Newton Forster; Or, The Merchant Service

by Frederick Marryat

  VOLUME ONE, CHAPTER TEN.

  "When Britain first at Heaven's command Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter, the charter of the land, And guardian angels sung the strain-- Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves, For Britons never shall be slaves."

  We left Newton Forster senseless on the pavement leading to the quay atBristol, floored by a rap on the head from a certain person or personsunknown: he did not however remain there long, being hoisted on theshoulders of two stout fellows, dressed in blue jackets and trousers,with heavy clubs in their hands, and a pistol lying perdu between theirwaistcoats and shirts. These nautical personages tumbled him into thestern-sheets of a boat, as if not at all sorry to rid themselves of hisweight and, in a continued state of insensibility, Newton was hoisted upthe side of a cutter which lay at anchor about one hundred yards fromthe shore.

  When Newton recovered his senses, his swimming eyes could just enablehim to perceive that something flashed upon them, and in their weakstate created a painful sensation. As he became more collected, hediscovered that a man was holding a small candle close to them, toascertain whether the vein which had been opened in his arm had producedthe desired effect of restoring him to animation. Newton tried torecollect where he was, and what had occurred; but the attemptedexercise of his mental powers was too much, and again threw him into astate of stupor. At last he awoke as if from a dream of death, andlooking round, found himself lying on the deck attended by a female, whobathed his forehead.

  "Where am I?" exclaimed Newton.

  "Is it where you are, that you'd want for to know? a'nt ye on board ofthe Lively cutter, sure? and a'nt you between decks in her, and Ilooking a'ter ye, honey?"

  "And who are you?"

  "And who am I! Then if I'm not somebody else, I'm Judy Malony, the wifeof the boatswain's mate, and a lawful married woman."

  "How did I come here?" continued Newton, raising himself on his elbow.

  "You didn't come at all, honey, you were brought."

  "Who brought me?"

  "Who brought ye! it was either the gig or the jolly boat; but I wasn'ton deck at the time, so I can't upon my oath say exactly which."

  "Then pray can you tell me why I was brought here?" replied Newton.

  "Sure I can guess, bating you don't know already. It was to sarve yourking and your country, like a brave volunteer as you are."

  "Then I'm impressed?"

  "You may take your Bible oath of it, my jewel, and commit no perjury.It's a hard rap that ye got, any how; just a hint that ye were wanted:but plase God, if ye live and do well, 'twill be nothing at all to whatwe'll have by-and-bye, all for the honour and glory of ould England."

  Newton, who during these remarks was thinking of his father's situation,and the distress he would suffer without his assistance, and then of thestate in which he had left his mother, again sank on the deck.

  "Why he's off again!" muttered Judy Malony; "he's no countryman of mine,that's clear as the mud in the Shannon, or he'd never fuss about a rapwith a shillelah;" and Judy, lifting up her petticoats first, gained herfeet, and walked away forward.

  Newton remained in a state of uneasy slumber until daylight, when he wasawakened by the noise of boats coming alongside, and loud talking ondeck. All that had passed did not immediately rush into his mind; buthis arm tied up with the bandage, and his hair matted, and his facestiff with the coagulated blood, soon brought to his recollection thecommunication of Judy Malony, that he had been impressed. The 'tweendecks of the cutter appeared deserted, unless indeed there were peoplein the hammocks slung over his head; and Newton, anxious to obtainfarther information, crawled under the hammocks to the ladder, and wentup on deck.

  About twenty sailors, well armed, were busy handing out of the boatsseveral men whom they had brought on board, who were ordered aft by theofficer in command. Newton perceived that most of them had not receivedmuch better treatment than he had on the preceding evening; some wereshockingly disfigured, and were still bleeding profusely.

  "How many have you altogether, Mr Vincent?" said the lieutenant to astout master's mate with a tremendous pair of whiskers, which his loosehandkerchief discovered to join together at his throat.

  "Seventeen, sir."

  "And how many had we before?--twenty-six, I think."

  "Twenty-seven, sir, with the young chap I sent on board last night."

  "Well, that will do; it's quite as many as we can stow away, or takecare of:--pass them all down below, forward; take up the ladder, and puton the grating until we are out of the harbour. As soon as thejolly-boat comes on board we'll up anchor."

  "She'll be off directly, sir; I ordered her to wait for Johnson andMerton, who did not come down with us."

  "Do you think they have given you the slip?"

  "I should think not, sir. Here is the jolly-boat coming off."

  "Well, pass the men forward, and secure them," replied the lieutenant."Overhaul the boat's falls, and bring to with the windlass."

  Newton thought this a good opportunity to state that he was the masterof a vessel, and, as such, protected from the impress; he thereforewalked over to the lieutenant, addressing him, "I beg your pardon,sir--"

  "Who are you?" interrupted the lieutenant, gruffly.

  "I was impressed last night, sir;--may I speak to you?"

  "No sir, you may not."

  "It might save you some trouble, sir."

  "It will save me more to send you down below. Mr Vincent, shove thisman down forward; why is he at large?"

  "He was under the doctor's hands, I believe, sir. Come this way, myhearty--stir your stumps."

  Newton would have expostulated, but he was collared by two of thepress-gang, and very unceremoniously handed forward to the hatchway; thegrating was taken off, and he was lowered down to the deck below, wherehe found himself cooped up with more than forty others, almostsuffocated for the want of air and space. The conversation (ifconversation it could be called) was nothing but one continued string ofcurses and execrations, and vows of deep revenge.

  The jolly-boat returned, pulling only two oars; the remainder of hercrew, with Thompson and Merton, having taken this opportunity ofdeserting from their forced servitude. With some hearty execrationsupon the heads of the offending parties, and swearing that by God therewas no such thing as _gratitude_ in a sailor, the commander of thecutter weighed his anchor, and proceeded to sea.

  The orders received by the lieutenant of the cutter, although notprecisely specifying, still implying that he was to bring back his cargoalive, as soon as his Majesty's cutter, Lively, was fairly out at sea,the hatches were taken off, and the impressed men allowed to go on deckin the proportion of about one half at a time, two sailors, with drawncutlasses, still remaining sentry at the coombings of the hatchway, incase of any discontented fellow presuming to dispute such lawfulauthority.

  Newton Forster was happy to be once more on deck; so much had hesuffered during his few hours of confinement, that he really feltgrateful for the indulgence. The sky was bright, and the cutter wasdashing along the coast with the wind, two points free, at the rate ofseven or eight miles an hour. She was what sailors term rather _a wetone_, and as she plunged through the short waves the sea brokecontinually over her bows and chesstree, so that there was no occasionto draw water for purification. Newton washed his face and head, andfelt quite revived as he inhaled the fresh breeze, and watched the coastas the vessel rapidly passed each head-land in her course. All aroundhim were strangers, and no one appeared inclined to be communicative;even the most indifferent, the most stoical, expressed their ideas indisjointed sentences; they could not but feel that their project andspeculations had been overthrown by a captivity so anomalous with theirboasted birthright.

  "Where are we going?" inquired Newton of a man who stood next him,silently watching the passing foam created by the rapid course of thevessel.

  "To _hell_ I hope, with _those who brought us here_!" replied the man,grinding his teeth wi
th a scowl of deep revenge.

  At this moment Judy Malony came pattering along the wet deck with a kidof potato-peelings to throw over the bows. Newton recognised her, andthanked her for her kindness.

  "It's a nice boy that you are, sure enough, now that you're swate andclean," replied Judy. "Bad luck to the rapparee who gave you the blow!I axed my husband if it was he; but he swears upon his salvation that itwas no one if it wasn't Tim O'Connor, the baste!"

  "Where are we going?" inquired Newton.

  "A'nt we going to dinner in a minute or two?"

  "I mean where is the cutter bound to?"

  "Oh! the cutter you mane! If she can only find her way it's toPlymouth, sure;--they're waiting for ye."

  "Who is waiting for us?"

  "Why, three fine frigates as can't go to sea without hands. You neverheard of a ship sailing without hands; the poor dumb craturs can't donothing by themselves."

  "Do you know where the frigates are going?"

  "Going to _say_, I lay my life on't," replied Judy, who then walkedforward, and broke up the conversation.

  The next morning the cutter ran into Hamoaze, and boats were sent onboard to remove the impressed men to the guard-ship. There, much to hisannoyance and mortification, Newton found, that with the others, he wastreated as a close prisoner. The afternoon of the same day anothervessel arrived from the eastward with a collection of offenders, who fora variety of crimes and misdemeanors had been sentenced to serve onboard of a man-of-war. No distinction was made; all were huddledtogether, and treated alike, until summoned on the quarterdeck, whentheir names were called out for distribution to the several men-of-war.Each ship having a quota of seamen and pickpockets allotted to her indue proportion, the men were ordered down into the boats; and in lessthan an hour Newton found himself on board of a fine frigate lying inthe Sound, with her fore-topsail losse, as a signal of her immediatedeparture.