"Well, young gentlemen, flesh and blood wants some rest, though I can do more than most men in the way of work, and instead of taking a doze in my cabin I'll indulge you, and the service shall not suffer. Ah, ah! let me see:—I was telling you of my childhood. I very soon grew up. I didn't take long to do that. By the time I was fifteen I knew a thing or two, and there wasn't a seaman aboard my father's ship who could beat me at anything."

"At pulling the long bow especially," said a deep voice from one of the hammocks.

"Who spoke?" inquired Mr Johnson, turning round sharply. "I'll tell you what, whoever you are, a man may shoot with a long bow, or a man may shoot with a short bow; but for my part I say a man has a right to use the weapon which suits him best; and so, Mr Bow-wo-wo, just bowse taut that jaw-tackle of yours, and don't let's hear any more of your pertinent remarks, I'll thank ye, my bo." Mr Johnson then continued, "At last, said my father one day to me—'Jonathan, you are big enough and strong enough to go without leading strings, and the sooner a lad does that the better.'

"'Yes, father, I am,' said I, and I was, for I was six feet two inches high, and could knock over an ox with my fist, as I'd done many a time to save the butcher trouble.

"'You must look out for a ship, my son,' said my father.

"'I will,' said I, and I did. I shipped on board a Greenland whaler, the Blazylight, and sailed the next day for the North Pole. We had a fine run to our fishing ground, and soon began to kill our whales at a great rate. It was the sort of sport which just suited me. I never could stand angling for minnows; but whale-fishing is a very different sort of work, I guess.

"We had got a full ship, and were thinking of turning south, when we were becalmed near the land, and as the ship could not move, I, with four or five more, started on an expedition to shoot polar bears, which were pretty common thereabouts. We had got a good way from the ship, when a thick fog—not an unfrequent visitor to those parts—came on. I had a pocket-compass with me, and so I wasn't a bit alarmed. However, when we tried to find the old Blazylight again, I must confess we could not. We wandered about till all my companions died from sheer fright and fatigue; and I should have died, too, if I had given in; but I wouldn't do that; so I collected all my shipmates' ammunition, and set to work to kill and pot bears. I lived like a prince, as far as quantity was concerned, but I got rather tired of bear's flesh at last. I rubbed myself over with the grease, and was soon covered from head to foot with a hide of the finest wool, so that I didn't feel the cold a bit. It was cold, however, at times, with a vengeance. Frequently the frost was so severe, that it froze up even the very air, and if I had not melted it every now and then, by firing off my gun, I should have died for want of breath; and often it wasn't possible to move without cutting a way for myself through the atmosphere with my axe. I suspected, as I afterwards found to be the case, that what we had taken, to be land, was in reality an unusually large field of ice, with icebergs imbedded in it, and that we had been carried by some unknown current imperceptibly towards the north for a considerable distance. Now, when we had left the ship, we had kept to the westward. When we wished to return, we had steered east by the pocket-compass I told you of. On, and on, and on, I kept on the same course. What do you think I was doing? Why I was walking round and round the North Pole, and should have kept on walking till now, for nothing would have made me give in—I promise you that wasn't my way—had I not come upon the print of my own footsteps in the snow. This made me aware of my error; so I sat down to consider how it could have happened, and at last the truth flashed on my mind. You see it was a very natural mistake I had made, for the needle of my compass was all the time pointing to the North Pole, just as a capstan-bar does to the capstan, while I was running round at the other end of it. I was rather puzzled to know what to do, for had I walked south, not having the means of ascertaining my longitude, I might, I thought, find myself on the other side of the globe, somewhere, perhaps near Behring's Straits, leading into the Sea of Kamtschatka, where there would be little chance of my falling in with a ship.

"I had sat cogitating for some time, and was beginning to get rather chilly, when it occurred to me that I might render a great service to science, by going chock up to the North Pole, and ascertaining of what it is composed. I instantly rose from my seat, put my compass down to strike the course I was to take, fired off my gun to clear myself a path through the frozen atmosphere, secured my stock of bear's flesh on my back for provisions, and manfully set forward, with my face away from all human beings."

"But how could you see, Mr Johnson?" asked Grey. "I always thought it was dark in those regions during winter!"

"See! why perfectly well," answered the boatswain promptly. "If the stars and moon happened not to be shining, there was always the aurora borealis blazing up, like a great fire, right ahead of me. You have seen the northern lights on a winter's night, but they are a very different affair up there to what they appear so far south. If it wasn't for them, in my opinion, there would be no living in those regions, but by their warmth they keep the atmosphere round them in a very pleasant state. Well, on I walked, sleeping at night in the huts I made in the snow, leaving a small hole open to breathe through; and it was not disagreeably cold, owing to the warm whiffs which came every now and then from the Pole.

"After progressing thus for several days, I observed an extraordinary phenomenon. Whenever I took my compass out in my hand, I felt that the instrument had a tendency to move directly before me. This tendency increased gradually as I proceeded, till, one morning, when I put it down as usual to mark my course before starting, to my infinite surprise, and I may say dismay, away it glided over the snow, increasing in rapidity of motion as it proceeded.

"Horrified at the reflection of what might be the consequence should I lose it, I rushed forward, and, in my eagerness to grasp my treasure, fell prostrate on my face, just, happily, as my fingers clutched it.

"This wonderful occurrence (for I own that it did surprise even me, and I could not have believed it had another man told it me) brought me to a stand-still, and compelled me to form a new plan for my future proceedings. I was unwilling to give up the enterprise, though I saw the full risk I was running; but dangers never daunted me,—I should think not,—and I determined at every hazard to proceed. I accordingly retraced my steps a day's journey, when I found the attractive powers of the Pole of less force; and then erecting a lofty pyramid of snow, I placed my compass on the summit, and carefully covered it. On the top of all I fastened a red pocket-handkerchief, secured to a walking-stick, in order to make the object still more conspicuous. Having performed this work, I lay down in a snow hut to rest, and the next morning again set forward towards the Pole."

The boatswain stopped to clear his throat.

"That is very interesting, Mr Johnson," said Grey. "Do go on."

"I'll indulge you, young gentlemen—I'll indulge you; and as I look upon what I am going to tell you as the most interesting part of my adventures, no one must interrupt me. The king on his throne mustn't and sha'n't—till I have finished my authentic and veracious narrative."

"Mr Johnson! Mr Johnson! the captain wants you—sharp!" shouted Toby Bluff, running along the deck. Mr Johnson gave a grunt, and, springing from his seat, disappeared up the hatchway.



CHAPTER SIX.

I had a good constitution which had not been impaired by any excess, and as Mr Perigal and the other oldsters of the mess kept strictly to the law by which they had awarded to themselves two-thirds of the youngsters' grog, my blood was not inflamed by having imbibed spirituous liquors. I therefore, under Macquoid's judicious care, very rapidly recovered from the effects of my wound. In a few days I could have got up and run about, but as poor Grey, who was much more hurt than I had been, was too weak to leave his hammock, I promised to remain in mine to keep him company. When Macquoid came to me, therefore, one day and told me that I might dress and go on deck, I replied in a very faint voice, that I had not strength to move, and groaned a great deal when he moved me to dress my wound.

"Some internal injury, I fear," he observed, "I must see to it."

He then turned to Spellman, to dress his cheeks. He groaned exactly in the way I had done, and spoke in the same faint tone, declaring his inability to rise.

"Ah, poor fellow, some internal injury, I fear; I must see to it," remarked the assistant-surgeon in the same tone, as he left us.

Miss Susan, thinking that he had quitted the sick bay, sat up in his hammock, and made a well-known and expressive signal to me with his thumb to his nose, which Macquoid, who happened at that moment to turn his head, could not have failed to observe.

"Miss Susan, you donkey, you have spoilt all. We are found out," I exclaimed. "Macquoid saw your sign to me."

Spellman declared that did not signify; that he would explain how it happened to Macquoid, and assure him that the gesture was one which he frequently made when suffering from a paroxysm of pain.

I told him that he had better say nothing of the sort, and that he would only make matters worse, but he persisted that he knew better than I did, and told me to hold my tongue. Of course it was very wrong to sham to be worse than I was, but I persuaded myself that it was not like actual malingering, as I had a foundation for my assertion, and really did not feel as if I could walk. Still I may as well say here, that though I have ever been through life merry by nature, as well as by name, and have loved joking as much as any man, I have learned to hate and detest falsehood. It is un-Christian like in the first place, and thoroughly low and ungentlemanly in the second. I say this, lest in consequence of my having introduced the wonderful adventures of my shipmate, Mr Johnson, it may be considered that I think lightly of the importance of speaking the truth. To do Jonathan justice he took ample care that his yarns should never for a moment deceive the most simple-minded or credulous of his hearers. At that time, however, I did not see things as clearly as I did when I grew older, and I was vexed at having tried to deceive Macquoid, more from the fear of being found out than from any refined sense of shame. He, however, when he came again in the evening, treated us exactly as if we were still very weak, and when Spellman persisted in talking of the odd position into which his hands twisted themselves when he was in pain, he seemed to take it all in, and agreed with him, that such was a very natural and common occurrence. I had my doubts, however, of Macquoid's sincerity, and having had some experience of his mode of treatment on a former occasion, resolved to be very much better the next visit he paid us. I said nothing to Spellman, whose spirits rose immediately.

"I told you so," he exclaimed, when Macquoid was gone. "I told you I should humbug Johnny Sawbones."

"Now if we could but get the boatswain to come to us, and to go on with his yarns, we should be all right and jolly," observed Grey.

I agreed with him, and soon afterwards Toby Bluff coming to see me, which the faithful fellow did as often as he could during the day, I sent him to invite Mr Johnson to pay us a visit, as he would have more leisure then than at any other time of the day. Nothing loth, the boatswain soon made his appearance.

"And so, young gentlemen, you want to hear more of my wonderful, not to say veracious, narratives," he observed, while a pleasant smile irradiated his features. "Well, I hold that the use of a man's legs is to move about the world, the use of his eyes is to see all that is to be seen, as he does move about, and the use of his tongue to describe all that he has seen, and so I'll use mine to good purpose, and indulge you, but, as I've said before, I say again, I will have no one doubt my word. If there's any cavilling, I'll shut up as close as an oyster when he's had his dinner, and, having made this preliminary observation, here goes. Let me recollect, where had I got to?" Mr Johnson said this while taking his usual seat on a bucket, between our hammocks, his huge legs stretched out along the deck, and his big head sticking up, so that his eagle eyes could glance round above them.

"I remember,—I was taking a walk to the North Pole. I did not think that I could be many days' journey from it. But that did not matter. The air was so bracing that I could take any amount of exercise without fatigue, and was therefore able to walk all day, sitting down merely for convenience sake when I was enjoying my dinner off the preserved bear. I of course could not cut the flesh with my knife, as it was frozen as hard as a rock. I was therefore obliged to chop it into mouthfuls with my hatchet, and even when between my teeth it was some time before it would thaw, but then you see, as I had nobody to talk to, I had plenty of time for mastication, and it was undoubtedly partly to this circumstance that I kept my health all the time. There is nothing so bad as bolting one's food, except going without it. By the way, I have had to do that more than once for several weeks together. Once for a whole month I had nothing to eat but some round-shot and bullet moulds, and an old jackass, which was washed up on the beach, after being well pickled by the salt water, but that has nothing to do with my present story. I wish that I had kept a diary of my proceedings during my northern ramble. It would have proved highly interesting to Sir Joseph Banks, and other scientific people, but, as it happens, I have my memory alone to which I can trust, though that, however, never deceives me. Well, after leaving my flagstaff I travelled on, neither turning to the right hand nor to the left, and it is wonderful what a straight course I kept, considering the difficulty there is in finding one's way over a trackless plain without a compass. If I had had too much grog aboard, I could not have done it, and it's a strong argument in favour of keeping sober on all occasions, but more especially when any work is to be done. I slept at night, as before, in a hole in the snow, but never suffered from cold; this was partly on account of the quantity of bear's grease I swallowed, which served to keep the lamp of life alive, and also because every mile I advanced I found the atmosphere growing warmer, and the Northern Lights brighter and brighter. There could be no doubt about it; those lights were the cause of the unexpected warmth I encountered; so warm, indeed, did the air become, that I am certain many a man would have turned back for fear of being roasted alive, but I was not to be daunted. Onward I went till I got within less than a mile of one of the biggest fires I ever saw. The effect was grand and beautiful in the extreme. You might suppose yourself looking at a city fifty times as large as London, and every house in it as big as Saint Paul's, and every part of it blazing away at the same time, and even then you would have no conception of the magnificence of the scene which met my view, as I beheld the source of those far-famed Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis, as the learned people call them.

"The flames, you must know, were not of that bright hot colour which issue from a furnace, but were of a delicate pale red, flickering and playing about in the most curious way imaginable, sometimes blazing up to the height of a mile or so, and then sinking down to a few hundred feet. The heat at the distance I was then from it was rather pleasant than oppressive; it had not even melted the snow on the ground, but of course that was so hard frozen, that it would have required a very warm fire to have made any impression on it. Well, as I advanced I began to lick my chops at the thoughts of the hot dinner I intended to enjoy— for, after all, however philosophical a man may be, his appetite, if he is hungry, must be satisfied before he is fit for anything—when I beheld a number of moving objects, scarcely distinguishable from the snow, encircling the fire. I could not make out at first what they were, but on approaching still nearer, I discovered the truth, though I could scarcely believe my eyes, for there, sitting up on their hams, were countless thousands of polar bears, warming their paws before the aurora borealis. It is a fact as true as anything I have been telling you, and at once fully accounted to my mind for the disappearance of bears from the arctic regions during the winter months, and fully refutes the popular idea, that they sit moping by themselves in caverns, employing their time in sucking their paws.

"Not liking the idea of losing my hot dinner, not to speak of the disappointment of not being able to say that I had been chock up to the North Pole, I determined to venture among them."

"It wouldn't give you much concern to say you had been there, at all events, even if you hadn't," growled out a voice from one of the hammocks.

"Sir!" exclaimed the boatswain very sternly, "I would have you to know that I scorn to exaggerate the truth, or to make an assertion which is not in strict accordance with the facts. If you doubt my words, stop your ears or go to sleep, or I'll shut up altogether."

"Oh no, no, do go on, Mr Johnson," exclaimed several voices at the same moment. "We don't doubt a word you're saying."

"Well, that's right and proper," said the boatswain, much appeased. "If I do draw on my imagination at any time, it is because it is the only bank I know of which would not dishonour my drafts, as many a gentleman who lives by his wits would have to confess, if he spoke the truth. Well, I resolved to venture on, and soon got up near enough to see that the bears were sitting as close as they could pack, in a large circle round the real, veritable North Pole, and that those who were moving were merely stragglers, who could not find room to squat down with the rest. I was standing contemplating the strange scene, when an immensely big fellow, catching sight of me, came waddling up on his hind legs, and growling terrifically with anger. 'This is inhospitable conduct, Mr Bruin, let me observe,' I shouted out, but he did not attend to me. I had my gun loaded in my hands, so, when he came within ten yards of me, I fired, and hit him on the eye. Over he rolled as dead as mutton, so it appeared, and I had just time to cut a steak out of his rump for dinner, when another rushed towards me. I loaded calmly, fired, and knocked him over, but this was a signal for fifty others to make a charge at me. I felt that, ready for a fight as I was, I could not hope to contend against such overwhelming numbers, so I did what any person, however brave, situated as I was would have done—I took to my heels and ran as hard as I could go. I never ran so fast in my life before, and good reason I had to put my best leg forward, for, in the course of a minute, there were a thousand bears at my heels, every one of them licking their jaws with the thoughts of dining off me. I must own that I did not like it. On I ran straight for my signal staff, never once looking behind me, for I could hear the bears growling as they followed full tilt; and so clearly are sounds conveyed over those vast expanses of snow, that they seemed close at my heels.

"By the time I had run for fully ten hours without stopping, I began to get rather out of breath, and almost to fear that I should not hold out much longer, when to my great satisfaction the growling grew less and less distinct, as the bears, dead beat, dropped off one after the other, till at last, turning my head, I found that I was alone. I cannot express how comfortable this made me feel, so I sat down for half an hour to recover my breath, and to eat my dinner, which was a cold instead of the hot one I expected to enjoy.

"When I got up again, what was my surprise to see my flagstaff in the distance, not two miles ahead, and it was only then I discovered how very fast I must have run, for I had come back in a few hours a distance which it had before taken me a week to perform. I have heard of fear giving wings to the feet, but though I won't allow that I was afraid, I must have flown along at a good pace. Well, I got up to my flagstaff, and found my compass all right, though as soon as it was clear of the snow it had a slight inclination to move northward; and so, to avoid risk, I stowed it away carefully in my pocket. The handkerchief was frozen as stiff as a board, and I had some difficulty in folding it up for other purposes. I was glad also to get back my walking-stick, which helped me wonderfully over the ground. Again I sat down. It was only now the real difficulties of my position burst on me, but difficulties never have and never shall daunt me. After a little consideration I determined to discover the spot where I had commenced making the circuit round the Pole. For several days I was unsuccessful; till at last I beheld a dark object on the snow. I ran towards it, and it proved to be, as I expected, the body of one of my shipmates, the last who had given in—a Shetlander—Murdoc Dew by name, as good a seaman as ever lived. I exchanged boots with him as mine were worn out with so much walking, and then, pushing on, I came upon the bodies of my other companions and the bears we had killed, by which I knew that I was steering a right course for the spot where I had left the ship. I calculated that had I gone south when I first thought of doing so, I should have got on shore somewhere to the eastward of Nova Zembla, and have had to travel right through Siberia and the whole of Europe before I could have got back to old England, which, considering that I had not a purse with me, nor a sixpence to put into it, would not have been pleasant.

"On I went till I got into the latitudes where icebergs are collected. They are, as is known, vast mountains of ice and snow, so that when I once got among them it was impossible to see any way ahead, and as the summer was coming on and their bases melted, they began to tumble about in so awful a way, that I fully expected to be crushed by them. My food, too, was almost expended, and Murdoc Dew's boots gave symptoms of over use, so that at last I began to think that there might be a pleasanter situation than the one I was placed in, when one day, having climbed to the summit of the highest iceberg in the neighbourhood, I beheld a light blue smoke ascending in the distance. Taking the exact bearings of the spot, I slid down an almost perpendicular precipice, of three hundred feet at least, at an awful rate, and then ran on as fast as my legs would carry me, for after a solitude of eight months I longed to see my fellow-creatures, and hear again the human voice. On I went, but still to my disappointment no ship appeared in sight, till at last I saw in front of me a low round hut, evidently the habitation of Esquimaux—a people whose habits, manners, and appearance I was never much given to admire. I should observe that what with my bear-skin cloak and my long beard and hair, (I say it without any unbecoming humility) I did, probably, look rather an outlandish character.

"As I understood something of the Esquimaux lingo—indeed, there are few tongues I don't know something about—I shouted loudly to attract their attention. On this, two men, dressed in skins, came out of the hut, and answered me in so extraordinary a dialect, that even I did not comprehend what they said. I then hailed them in Russian, but their answers were perfectly unintelligible. I next tried French, but they shook their heads, as was, I thought, but natural for Esquimaux who were not likely to have been sent to Paris for their education. I then spoke a little Spanish to them, but I was equally at a loss to understand their answers. Portuguese was as great a failure; even several of the languages of the North American Indians did not assist us in communicating our ideas to each other. I tried Hindostanee, Arabic, and Chinese, with as little effect. This was, indeed, provoking to a man who had not exchanged a word with a fellow-creature for so many months, till at last, losing temper, I exclaimed in English more to myself than to them:—

"'Well, I wonder what language you do speak then?'

"'English, to be sure,' answered both the men in a breath, 'and never spoke any other in our lives.'

"'Are you, indeed, my countrymen?' I cried, rushing forward and throwing myself into their arms, for by the tone of their voices I discovered that not only were they Englishmen, but my own former shipmates.

"They, of course, thinking that I had long been dead, had not recognised me; indeed I had some difficulty, as it was, in convincing them of my identity, and of the truth of the account I gave of my adventures since I left the ship. I was certainly an odd object, with a beard of so prodigious a length, that it not only reached the ground, but I had to tie it up as carters do their horses' tails, to keep it out of the snow. My hair and eyebrows had increased in the same proportion, so that I was more like a wild beast than a man. This extraordinary exuberance I attribute entirely to my having lived so completely on bear's flesh. When cut off it served to stuff a large sized pillow, which I afterwards gave to the President of the United States, who sleeps every night on it to this day.

"My old shipmates told me that they were the only survivors of the crew—that our ship had been nipped by two floes of ice with such violence that she was sent flying into the air full sixty feet, and that, when she came down again on the ice, she split into a thousand pieces, which went skating over the smooth surface for miles, and that, of course, the bones of every one on board were broken, but that they, having been sent ahead in a boat at the time, escaped.

"Now I do not wish to throw any discredit on my friends' narrative, but remember that I will not and cannot vouch for the accuracy of any man's statements except of my own.

"My friends, having got over their first surprise, invited me to enter their hut, where I must say I enjoyed a comfortable fire and a warm chop—though I burnt my mouth when eating the hot meat, accustomed as I had so long been to iced food. We washed down the flesh with some excellent rum, a few casks-full of which my shipmates had discovered near the scene of the catastrophe, in frozen forms, like jellies turned out of a tin, for the wood had been completely torn off when the ship went to pieces. When our repast was concluded we whiled away the time by narrating our adventures, and though you may have observed that I am not much given in general to talking, I confess I did feel a pleasure in letting my tongue run on. It moved rather stiffly at first for want of practice; but the hot food and spirits soon relaxed the muscles, and then it did move certainly. My only fear was that I should never get it to stop again. We talked on for twelve hours without ceasing, and, after a little sleep, went on again the whole of the next day."

A loud guffaw from the occupant of a distant hammock made the boatswain stop short, and look round with an indignant glance.

"I should like to know, Mr Haugh! Haugh! Haugh! whether you are laughing at me, or at my veracious narrative? If at me, I have to remark that it is over well-bred, whoever you are, officer or man; if at my history, let me observe, all you have to do is to match it before you venture to turn it into fun. It may have been equalled. I don't wish to rob any man of his laurels; but it has not been surpassed, and so Mr Haugh! Haugh! I've shut you up, and intend to shut up myself, too, for it's time for me to go on deck and see what's become of the ship, and that no one has walked away with her."

Saying this, the boatswain rose from his tub, and with his huge head and shoulders bent down as he passed under the beams, he took his departure from among the hammocks. He had not been gone long before Toby Bluff made his appearance; and as he came up to me I fancied, from his countenance, that there must be something wrong with him.

"What is the matter, Bluff?" I asked.

"Why, sir, I thought Mr Johnson was here," said he, without giving an answer to my question.

"But what if he is not?" said I.

"Why, Muster Merry, I wanted to see him very much before he went on deck," he answered.

"On what account?" I asked, convinced that Toby had something to say which he, at all events, considered of importance, and I thought he might just as well tell me before he communicated it to the boatswain. He was Mr Johnson's servant, it must be remembered.

"Why, sir, I don't know whether I am right or wrong," he whispered, coming close up to my hammock. "It's just this, sir. We have got, you know, some three or four hundred French prisoners aboard, at all events many more than our own crew now numbers, as so many are away in the prize, and others wounded. Well, sir, as I have been dodging in and out among them, I have observed several of them in knots, talking and whispering together as if there was something brewing among them. Whenever I got near any of them they were silent, because they thought I might understand their lingo, though I don't. I was sure there was something wrong. It might be they didn't like their provisions or their grog, and were going to ask for something else, but, whatever it was, I made up my mind to find it out. At last I remembered that there is a boy aboard, Billy Cuff, sir, who was taken prisoner by the French, and lived in their country for ever so long, and he used to be very fond of coming out with French words, though he is not a bit fond of the French, for they killed his father and his brother, poor fellow. Thinks I to myself, if Billy has not got much wits he has got ears, and we'll see what we two together can find out. So I told Billy, and I got him to come and stow himself away near where I knew the Frenchmen would soon collect, and sure enough, sir, from what Billy heard, they have made up their minds to try and take the ship. They caught Billy and me stealing away, and from their looks they would have pitched us overboard if they had dared, but we tried to seem innocent like, as if we didn't think any harm, and they still fancy it's all right. Now if any of them saw me going up to speak to the boatswain they might suspect that something was wrong, and be on their guard. I've done right, I hope, sir?"

"Indeed you have, Bluff," said I, highly pleased at the intelligence and forethought he had shown. It proved that his wits were sharpening at a great rate, that in fact he had got the hay-seed out of his hair very rapidly.

I agreed with him that it would not do to let any of the Frenchmen see him talking to the boatswain, because, if they were really going to rise, they might do so before preparations could be made to withstand them. He might go at once to Mr Bryan or to one of the other officers, or to Captain Collyer himself, but then I thought it more than probable that they would not believe him, so I told him to run up and to tell the boatswain that I wanted particularly to see him.

In a short time Mr Johnson's long nosed, ruddy visage appeared above my hammock. I then told him, in a low voice, all I had heard from Toby.

"I should like to see them attempt it," he answered, laughing. "It's a cock-and-bull story, depend on that, Mr Merry, but still you did very right in sending for me. It's possible that I may report the circumstance to the captain, as it's right that he should know the zeal and intelligence exhibited by boys Bluff and Cuff, though, as I say, there's nothing in it, depend on that."

Notwithstanding Mr Johnson's assertion I observed that he immediately sent for boy Cuff to his cabin, and, as Toby afterwards told me, interrogated him very closely as to what he had heard. Nothing, however, was said to me on the subject, and I began to fancy that boys Bluff and Cuff had been deceived, or were making a mountain out of a molehill. This matter had not made me forget Macquoid's promised visit to us. The next morning, when we were all awake, I asked Spellman how he felt.

"Very jolly," he answered. "But I have no intention of getting up and bothering myself with duty for some time to come. I've done enough for the good of the service to last me for some time."

"I should think so," said I. "I hear Macquoid's voice; here he comes." I uttered a few groans, which Spellman repeated with considerably more vigour. I let him go on, while I sat up with a pleased countenance to welcome the assistant-surgeon, who appeared with a big bottle containing some black-looking stuff, and a glass. Spellman went on groaning.

"Poor fellow, I've got something which will do him good," observed Macquoid with a twinkle in his eye. "Here, take this, my lad; there is nothing like it for internal pains."

As he poured out the nauseous draught, the smell alone was so horrible that I resolved to do anything rather than take it. Spellman, however, fearing that he should be detected if he refused, held his nose with his finger and thumb, and with many a wry face gulped it down.

"Don't you think a little more would do him good?" said I, in a hurried tone. "I don't want any myself; the fact is, Macquoid, that the plasters you put on yesterday did me so much good, and you have treated me so well altogether, that I feel getting quite well and strong, and have been waiting all the morning for your coming, to ask if I might get up."

Macquoid shook his head at me. "We'll see how the wound looks first," said he. "But you must take a little of my elixir asafoetidae et liquorice first. You evidently properly appreciate its virtues by recommending that Spellman should have more of it."

"Ah, but you know, as you often say, when you drink up my grog, 'What's one man's meat, is another man's poison,'" I answered promptly, for Macquoid was very fond of making use of all sorts of proverbs, especially when he wished to show that he was right in anything he chose to do. "I have no doubt that it will do Spellman a great deal of good, or of course you would not give it to him, it would be meat to him; but as I am perfectly free of pains it would be positively throwing it away on me, though I don't say it would be poison, of course not."

"Oh, you humbug, you arrant humbug," exclaimed Spellman, sitting up in his hammock and clenching his fist at me. "Why, not five minutes ago, you were groaning away worse than I was—that he was, Macquoid. Give him some of your beastly stuff. It's not fair that I should take it, and not him. He promised to keep me company."

"When the pains return he shall have more of it, depend on that," said Macquoid, scarcely able to dress my wound for laughing. "He has tasted it already. You shall have his allowance to-morrow if you are not better."

Spellman having betrayed himself, had not only to drink the mixture which was made as nasty as could be, though probably perfectly harmless, but to get up and be ready to make himself useful if required. My neck was rather stiff, but the pain was so slight that I felt almost able to return to my duty. I was glad to get about the decks, because I wanted to find out if Toby's information had been believed. I saw nothing to indicate that anyone apprehended an outbreak of the prisoners. The officers walked the deck as usual, singly or in couples, with a look of perfect unconcern, and the marines were scattered about, employed in their ordinary occupations. A Frenchman, who was, I guessed, the French captain, was pacing the quarter-deck with Captain Collyer, and his countenance looked very sad and troubled; but that arose, I concluded, because he had lost his ship and was a prisoner Mr Bryan and some of the other gun officers spoke to me very kindly, and congratulated me on being about again. At length Macquoid sent me below, suggesting that it might be wiser to take a little more of the elixir before I went to sleep, but I declined the favour, assuring him that the very thought of it restored me to unwonted strength. He laughed, and wished me good night, advising me to make the most of my time, as I should soon have to keep watch again. "Such wide awake fellows as you are cannot be spared," he observed. I was soon asleep. I awoke with a start. All was dark. I heard seven bells strike; I knew it must be towards the end of the first watch. The voice of an officer hailing the look-out sounded peculiarly distinct, and served to show the quiet which reigned on board. The sea was smooth, we were carrying a press of sail, and I could hear the rush of the ship through the water. Suddenly the silence was broken by the heavy tramp of men along the deck, while loud shouts and shrieks seemed to burst from every point. The drum beat to quarters, and I heard the voices of officers in loud distinct tones perfectly free from agitation issuing orders.

"What is the matter?" I exclaimed, starting up.

"What can be the matter," exclaimed Spellman, "Are we all going to be murdered?"

"The matter is, that the Frenchmen have risen, and are trying to take the ship," said I. "And though they may murder us, who are unable to resist them, it's a consolation to feel they'll be knocked on the head to a certainty themselves."

"I can't say that I feel it any consolation at all; oh dear! oh dear!" cried Spellman, jumping up and beginning to dress, an example I followed, for I had no fancy to be killed without resistance.

Grey at that moment awoke. I told him what was occurring, and that I intended to stick by him, and was groping about to get something to fight with, when I heard a voice high above the shrieks and cries, which I knew to be that of the lieutenant of marines, shouting—

"Charge them, lads."

Then came the steady tramp of the jollies along the deck, lanterns were quickly lighted, and looking out I could see the Frenchmen scampering off, tumbling down the hatchways, or hiding under the guns. They discovered that they had made a slight mistake. Not a trigger was pulled, and except for a few prods with the points of bayonets, which caught the Frenchmen in their nether ends, no blood was drawn. Captain Collyer had not been quite so fast asleep, nor had boys Bluff and Cuff been quite so stupid as the Johnny Crapauds had fancied. The jollies had been warned to be in readiness, and before the first roll of the drum had sounded along the decks, they were at their posts, ready, as they always were, for anything.

The Frenchmen were soon put under hatches, and their officers, who had not joined the conspiracy, (though they might if it had been successful, because then it would have been a very gallant affair), going among them, discovered the ringleaders, and, dragging them out, they were put in irons.

It was some time, however, before complete quiet was restored. We, that is to say my messmates and I, assembled in the berths, and having discussed the matter, concluded that all the culprits would be hung next morning.

As our purser's dips did not allow us to enjoy any extra amount of light, we soon had to retire to our hammocks. What was our surprise next morning to find that the Frenchmen were summoned aft, when their captain appeared and addressed them. I learned afterwards that he asked them whether they had been well fed, comfortably berthed, civilly treated, and on their owning that they were, he told them that they were a set of ungrateful scoundrels, a disgrace to the French nation, and that they all deserved to be hung.

Captain Collyer then stepped forward and said that though they might deserve hanging, as they had fought their ship bravely, and as no lives had been lost, he should overlook their fault, but he warned them that if they made a similar attempt they would be severely dealt with. The Frenchmen retired, looking considerably ashamed of themselves. The French captain then took off his hat, and making the most polite bow to Captain Collyer, thanked him for his humanity, observing that the truly brave were always humane.

I could not ascertain whether Captain Collyer had heard what Toby had told me, but two days afterwards, he and Cuff were together, not far from the captain, when he turned round and said:

"My eye is upon you, boys Bluff and Cuff, and, if you continue to behave as well as you have done, your interest will be cared for."

Now, I could not help thinking that they really had saved the ship, but it would have been inconvenient to have acknowledged this at the time, and certainly have done Bluff and Cuff no real good; probably only have set them up, and made them idle. I am convinced that the captain acted in this matter, as he did in all others, with true kindness and judgment.

Four or five days after this providential suppression of the mutiny, as I was walking the deck, having volunteered to return to my duty, the look-out at the mast-head hailed that a sail was in sight. The usual questions were asked, and the master, going aloft to examine her, pronounced her to be, without doubt, a line-of-battle ship. It was not quite so easy to determine whether she was an enemy or a friend. If the former, we might have another battle to fight, for Captain Collyer was not the man to yield without one. Having the prize in tow, we were making all sail on our homeward course.

On came the stranger. She was on our weather quarter, and soon showed us that she sailed faster than we did.

Captain Collyer now hailed Mr Lukyn, who commanded the prize, to say that he intended to fight the line-of-battle ship to the last, and then explained to him how he intended to manage.

"With all my heart, sir," answered Mr Lukyn, and the crew of the prize gave a loud cheer to show that they were ready.

The drum beat to quarters, and not only did all that were well assemble, but even all the sick and wounded who could move crawled up on deck to help man the guns. Though I should not have been sorry to have got home without more fighting, I was as ready as any one, and hoped that I should not get another wound, as I was quite content with the one I had to exhibit. A guard was kept over the prisoners, who were told that they would be shot down without mercy if they made any disturbance, and then in grim silence we stood ready for the fight.

The stranger came on, but at length she began to make signals, and we signalled in return, and then we soon found out that she was not an enemy, but a friend. She proved to be the Hercules, 74, and as she was homeward-bound, her captain said that he would keep us company, to help fight any enemy which might appear.

We ran on for two days, when the Hercules made the signal of "fleet to the south-east," and soon afterwards that several ships had borne up in chase. We next learned that they were enemies. We had still the prize in tow. Every stitch of canvas alow and aloft which the ship could carry was packed on her. It was an anxious time. To lose our gallantly won prize, and perhaps to be carried off to a French prison, were not pleasant anticipations.

I asked Mr Johnson what he thought about the matter.

"Why, Mr Merry, look you, I never anticipate evil," he answered, with an expression of countenance very different to what he put on when telling his wonderful yarns. "Time enough when it comes. 'There's many a slip between the cup and the lip,' as you've heard say, and you'll find it through life. The Frenchmen out there think that they are going to gulp us down, but they may find that they are mistaken."

Fortunately the Aigle was a remarkably fast vessel, and though she could not carry all the canvas we did, we towed her along easily. The Hercules acted nobly, and followed like a huge bull-dog at our heels, ready to bear the brunt of the fight should the enemy come up with us. Still, as we looked at the overpowering numbers of the Frenchmen, there appeared but little prospect of our escaping. There were many speculations as to what we should do. One thing was certain, that our captain would not allow the Hercules to be taken without going to her assistance. I asked Mr Johnson what he thought about the matter.

"Why, just this, young gentleman," he answered. "If the Frenchmen get near us, they'll blow us out of the water, but they'll have reason to be sorry that they ever made the attempt. They may have our bones, but they'll get no flesh on them."

The boatswain's reply made me meditate a good deal. I wanted to enjoy, midshipman fashion, all the honour and glory I had gained, and I did not at all like the thoughts of being taken prisoner, and still less of being sent to the bottom with our colours flying—a very fine thing to do in theory, but practically excessively disagreeable. I hinted at my feelings to Mr Johnson.

"Very natural, Mr Merry," he answered. "But, just think, if you were taken prisoner, how satisfactory it would be to make your escape, and if the ship were to go down or blow up, how pleasant it would be to find yourself swimming away safely to land. Follow my example. Draw nourishment from the toughest food. Did I ever tell you how I was once blown up a hundred fathoms at least, right into the air? When I came down again I plunged as deep into the sea, but I struck out and came to the surface, for I knew that I must help myself, as there was nobody who could help me. I got hold of six of my companions and towed them ashore, a couple of miles or so. Very few others escaped. Now, if I had given in, they and I would have been lost, and His Majesty's service would have been deprived of one of the best bo'suns to be found in it. I say this without vanity—because it's a fact."

I found it difficult sometimes to ascertain whether Mr Johnson was really serious or joking.

The enemy were all this time chasing, and coming up rapidly with us. Even Captain Collyer looked anxious. We, however, were all ready for the fight we anticipated.

"If we can but keep well ahead of them till night comes on, we may give them the slip," I heard the captain observe to Mr Bryan. "It may be more prudent on the present occasion to fly than to fight, but I am sure that every man will fight to the last if it comes to fighting."

"That they will, sir. I never saw the people in better spirit," answered the second lieutenant. "They are like a bull-dog with a captured bone. They are not inclined to yield it without a desperate tussle."

From all I heard I began to think whether I should not go and write a letter home, to tell them that when they received it I should have fallen fighting for my king and country; but then Spellman appeared on deck. He looked so absurd with his lugubrious countenance, and the plasters still on his cheeks, that I burst into a fit of laughter; and, all my apprehensions vanishing, I was in a minute joking away with my messmates as usual.



CHAPTER SEVEN.

The Doris under all sail, with our hard-won prize in tow, kept standing to the northward, the gallant Hercules bringing up the rear, while the French fleet, like a pack of yelping hounds, followed full chase at our heels.

A stern chase is a long chase, and so we hoped this might prove, without an end to it.

Our glasses, as may be supposed, were constantly turned towards the enemy. They had not gained much on us when the sun went down, and darkness stole over the surface of the ocean. Clouds were gathering in the sky—there was no moon, and the stars were completely obscured. It was in a short time as dark a night as we could desire. The Hercules, looking like some huge monster stalking over the deep, now ranged up past us, and a voice from her ordered us to tack to the westward, and keep close to her. This we did, though we had no little difficulty in keeping together without lights, which we did not show, lest we might have been seen by the enemy.

The next morning, when we looked round, not one of the French squadron was in sight, greatly to the vexation of our prisoners, who had hoped by this time to have seen the scales turned on us. We were out of the frying-pan, but before long we had reason to fear that we had tumbled into the fire.

Two days after this, when morning broke, we found ourselves enveloped by a thick fog. There was but little wind, and the sea was perfectly smooth. Suddenly the distant roar of a gun burst on our ears. It was answered by another much nearer; a third boomed over the waters on the other side of us. Others followed; then fog-bells began to ring—louder and more distinct they sounded; and more guns were fired.

"What's all that about?" I asked of the boatswain, who was looking out on the forecastle. "Why, that we are in the middle of a big fleet of men-of-war, and if, as I suspect, they are French, and they catch sight of us, they'll make mince-meat of our carcases in pretty quick time," he answered, squirting a whole river of tobacco juice overboard, a proof to me that he was not pleased with the state of affairs.

"Why, I thought it was a French fleet we escaped from only two days ago," I remarked.

"So it was, and this is another," he answered. "In my opinion we shall never get things to rights till we send to the bottom every French ship there is afloat, and we shall do that before long if we can but get a good stand-up fight—that's my opinion."

Mr Johnson was right, as subsequent events proved. The fog was so dense that we could not see a single sail, close as we were to them, and we expected every instant to run into one, or to be hailed and probably discovered. The men were sent without noise to their quarters, for of course it was resolved that we should fight our way out from the midst of our enemies.

On we glided. The dim form of a ship was seen on our starboard bow. Our course was slightly altered, but it was only to get nearer another. A Frenchman hailed. Captain Collyer answered; what he said I do not know. It seemed to satisfy the stranger. No shot was fired, and we stood on. Still there was something peculiarly solemn and awful in the feeling that any moment we might be engaged in an encounter against the most overwhelming odds.

Again the upper sails of another ship appeared. From their height she was evidently a ship which might have sunk us with a broadside. By seeing this second ship, Captain Collyer was able to ascertain in what direction the enemy's fleet was standing. As soon as he had done this, our helm was put up, and away we noiselessly glided to the westward. The bells were soon no longer heard—the boom of the guns became fainter and fainter every minute, and at length we had the satisfaction of feeling that we were well clear of them.

"Depend on it, you have never been nearer inside a French prison or a watery grave than you have been this morning," observed Mr Johnson to me.

"I don't know that. When I was aboard the lugger, and floating about in the channel, I was rather nearer both one and the other," I answered.

"You thought you were, but, as the event proved, you were not," said the boatswain. "Depend on it, I am right, Mr Merry. If the captain had not been a good French scholar our fate would have been sealed long before this. We never know on what apparently trivial circumstances our safety depends."

Mr Johnson, it may have been remarked, was never at a loss for an argument or a remark of some sort. His pertinacity in that respect puts me in mind of a certain kind-hearted Royal Duke with whom I once had the honour of dining—a number of naval and military officers being present.

"Captain R—-," said he, addressing one of them, "how is your father?"

"Your Royal Highness, he is dead," was the answer.

"Oh! is he? poor fellow! Then, how is your mother?"

"Your Royal Highness, she is dead also."

"Oh, is she? Then which died first?" asked the Duke in a tone which made it very difficult even for the best bred of the company to refrain from laughing.

Without further adventure the Doris and her prize arrived safely in Plymouth Sound.

We waited anxiously for the report of the dockyard authorities, who at length gave it as their opinion that the frigate had got so knocked about that she must go into dock to be repaired. Everybody was in a great hurry to get leave. In consequence of our having been wounded, Grey and Spellman and I obtained it at once, and I invited them to pay my family a visit in Leicestershire on their way to their own homes. I got leave also for Toby Bluff to accompany us.

"I'll spare him to you. Mr Merry," said Mr Johnson. "Take care you bring him back, for he will one day do credit to the service in his humble path, just as I flatter myself I do credit to it in mine, and I hope that you, Mr Merry, will one day in yours. You've made a very good beginning, and you may tell your friends that the boatswain of the ship says so. Let them understand that the boatswain is a very important personage, and they will be satisfied that you are a rising young officer." We got a sufficient amount of prize-money advanced to enable us to perform our journey, which we did partly in post-chaises. The latter mode of travelling we agreed was by far the pleasantest. After we left the coach we went along very steadily for a stage or so.

"This is slow work," observed Spellman. "I vote we make more sail." Looking out of the window he sang out, "Heave ahead, my hearty. There's a crown for you if you make the craft walk along."

Although the post-boy did not understand my messmate's language he did our gestures and the mention of the crown, and on we went at a great rate, turning up the dust as the gallant Doris was wont to do the brine, and making the stones fly in every direction.

At last one of the postillions, who entered into our humour, proposed getting a horn for us. We eagerly accepted the offer, and he said he would purchase one from the guard of a coach, who lived near the road a little way on. It was rather battered, and we paid a high price, but when we found that Toby could blow it effectually, we would have had it at any price.

Proud of his acquisition, Toby mounted the box, and, he blowing away with might and main, highly delighted, on we dashed.

I ought to have said that, before we left the ship, Grey and I had presented to us the two small flags we had nailed to the cross-jack yard in the action with the Aigle.

At the last stage we agreed that we would do something to astonish the natives, so we ordered an open barouche, which we saw in the yard, with four horses. We got out our flags, and improvised another for Spellman; these we secured to sticks, which we cut from the roadside. Toby trumpeting like a young elephant, we waving our flags and shouting at the top of our voices, up we dashed in gallant style to the hall door, and I believe did astonish them most completely.

Never, indeed, had the family of Merrys been in a greater commotion than we had the satisfaction of throwing them into by our arrival. It was the holidays, and all my brothers and sisters were at home. Out rushed my father and mother, and Bertha and Edith and Winifred, while my brothers Cedric and Athelstane, and Egbert and Edwin, hurried up from various quarters, and every servant in the house was speedily collected, and everybody laughed and cried by turns, and the post-boys grinned, and I was kissed and hugged by all in succession—Grey and Spellman coming in for their share; till I bethought me that I would create a still greater sensation; so, when good Mrs Potjam, the housekeeper, was beginning to hug me, as was her wont in days gone by, I shrieked out—

"Oh, dear! oh, my wound! my wound!"

My shipmates, seeing the effect produced, imitated my example.

"What, wounded, my dear child? What, have you been wounded?" exclaimed my mother and sisters in chorus.

"Of course I have; and do you think those deep dimples on Spellman's cheeks—I forgot to introduce him, by the bye. Mr Spellman, midshipman of his Britannic Majesty's frigate Doris—Mr, Mrs, and the Miss and Master Merrys and their faithful domestics—do you think that those deep dimples are natural? No indeed; a shot went through his cheeks—right through—and those are the scars. See how Grey limps—I forgot, I ought to have introduced him. Mr George Grey, also midshipman of his Britannic Majesty's frigate Doris, and my esteemed friend and messmate; and for myself, I can scarcely yet use my arm. So you see we are heroes who have fought and bled for our country."

In those days, as there were not so many newspapers as at present, people were compelled to be their own trumpeters more than would now be considered correct. Some also trumpeted over much, knowing that there was not the probability that there is at present of their being found out.

This statement of mine increased, as I thought it would, the respect all were inclined to pay us. Dinner was just going on the table, and when we had satisfied our hunger, all our tongues were busily employed in our peculiar styles in recounting our adventures. The butler and footmen often stopped to listen, and not a little forgot their proper duties.

One placed an empty dish before my mother, into which the cook had forgot to put the poultry; the butler filled my father's glass with fish soy, and two of the men bolted tilt against each other and capsized the remains of a sirloin of beef over the carpet with which one of them was hurrying off after waiting to listen to the fag end of one of my narratives.

Toby Bluff was as busily employed in the servants' hall, and from the broad grins on the countenances of the footmen as they returned to the dining-room, I have no doubt that his narratives were of a facetious character.

I never have spent so jolly a time as I did during that visit home. Our wounds did not incommode us; we had everything our own way, and all my family and friends made a vast deal of us.

At length a newspaper arrived, giving an account of the capture of the Aigle, and confirming all I had said, and when, two nights after, we appeared at a country ball, and as we entered the room the band struck up "See the conquering hero comes," we were higher in feather than ever.

Grey and Spellman had, however, to go and see their own friends, and they enjoyed the rather doubtful advantage of again undergoing the same treatment they had received at our house. When they were gone, and the nine days of wonder were over, I found myself sinking into a rather more ordinary personage. In those good old days, however, midshipmen who had been in an engagement and got wounded were somebodies—at all events, if their fathers had fine country seats and saw a number of guests.

Time sped on. I do not think my family were tired of me, but when the Doris was reported ready for sea, they calmly acquiesced in the necessity of my rejoining her without delay, and so Toby and I found ourselves packed off in a yellow chaise, and directed to find our way back to Plymouth as fast as we could.

We made the journey without any adventure, and on our arrival on board found that Mr Lukyn had been promoted, and that Mr Bryan was the first-lieutenant. As soon as we had reported ourselves, we dived below to the berth to hear the news. Two new lieutenants had joined—the second was a Mr Patrick Fitzgerald. I need not say that he was an Irishman. He was pronounced to be a most extraordinary fish, and he positively seemed to take a pleasure in being so considered. He had a big head covered with reddish hair, which stuck out straight as if he was always in a fright, his complexion was richly freckled, his eyes small but twinkling, and his nose, though not prominent, was of ample dimensions as to width. This beautiful headpiece was placed on the broadest of shoulders. His body was somewhat short, but his legs were proportioned to bear the frame of an elephant. He was, as he used to boast, entirely Irish from truck to keelson, but certainly not of a high class type. The third lieutenant was an Englishman. This was fortunate. Mr Haisleden was a steady trustworthy man, and had a good deal of the cut of a first-lieutenant about him. It is said that, as a rule, Irishmen make better soldiers than sailors, and perhaps this is the case. If inclined to be wild they are apt to out-Herod Herod. The strict rules of naval discipline do not suit their natural temperament. Paddy Fitzgerald was a case in point, but a more amusing fellow and better messmate never lived. The ship was again almost ready for sea. Perigal, who had got leave, came on board, looking very sad at having had again to part from his wife. Spellman and Grey joined the next day. There had been no changes in our berth. Perigal ought certainly to have been promoted, but he was not. "When the ship is paid off, I suppose that I shall be," he observed with a sigh. It was soon reported that we were ordered to the West Indies. Grey and I took an opportunity of asking Mr Johnson what sort of a country we should find out there.

"One thing I will tell you, young gentlemen, you'll find it hot enough to boil your blood up a bit," he answered; "as to cooking a beefsteak on the capstan-head, that's nothing, but what do you say to finding all the fowls in the hen-coops roasted and fit for table? and all you have to do, is to hold a burning glass over a bucket of water with fish swimming about in it, and in five minutes you'll have them all thoroughly boiled."

Grey and I laughed.

"Well, Mr Johnson, it must be hot indeed," said I, and, though I did not exactly put faith in his account, I began to wish we had been bound elsewhere. The boatswain saw Spellman listening with mouth agape.

"Hot, I believe you," he continued; "did you ever sit on a red-hot gridiron with your feet under the grate, your head in the fire, and your fists in boiling water? If you ever did, you'll have some notion of what you'll have to go through in the dog-days out in those parts."

"Oh dear, oh dear," exclaimed Spellman: "why we shall all be downright roasted."

"I've a notion there's some one being roasted now," observed Mr Johnson, with a wink and a curl of his nose. "Roasted! Oh dear no: all we've to do, is to sit up to our necks in casks of water, and bob our heads under every now and then. To be sure, there is a fear that we may all turn into blackamoors, but that is nothing when a man gets accustomed to it. I don't see why a dark skin should not be as good as a white one. Though they don't all talk the same lingo, they've as much sense in their woolly heads as white men, that's my opinion; and so, young gentlemen, when you get among them out there, just treat them as if they were of the same nature as yourselves, and you'll find that they will behave well to you, and will be faithful and true."

Mr Johnson's remarks were interrupted by the appearance of Toby Bluff, who came to summon him on deck. Blue Peter was flying from aloft. In ten minutes afterwards the capstan-bars were manned, the merry pipe was heard, and, a sturdy gang of our crew tramping round, the anchor was hove up, the topsails were let fall, and away the Doris once more glided over the wide sea towards the far west. We had a rapid passage without meeting an enemy; indeed, scarcely a sail hove in sight. We made Saint Thomas's, and stood across the Caribbean Sea towards Jamaica. Hot it was, but not so hot as Mr Johnson had led us to expect.

"Wait a bit," he remarked. "It's now winter; just let us see what the summer will be like."

We were not destined to enter Port Royal. We had been making good progress towards it, when three sail were seen from the mast-head. As enemies of all nations just then swarmed in every direction, it was more likely that we should have to fight, than that we should meet with friends. The strangers approached. There were three ships not smaller than frigates certainly, perhaps larger. Still we knew that Captain Collyer would not dream of running away while there was a possibility of coming off victorious. If he did run, it would only be to induce the enemy to follow. The decks were cleared for action. Slowly we closed, when at length the strangers began to signalise, and we discovered that they formed the squadron of Captain Brisbane, who directed Captain Collyer to join him; except that, in case of parting company, we were ordered to rendezvous at Aruba, a small island about twenty leagues to the westward of Curacoa, we remained in ignorance of what was about to be done, though that there was something in the wind we had little doubt. Various opinions were expressed; some thought that as the Dutch had chosen to follow Napoleon's advice, and go to war with us, we should attack the island of Curacoa itself, to show them that they had better have remained at peace; but the general idea was, that, as it was strongly fortified, we should not make such an attempt without large reinforcements. We did not know then what sort of stuff the commodore was made of.

On the evening of the 22nd of December, we anchored at the west end of Aruba, and we soon learned that Captain Brisbane had not only resolved to attack Curacoa, but that he had a first-rate plan, all cut and dry, just suited to the tastes of British seamen. He had learned that the Dutch had a custom of finishing the old year by getting very tipsy; high and low, old and young, men and women, all imbibed as large an amount of schiedam as they could manage to stow away. Even ladies, young and fair, went about the streets offering glasses of the attractive liquor to their acquaintance and friends, and it would have been a positive insult to have refused it from their hands. The consequence was that the inhabitants, military and civil, had no inclination to get up in the morning, and even guards and look-out men were apt to go to sleep at their posts. Captain Brisbane formed his plans accordingly, and fixed daybreak on January the 1st as the moment for attack. We sailed again on the 24th, and had a long beat up against the trades towards the east end of Curacoa. Our time, however, was busily employed in making scaling ladders, sharpening cutlasses, and manufacturing every bit of red cloth or stuff we could find into soldiers' coats, as also in arranging other badges, by which each ship's company could be easily distinguished. Each crew was thus divided into storming parties, under the lieutenants and senior mates, the captain acting as leader. The boatswains were ordered to place themselves at the heads of parties with ladders to scale the walls, and crowbars to break open the gates.

Mr Johnson was in high glee. "We shall see what we shall see, and I am very much mistaken if we don't teach the Mynheers a lesson they will not easily forget," he exclaimed, as he reviewed the articles under his directions.

We made the high land of Saint Barbary, at the east end of Curacoa, before the year was an hour old, and we then had a fair wind, the regular south-east trade, to run for the harbour of Saint Ann's, situated on the south-east of the island. Every one was in high spirits. We knew full well that the enterprise was a difficult and dangerous one, but we saw that it was planned with consummate prudence and forethought, and we felt perfect confidence that it would succeed. It was no child's play we were about to perform, as, the gallant Arethusa leading, we stood for the harbour, with our boats in tow, ready at a moment's notice to disembark the storming parties. We felt very proud, for we were going to show what bluejackets could do when left to themselves. I was stationed on the forecastle, and so was Grey, with our glasses constantly at our eyes. Before us appeared the narrow entrance of the harbour, only fifteen fathoms wide; indeed it nowhere exceeds a quarter of a mile in width. On our right appeared Fort Amsterdam, mounting no less than sixty guns in two tiers, capable, it seemed, of blowing us all out of the water, while there was a chain of forts on the opposite side, and at the bottom of the harbour the fortress, said to be impregnable, of Forte Republique enfilading the whole, and almost within grape-shot distance. Athwart the harbour was moored a Dutch thirty-six gun frigate and a twenty-gun corvette. The commodore had been ordered to diplomatise, and so he did in the most effectual way, for we all sailed in with a flag of truce flying, but with the guns run out and the men at their quarters. The Mynheers, however, were not inclined to listen to reason, but, waking up and seeing some strangers in their harbour, they hurried to their guns, and began firing away at us. Their aim was not very good, and few shots hit us. On we steadily sailed. Suddenly there was a cry of disappointment; the wind had shifted, and, coming down the harbour, very nearly drove us on shore. There seemed every prospect of our being compelled to abandon the enterprise. The men in their enthusiasm wished to tow the frigates up. Again it shifted. Our sails filled; the men cheered heartily. Once more up along the harbour, we lay till we brought our broadsides to bear on the forts and the two Dutch ships, the Arethusa's jib-boom being right over the town. It was just dawn; a boat was despatched by the commodore for the shore; she bore a summons to the Dutch governor to surrender, promising to treat him and everybody with the utmost civility if he would; but Mynheer von Tronk was in no humour to listen to any of the more refined arguments Captain Brisbane had to offer; so the flag of truce was hauled down, and we had recourse to the argumentum ad hominem, or, in other words, we began blazing away from all the guns we could bring to bear. This fully roused up the sleepy Dutchmen, and we could see them, (Mr Johnson declared that many of them had their breeches in their hands), rushing into the boats to get on board their ships, or hurrying to the batteries, which had hitherto maintained a very ineffectual fire. We had given them just three broadsides, when the commodore at the head of a part of his crew put off from the Arethusa and pulled for the Dutch frigate. Up her sides we saw him and his gallant fellows climbing. We longed to be with them. The Dutch fought bravely, as they always do, but liquor had unnerved their arms. The conflict though short was sharp. Down came the Dutch flag, and up went that of England, but not till the Dutch captain and several of his crew had been killed and numbers wounded. The brave Captain Lydiard of the Anson captured the corvette in the same style. Still close to us frowned the forts, capable it seemed of sinking every one of our ships in a few minutes.

"We must take them, Bryan, without loss of time," I heard our captain observe, as I was sent up with a message to him. Scarcely had he uttered the words when the signal to land was made. In a wonderfully few moments the boats were manned and crowded with small-arms men, and with ladders and crowbar bearers. I accompanied Mr Johnson with the ladder-bearers' party. While the crowbar-men proceeded to the gates, we made the best of our way to the walls. Our chief hope was to succeed by a dash. The Dutchmen numbered ten to one of us, and they were no cowards, only slow. As yet they had not half-opened their eyes, or they might have counted our numbers, and discovered that our idlers, dressed in red coats, were not really soldiers. Mr Johnson was in his glory; the exploit was one exactly to suit his taste.

"That commodore of ours is a first-rate fellow, Mr Merry," he exclaimed, as we pulled on shore. "If he was first lord, and I was admiral of the fleet, we should soon drive every enemy's ship off the seas."

On shore we sprang, and under a pretty hot fire we rushed towards the walls. The ladders were placed in spite of the efforts of the half-drunken Dutchmen to prevent this, many of them toppling over into the ditch in their attempts to shove them off. Up our men swarmed, their cutlasses between their teeth. Mr Bryan led one party, Mr Fitzgerald another; the latter with a loud shriek, which he called his family war cry,—it sounded like "Wallop a hoo a boo, Erin go bragh,"— sprang on to the walls. A big Dutchman stood ready with a long sword to meet him, and would certainly have swept off his head, had he not nimbly dodged on one side with so extraordinary a grimace, that he not only escaped free, but, swinging round his own cutlass, he cut off the head of the unfortunate Dutchman who was watching him with astonishment. Then he went cutting right and left, and putting the wide breeched enemy to flight on every side. I followed Mr Johnson; I knew that I was in good company when I was near him, and that though we should most certainly be in the thick of the fight, as long as he kept on his legs he would have an eye on me. We did not gain the top of the walls without being opposed, but the Dutchmen literally could not see how to strike. A fat bombardier, however, made a butt at me, and would have sent me over again, had not the boatswain seized me by the collar, when the bombardier went over himself and lay sprawling under the feet of our men at the bottom. Then on we went, firing our pistols and slashing right and left. A loud huzza from the sea gate announced to us that that had been forced open, and the Dutchmen finding that the day was ours, and persuaded that discretion was the best part of valour, threw down their arms, and shouted out lustily for quarter. It was gladly given them; indeed, there was no real animosity between us, and officers and men were soon seen shaking hands together in the most friendly way possible. We had taken just ten minutes to do the work. However, we had some more places to capture, so locking up our prisoners with a guard over them, out we went again, and climbed up the walls of several other minor forts in succession, the same scenes taking place at each. There was a great deal of shouting and running, but very little bloodshed. Mr Fitzgerald shrieked and shouted "Wallop a hoo a boo," as before, and made terrific grimaces. Mr Johnson watched him with great admiration.

"Some men make their fortune by their good looks, Mr Merry," he observed. "But to my mind, that second lieutenant of ours is more likely to make his by his ugliness. It's a proof that the gifts bestowed on man are very equally divided. He would be nothing without that curious mug of his."

The Dutch flag still flew defiantly from Fort Republique at the head of the harbour. Garrisons were left in each of the forts, and with a large body of prisoners as hostages we once more returned on board our ships. We now opened a hot fire on the fort. I observed to Mr Johnson that I heard some of the Dutch officers whom we had as prisoners declare that it was impregnable.

"Very likely," he answered, coolly. "But you see, Mr Merry, British seamen have a knack of getting into impregnable places, as we shall very soon show them."

Just then the order was received from the commodore to disembark the marines and a body of seamen from each ship. I was delighted again to be allowed to go. We landed under the protection of the guns of the captured frigate, and made the best of our way round towards the rear of the fort, while the ships kept hurling their shot at it in front. I rather think that the Dutchmen in the fort did not see us as we pushed on among sugar canes, and coffee and cotton plantations. We got into the rear of the fort after nearly an hour's very hot march, and then making a dash towards the walls, we were half-way up them before the Dutchmen found out what we were about. Many of the officers indeed were quietly smoking their meerschaums, looking down the harbour, while they directed the artillerymen at the guns.

When they discovered us, dashing down their pipes, they hurried to oppose our progress, but it was too late. Our footing was obtained in their impregnable fortress, and, exulting in our success, we dashed on. Still the Dutchmen fought very bravely. As I kept by Mr Johnson's side I observed the flutter of some white dresses just before us. They were those of ladies, I guessed, who had been sent to the fort for security, and who now, taken by surprise, were endeavouring to make their escape from us. Not knowing where they were going, they ran right in among a party of our men, who, not intending to hurt them, at all events began to treat them in a way which naturally caused them very considerable annoyance and alarm. The truth is, when soldiers and sailors take a place by storm, they become more like wild beasts than human beings, and I have witnessed scenes in my career which it makes me even now shudder to think of.

The men into whose hands the ladies had fallen did not belong to our ship. There was no officer with them; so, calling to Mr Johnson, I ran on. Three of the ladies were elderly, but there were five others, mostly young—one especially was, at least so I thought, a very pretty fair girl. She looked pale and terribly frightened.

"Let those women alone," shouted Mr Johnson; but the men only looked defiantly at him, and seemed in no way inclined to obey, which put him in a great rage.

A boatswain has but little authority except over the men of his own ship.

"Mind your own business," cried some of the marines. "What have you got to say to us?"

Just then the ladies got more frightened than ever. The youngest lady screamed, and, I thought, looked towards me. I sprang forward—I felt more like a man than I had ever before done.

"Let go your hold," I exclaimed in a tone of authority, to the fellow who had his hand on the fair girl's arm. "If one of you dares to interfere with these ladies, I will have him up before the commodore, and he'll make short work with the matter." The fellow still looked defiant. "Let go," I again shouted, rushing at him with my dirk.

What I might have done I do not know, but at that moment a bullet struck him in the head and knocked him over.

It was supposed I had shot the man, and a good many, even of his party, siding with me and Mr Johnson, the ladies were released.

I made signs to the ladies, and endeavoured to assure them in French that they were safe.

"I speak English," said the young lady. "Thank you—thank you very much."

The Dutch soldiers had in the meantime thrown down their arms and taken to flight. The shot which had wounded the man was nearly the last fired. The Dutch flag was hauled down, and the shouts of our men proclaimed that in about four hours we had captured, with the loss of three killed and fourteen wounded, one of the strongest fortresses in the West Indies.

I was determined not to lose sight of the ladies till I had placed them in safety. I found that the youngest was the niece of the governor, and that she had a sister and her mother with her. The governor's daughter, a buxom-looking damsel, was also of the party. I conducted them all to Captain Lydiard, who commanded the expedition, and their carriages and horses being found in the fort, he ordered that they should be conveyed back into the town under an escort. I was highly delighted when I found that I might accompany it. Perigal had command. The British flag was flying from every fort and ship in the harbour, and many of the worthy burghers, when their schiedam-steeped senses returned and they opened their eyes, as they looked out of their windows, could not make out what had occurred. We were treated with the greatest respect by everybody we met, and the ladies endeavoured to show their gratitude by every means in their power. As soon as we had seen them to their own homes we were to return on board. I found that the young lady's name was Essa von Fraulich.

"You will come and see us very often, Mr Merry," she exclaimed in a very foreign accent, though her phraseology was pretty correct. "We want to show how much we love you, and we make nice cake for you, and many other good things."

The elder ladies were more demonstrative, and wanted to kiss me, which I thought very derogatory to my dignity.

I shook hands warmly with them all round, and as I began with Miss Essa, I thought it incumbent on me to finish off with her:

The townspeople were very civil as we made our way down to the boats. Indeed, they did not seem to mind at all what had happened. It was all the same to them which flag flew over the forts. The English had gained a character for justice and honesty, and they were inclined to look upon us as likely to prove good customers, and were, in fact, very glad to see us. They, indeed, probably thought that it was a pity any opposition whatever should have been offered to our entrance. Our work was not entirely accomplished. There was still a fort of some strength, a few miles from the town. A party of marines and bluejackets was marched out to take it, which they very speedily did, as the commandant offered no resistance, but, hearing that his chief had capitulated, yielded on being summoned. Thus, by noon, the whole of a rich and fertile island, containing forty-five thousand inhabitants, and well fortified, was in our possession, while the whole force we could muster among the four frigates was twelve hundred men. With these we had to man our prizes, to garrison the forts, to protect the country, and to keep the town in order.

Captain Brisbane was, I must say, a host in himself. He was a fine tall man, with very popular manners; and though he showed that he would not allow tricks to be played, he ingratiated himself wonderfully with all classes. He took great pains to conceal from the Dutch the paucity of our numbers, and hinted that as long as the inhabitants behaved themselves he would keep his troops on board instead of quartering them on the town. These troops were represented by the idlers of the different ships and occasionally seamen, dressed up in red coats and made to parade the deck. He formed also a bodyguard of all the marines who could ride, and with them at his heels he made a point of galloping about the country and visiting the outposts. He never appeared abroad without being accompanied by them. They were known as Captain Brisbane's horse-marines. Though horse-marines are often spoken of, it was the only time I ever saw such a body either on shore or afloat. We had a very active time of it, every one doing double work, and endeavouring to make it appear as if we had double our real numbers. The lieutenants used to put on the marine officers' undress uniforms and all would go on shore together. Fitzgerald unconsciously very nearly betrayed the trick, for his remarkable features were not easily forgotten, and on the first day he appeared in his military character, we saw the Dutchmen, as well as some ladies, eyeing him narrowly. They could not conceive it possible two such ugly fellows should be found in the same squadron.

Fortunately Mr Bryan was with us, and having plenty of presence of mind, he began to talk about Fitzgerald's naval brother who remained on board.

Captain Collyer, however, thought it prudent to prohibit him from again appearing in a military character on shore. Mr Fitzgerald could not understand this, as he was not at all aware of the peculiarity of his own physiognomy, and declared that he was very hardly treated.

I was very anxious to get on shore, that I might pay my promised visit to Essa von Fraulich and her relatives. As bigger men were wanted on shore, and as the midshipmen were found capable of performing various duties in the ship, Grey and I and others were, much to our disappointment, compelled to stay on board. Mr Johnson also remained on board.

"I take it as an especial compliment," he observed. "The fact is, you see, Mr Merry, that I am worth five or six men at least in the ship, and, in appearance at least, little more than one out of it, and so I am doomed to remain, while others are enjoying themselves on terra firma."



CHAPTER EIGHT.

In consequence of so many of the officers being on shore, the boatswain had charge of a watch. He trod the deck with considerable dignity, and a stranger coming on board would undoubtedly have taken him for the captain.

I was in his watch, and as there was nothing to do, when it occurred at night, except to see that the sentries were on the look-out, that the anchors were not dragging, or the ship on fire, I always got him into conversation; and one evening, Grey and Spellman having joined us, we begged him to go on with the account of his adventures at the North Pole, of which for a long time we had heard nothing.

"I would oblige you with all my heart, young gentlemen, if I could but recollect where I left off," he answered, in a well-pleased tone. "Let me see. Was I living on the top of an iceberg, or dancing reels with polar bears, or—"

"No, Mr Johnson, you had just found your old shipmates, and were living quietly with them in their winter quarters, waiting for a ship to take you off."

"So I was—ah—well—" said the boatswain. "As I was telling you, when I last broke off in my most veracious narrative, after we had talked on for a week, our tongues began to get somewhat tired, and we then remembered that it would be necessary to make preparations for our departure from this somewhat inhospitable shore, for as to a vessel touching there to take us off, that event was not likely to occur. I found that my companions had commenced building a boat, but as they did not understand carpentering as I did, it was fortunate for them that I arrived in time to lend them a hand, or they would infallibly have gone to the bottom as soon as they had ventured out on the foaming waves of the Polar Sea. June was advancing, and the ice began to move perceptibly at a distance from the shore; and as the icebergs knocked and fell against each other, the crash was truly awful. I can only liken it to what we might suppose produced by a set of monster ninepins tumbled about by a party of gigantic Dutchmen. I must relate one more event, which served to convince my companions of the perfect correctness of my statements. One night, as I was retiring to rest, I heard footsteps approaching our hut, and, looking out, I saw an immense white bear, sniffing up the air as if he smelt something he fancied for supper. Rousing my companions, who had already turned in, I seized my gun, with the intention of knocking him on the head, when, as he turned his face, I recognised an expression I had met before. On his nearer approach I saw that he had but one eye, and I felt convinced that he was the identical bear I had knocked over close to the Pole and left for dead, with a steak out of his rump. He made towards me, grinding his teeth and flashing his one eye terrifically, with thoughts of vengeance; but I retreated backwards, and had just time to slam the door in his face, jamming in one of his paws, before he could grasp me in his deadly embrace. Thus he was caught in a trap, but his struggles to free himself were so tremendous that I thought he would have carried away the whole hut with him, but my friends coming to my aid, we made fast a strong rope round the lower joint of his paw and secured it to a stout piece of timber which formed part of the foundation of the structure. We then opened the door a little, when he, of course, put in the other paw, which we secured in the same way, and thus had him fast. At first he was very furious and growled tremendously, but by giving him a piece of roasted meat to suck at the end of a ramrod, we tamed him by degrees, and he must have seen that we had no evil intentions towards him. By slacking the ropes we were in a short time able to shut the door, keeping him outside. We then went to sleep, and he only now and then disturbed us by an angry growl as he felt the ropes cutting his wrists.

"By a judicious system of starvation, and by gently administering food, we so tamed him that we were able to examine him for a further verification of my suspicions. Had my companions before entertained any doubts as to the truth of my story, all such vanished when they discovered that, though the wound had perfectly closed where I had cut out the steak, the cicatrice was there, and skin perfectly denuded of hair. By our pursuing the system I have described for some time, Bruin became so tame that he would follow us about like a dog, while he exhibited his affection by every possible means. I shall never forget the grief he exhibited when he saw us working away at our boat and making preparations for our departure. Tears fell from his eyes and trickled down his shaggy breast, his bosom heaved with sighs, and he hung his paws as he stood before us, watching our proceedings in the most sentimental manner.