"Fire away with your lanterns, sir, as soon as you like," said he.
"I'll stake my liberty that yon craft is none other than the `Amethyst.'
She's a twenty-eight; but her skipper is man enough to give a good
account of Johnny, I'll be bound."
"Then rouse out the lanterns, and let's make the private signal," said
I. "But instead of hoisting them at our peak, where the Frenchman will
see them and perhaps suspect something, haul the staysail down, get a
block well up on the fore-stay, and we will run them up there; our sails
will then hide them from the craft astern."
So said, so done; we showed the private signal, and in less than a
minute it was properly answered, upon which we telegraphed the news that
a French frigate was about ten miles astern in chase of us.
Our signal was duly acknowledged; and immediately afterwards the
"Amethyst"--for she it was--bore up.
I now looked for the French frigate, to see if I could observe anything
to show that they had seen the English frigate's signal lanterns; but
she was still carrying on upon the same tack, and, as I judged that she
and the "Amethyst" were about seventeen miles apart, I hoped that the
lights had escaped her notice.
In about twenty minutes the "Amethyst" passed us, a mile to windward,
and apparently steering a course which would run her slap on board the
Frenchman in another half-hour. There was not a light to be seen
anywhere about her; but for all that I knew that her crew were wide
awake and busy. She was running down under courses, topsails, spanker,
and jib, her topgallant-yards down upon the caps, with the sails clewed
up, but not furled; royals stowed.
"_Now_ we shall see some fun shortly," exclaimed Smellie, in high glee--
he having got an inkling that something out of the common was toward, in
that mysterious way in which people _do_ learn such things on board a
small ship, and had accordingly come on deck. But he was mistaken for
once, if by the term _fun_ he meant a frigate action; for old Clewline,
the skipper of the "Amethyst," was too seasoned a hand to do anything
rashly. He ran down, his ship as dark as the grave, until he had
attained a position about two miles dead to windward of our pursuer,
when he hauled up and showed the private signal at his gaff-end. The
French frigate immediately edged away about four points and showed some
lanterns, but they were not a reply to the "Amethyst's" signal; so
Clewline tried another--to make quite sure of avoiding any mistake.
This was not answered at all; on the contrary, the Frenchman hauled down
his lanterns and wore short round, crowding sail at the same moment;
whereupon the "Amethyst" also bore up again and--Clewline must have had
his men aloft all the time, ready for the emergency--as she squared away
in chase, we saw her stunsails fluttering out to their boom-ends on both
sides. We then tacked and resumed our original course once more,
heartily thankful for our escape, and chuckling mightily at the thought
of the trap Johnny Crapaud had run his nose into. In less than half an
hour afterwards we lost sight of both ships.
We reached Gibraltar without further incident, and failing there to
obtain any intelligence as to Lord Hood's whereabouts, we filled up our
water and sailed again for Malta the same evening. We had a splendid
but perfectly uneventful run from the Rock, a westerly wind and fine
weather prevailing during the whole trip.
On our arrival at Malta I learned that the "Victory" was lying at Genoa,
and thither we accordingly went, picking up on the way a small French
schooner from the Levant, laden with fruit. We were over three weeks on
the passage, having an alternation of calms and strong head-winds to
contend with; so that I was heartily glad when we at length found
ourselves in port, and the _mud-hook_ down.
The "Juno" was also there, and, on delivering my despatches and making
my report, I was ordered to give up the command of the "Vigilant" to the
senior mid belonging to the "Victory," and to rejoin my own ship. This,
of course, I at once did; and I was not at all sorry to get back once
more among my old shipmates, from whom I had been separated for so long
a time.
I had not left the "Victory" many minutes before the signal was made for
our skipper to repair on board the flag-ship. His boat was still
alongside that craft when I went up over the "Juno's" side with my
trifling belongings; but by the time that I had stowed them away and had
found my way on deck, Captain Hood was back again on board his own ship,
and in conference with the first lieutenant in the former's cabin. It
was not long before the first luff reappeared--with such a delighted
expression upon his face that we at once felt certain he had heard
pleasant news, and very soon it came out that I had brought, among my
despatches, the order for the "Juno" to return home and pay off.
"Hurrah for old England!" was now the cry; everybody was in the highest
of spirits, for there was literally nothing to do but up anchor and
away, which was promptly done, so that I scarcely spent half a dozen
hours in the port of Genoa, the "Juno" sailing on the evening of the day
on which the "Vigilant" had arrived.
We were nearly a month in reaching as far as Gibraltar; but after
getting fairly through the Gut and round Saint Vincent we made short
miles of it, the girls having taken hold of the tow-rope, as Jack says,
and eventually arrived at Spithead without the occurrence of any
circumstance worth recording. The ship was paid off next day, and I was
enabled to return once more, after an absence of nearly two years, to
the paternal roof.