About daybreak the wind veered round and blew a fine, fresh, steady
breeze from the northward, enabling the barque to lay her course with
flowing sheets; and sunset found her safely anchored in Plymouth Sound,
one of a fleet of nearly two hundred merchantmen, which had assembled
there for the purpose of being convoyed across the Atlantic.
The convoy was to sail on the following day but one; the men-o'-war
which constituted their escort were already in the Sound, along with
several other ships of the royal navy; and as the cable smoked out
through the _Aurora's_ hawse-pipe that evening, when she dropped her
anchor, George fondly hoped his troubles were at an end.
But he was mistaken.
As soon as the canvas was furled, Captain Leicester manned a boat, and,
proceeding on board the admiral's ship reported the circumstance of the
capture and recapture of his vessel, requesting at the same time to be
relieved as soon as possible of the custody of his prisoners. This was
speedily arranged. By the admiral's orders an armed boat's crew was at
once despatched to the _Aurora_, the prisoners were released from their
bonds, passed into the man-o'-war's boat, and in little more than an
hour from their arrival in the Sound safely lodged on board a
prison-hulk.
So far, so good. But George had yet to learn that there was one
inconvenient result generally attendant upon a request to a man-o'-war
for assistance. The boat, after conveying the Frenchmen to the
prison-hulk, duly returned to the admiral's ship; but, instead of the
crew at once passing out of her, they were ordered to remain where they
were, the lieutenant in charge alone going on deck and holding a short
conference with the captain, after which he re-entered the boat, and she
proceeded once more alongside the _Aurora_.
George saw her coming, and wondered what could possibly be her errand.
He was not left long in doubt.
"I am very sorry to trouble you," remarked the lieutenant, as he
encountered George at the gangway, whither the latter had repaired to
meet him, "but I must ask you to kindly muster your men."
George knew only too well then what this visit boded, but he was quite
helpless; so, putting the best face he could upon the matter, he
answered as cheerfully as he could, and directed that all hands should
be summoned on deck.
"I hope, however," he remarked to the officer, "that you will not
deprive me of any of my crew. I have shipped only just sufficient men
to handle her, and I assure you that even with the fine weather we have
had in our trip down Channel I have found that we have not a hand too
many for the efficient management of the ship."
"Ah, yes," answered the lieutenant with a laugh; "all you
merchant-skippers tell the same story; but we shall see--we shall see.
They must be exceptionally good men, however, or you would never have
succeeded in recovering possession of your ship. Ah! here they are, and
a fine smart crew they look, too. Upon my word I must congratulate you,
Mr--a--um--a, upon your good luck in securing so many fine fellows;
why, they look capable of taking care of a ship twice your size. I
really _must_ relieve you of one or two of them; it would be nothing
short of treason to his most gracious Majesty to allow you to keep them
all, when the navy is in such urgent want of men."
The crew were by this time assembled on deck, and a very disconcerted
and disgusted-looking set of men they were; they had submitted to weeks
of voluntary imprisonment in crimps' houses for the sole purpose of
escaping impressment into the navy, and now, when their voyage had
actually begun, here was a man-o'-war's boat alongside, to force them
into the service they regarded with so great an abhorrence. No wonder
that they looked and felt disgusted.
The men were drawn up in line along the deck, in single file, and the
lieutenant sauntered leisurely along the line, critically examining each
man as he came to him, but without, as George had anticipated, ordering
any of them into the boat alongside. At length he reached the last
individual in the line, one of the lads, and Leicester was beginning to
breathe freely once more, hoping that he was, after all, not to be
robbed of any of his crew, when the officer returned to the head of the
line, and, touching the second mate lightly on the chest with his
finger, said--
"You were evidently born to become a man-o'-war's man, my fine fellow;
get your traps together and pass them and yourself into the boat
alongside as soon as you have received your wages."
"Excuse me," said George, "I really must ask you not to take that man;
he is my second mate."
"Your second mate!" exclaimed the officer with well-feigned
astonishment. "You surely do not mean to say you carry a second mate on
board such a cock-boat as this?"
"Certainly I do," retorted George somewhat tartly; "why not, pray?"
"Simply, my good man, because such an individual is wholly unnecessary.
You can take charge of one watch, yourself, you know, and your mate will
of course command the other, so that you can have no possible use for a
second mate. Why, a smart, active young fellow like you ought to be
ashamed of such an act of laziness as the carrying of a second mate.
Pay the man his wages, if you please, and let him pass into the boat."
"I owe him no wages," answered George; "on the contrary, he--and every
other man of the crew, for that matter--has drawn a month's advance, and
owes me three weeks' service yet before we shall be square. Who is to
reimburse me for that loss?"
"I am sorry to say I am quite unable to answer that question," was the
reply; "but, giving it--mind you, strictly as my private opinion--I am
afraid you will have to suffer the loss. For my part I have never been
able to understand why you masters of merchantmen _will_ persist in so
risky a policy as the payment of a month's wages in advance, when you
can never tell what may occur to prevent the men from working out their
time. But this is not business; I must bear a hand and finish my work,
or I shall get severely rapped over the knuckles."
Then, turning once more to the men, he ordered the carpenter to get his
things ready, and go into the boat.
"No," said George, by this time thoroughly exasperated, "_that_ I will
_not_ permit. This man is the ship's carpenter, and I forbid you, sir,
to impress him at your peril."
"You _forbid_, eh?" said the lieutenant, turning angrily upon George.
"Take care what you are saying, my fine fellow, or I may perhaps find
ways and means of impressing _you_ before you sail."
Then, suddenly realising that he had allowed his temper to outrun his
discretion, he added in a conciliatory tone--
"Well, since you say that this man is the carpenter, I will spare him;
but you should have explained that fact to me at first; and as to
impressing _you_, why, I daresay you know the old joke about impressing
a ship-master, and will understand I was only jesting; you are a capital
fellow, and have behaved very well over this business, so I will let you
off as easily as I can. But of course I must do my duty and take
another man or two from you; if I did not, some of the other ships would
be sending on board you and leaving you really short-handed."
With that he picked out with unerring eye the two able-seamen, and then,
turning to George with a great show of generous forbearance, announced
that he would leave him all the rest, though he could hardly reconcile
it to his conscience to _go away_ with only three men out of so strong
and smart a crew as that belonging to the _Aurora_.
Cross was by this time with his chest on deck; the other two impressed
men soon followed, and the disconsolate trio passed down the ship's side
in moody silence, unmoved alike by the commiserating looks of their late
shipmates or the jocular and more than half-ironical congratulations of
the man-o'-war's men in the boat upon their entry into so promising a
service as that of the British navy.
On the departure of the boat, George held a short consultation with Mr
Bowen, the result of which was a very wise determination to "grin and
bear it," rather than risk fresh annoyance by an effort--which he very
strongly suspected would be utterly useless--to obtain redress and the
restitution of his men. This determination come to, the carpenter was
summoned aft, and installed into the duties and the berth of the
unfortunate Cross; George thus finding his crew reduced to three men,
the officers included, and one lad in each watch, the cook and steward
of course being "idlers," and their services in the working of the ship
only to be demanded on occasions of exceptional urgency.
On the day but one following that of the impressment of the _Aurora's_
men, a gun was fired at sunrise by the commodore, blue-peter was hoisted
at the fore-royal-mastheads, and the fore-topsails were loosed on board
the ships of the convoying squadron, and the still morning air
immediately began to resound with the songs of seamen and the clanking
of windlass-pawls, as the fleet of merchantmen constituting the convoy
began to get under weigh. There was a considerable amount of emulation
displayed among the merchant-skippers--those of them, at least, whose
ships or crews had any pretensions to smartness, and in half an hour a
good many of the craft were under weigh and standing out to sea with a
light air of wind from the eastward. The old _Tremendous_, 74, led the
van, closely followed by the _Torpid_, 50; while the frigates
_Andromeda_ and _Vixen_, each of 32 guns, assisted by the _Dasher_,
_Grampus_, _Throstle_, and _Mallard_, 10-gun-brigs, cruised round and
round the laggards, making signals, firing guns, and generally creating
a great deal of fuss, noise, and excitement. The leading portion of the
fleet was hove-to, hull-down, at sea, before the last craft in the
convoy had succeeded in getting her anchor and making a start; but by
noon the whole of the fleet was fairly in the Channel, when the
_Tremendous_ made the signal to fill, and away they all went, bowling
along to the southward and westward, the dull sailers under every rag
they could spread to the wind--now settled into a fine steady
royal-breeze from east-south-east, while the smarter craft were
compelled to show only such a spread of canvas as would enable the
dullards to keep pace with them. The _Tremendous_ and _Torpid_, under
double-reefed topsails, led the way about two miles apart; the frigates
were posted, one to windward and one to leeward of the merchant-fleet,
and the brigs brought up the rear, it being their duty to whip-in the
stragglers, urge on the slow-coaches, and keep a sharp lookout for
prowling privateers.
The English coast was still faintly visible, like a light grey cloud, on
the horizon astern, when a strange sail was sighted on the port beam,
steering west, a course which brought her gradually nearer to the
convoy. She was brig-rigged, and she continued to approach until she
had reached a point some six miles from the fleet; when she suddenly
hauled her wind, and, without showing any colours, stood away to the
southward and eastward, close-hauled, under a heavy press of canvas.
There had been a considerable amount of signalling going on between the
various men-o'-war from the moment of her first appearance, and now
there was still more; but it soon ceased; the last string of flags
displayed by the _Tremendous_ was acknowledged by the _Andromeda_, the
weathermost frigate, and the excitement appeared to be at an end.
"I'm afraid that means trouble for some of us, unless the men-o'-war
keep a good sharp lookout," observed Mr Bowen to George, jerking his
thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the rapidly receding brig,
as the two men walked the deck together, criticising the appearance and
sailing powers of the various craft in company.
"Ah, indeed?" remarked George. "I see you have come to the same
conclusion as myself with regard to the stranger, which is that she is a
French privateer."
"Just that, sir, and nothing else," was the reply. "She is French all
over; no need for her to show her colours; her rig speaks her
nationality plain enough for a blind man to read it. She's been on the
watch for this fleet for the last week or more, you may depend on it,
and now she has gone back to report the news to her consorts that the
West India convoy has sailed. Mark my words, sir; we shall all have to
keep a good sharp lookout, or a few of us will be snapped up yet, in
spite of the men-o'-war, before we sight the next land."
"Well," said George, "we must take care that the _Aurora_ is not one of
the few, that is all. Luckily, we are not exactly the dullest sailer in
the fleet; and we must manage to keep well in the body of it. It is the
outsiders that will run the greatest risk."
For the next three or four days an unusual amount of vigilance was
observable on board the men-o'-war, especially the frigates and
gun-brigs, all of which kept well in the offing during the day,
evidently on the lookout for prowling picaroons, and closing in again
upon the convoy at night; but nothing was seen to keep alive suspicion;
no ships of any description were encountered, save a couple of English
frigates, each of which replied to the private signal and exchanged
numbers with the _Tremendous_; and on the evening of the tenth day out
the lofty, precipitous cliffs of the Azores were sighted and passed.
Another week sped away without the occurrence of any incident worthy of
record; the wind continued fair and steady; and the convoy, though its
rate of travelling was rather slow, made very good progress.
On the afternoon of the eighteenth day out from Plymouth, the fleet
being at the time in latitude 32 degrees North, longitude 44 degrees 30
minutes West, or about half-way to Jamaica, the wind fell light; the
sky, which had hitherto been clear, became overcast, heavy masses of
dark, thunderous cloud slowly gathering in the south-western quarter and
gradually spreading athwart the sky until the whole of the visible
heavens were obscured. The barometer dropped slightly, indicating, in
conjunction with the aspect of the sky, a probable change of wind and a
consequent interruption to their hitherto highly satisfactory progress.
As evening fell, flashes of sheet-lightning were occasionally to be seen
along the southern horizon; and Captain Leicester, anticipating a
thunder-storm and a probable heavy downfall of rain, made preparations
for the refilling of his water-casks.
But, though the atmosphere appeared to be heavily charged with
electricity, the thunder held off, and when night closed down upon the
convoy, the moon being then in her third quarter and rising late, it
became as dark as a wolf's mouth.
Lights were of course displayed on board each ship; and the convoy
having become somewhat scattered in consequence of the failure of the
breeze, the effect was very singular and striking.
This being George's first voyage across the Atlantic, he was naturally a
little anxious; and on the night in question he resolved to remain on
deck until the weather should have assumed some more decided aspect.
There was fortunately still a gentle breeze from about east-south-east
fanning the convoy along at a speed of some two knots in the hour, just
giving the ships steerage-way; and they were consequently able to keep
out of each other's way, and thus avoid collision, always a great
element of danger when a large number of craft happen to be sailing in
company.
About two bells in the middle watch, George being seated at the time
near the companion, smoking a meditative pipe, and thinking somewhat
ruefully about Lucy Walford, the carpenter, who was in charge of the
deck, approached him and said--
"Unless I am greatly mistaken, sir, here's a large craft without any
lights creeping up on our larboard quarter."
"Indeed," said George, rousing himself and stepping aft to the taffrail
with the carpenter; "whereabouts is she?"
The carpenter looked intently astern for a moment, then stretched out
his arm, saying--
"There, sir--ah! now you can see her, she is just about to shut out the
first of those four lights that you can see all close together. There!
now she has shut it out."
"I see her!" said George. "Whatever does the fellow mean by being
without lights on such a pitch-dark night as this; it would serve him
right to report him to the commodore in the morning. He has a smart
vessel under his feet, though; see how she is overhauling us. Why, it
must surely be one of the gun-brigs, judging from her spread of canvas
and her lofty spars. But what can she be doing here, in the very middle
of the fleet, and without lights, too?"
The stranger was by this time little more than a couple of cables'
lengths from the _Aurora_, drawing up to her fast, and apparently
intending to pass her very closely. George glanced anxiously at his
stern light, thinking it might possibly have gone out, but no, it was
burning brightly and must be distinctly visible to those on board the
other craft.
Gradually the dark, mysterious fabric drew closer and still closer up on
the port quarter of the _Aurora_, not the faintest glimmer of light
being visible from stem to stern, and not a sound of any kind to be
heard on board her.
George began to feel a trifle nervous as he watched the silent, stealthy
approach of the stranger; and fetching his speaking-trumpet from the
beckets in the companion-way, where it always hung in company with the
telescope, he stepped aft to the taffrail and hailed--
"Ship ahoy!"
"Hillo!" was the response, in a tone of voice pitched so low that,
though it was distinctly audible to those on board the _Aurora_, it
would not penetrate the sluggish atmosphere to any great distance.
"What ship is that?" inquired George.
"His Britannic Majesty's brig--" (name unintelligible). "What ship is
that?"
"The _Aurora_, of London. Why are you out of your station, and without
lights, sir? Is there anything wrong?"
"Yes," was the reply, "but don't hail any more; there are enemies at
hand. I will sheer alongside you presently, and tell you what to do."
"Enemies at hand, eh!" muttered George. "What can it mean, I wonder?
And if there _are_ enemies, by which, I suppose, they mean Frenchmen, in
our neighbourhood, those man-o'-war fellows must have eyes like owls to
be able to see them in the dark. Just step down into the cabin, if you
please, Mr Ritson, and give the mate a call; I don't half like this."
In little more than a minute Mr Bowen was on deck and listening to
George's statement of what had already passed, and of his uneasiness.
George had just finished speaking, when there was a sound as of a
falling handspike, or something of the kind, on board the stranger,
followed by a loud ejaculation of--
"_Sacr-r-r-r-re nom de_--"
The remainder of the exclamation was promptly suppressed, but it was
enough; George's suspicions were now fully aroused, and he whispered to
the two men standing by him--
"She is French, beyond a doubt; they intended to surprise us, and very
nearly they did it, too. But we will not be caught quite so easily this
time. Ritson, go forward, rouse the men, and tell them to creep aft
under the shelter of the bulwarks; let not one of them show so much as a
hair of his head above the rail; and tell them to look lively. And you,
Mr Bowen, be good enough to go below and bring up a cutlass apiece for
all hands."