We had a new messmate of the name of M'Foy. I was on the quarter-deck
when he came on board and presented a letter to the captain, inquiring
first if his name was "Captain Sauvage." He was a florid young man
nearly six feet high, with sandy hair, yet very good-looking. As his
career in the service was very short, I will tell at once what I did
not find out till some time afterwards. The captain had agreed to
receive him to oblige a brother officer, who had retired from the
service, and lived in the Highlands of Scotland. The first notice
which the captain had of the arrival of Mr. M'Foy, was from a letter
written to him by the young man's uncle. This amused him so much, that
he gave it to the first lieutenant to read. It ran as follows;--
Glasgow, April 25th, 1---.
"Sir,
"Our much esteemed and mutual friend, Captain M'Alpine, having
communicated by letter, dated the 14th inst., your kind intentions
relative to my nephew Sholto M'Foy, (for which you will be pleased to
accept my best thanks,) I write to acquaint you that he is now on
his way to join your ship the Diomede, and will arrive, God willing,
twenty-six hours after the receipt of this letter.
"As I have been given to understand by those who have some
acquaintance with the service of the King, that his equipment as an
officer will be somewhat expensive, I have considered it but fair
to ease your mind as to any responsibility on that score, and have
therefore enclosed the half of a Bank of England note for ten pounds
sterling, No. 3742, the other half of which will be duly forwarded in
a frank promised to me the day after tomorrow. I beg you will make the
necessary purchases, and apply the balance, should there be any,
to his mess account, or any other expenses which you may consider
warrantable or justifiable.
"It is at the same time proper to inform you, that Sholto had ten
shillings in his pocket at the time of his leaving Glasgow; the
satisfactory expenditure of which I have no doubt you will inquire
into, as it is a large sum to be placed at the discretion of a youth
only fourteen years and five months old. I mention his age, as Sholto
is so tall that you might be deceived by his appearance, and be
induced to trust to his prudence in affairs of this serious nature.
Should he at any time require further assistance beyond his pay, which
I am told is extremely handsome to all king's officers, I beg you to
consider that any draft of yours, at ten days' sight, to the amount
of five pounds sterling English, will be duly honoured by the firm of
Monteith, M'Killop, and Company, of Glasgow. Sir, with many thanks for
your kindness and consideration,
"I remain your most obedient,
"WALTER MONTEITH."
The letter brought on board by M'Foy was to prove his identity. While
the captain read it, M'Foy stared about him like a wild stag. The
captain welcomed him to the ship, asked him one or two questions,
introduced him to the first lieutenant, and then went on shore. The
first lieutenant had asked me to dine in the gun-room; and when the
captain pulled on shore, he also invited Mr. M'Foy, when the following
conversation took place.
"Well, Mr. M'Foy, you have had a long journey; I presume it is the
first that you have ever made."
"Indeed is it, Sir," replied M'Foy; "and sorely I've been pestered.
Had I minded all they whispered in my lug as I came along, I had need
been made of money--sax-pence here, sax-pence there, sax-pence every
where. Sich extortion I ne'er dreamt of."
"How did you come from Glasgow?"
"By the wheel-boat, or steam-boat, as they ca'd it, to Lunnon: where
they charged me sax-pence for taking my baggage on shore--wee boxy nae
bigger than yon cocked-up hat. I would fain carry it mysel', but they
wadna let me."
"Well, where did you go to when you arrived in London?"
"I went to a place ca'd Chichester Rents, to the house of Storm and
Mainwaring, Warehousemen, and they must have anither sax-pence for
showing me the way. There I waited half-an-hour in the counting-house,
till they took me to a place ca'd Bull and Mouth, and put me into a
coach, paying my whole fare; nevertheless they must din me for money
the whole of the way down. There was first the guard, and then the
coachman, and another guard, and another coachman; but I wudna listen
to them, and so they growled and abused me."
"And when did you arrive?"
"I came here last night; and I only had a bed and a breakfast at the
twa Blue Pillars' house, for which they extortioned me three shillings
and sax-pence, as I sit here. And then there was the chambermaid hussy
and waiter loon axed me to remember them, and wanted more siller; but
I told them, as I told the guard and coachman, that I had none for
them."
"How much of your ten shillings have you left?" inquired the first
lieutenant, smiling.
"Hoot! sir lieutenant, how came you for to ken that? Eh! it's my uncle
Monteith at Glasgow. Why, as I sit here, I've but three shillings and
a penny of it lift. But there's a smell here that's no canny; so I
just go up again into the fresh air."
When Mr. M'Foy quitted the gun-room, they all laughed very much. After
he had been a short time on deck, he went down into the midshipmen's
berth; but he made himself very unpleasant, quarrelling and wrangling
with every body. It did not, however, last very long; for he would not
obey any orders that were given to him. On the third day, he quitted
the ship without asking the permission of the first lieutenant; when
he returned on board the following day, the first lieutenant put him
under an arrest, and in charge of the sentry at the cabin door. During
the afternoon I was under the half-deck, and perceived that he was
sharpening a long clasp knife upon the after truck of the gun. I went
up to him, and asked him why he was doing so, and he replied, as his
eyes flashed fire, that it was to revenge the insult offered to the
bluid of M'Foy. His look told me that he was in earnest. "But what do
you mean?" inquired I. "I mean," said he, drawing the edge and feeling
the point of his weapon, "to put into the wheam of that man with the
gold podge on his shoulder, who has dared to place me here."
I was very much alarmed, and thought it my duty to state his murderous
intentions, or worse might happen; so I walked up on deck and told the
first lieutenant what M'Foy was intending to do, and how his life was
in danger. Mr. Falcon laughed, and shortly afterwards went down on the
main-deck. M'Foy's eyes glistened, and he walked forward to where the
first lieutenant was standing; but the sentry, who had been cautioned
by me, kept him back with his bayonet. The first lieutenant turned
round, and perceiving what was going on, desired the sentry to see if
Mr. M'Foy had a knife in his hand; and he had it sure enough, open,
and held behind his back. He was disarmed, and the first lieutenant,
perceiving that the lad meant mischief, reported his conduct to the
captain, on his arrival on board. The captain sent for M'Foy, who was
very obstinate, and when taxed with his intention would not deny it,
or even say that he would not again attempt it; so he was sent on
shore immediately, and returned to his friends in the Highlands. We
never saw any more of him; but I heard that he obtained a commission
in the army, and three months after he had joined his regiment, was
killed in a duel, resenting some fancied affront offered to the bluid
of M'Foy.--_Metropolitan_
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