Time passed by, as it does in youth as well as in old age. The ship's
company were looking forward to being relieved, for the frigate had
already been the best part of five years on the station. I was learning
to knot and splice, and could already perform a hornpipe, if not with
much grace, at all events with an exhibition of considerable elastic
power, and greatly to the admiration of Toby Kiddle, Pat Brady, and my
other friends, as well as my father and mother and Mrs King. They
would get round applauding me greatly, as I sprang up and down, shuffled
round and round and snapped my fingers, kicking out my legs in every
direction. Sometimes the officers would come forward to have a look at
me, and on several occasions I was invited aft to exhibit before the
Captain.
Several changes had taken place on board, one of the lieutenants having
invalided home, while another had died, their places being filled by
others whom I shall shortly have to describe. The brig we had captured
was ultimately brought into the service, and she was about to be
commissioned. She was fitting out at Macao, and it was understood that
Mr Schank would take the command of her. He had long been expecting
promotion, though frequently disappointed, and he now made sure that he
should obtain it. He might also hope, in so fine a vessel, to make a
fair amount of prize-money. He required it much, for he had an old
mother and several maiden sisters at home to support, besides two or
three younger brothers to educate and send out in the world. This was
generally known among his brother officers, and, although the cut of his
uniforms was somewhat antiquated, and his best coat was tolerably
threadbare, even the most thoughtless never ventured to quiz him. Every
sixpence he could save went to the cottage in Lincolnshire. There his
father had been the incumbent of a living of under a hundred and fifty
pounds a year, on which he had to bring up his family and pay certain
college debts, which had hung like a millstone round his neck all his
life. I mention these things now, although, of course, I did not hear
them till many years afterwards. Mr Schank was still doing duty on
board the frigate expecting to be superseded, that he might commence
refitting the brig. It had just become dark. She was lying some
distance inside of us. Happily for themselves several of the crew in
charge had come on board the frigate. Suddenly a tremendous explosion
was heard. Bright flames burst forth from the spot where the brig lay,
and a huge pyramid of fire was seen to rush upward towards the sky,
where it burst into a thousand fragments, which, scattering far and
wide, came hissing back into the mirror-like ocean, reflecting, ere they
reached it, a thousand bright lights on its tranquil bosom.
"What is that about?" exclaimed Captain Cobb, coming on deck.
"The brig has blown up, sir," was the answer.
"And so then are all my hopes!" exclaimed Mr Schank, who had followed
him on deck. "Lower the boats though, and we will try and pick up any
poor fellows who may have escaped."
Mr Schank leaped into the first boat which reached the water, and in
his eagerness to save his fellow-creatures instantly forgot his own
bitter disappointment. Three men only were picked up alive, floating on
fragments of the wreck. It sank almost directly the boats got up to the
spot. What had caused the catastrophe no one could tell, but the brig
certainly must have had a larger amount of gunpowder on board her than
was supposed. Mr Schank therefore, as before, continued to act as our
First-Lieutenant. Once or twice we returned to the Hoogley to refit,
and on one occasion we were sent round to Madras and Bombay on special
service. We were running down the Coromandel coast; the wind fell, and
we lay, rolling our lower yardarms under in a long heavy swell, which
came moving onwards in giant undulations towards the coast. We had to
get rolling tackles set up, for sometimes it seemed as if the frigate
would shake the very masts out of her. The Captain was on deck
whistling away as was his wont. I do not know whether he expected his
whistling to produce a breeze, but certainly I observed that he never
failed to whistle when there was a calm.
He was thus employed when Mr Schank, who had previously been on deck
for some hours, and had gone below to rest, once more made his
appearance. He cast a look round, and pointed out a dark spot in the
horizon. The order was immediately given to furl sails and strike
topgallant masts. The royal-masts had previously been sent down. It
was a time when a careless hold was likely to cause the stoutest seaman
a leap into eternity. Scarcely was the ship made snug when down came
the blast upon her. The sky grew of a leaden hue, and the long swell
was broken up into a thousand tossing seas, foaming and leaping, and
crossing each other in a way trying even to a frigate, and fearfully
dangerous to any smaller craft. We, having been prepared in good time,
ran on before the wind, having, however, as it shifted, which it did
suddenly several points at a time, to change our course. The gale was a
violent one, and did, I believe, send more than one ill-found ship to
the bottom, but it was fortunately short in its duration, and by
daylight had greatly decreased. Pat Brady, who had as sharp a pair of
eyes as anyone on board, being on the look-out, discovered an object
floating far away on the lee-bow. Whether it was a rock or a vessel on
her beam-ends it was difficult to say. The ship was, however, kept away
towards it, and the master being consulted, declared that no rock was to
be found thereabouts. As we approached nearer, there was no doubt that
the object seen was a vessel, and probably capsized in the late
hurricane. The sea was still running very high, and washing over the
greater portion of it, almost hiding it from view. Still the after part
was higher out of the water than the rest, and it was possible that some
human beings might still be clinging to it. As we approached, the
frigate was brought on a wind, and hove to, but lowering a boat was
still an operation of danger. All glasses were turned towards the
wreck.
"I cannot help thinking there may be somebody on board," exclaimed Mr
Harry Oliver, the mate I have spoken of. "If you will let me go, sir, I
will board her," he added, turning to the Captain.
"As you like, Oliver," said Captain Cobb. "You know the risk; you can
take a boat, but only volunteers must accompany you."
Mr Oliver smiled. He knew well there would be no lack of them. Pat
Brady was the first to spring forward, and Bill King and my father both
volunteered to go likewise. The crew was soon formed, and the boat
safely reached the water. Away she went. No small skill was required
to keep her afloat. My mother and Mrs King were looking on, and I have
no doubt offering up prayers for the safety of their husbands. At
length the boat got round to the lee side of the wreck. A cloth of
shawl of some sort was seen to be fluttering from under the weather
bulwarks.
The boat drew nearer. "There is somebody there, to a certainty,"
exclaimed Mr Oliver. "We may get up under her quarter, and an active
man may then leap on board."
My father volunteered. The boat approached. Taking a line in his hand,
he sprang on to the deck, half of which was under water. Supporting
himself by the stump of the after-mast, and then catching hold of a
portion of the weather-rigging, he hauled himself to the upper part of
the wreck, where, secured to a stanchion, was what looked like a bundle
of rags, out of the midst of which appeared a brown face, while his ear,
at the same time, amidst the roaring of the sea, caught the sound of an
infant's cry, to which, since I came into the world, his ears had been
pretty well accustomed. Although Mr Oliver and the men in the boat
gave him notice at that instant that the wreck was sinking, that cry had
aroused all the father's feelings in his bosom. He sprang forward, and,
as a seaman only could have done, cut away the lashings which secured a
dark female, in whose grasp he then discovered a fair young infant.
Seizing the woman and child in his arms, as the bow of the vessel was
already sinking, he gave one spring aft, and struggled out of the vortex
of the sinking vessel.
"Haul away!" he cried out, while he held the rope with one hand and kept
his charges afloat with the other. A strong man alone could have saved
them, and even a strong one, unless a truly brave fellow, would not have
made the attempt. In a few seconds they were lifted safely into the
boat. The infant breathed freely, and seemed not to have got any harm,
but the poor black woman suffered greatly, and this further immersion
had contributed still more to exhaust her. Yet she was perfectly
conscious of what had occurred. Her lips moved, and a smile lighted up
her countenance when she saw the infant lifted carefully in my father's
arms. Unfortunately, there was no food in the boat, but just as Mr
Oliver was stepping in, the surgeon had put a small brandy-flask in his
pocket. This he produced, and attempted to pour a few drops down the
throat of the poor woman, but the instant she tasted it she spat it
forth as if it was poison, and showed signs of the evident disgust she
felt at its being put into her mouth. All that those in the boat could
do, therefore, was to make the best of their way back again to the
frigate. There was not a sign of another human being on the wreck. As
there were no boats, it was possible that the crew might have attempted
to make their escape in them, but then surely they would not have left
the woman and child behind. When the wreck went down, scarcely anything
floated up by which any information could be gained as to what she was.
From her appearance, Mr Oliver supposed that she was a snow, possibly
belonging to one of the neighbouring ports. The black woman, from her
dress and appearance, was at once known to be a native nurse--a class
noted for their fidelity to those to whom they become attached. Not
without great difficulty and danger, the boat at length reached the
frigate's side, when a cradle was sent down into which the nurse was
placed, and hoisted on board, my father following with the infant. I
rather think it created far more sensation than I did when I came on
board. In the first place, it made its appearance in a more public
manner, and the Captain and officers crowded round to look at it and the
poor nurse.
"Wonder whether it's a boy or a girl," said Toby Kiddle, who was amongst
the foremost crowding round. "If it's a boy the younker will make a
fine playmate for our Benjy. Let's have a squint at it, Dick. He won't
cut our little chap out, anyhow; but we'll let the Jollies have him in
keeping, and let them see what they can make on him. He'll help, at all
events, to keep peace and quiet between us and them."
From the delicate features of the child, the officers seemed to think,
however, that Toby's hopes would be disappointed; and the small stranger
being forthwith committed to the charge of my mother, she soon settled
the question by pronouncing her to be a remarkably fine healthy little
girl, the child of Europeans, and from her dress, and the handsome coral
ring and gold chain round her neck, of people of some wealth and
quality.
The nurse was carried down into the surgeon's cabin, where Mrs King
came instantly to assist him in taking care of her. The poor creature
had fainted almost immediately on being brought on deck; when, at
length, restoratives being applied, she opened her eyes, she gave a look
round expressive of grief and alarm, uttering several words in an
unknown tongue.
"It is the child she is asking for, sir," observed Mrs King. "Of
course, that would be the first thing in her mind."
That Mrs King was right was proved when the child was brought to her.
Several times she pressed it to her bosom, but she had no nourishment to
afford it. Then, giving one convulsive gasp, before the surgeon could
pour the restorative he had ready into her mouth, she sank back and
expired. There was nothing about the woman to show who she was, or
whence she had come. Her dress, as I have said, was that of an ayah or
native nurse, such as all Europeans employ to take care of their
children. Conjecture was rife as to who the little stranger was. What
the Captain and officers thought about the matter I do not know.
Forward, however, the general opinion ran in favour of her being of
exalted birth.
"She is a little lady, no doubt about that," remarked Toby Kiddle, as he
scrutinised her delicate features and the fineness of her clothing, and
the "Little Lady" she was ever afterwards called.
But to whose charge she should fall was the next question. The Captain
had a wife ashore, but he seemed to think that she would not be
particularly well-pleased should he present her with an infant to look
after. It would be something like reversing the order of things, and it
might be difficult to persuade her that he was entirely ignorant of the
child's parentage.
"You had better have her, Gunning," he said to the First-Lieutenant of
Marines, "you have eight or nine already, have you not? And surely
another can make no odds, and your wife will be delighted, I'm sure.
Mrs Cobb would not mind standing godmother, I dare say, supposing the
little damsel is not christened, and, to make sure, it will be just as
well to have that done when we get home. I suppose they can go to
heaven without it, but it is a matter I am not very clear about, and it
is as well to be on the right side, do you see."
These remarks of the Captain enabled Mr Gunning to think over the
matter. He had only joined us a few months, and he had some idea that
on his return he should find a further increase to his large family.
Though he was a kind-hearted man, and really would have been glad to
look after the little stranger, yet he did not consider himself
justified in undertaking further responsibilities, in addition to those
already upon his shoulders. Still, who could take care of the little
girl? The junior lieutenants were all young men, not at all fitted for
the office. The surgeon was not exactly the person to whom a female
infant could be committed. The master was a good seaman, but a somewhat
rough hand, and he and his wife were known to live a cat-and-dog life
when he was ashore: whereby the service benefited, as he always took
care, for the sake of peace, to keep afloat. Then there was the purser.
Her life was not likely to prove a happy one should he assume her
guardianship, for as his great and sole pleasure in life seemed to be
the laborious occupation of skinning flints, it was not likely that he
would afford her a liberal education or a liberal maintenance. He was
therefore put out of the question. The only persons, therefore, who
appeared at all eligible among the officers were the Captain, the
First-Lieutenant, and the Lieutenant of Marines. Mr Schank, when the
matter was suggested to him, thought a good deal about it. "Perhaps his
old mother would like to look after the little girl, he was sure she
would, and so would his sisters, and very fit people they were in many
respects, barring the expense she would be to them."
"What say you, Schank? Suppose I help you in that matter. I am in duty
bound to do so, and so you will excuse my making the offer," said the
Captain, his more generous feelings excited, as he thought of the
forlorn condition of the little creature.
Lieutenant Schank thanked him, and promised if his mother would accept
the charge not to decline his proposal. In the meantime the Little Lady
was consigned to my mother's charge. Next to me and my father, the kind
woman soon learned to love her more than anything on earth; in fact, she
felt for her as for a daughter. The little creature from the first
clung to her, and from the way she looked into her eyes, I really
believe thought she was her own mother. At first she would not let
Susan King even touch her, and shrieked out with fear. Poor Susan's
tender heart was somewhat grieved at this. Her outward appearance and
hoarse voice was indeed calculated to frighten a discerning child.
However, in time, the Little Lady became reconciled to her, though she
still always showed a strong preference to my mother.