"I can't bully him to-night--a young dog!" said the captain. "He must
be half-starved. I wonder whether Broughton has gone to bed."
He went down slowly to the library without a light, meaning to summon
the butler and make him prepare a tray.
But meanwhile Admiral Belton had provided himself with a chamber
candlestick and stolen softly down-stairs, through the baize door at one
side of the hall, and along the passage that led to the kitchen.
"Can't leave the poor lad to starve," he muttered; "and I dare say I
shall find out the larder by the smell."
He chuckled to himself as he softly unfastened a door.
"Nice game this for one of his Majesty's old officers of the fleet," he
said. "Wonder what they'd say at the club if they saw me?"
The door passed, he had no difficulty in finding the kitchen, for there
was a pleasant chirping of crickets to greet his ear; a kitcheny smell
that was oniony and unmistakable, and a few paces farther on his feet
were on stones that were sanded, and all at once there was a loud pop
where he put down his foot.
He lowered the light and saw that black beetles were scouring away in
all directions.
"Cockroaches, by George!" he muttered. "Now where can the larder be?"
There were three doors about, and he went to the first.
"Hah!" he ejaculated, with a sniff. "Here we are; no doubt about it."
He slipped a bolt, lifted a latch, stepped in and stepped out again
quickly, then closed the door.
"Scullery!" he snarled. "Bah! what an idiot I do seem, prowling about
here."
He crossed the kitchen, slaying two more black beetles with his broad
feet in transit, and opened another door. This he found led into a cool
passage, along one side of which was a wirework kind of cage.
"Here we are at last," he said; and opening the door, he found himself
in presence of part of a cold leg of mutton, a well-carved piece of
beef, and a cold roast pheasant.
"Now then for a plate," he muttered; and this he secured by sliding some
tartlets off one on to the shelf.
"Why, I've no knife," he muttered, as he cast his eyes upon the cold
roast pheasant. "I must have some bread too."
A huge brown pan on the stone floor suggested the home of the loaves,
and on raising the lid he found a half loaf, which he broke in two,
secured one piece, and transferred it to the plate.
"Hang it all, where is there a knife?" he muttered. "One can't cut beef
or mutton without a knife. 'Tisn't even as if one had got one's sword.
Here--I know."
He seized the pheasant.
"Humph! too much for a boy. Don't know, though; dare say he could
finish it. Wouldn't do him good. I'll--that's it."
He took hold of one leg, and holding the bird down, pulled off one of
its joints; then another; after which he placed the pair of legs
thoughtfully on the plate.
"May as well give him a wing too," he said; and seizing the one having
the liver, he was in the act of tearing it off, when an exclamation
behind made him start round and face the captain.
"My dear Tom!" exclaimed the latter. "Why, my dear boy, didn't you
speak, and so have ordered a supper-tray?"
"But you seem to be hungry too," growled the admiral, pointing with the
wing he had now torn-off at a plate and knife and fork his brother
carried.
"Eh? yes," said the captain, starting and looking conscious. "I--er--
that is--"
"Why, Harry!" exclaimed Sir Thomas.
"Tom!" cried the captain. "You don't mean that you have come down to--"
"Yes, I do," cried the admiral, fiercely. "Think I was going to bed
after a good dinner to shut my eyes whilst that poor boy was
half-starved?"
"But it is a punishment for him," said the captain, sternly.
"Punishment be hanged, sir!" cried Sir Thomas. "Harry, you are my
brother, and I am only a guest here, but you are a humbug, sir."
"What do you mean?"
"Mean that you've been bouncing about being strict, and the rest of it,
and yet you brought that plate and knife to cut your boy some supper."
"Well, er--I'm afraid I did, Tom."
"I'm not afraid, but I'm very glad you're not such a hard-hearted
scoundrel. Poor boy! he must be famished. Here, give me that knife."
The captain handed the knife, but in doing so brushed his sleeve over
the flame of the candle he carried, and extinguished it.
"How provoking!"
"Never mind," said his brother; "one must do."
As he spoke, the admiral hacked a great piece off the breast of the
pheasant, and added it to the legs and wing.
"There," he said, "that ought to keep him going till breakfast. Must
have a bit o' salt, Harry. Hush!"
He stooped down and blew out the remaining candle, as the captain caught
his arm, and they stood listening.
For the creaking of a door had fallen upon their ears; and partly from
involuntary action consequent upon the dread of being caught in so
unusual a position, partly from the second thought to which he
afterwards gave vent, the admiral sought refuge in the dark.
"Burglars, Harry," he whispered. "They're after your plate."
"Hist! don't speak; we may catch them," was whispered back, and the two
old officers stood listening for what seemed an interminable length of
time before they saw the dim reflection of a light; heard more
whispering, and then the door leading into the larder passage was softly
opened.
"Coming into the trap," thought the captain, as with his heart beating
fast he prepared for the encounter which he foresaw must take place.
"Be ready," he said, with his lips to his brother's ear.
"Right. They're going to board," was whispered back.
They were not long kept in doubt, for the larder door was suddenly
thrown open, and three men dashed in armed with bludgeons and a cutlass.
There was a sharp scuffle in the darkness, in which the two brave old
officers made desperate efforts to master their assailants, but only to
find that their years were against them, and they were completely
overcome.
"You lubbers! Do you give in?" cried a hoarse voice--that of the man
sitting on the captain's chest, while two men were holding down the
admiral, who still heaved and strove to get free.
"Strake, you scoundrel! is it you?" panted the captain.
Barney executed a curious manoeuvre, half bound, half roll, off his
master, and brought up close to one of the larder shelves, while one of
the other men left the admiral and ran out, to return with a light.
The scene was strange. Barney was standing supporting himself against
the larder shelf, with his elbow on the cold sirloin of beef; the
footman, in his shirt and breeches, was in a corner; and Captain Belton
and his brother, with their clothes half torn-off their backs, were
seated on the bare floor, staring angrily at their assailants; while
Broughton, the butler, was in the doorway, with the candle he had
fetched held high above his head.
"My last tooth gone," roared the admiral. "You scoundrels, you shall
pay for this."
"Strake, you rascal!" cried the captain. "Broughton, is this some plot
to rob me?"
The men stared aghast, as the captain struggled up.
"Speak, you ruffians! You, John!" roared the captain, as he got his
breath again, and stood trembling with passion as he glared at the
footman.
"Beg pardon, sir," stammered the frightened servitor.
"No, don't stop for that, sir," cried his master; "tell me what the
dickens this means."
"Please, sir, I heard noises down-stairs, and I thought it was after the
plate; so I told Broughton, sir, and he sent me after the gardener,
sir."
"And then you came and attacked us," roared the admiral. "Here, I'm
half killed."
"We didn't know it was you, Sir Thomas," growled Barney.
"Then why didn't you know, you idiot?" cried the captain.
"Didn't think anybody could be down-stairs, sir," said the butler,
respectfully.
"Why didn't you show your colours, you scoundrel?" cried the admiral,
"and not come firing broadsides into your friends. Confound--I say,
Harry, my lad, just look at me."
"I'm very sorry, sir," faltered the butler.
"Hang your sorrow, sir! You've broke my watch-glass, and I can feel the
bits pricking me."
"Come to me at ten o'clock to-morrow morning, all of you," cried the
captain, fiercely, "and I'll pay you your wages, and you shall go."
"No, no, no," said the admiral; "I think we've given them as much as
they gave us, and--haw, haw, haw!" he roared, bursting into a tremendous
peal of laughter; "we didn't show our colours either. It's all right,
brother Harry; they took us for burglars--but they needn't have hit
quite so hard."
"Beg your honour's pardon, sir, sure," growled Barney.
"Beg my pardon, sir!--after planting your ugly great knees on my chest,
and then sitting on me with your heavy carcase!"
"Is anything the matter?" said a voice at the door, and Sydney made his
appearance, looking startled at the scene.
"No, no, my boy," cried his uncle, cheerily; "only your father and I
came down to get you a bit of supper, and then they boarded us in the
dark."
"Yes, yes, that was it, Syd," said the captain. "Here, put that plate
on a tray, Broughton, and take it into the library. I'm very sorry this
has happened."
"All a mistake, sir, I'm sure," said the butler, taking the plate with
the hacked and torn-off portions of pheasant.
"Yes; don't say any more about it. Come, brother Tom; come, Sydney."
He led the way, but the jolly old admiral could not follow for laughing.
He leaned up against the larder shelf, and stood wiping his eyes; and
every time he got over one paroxysm he began again. But at last he
beckoned to Barney.
"Here, give me your arm, bo'sun," he said, "and help me into the
library; I feel as if everything were going by the board. Oh, dear me!
oh, dear me! Wait till I've buttoned this waistcoat. Well, it's a
lesson. Done for you, Syd, if you had been going to sea. Never attack
without proper signals to know who are enemies and who are not."
The supper was soon spread in the library, and Sydney was ravenous for a
few mouthfuls, but after that he pushed his plate away, and could eat no
more.
"What!" cried his uncle; "done? Nonsense! I can peck a bit now myself;
and, Harry, my boy, I must have a glass of grog after this."
The result was that Syd did eat a decent supper, and an hour later, when
all was still, he sat thinking for a time about the coming morning.
Perhaps more than that of the fact that neither his father nor his uncle
had shaken hands when they parted for the night.
Then came sleep--sweet, restful sleep--and he was dreaming vividly for a
time of a desperate fight with the French, in which he boarded a larder,
and captured a butler, footman, and a gardener. After that all was
dense, dreamless sleep, till he started up in bed, for there was a
knocking at his door.