CHAPTER XXIII
YOH-HEAVE-OH!
"Her condition was very bad, as bad as could be, without going straightto the bottom," the Admiral said to the Rector that night, as theysmoked a pipe together; "and to the bottom she must have gone, if thesea had got up, before we thrummed her. Honyman wanted to have herbrought inside the Head; but even if we could have got there, she wouldground at low water and fill with the tide. And what could we do withall those prisoners? With our fresh hands at the pumps, we very soonfetched the water out of her, and made her as tight as we could; andI think they will manage to take her to Portsmouth. She has beautifullines. I never saw a smarter ship. How she came to the wind, with allthat water in her! The wind is all right for Portsmouth, and she will bea fine addition to the Navy."
"But what is become of the other vessel, craft, corvette, or whateveryou call her? You say that she is scarcely hurt at all. And if she getsoff the White Pig's back in the night, she may come up and bombard us.Not that I am afraid; but my wife is nervous, and the Rectory facesthe sea so much. If you have ordered away the Leda, which seems to haveconquered both of them, the least you can do is to keep Captain Stubbardunder arms all night in his battery."
"I have a great mind to do so; it would be a good idea, for he was verymuch inclined to cut up rough to-day. But he never would forgive me, heis such a hog at hammock--as we used to say, until we grew too elegant.And he knows that the Blonde has hauled down her colours, and Scudamoreis now prize-captain. I have sent away most of her crew in the Leda, andI am not at all sure that we ought not to blow her up. In the end, weshall have to do so, no doubt; for nothing larger than a smack has evergot off that sand, and floated. But let our young friend try; let himhave a fair trial. He has the stuff of a very fine seaman in him. And ifhe should succeed, it would be scored with a long leg for him. Halloa!Why, I thought the girls were fast asleep long ago!"
"As if we could sleep, papa, with this upon our minds!" Dolly waved anopen letter in the air, and then presented it. "Perhaps Faith might, butI am sure I never could. You defied us to make out this, which is on theother leaf; and then, without giving us fair play, you took it to thedesk in your Oak-room, and there you left it. Well, I took the libertyof going there for it, for there can't be any secret about a thing thatwill be printed; and how are they to print it, if they can't contrive toread it? How much will you pay me for interpreting, papa? Mr. Twemlow,I think I ought to have a guinea. Can you read it, now, with all yourlearning, and knowledge of dead languages?"
"My dear, it is not my duty to read it, and not at all my business. Itseems to be written with the end of a stick, by a boy who was learninghis letters. If you can interpret it, you must be almost a Daniel."
"Do you hear that, papa, you who think I am so stupid? Faith gave it up;she has no perseverance, or perhaps no curiosity. And I was very nearlybeaten too, till a very fine idea came into my head, and I have madeout every word except three, and perhaps even those three, if CaptainHonyman is not very particular in his spelling. Can you tell me anythingabout that, papa?"
"Yes, Dolly, just what you have heard from me before. Honyman is a goodofficer; a very good one, as he has just proved. No good officer everspells well, whether in the army or the navy. Look at Nelson's letters.I am inclined to ascribe my own slow promotion to the unnatural accuracyof my spelling, which offended my lords, because it puzzled them."
"Then all is straight sailing, as you say, papa. But I must tell youfirst how I found it out, or perhaps you won't believe me. I knew thatCaptain Honyman wrote this postscript, or whatever it is, with hisleft hand, so I took a pen in my own left hand, and practised all theletters, and the way they join, which is quite different from the otherhand. And here is the copy of the words, as my left hand taught my rightto put them down, after inking ever so many fingers:
"'We never could have done it without Scudamore. He jumped a mostwonderful jump from our jib-boom into her mizzen chains, when ourgrapples had slipped, and we could get no nearer, and there he madefast, though the enemy came at him with cutlasses, pikes, and muskets.By this means we borded and carried the ship, with a loss as abovereported. When I grew faint from a trifling wound, Luff Scudamore ledthe borders with a cool courage that discomfited the fo.'"
"Robert Honyman all over!" cried the Admiral, with delight. "I couldswear that he wrote it, if it was written with his toes. 'Twas an oldjoke against him, when he was lieutenant, that he never could spell hisown title; and he never would put an e after an o in any word. He isfar too straightforward a man to spell well; and now the loss of threefingers will cut his words shorter than ever, and be a fine excusefor him. He was faint again, when I boarded the Leda, partly no doubtthrough strong medical measures; for the doctor, who is an ornament tohis profession, had cauterised his stumps with a marlinspike, for fearof inflammation. And I heard that he had singed the other finger off.But I hope that may prove incorrect. At any rate, I could not bear todisturb him, but left written orders with Scudamore; for the senior wason board the prize. Dolly, be off to bed, this moment."
"Well, now," said the Rector, drawing near, and filling anotherdeliberative pipe, "I have no right to ask what your orders were, andperhaps you have no right to tell me. But as to the ship that remains inmy parish, or at any rate on its borders, if you can tell me anything,I shall be very grateful, both as a question of parochial duty, and alsobecause of the many questions I am sure to have to answer from my wifeand daughter."
"There is no cause for secrecy; I will tell you everything:" the Admiralhated mystery. "Why, the London papers will publish the whole of it, anda great deal more than that, in three days' time. I have sent off theLeda with her prize to Portsmouth. With this easterly breeze and smoothwater, they will get there, crippled as they are, in some twenty-fourhours. There the wounded will be cared for, and the prisoners draftedoff. The Blonde, the corvette which is aground, surrendered, as youknow, when she found herself helpless, and within range of our newbattery. Stubbard's men longed to have a few shots at her; but of coursewe stopped any such outrage. Nearly all her officers and most of hercrew are on board the Leda, having given their parole to attempt norising; and Frenchmen are always honourable, unless they have some verywicked leader. But we left in the corvette her captain, an exceedinglyfine fellow, and about a score of hands who volunteered to stay to helpto work the ship, upon condition that if we can float her, they shallhave their freedom. And we put a prize crew from the Leda on board her,only eight-and-twenty hands, which was all that could be spared, andin command of them our friend Blyth Scudamore. I sent him to ask RobertHonyman about it, when he managed to survive the doctor, for a captainis the master of his own luffs; and he answered that it was exactlywhat he wished. Our gallant frigate lost three lieutenants in this veryspirited action, two killed and one heavily wounded. And the first isin charge of the Ville d'Anvers, so there was nobody for this enterpriseexcept the gentle Scuddy, as they call him. He is very young for such abusiness, and we must do all we can to help him."
"I have confidence in that young man," said Mr. Twemlow, as if it werea question of theology; "he has very sound views, and his principles arehigh; and he would have taken holy orders, I believe, if his father'sassets had permitted it. He perceives all the rapidly growing dangerswith which the Church is surrounded, and when I was in doubt about aline of Horace, he showed the finest diffidence, and yet proved thatI was right. The 'White Pig,' as the name of a submarine bank, is mostclearly of classic origin. We find it in Homer, and in Virgil too; andprobably the Romans, who undoubtedly had a naval station in Springhaven,and exterminated the oyster, as they always did--"
"Come, come, Twemlow," said the Admiral, with a smile which smoothed thebreach of interruption, "you carry me out of my depth so far that I longto be stranded on my pillow. When your great book comes out, we shallhave in perfect form all the pile of your discoveries, which you breakup into little bits too liberally. The Blonde on the Pig is like Beautyand the Beast. If gentle Scuddy rescues her, it wo
n't be by Homer, orHorace, or even holy orders, but by hard tugs and stout seamanship."
"With the blessing of the Lord, it shall be done," said the Rector,knocking his pipe out; "and I trust that Providence may see fit to haveit done very speedily; for I dread the effect which so many gallantstrangers, all working hard and apparently in peril, may produce uponthe females of this parish."
But the Admiral laughed, and said, "Pooh, pooh!" for he had faith in themaids of Springhaven.
For these there was a fine time now in store--young men up and downeverywhere, people running in and out with some new news, before theycould get their hats on, the kettle to boil half a dozen times a day,and almost as much to see as they could talk of. At every high-waterthat came by daylight--and sometimes there were two of them--every maidin the parish was bound to run to the top of a sand-hill high enough tosee over the neck of the Head, and there to be up among the rushes alltogether, and repulse disdainfully the society of lads. These took thematter in a very different light, and thought it quite a pity and apiece of fickle-mindedness, that they might go the round of crab-pots,or of inshore lug-lines, without anybody to watch them off, or come downwith a basket to meet them.
For be it understood that the great fishing fleet had not launched forthupon its labours. Their narrow escape from the two French cruisers wouldlast them a long time to think over, and to say the same thing to eachother about it that each other had said to them every time they met. Andthey knew that they could not do this so well as to make a new credit ofit every time, when once they were in the same craft together, and couldnot go asunder more than ten yards and a half. And better, far better,than all these reasons for staying at home and enjoying themselves,was the great fact that they could make more money by leisure than bylabour, in this nobly golden time.
Luck fostered skill in this great affair, which deserves to be recordedfor the good of any village gifted with like opportunity. It appearsthat the British Admiralty had long been eager for the capture of theBlonde, because of her speed and strength and beauty, and the mischiefshe had done to English trade. To destroy her would be a great comfort,but to employ her aright would be glorious; and her proper employmentwas to serve as a model for English frigates first, and then to fightagainst her native land. Therefore, no sooner did their lordships hearwhat had happened at Springhaven than they sent down a rider express,to say that the ship must be saved at any price. And as nothing couldbe spared from the blockading force, or the fleet in the Downs, or thecruising squadron, the Commander of the coast-defence was instructed toenrol, impress, or adapt somehow all the men and the matter available.Something was said about free use of money in the service of HisMajesty, but not a penny was sent to begin upon. But Admiral Darlingcarried out his orders, as if he had received them framed in gold. "Theyare pretty sure to pay me in the end," he said; "and if they don't, itwon't break me. I would give 500 pounds on my own account, to carrythat corvette to Spithead. And it would be the making of Scudamore, whoreminds me of his father more and more, every time I come across him."
The fleet under Captain Tugwell had quite lately fallen off from sevento five, through the fierce patriotism of some younger members, andtheir sanguine belief in bounty-money. Captain Zeb had presented themwith his experience in a long harangue--nearly fifty words long--andthey looked as if they were convinced by it. However, in the morningthey were gone, having mostly had tiffs with their sweethearts--whichare fervent incentives to patriotism--and they chartered themselves,and their boats were numbered for the service of their Country. They haddone their work well, because they had none to do, except to draw smallwages, and they found themselves qualified now for more money, and camehome at the earliest chance of it.
Two guineas a day for each smack and four hands, were the termsoffered by the Admiral, whose hard-working conscience was twitched intoherring-bones by the strife between native land and native spot. "I havehad many tussles with uncertainty before," he told Dolly, going downone evening, "but never such vexation of the mind as now. All our peopleexpect to get more for a day, than a month of fine fishing would bringthem; while the Government goes by the worst time they make, and expectsthem to throw in their boats for nothing. 'The same as our breeches,'Tugwell said to me; 'whenever we works, we throws in they, and we oughtto do the very same with our boats.' This makes it very hard for me."
But by doing his best, he got over the hardship, as people generally do.He settled the daily wages as above, with a bonus of double thatamount for the day that saw the Blonde upon her legs again. Indignationprevailed, or pretended to do so; but common-sense conquered, and allset to work. Hawsers, and chains, and buoys, and all other needful gearand tackle were provided by the Admiralty from the store-house built notlong ago for the Fencibles. And Zebedee Tugwell, by right of position,and without a word said for it--because who could say a word againstit?--became the commander of the Rescue fleet, and drew double paynaturally for himself and family.
"I does it," he said, "if you ask me why I does it, without anyintention of bettering myself, for the Lord hath placed me above need ofthat; but mainly for the sake of discipline, and the respectability ofthings. Suppose I was under you, sir, and knew you was getting no morethan I was, why, my stomach would fly every time that you gave me anorder without a 'Please, Zebedee!' But as soon as I feels that youpocket a shilling, in the time I take pocketing twopence, the value ofyour brain ariseth plain before me; and instead of thinking what yousays, I does it."
Springhaven: A Tale of the Great War Page 23