of the 18th of the previous December, been at length compelled to
evacuate Toulon, he finding it utterly impossible to hold it any longer
with the small force at his command--barely 17,000 men--against the
overwhelming numbers of the besiegers, who mustered close upon 50,000.
But though unable to prevent the Republicans from obtaining possession
of this important place, the British admiral resolved that it should
pass into their hands, comparatively speaking, valueless. Immediately,
therefore, that it was finally decided to retire from the place, he set
on foot preparations to destroy the arsenal, magazines, etcetera, and
such of the French ships as it was deemed inexpedient to take away with
him; and though he was unable to carry out in their entirety the whole
of his arrangements, it was pretty evident, from our informants'
account, that the destruction actually effected was something enormous;
the dockyard, with its various storehouses, the magazines, two powder-
ships, and two 74-gun ships of war--the "Heros," and "Themistocle"--
being burnt.
It must have been a magnificent and awe-inspiring sight to witness these
destructive operations, effected as they were during the darkness of the
night. The conflagration of the stores, warehouses, and ships, the
explosion of powder magazines and powder vessels--the latter being _set
on fire_ by our lubberly allies, the Spaniards, instead of being
scuttled, as had been arranged--and the incessant flash of the cannon
and musketry--a hot conflict raging all the while between the British
and the Republican forces--could not fail of being an awfully impressive
sight; and such it had evidently proved to our informants, who described
the various scenes which they had witnessed on that memorable night with
a very considerable amount of graphic power.
So interested were we all, for the moment, in this narration, that every
one appeared to have completely forgotten our excessively unpleasant
position, until it was recalled to our minds by an exclamation from our
third lieutenant, the Honourable Edward Plantagenet Mortimer.
"Aw--excuse my intewupting this extwemely intewesting er--ah--
conversation," said he, in his usual dandified style, "but I should like
to diwect your attention, Captain Hood, to the--ah--important fact
that--ah--_the wind has changed_, and, if I may be allowed to expwess an
opinion, I would say that if we could get the canvas upon the ship, I
believe _we could fetch out of the harbour again_."
The effect was electrical. The remark suggested such readiness of
resource, such consummate seamanship, and such dashing courage on the
part of the speaker, that, had it been uttered by Mr Annesley even, we
should probably have been somewhat surprised; but emanating from the
source it did, our astonishment simply beggars description. There was a
dead silence for a moment, while we were ruminating upon and digesting
the possibilities involved in the suggestion, and then, as it became
apparent that a bold dash for freedom was still in our power, a ringing
cheer burst out, fore and aft.
In an instant the skipper was himself again. "Silence, fore and aft!"
he exclaimed; "every sound you utter now may cost a man's life. To your
stations, men, and let every order be executed with the rapidity and--
ah--silence of thought. Mr Annesley, make sail, if you please.
Gentlemen,"--to the Frenchmen--"you will wegwet to learn that you have
made a slight--ah--mistake. Instead of our _being your_ prisoners, you
are _ours_. And--er--as your countwymen, with their chawactewistic
politeness, may possibly salute us as we pass the battewies, and as they
may, in their anxiety to do so, omit to dwaw the shot from their guns,
allow me to suggest that you wetire below. Mr Carnegie--our lieutenant
of mawines--has, I see, been thoughtful enough to pwovide an escort for
you, and in his hands I have much pleasure in leaving you; you will find
him a twuly delightful companion. Good evening, gentlemen, for the
present."
At first the Frenchmen appeared unable to believe their own ears. Then,
as they began to realise that we were actually about to attempt our
escape, they rapidly threw themselves together, back to back, and began
to handle their sabres menacingly. Carnegie, however, who upon hearing
the Honourable Mortimer's remark had grasped the situation in an
instant, had at once slipped off, returning in a very few minutes with
some five-and-twenty fully-armed marines, and with these he promptly
surrounded the chagrined Frenchmen, who found the way in which the
"jollies" handled their half-pikes so little to their taste that they at
length came to the conclusion that discretion was, in their case, the
better part of valour, and sullenly suffered themselves to be conducted
below.
In the meantime our lads had been anything but idle. With the activity
of so many cats they had scuttled away aloft, laying out upon the yards,
and casting off the gaskets in a style which must have done Mr
Annesley's heart good, and which, to a moral certainty, considerably
astonished the Frenchmen on board the surrounding ships and in the
batteries. There was no confusion whatever; everything was done with as
much method and precision as if we had been merely exercising the crew;
but, on the other hand, not one second of precious time was wasted, and
it really was a pretty sight to see all the canvas falling
simultaneously from the yards, the topsail sheets instantly going home
into their places, and the three topsail-yards directly afterwards
soaring away up to the mast-heads. Then home came the topgallant
sheets, and up went the yards, the royals following, and being set
literally before the topgallant halliards were belayed. The fore-and-
aft canvas was at the same time set, and the moment that the royals were
at the mast-heads the yards were braced for casting the ship. The
carpenter and one of his mates were stationed at the hawse-pipe, armed
with their keenest axes, and stood ready to strike directly the word was
given. In three minutes from the time that the order had been given to
make sail, Mr Annesley turned to the skipper and said, with the utmost
composure, "All ready, sir."
"Where is Mr Percival?" inquired Captain Hood.
"Here, sir!" replied Percival, stepping forward and touching his cap.
"Take charge, sir, if you please," said the skipper. "And do not forget
that the safety of the frigate, and our chances of escape from a long
captivity are absolutely in your hands. If we touch the ground and hang
for five minutes, we shall be simply blown out of the water."
"I will do my best, sir," quietly replied Percival taking up a
convenient position for conning the ship.
"I feel sure you will, sir," returned the skipper. "Say when we shall
cut."
"At once, sir, if you please," was the reply.
"Cut, and cut with a will!" said Mr Annesley. Three or four quick
strokes were heard, the frigate's head paid slowly off until her sails
filled, when the head-yards were swung, the fore-and-main-tacks were
boarded, the sheets hauled aft, and every sail trimmed as if for a
sailing-match.
The fact that our movements were closely watched became apparent the
moment that the hands appeared in the rigging to loose the sails, a very
perceptible stir taking place on board the brig, while lights rapidly
made their appearance in the several batteries.
"We are about to have a warm quarter of an hour," remarked the skipper,
who had been keenly noting these sinister indications, while the first
luff was getting the ship under weigh. "Let the crew go to quarters at
once, if you please, Mr Annesley."
"Ay, ay, sir!" was the reply. "If we only had a little more wind--and
there it comes--blow, good breezes, blow! I believe we shall scrape
clear, after all. Beat to quarters!"
A sharp roll of the drum immediately broke in upon the quietude of the
night; there was a momentary bustle--but only momentary the men having
already gone to quarters, as a matter of course--and then all was
profound silence once more on board, save for a gentle rippling sound
beneath the bows and along the sides, and the occasional creak of a
block aloft.
"Say when you wish to tack, Mr Percival," said the first luff,
stationing himself alongside the master's-mate.
"Not yet, sir," said Percival; "the wind is favouring us a little just
now--there it freshens a trifle, and she looks up better than ever.
Keep her a good clean full, quarter-master, and let her go through the
water. I wish there was not quite so much tide, though it _is_ in our
favour; it is setting us bodily down towards the shoal water. Keep the
lead going, there, in the fore-chains. We should do none the worse,
sir, if the Frenchmen's boat were cut adrift."
"Cut it adwift at once," said the skipper, who was standing close by;
"cut it adwift at once, and the launch as well; we cannot afford to have
so much as a rope's end dragging alongside just now. Ah! I have been
expecting that," as the brig before referred to, having got a spring
upon her cable, and brought her broadside to bear, opened fire upon us.
"Never mind," continued the skipper, "we shall soon be out of harm's
way, as far as she is concerned; it is the fire of the battewies I dwead
most; they, no doubt, mount heavy metal, and if the guns are well served
a single bwoadside will unwig us. This is an ugly looking fellow here,
on our starboard bow; they evidently mean mischief there, by the number
of lights they show. Let the starboard bwoadside guns be twained for
the thwee ports where we see the most light, Mr Annesley, and let each
gun be fired, as it is bwought to bear."
At this juncture another broadside from the brig whistled overhead,
making a few eyelet-holes in our canvas and cutting one or two
unimportant ropes; and immediately afterwards a shot, quickly followed
by another, and yet another, came plunging at us from the fort.
The guns were evidently pointed with the intention of bringing down our
spars, but luckily we again escaped without any damage worth speaking
of. Matters were beginning to assume a very lively aspect for us; for
as we glided down the harbour we could see the lights glancing in
battery after battery, on each side of us, until every one of them was
lighted up.
Still, on swept the frigate, silent as a ghostly ship, and without a
light of any kind visible on board her, the battle-lanterns being every
one carefully masked, the men standing silent and motionless as statues
at their guns; even the remarks interchanged between the officers were
expressed in low murmurs only loud enough to reach the ear for which
they were intended, the oppressive silence being intensified rather than
broken by an occasional "Luff! luff, you may, quarter-master," from
Percival.
Presently, _crash_ came a simultaneous discharge of five heavy guns from
the battery on our starboard hand, and four from another battery on the
opposite shore; the shot hissed overhead, there was a dull crushing thud
or two aloft, and a little rattling shower on deck as ropes and
splinters came clattering down. Some of our spars had evidently been
badly wounded, and the carpenter and his mates were sent aloft to
ascertain the extent of the damage. While they were ascending the
rigging, _bang_ went our foremost gun on the starboard side, followed by
the remainder of the broadside; and the moon happening to shine full
upon the stone walls of the fort which had just opened upon us, we saw,
as the smoke drove astern, a little cloud of dust rise about one of the
embrasures, a ragged patch of chipped and broken stone appeared to start
out upon the wall, and faintly borne down to us on the heavy night-wind
came the sound of shrieks and yells of agony. It was perfectly evident
that our shot had told with severe effect.
As though the discharge of our broadside had been the preconcerted
signal for a general cannonade, every battery within range on each side
of the harbour now opened fire upon us, some of them, however,
fortunately for us, being unable to bring more than a single gun to
bear. Had the guns on shore been served with only ordinary skill, we
should undoubtedly have been destroyed; as it was, though the shot flew
over and over us thick as hail, lashing the sea into foam all round us,
shredding our sails to ribbons, cutting up very badly our standing and
running rigging, bringing down our main-topgallant-mast, and severely
wounding several of our other spars, we still glided safely on, our hull
uninjured, and not a man hurt. Orders were now sent down for the guns
on the main-deck to play upon every battery upon which they could be
brought to bear, and for each gun to be laid with the greatest possible
accuracy, precision rather than rapidity of fire being the skipper's
object. An irregular fire from both broadsides accordingly now
commenced; and that it was not altogether without effect was
demonstrated by the speedy silencing of two or three out of the many
guns now playing upon us; but, as our object was to escape with the
least possible delay, Captain Hood would not allow the frigate's course
to be altered by so much as one single hair's-breadth in order to bring
our guns more directly to bear upon either of the batteries.
"We shall have to make a short board presently, sir," said Percival to
the skipper, as we drew down to within half a mile of the harbour
entrance; "there is shoal water directly ahead of us now, and we have
broken off a couple of points within the last ten minutes. Shall we
heave about at once, or go on as far as we can? If we stand on much
farther, we shall be exposed to the fire of yonder battery, which seems
to be preparing a warm reception for us."
"Go about at once, sir, by all means," replied the skipper. "We have
got off wonderfully well so far; we will certainly not run any
unnecessary risks now. Ready about, Mr Annesley."
"Ay, ay, sir. Ready about!" repeated the first lieutenant. The men
went to their several stations, the coiled-up braces, etcetera, were
thrown off the belaying-pins, and all was ready for the execution of the
proposed manoeuvre.
"Down with your helm, quarter-master," was the next order. The tiller-
ropes creaked as the wheel was rapidly spun round by the brawny and
dexterous arms of the quarter-master, and the ship slowly luffed to the
wind.
"Hold on of all!" suddenly exclaimed Percival. Then, turning to the
skipper, he continued. "The wind is favouring us again, sir; she is
still clean full; and if the breeze keeps as it is for ten minutes more,
we shall fetch out clear of everything."
"So much the better," remarked the skipper. "Our present course,
however, will take us unpleasantly close to that battery; so,"--looking
round until his eye lighted on me--"be so good as to step down to the
main-deck, Mr Chester, and request Mr Flinn to treble-shot his
larboard broadside and pour it into that battery as we pass. Perhaps we
may be a second or so beforehand with them; and if so, a well-directed
broadside on our part may stop their fire altogether."
I soon found Mr Flinn; and, having delivered my message, returned at
once to the quarter-deck, anxious to see how we should fare with this
last battery, which, to judge by appearances, was the most formidable of
them all. As I emerged through the hatchway. Percival gave the word to
the helmsman to keep away a couple of points, the frigate having just
shaved past the most prominent part of the shoal. This brought the
battery directly abreast of us, and less than a quarter of a mile
distant; and I was waiting for the concussion of our broadside, which I
momentarily expected would be poured into it, when the whole face of the
fort blazed out into a line of fire; there was a deafening roar, a loud
whirring sound in the air, a crashing among our spars aloft, two
distinct and heavy thuds, telling that some of the shot had struck our
hull; and then, as the mizen-topmast fell over the side, the fore-
topgallant-mast following--the topmast-head being shot away--our whole
broadside rang out at once, and we distinctly heard the crushing sound
of the shot as it struck the masonry.
The breeze had in the meantime freshened somewhat, and notwithstanding
our crippled condition, we were slipping through the water at the rate
of about five knots. We had by this time run the gauntlet of all the
batteries on each side of the haven, and we considered that we had had
the worst that we were to have; our spirits accordingly began to rise,
as the prospect of escape became more hopeful. The skipper expected
that we should have to sustain a couple more broadsides from the battery
with which we had just exchanged compliments, after which, if we escaped
further serious damage, we might consider ourselves safe. Every eye--
excepting perhaps Percival's and the helmsman's--was accordingly
directed anxiously to the dark frowning mass which stood out
indistinctly from the dark background of land, and which every moment
grew more and more vague and undefined, expecting to see the lurid line
of fire blaze out from the darkness once more. But minute after minute
passed by, the frigate drawing out from the land all the while, and the
breeze freshening with every fathom of additional distance, until
nothing could be discerned, even with the aid of our night-glasses, but
the feeble glimmer of the lanterns showing through the port-holes; and
presently these abruptly disappeared: the battery was shut in by a
projecting point of land and _we had escaped_.
The moment that this agreeable fact became known the crew with one
accord gave three hearty cheers, the skipper himself for the nonce
laying aside his usual _sang-froid_ and leading off. The guns were
secured, a liberal allowance of grog served out, and then, late as it
was--about half an hour after midnight--all hands turned-to to repair
damages.