by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER V.
OVERBOARD.
There were no lighter hearts than those of Tom and Peter Scudamoreon board the transport "Nancy," as, among the hearty cheers of thetroops on board, and the waving of hats and handkerchiefs from friendswho had come out in small boats to say good-bye for the last time,she weighed anchor, and set sail in company with some ten or twelveother transports, and under convoy of two ships of war. It would bedifficult to imagine a prettier scene. The guns fired, the bands ofthe various regiments played, and the white sails opened out brightin the sun as the sailors swarmed into the rigging, anxious to outvieeach other. Even the soldiers pulled and hauled at the ropes, and ranround with the capstan bars to get the anchors apeak. Tom and Peter,of course, had, like the other boys, got very much in the way in theirdesire to assist, and, having been once or twice knocked over by therush of men coming along with ropes, they wisely gave it up, andleaned over the side to enjoy the scene.
"This is splendid, Tom, isn't it?"
"Glorious, Peter; but it's blowing pretty strong. I am afraid that wesha'n't find it quite so glorious when we get out of the shelter ofthe island."
Peter laughed. "No; I suppose we sha'n't all look as jolly as we donow by night-time. However, the wind is nor'-westerly, which will helpus along nicely, if, as I heard one of the sailors say just now, itdoes not go round to the south."
"Bugler, sound companies one, two, and three to breakfast."
The order interrupted the conversation, and, for the next hour,the boys had little time for talk. Half the regiment was on boardthe "Nancy," and, after breakfast, the men were divided into threewatches, of which one was always to be on deck, for the ship was verycrowded, and there was scarcely room for all the men to be belowtogether. The boys were in the same watch, for the day previous tostarting Tom had been appointed bugler to the 2d Company, Peter to the3d. The 1st Company, or Grenadiers, were in the watch with the band,the 2d and 3d Companies were together, and the 4th and 5th.
Tom was very ill for the first two days of the voyage, while Peter didnot feel the slightest effects from the motion. Upon the third day thewind dropped suddenly, and the vessels rolled heavily in the swell,with their sails flapping against the masts. Tom came up that morningupon deck feeling quite well again, and the boys were immensely amusedat seeing the attempts of the soldiers to move about, the suddenrushes, and the heavy falls. A parade had been ordered to take place;but as no one could have stood steady without holding on, it wasabandoned as impossible. The men sat about under the bulwarks, and afew amused themselves and the rest by trying to play various games,such as laying a penny on the deck, and seeing which would pitchanother to lay nearest to it, from a distance of five yards. Thedifficulty of balancing oneself in a heavily rolling vessel, and ofpitching a penny with any degree of accuracy, is great, and the mannerin which the coins, instead of coming down flat and remaining there,rolled away into the scuppers, the throwers not unfrequently followingthem, produced fits of laughter.
Tom was still feeling weak from his two days' illness, and was notdisposed actively to enter into the fun; but Peter enjoyed the heavyrolling, and was all over the ship. Presently he saw Sam, the blackdrummer, sitting in a dark corner below quietly asleep; his cap wasbeside him, and the idea at once occurred to Peter that here was agreat opportunity for a joke. He made his way to the caboose, andbegged the cook to give him a handful of flour. The cook at firstrefused, but was presently coaxed into doing so, and Peter stole towhere Sam was asleep, and put the flour into his cap, relying that, inthe darkness, Sam would put it on without noticing it. Then, going upto the deck above, Peter put his head down the hatchway, and shoutedloudly, "Sam!"
The negro woke at the sound of his name. "What is it?" he asked.Receiving no reply, he got on to his feet, muttering, "Some one callSam, that for certain, can't do without Sam, always want here, wantthere. I go up and see."
So saying, he put on his cap, and made his way up to the upper deck.As he stood at the hatchway and looked round, there was, first atitter, and then a roar of laughter from the men sitting or standingalong by the bulwarks. In putting on his cap some of the flour hadfallen out, and had streaked his face with white. Sam was utterlyunconscious that he was the object of the laughter, and said to one ofthe men nearest to him, "Who call Sam?"
The man could not reply, but Tom, who was sitting close by, said, "Itwas no one here, Sam, it must have been the bandmaster; there he is,close to the quarter-deck."
Sam made his way along towards the point indicated, and as he did sosome of the officers upon the quarter-deck caught sight of him. "Justlook at Sambo," Carruthers exclaimed, "somebody has been larking withhim again. Look how all the men are laughing, and he evidently has nosuspicion of the figure he is."
The sergeant, who, the bandmaster having remained at the depot, wasnow acting as chief of the band, did not see Sam until the latter wasclose to him. "You want me, sergeant?"
Sergeant Wilson looked up, and was astonished.
"What on earth have you been doing to yourself, Sam?" he asked.
"Me been having little nap down below," Sam said.
"Yes; but your face, man. What have you been doing to your face?"
Sam, in his turn, looked astonished. "Nothing whatsomeber, sargeant."
"Take off your cap, man, and look inside it." Sam did as ordered; andas he removed the cap, and the powder fell from it all over his faceand shoulders, there was a perfect shout of laughter from the soldiersand crew, who had been looking on, and the officers, looking down fromthe rail of the quarter-deck, retired to laugh unnoticed.
The astonishment and rage of Sam were unbounded, and he gave a perfectyell of surprise and fury. He stamped wildly for a minute or two, andthen, with a sudden movement rushed up on to the quarter-deck withhis cap in his hand. The colonel, who was holding on by the shrouds,and talking with the major, in ignorance of what was going on, wasperfectly astounded at this sudden vision of the irate negro, andneither he nor the major could restrain their laughter.
"Scuse me, colonel, sah, for de liberty," Sam burst out; "but look atme, sah; is dis right, sah, is it right to make joke like dis on deman dat play de big drum of de regiment?"
"No, no, Sam; not at all right," the colonel said, with difficulty."If you report who has played the trick upon you, I shall speak to himvery seriously; but, Sam, I should have thought that you were quitebig enough to take the matter in your own hands."
"Me big enough, Massah Colonel, me plenty big; but me not able to findhim."
"Well, Sam, it is carrying a joke too far; still, it is only a trickoff duty, and I am afraid that it is beyond my power to interfere."
Sam thought for a moment, and, having by this time cooled down fromhis first paroxysm of rage, he said, "Beg pardon, massa, you quiteright, no business of any one but Sam; but Sam too angry to 'top tothink. Scuse liberty, colonel," and Sam retired from the quarter-deck,and made a bolt below down the nearest hatchway, when he plunged hishead into a bucket of water, and soon restored it to its usual ebonyhue.
Then he went to the cook and tried to find out to whom he had givenflour, but the cook replied at once, "Lor, I've given flour to the menof each mess to make puddings of, about thirty of them," and Sam feltas far off as ever.
Presently, however, a big sailor began to make fun of him, and Samretorted by knocking him down, after which there was a regular fight,which was carried on under the greatest difficulty, owing to therolling of the ship. At last Sambo got the best of it, and thisrestored him so thoroughly to a good temper that he was able to joinin the laugh at himself, reserving, however, his right to "knock derascal who did it into a squash."
The following day the weather changed, a wind sprang up nearly fromthe north, which increased rapidly, until toward afternoon it wasblowing half a gale, before which the whole fleet, with their mainand topsails set, ran southward at great speed. A heavy cross sea wasrunning, the wares raised by the gale clashing with the heavy swellpreviously rolling in from the we
stward, and so violent and suddenwere the lurches and rolls of the "Nancy" that the master feared thather masts would go.
"How tremendously she rolls, Tom."
"Tremendously; the deck seems almost upright, and the water rightunder our feet each time she goes over. She feels as if she were goingto turn topsy-turvy each roll. It's bad enough on deck; but it will beworse down below."
"A great deal worse, Peter, it's nearly dark already; it will strikeeight bells in a minute or two, and then we shall have to go down.There's no danger, of course, of the ship turning over, but it won'tbe pleasant down below. Look out, Peter!"
The exclamation was caused by an awful crash. The ship had given atremendous lurch, when the long-boat, which was stowed amidships,suddenly tore away from its fastenings and came crashing down.It passed within three feet of where the boys were sitting, andcompletely tore away the bulwark, leaving a great gap in the side,where it had passed through. "Look, Tom, Sam's overboard!" Peterexclaimed.
Sam had been sitting on the bulwark, a few feet from them, holding onby a shroud, when the boat came down upon him; with a cry he had letgo of the shroud and started back, falling into the water just as theboat struck the bulwark. "There he is, Tom," Peter said, as he saw theblack only a few yards from the side. "He is hurt, come on," catchingup the end of a long rope coiled up on the deck close to their feet,the boys jumped overboard together. A dozen strokes took them up toSam; but the black hull of the ship had already glanced past them.They could hear loud shouts, but could not distinguish a word.
"Quick, round him, Peter!" and, in a moment, the boys twisted the roperound the body of the black, and knotted it just as the drag of theship tightened it. Thus Sam's safety was secured, but the strain wasso tremendous as they tore through the water, that it was impossiblefor the boys to hold on, and, in a moment, they were torn from theirhold.
"All right, Peter," Tom said cheerily, as they dashed the water fromtheir eyes, "there is the boat."
The remains of the boat were not ten yards distant, and in a fewstrokes they had gained it. It was stove in and broken, but still heldtogether, floating on a level with the water's edge. With some troublethe boys got inside her, and sat down on the bottom, so that theirheads were just out of water.
Then they had time to look round. The ship was already disappearing inthe gathering darkness.
"This boat will soon go to pieces, Tom," was Peter's first remark.
"I expect it will, Peter; but we must stick to its pieces. We hadbetter get off our boots. The water is pretty warm, that's onecomfort."
"Do you think the ship will come back for us, Tom?"
"I don't think she can, Peter; at any rate, it is certain she can'tfind us, it would take a long time to bring her round, and then, yousee, she could not sail straight back against the wind."
"Look here, Tom, I remember when I climbed up to look into the boatsyesterday that there were some little casks lashed under the seats,and a sailor told me they were always kept full of water in case theboats were wanted suddenly. If they are still there we might emptythem out, and they could keep us afloat any time."
"Hurrah! Peter, capital, let's see."
To their great delight the boys found four small water-kegs fastenedunder the seats. Three of these they emptied, and fastening one ofthem to that which they had left full, and then each taking hold ofone of the slings which were fastened to the kegs for convenience ofcarriage, they waited quietly. In less than ten minutes from the timewhen they first gained their frail refuge, a great wave broke justupon them, and completely smashed up the remains of the boat. They hadcut off some rope from the mast, which they found with its sail furledready for use in the boat, and now roughly lashed themselves together,face to face, so that they had a keg on each side. They had alsofastened a long piece of rope to the other kegs, so that they wouldfloat near them.
It was a long and terrible night for them, generally their heads andchests were well above the water, but at times a wave would break withits white crest, and, for a time, the foam would be over their heads.Fortunately the water was warm, and the wind fell a good deal. Theboys talked occasionally to each other, and kept up each other'scourage. Once or twice, in spite of the heavy sea, they were so muchovercome with exhaustion that they dozed uneasily for a while, withtheir heads upon each other's shoulders, and great was their feelingof relief and pleasure when morning began to break.
"It is going to be a splendid day, Peter, and the wind is droppingfast."
"Look, Tom," Peter said, "there are some of the planks of the boatjammed in with the kegs."
It was as Peter said; the two kegs, one empty and the other full, werefloating about ten yards off, at the length of the rope by which theywere attached to the boys, while with them was a confused mass ofwreckage of the boat.
"That is capital, Peter, we will see if we can't make a raftpresently."
As the sun rose and warmed the air, the boys strength and spiritsrevived, and in a few hours they were so refreshed that theydetermined to set about their raft. The wind had now entirely dropped,the waves were still very high, but they came in long, smooth, regularswells, over which they rose and fell almost imperceptibly.
"They must be rolling a good deal more in the 'Nancy' than we arehere, Peter. Now, the first thing is to have a drink. What a blessingit is we have water." With their knives they soon got the bung out ofthe water-keg, and each took a long drink, and then carefully closedit up again.
"There, Peter, we have drunk as much as we wanted this time; but wemust be careful, there is no saying how long we may be before we arepicked up. Hurrah, Peter, here are the masts and sails, so we shallhave plenty of cord."
It took the boys nearly three hours to complete their task to theirsatisfaction. When it was concluded they had the three empty kegslashed in a triangle about five feet apart, while two planks crossingthe triangle, assisted to keep all firm and tight; floating in thecenter of the triangle was the keg of water. "There, I don't thinkwe can improve that, Peter," Tom said at last, "now, let us get onand try it." They did so, and, to their great delight, found thatit floated a few inches above water. "We may as well get the mastson board, Peter, and let the sails tow alongside. They may come inuseful; and now the first thing is to dry ourselves and our clothes."
The clothes were soon spread out to dry, and the boys luxuriated inthe warmth of the sun.
"What great, smooth waves these are, Tom, sometimes we are down in avalley which runs miles long, and then we are up on a hill."
"Here we lay, all the day, in the bay of Biscay, oh!" Tom laughed."I only hope that the wished-for morrow may bring the sail in sight,Peter. However, we can hold on for a few days, I suppose. That is afour-gallon keg, so that we have got a quart of water each for eightdays, and hunger isn't so bad to bear as thirst. We have pretty welldone for our uniforms, our bugles are the only things that have notsuffered."
For the boys' companies being on deck at the time of the accident,they both had their bugles on when they jumped overboard.
"Our last upset was when that bargee canted us over at Eton, rather adifferent business that, Peter."
"My shirt is not dry yet, Tom; but I shall put it on again, for thesun is too hot to be pleasant."
Tom followed Peter's example.
"Do you think, Tom, that we had better try to get up a sort of sailand make for land, or remain where we are?"
"Remain where we are, Peter, I should say. I suppose we must be ahundred miles from the French coast, and even if the wind blew fairwe should be a long time getting there, and with the certainty of aprison when we arrived. Still, if there were a strong west wind, Isuppose it would be our best way; as it is we have nothing to do butto wait quietly, and hope for a ship. We are in the right line, andthere must be lots of vessels on their way, besides those which sailedwith us, for Portsmouth. So we must keep watch and watch. Now, Peter,you lie down on that plank, it is just about long enough, you shallhave two hours' sleep, and then I'll have two, after t
hat we will havefour hours each."
"How are we to count time?" Peter said laughing.
"I never thought of that," Tom said, looking at his watch. "Of courseit has stopped. We must guess as near as we can; at any rate, you goto sleep first, and, when I am too sleepy to keep watch any longer, Iwill wake you up."
So passed that day and the next night. A light breeze sprung up fromthe southwest, and the sun again shone out brightly.
"I feel as if I wanted breakfast horribly," Peter said, with anattempt at a smile. "Do you think that there is any possibility ofcatching anything?"
"We have nothing to make hooks with, Peter, and nothing to bait themwith if we had."
"There are lots of tiny fish swimming all about, Tom, if we could butcatch them."
Tom was silent for awhile; then he said, "Look here, Peter. Let us cuta piece off the sail about five feet long, and say three feet wide,double it longways, and sew up the ends so as to make a bag; we canunravel some string, and make holes with our knives. Then we can sinkit down two or three feet, and watch it; and when we see that somelittle fish have got in it, we can draw it up very gently, and, byraising it gradually from the sea, the water will run out, and weshall catch the fish."
Peter agreed that at any rate it was worth trying; for, even if it didnot succeed, it was better for them to be doing something than sittingidle. The sail and the floating wreckage were pulled alongside, andthe boys set to work. In three hours a large and shallow bag was made,with some improvements upon Tom's original plan. The mouth was keptopen by two crossed pieces of wood, and four cords from the cornerswere attached to the end of the oar which formed their fishing-rod. Atlast it was finished, and the bag lowered.
To the horror of the boys, it was discovered that it would not sink.They were ready to cry with vexation, for the want of food had madethem feel faint and weak.
"What have we got that is heavy?" Tom asked in despair.
"I have got fourpence in halfpence, Tom, and there are our knives andwatches."
Their pockets were ransacked, and the halfpence, knives, and watcheswere placed in the bottom of the bag and lowered. Still the wood-workkept afloat.
"There are the bugles, Tom," Peter cried in delight. These had beenfastened to the raft, and were now hastily untied and placed in thecanvas bag.
It sank now, and the boys lowered it five or six feet, so that theycould partly see into it. "There are lots of little fish swimmingabout, Tom," Peter said in a whisper. "Some are almost as long asone's hand. Do you think that they will go in, Tom?"
"I hope the glitter of the bugles and watches will attract them,Peter."
"There, Tom, there--I saw a whole swarm of little ones go in."
"Wait a minute or two, Peter, to let them get well down, and then drawup as quietly as possible."
Very cautiously the boys raised the point of their rod until thetop of the square-mouthed bag was level with the surface; then theybrought it close to them and looked in, and as they did so gave asimultaneous cheer. There, in the bottom of the canvas, two feet belowthem, were a number of little fish moving about. Raising the rodstill higher, they gradually lifted the net out of the sea, the waterrunning quickly off as they did so, and then they proceeded to examinetheir prize.
"We will take out one and one, Peter; give them a nip as you take themup, that will kill them." There were two fish of about three incheslong, another three or four of two inches, and some thirty or fortythe size of minnows. It was scarcely more than a mouthful each, butit was a stay for a moment to their stomachs, and no one ever said athanksgiving with deeper feeling and heartiness than did the boys whenthey had emptied their canvas net.
"We need not be anxious about food now, Peter; if we can catch thesein five minutes, we can get enough each day to satisfy us. They quenchthe thirst too. We must limit ourselves to half a pint of water a day,and we can hold on for a fortnight. We are safe to be picked up beforethat."
All the afternoon and evening the boys continued to let down and drawup their net, sometimes bringing in only a few tiny fish, sometimesgetting half a dozen of the larger kind. By nightfall they hadsatisfied the cravings of hunger, and felt stronger and better. One ortwo sails had been seen during the day, but always at such distancesthat it was evident at once that they could not pass within hail. Thatnight, fatigued with their exertions, both laid down and went to sleepuntil morning, and slept more comfortably than before; for they hadfastened a piece of the sail tightly on the top of the raft, and laysoftly suspended in that, instead of being balanced upon a narrow anduncomfortable plank. They felt new creatures when they woke, pulledup their net, had a mouthful of raw fish, took off their clothes, andhad a swim, and then set to earnestly to fish. The sun was brighter,and the fish in consequence kept deeper than upon the preceding day;still by evening they had caught enough to take the edge off, if notto satisfy, their hunger. The fishing, however, during the last hoursof daylight was altogether neglected, for behind them they could seea sail, which appeared as if it might possibly come close enough toobserve them. There was still the long, steady swell coming in fromthe Atlantic, and a light breeze was blowing from the north. The boyshad been so intent upon their fishing, that they had not noticed heruntil she was within nine or ten miles of them. "She will not be upfor an hour and a half, Peter," Tom said, "and the sun will be downlong before that. I fear that the chance of their seeing us is verysmall indeed. However, we will try. Let us get the net out of thewater, and hold it and the oar up. It is possible that some one maysee the canvas with a telescope before the sun goes down. Take thethings out of the net."
The oar with the canvas bag was elevated, and the boys anxiouslywatched the course of the vessel. She was a large ship, but they couldonly see her when they rose upon the top of the long smooth waves. "Ishould think that she will pass within a mile of us, Peter," Tom said,after half an hour's watching, "but I fear that she will not be muchcloser. How unfortunate she had not come along an hour earlier. Shewould have been sure to see us if it had been daylight. I don't thinkthat there is much chance now, for there is no moon. However, thankGod, we can hold on very well now, and next time we may have betterluck."
The sun had set more than half an hour before the ship came abreast ofthem. They had evidently not been seen.
"Now, Peter," Tom said, "let us both hallo together; the wind is verylight, and it is just possible they may hear us."
Again and again the boys shouted, but the ship sailed steadily on.Peter dashed the tears aside, and Tom said, with a quiver in hisvoice, "Never mind, Peter; better luck next time, old boy. God hasbeen so good to us, that I feel quite confident we shall be saved."
"So do I, Tom," Peter said. "It was only a disappointment for aminute. We may as well put the oar down, for my arm and back acheholding it."
"Mind how you do it, Peter. If we let the end go through the canvas,we shall lose our watches and bugles, and then we shall not be able tofish."
"Oh, Tom, the bugles!"
"What, Peter?" Tom said, astonished.
"We can make them hear, Tom, don't you see?"
"Hurrah, Peter! so we can. What a fool I was to forget it!"
In a moment the bugles rang out the assembly across the water. Againand again the sharp, clear sound rose on the quiet evening air.
"Look, Peter, there are men going up the rigging to look round. Soundagain!"
Again and again they sounded the call, and then they saw the ship'shead come round, and her bow put towards them, and then they fell ontheir knees and thanked God that they were saved.
In ten minutes the ship was close to them, thrown up into the wind, aboat was lowered, and in another minute or two was alongside.
"Hallo!" the officer in charge exclaimed, "two boys, all alone. Here,help them in, lads--that's it; now pull for the ship. Here, boys, takea little brandy from this flask. How long have you been on that raft?"
"It is three days since we went overboard, sir; but we were in thewater for about eighteen hours befo
re we made the raft."
Tom and Peter drank a little brandy, and felt better for it; but theywere weaker than they thought, for they had to be helped up the sideof the ship. A number of officers were grouped round the gangway, andthe boys saw that they were on board a vessel of war.
"Only these boys?" asked the captain in surprise of the officer whohad brought them on board.
"That is all, sir."
"Doctor, you had better see to them," the captain said. "If they arestrong enough to talk, after they have had some soup, let them cometo my cabin; if not, let them turn in in the sick bay, and I will seethem in the morning. One question though, boys. Are there any othersabout--any one for me to look for or pick up?"
"No one else, sir," Tom said, and then followed the doctor aft. Abasin of soup and a glass of sherry did wonders for the boys, and inan hour they proceeded to the captain's cabin, dressed in clotheswhich the doctor had borrowed from two of the midshipmen for them,for their own could never be worn again; indeed, they had not broughttheir jackets from the raft, those garments having shrunk so from thewater, that the boys had not been able to put them on again, afterfirst taking them off to dry.
The doctor accompanied them, and in the captain's cabin they found thefirst lieutenant, who had been in charge of the boat which picked themup.
"I am glad to see you looking so much better," the captain said asthey entered. "Sit down. Do you know," he went on with a smile, "Ido not think that any of us would have slept had you not recoveredsufficiently to tell your story to-night. We have been puzzling overit in vain. How you two boys came to be adrift alone on a raft, madeup of three water-kegs, as Mr. Armstrong tells me, and how you came tohave two bugles with you on the raft, is altogether beyond us."
"The last matter is easily explained, sir," Tom said. "My brother andmyself are buglers in H.M.'s Regiment of Norfolk Rangers, and as wewere on duty when we went overboard, we had our bugles slung over ourshoulders."
"Buglers!" the captain said in surprise. "Why from your appearance andmode of expressing yourselves, I take you to be gentlemen's sons."
"So we are, sir," Tom said quietly, "and I hope gentlemen--at anyrate we have been Etonians. But we have lost our father, and are nowbuglers in the Rangers."
"Well, lads," the captain said after a pause, "and now tell us how youcame upon this little raft?"
Tom related modestly the story of their going overboard from the"Nancy," of the formation of the raft, and of their after proceedings.Their hearers were greatly astonished at the story; and the captainsaid, "Young gentlemen, you have done a very gallant action, and havebehaved with a coolness and bravery which would have done credit toold sailors. Had your father been alive he might have been proudindeed of you. I should be proud had you been my sons. If you aredisposed to change services I will write directly we reach the Tagusto obtain your discharge, and will give you midshipmen's berths onboard this ship. Don't answer now; you can think it over by the timewe reach Portugal. I will not detain you now; a night's rest will setyou up. Mr. Armstrong will introduce you to the midshipmen to-morrow;you are passengers here now, and will mess with them. Good-night."
It was not many minutes before the boys were asleep in their hammocks.If people's ears really tingle when they are being spoken about,Tom and Peter would have had but little sleep that night. The firstlieutenant related the circumstances to the other lieutenants; thesecond lieutenant, whose watch it was, told the gunner, who relatedit to the petty officers; the doctor told his mates, who retailed thestory to the midshipmen; and so gradually it went over the whole ship,and officers and men agreed that it was one of the pluckiest andcoolest things ever done.
The boys slept until nearly breakfast time, and were just dressed whenMr. Armstrong came for them and took them to the midshipmen's berth,where they were received with a warmth and heartiness which quitesurprised them. The midshipmen and mates pressed forward to shakehands with them, and the stiflingly close little cock-pit was thescene of an ovation. The boys were quite glad when the handshaking wasover, and they sat down to the rough meal which was then usual amongmidshipmen. As the vessel had only left England four days before,the fare was better than it would have been a week later, for therewas butter, cold ham and tongue upon the table. After breakfast theywere asked to tell the story over again, and this they did with greatmodesty. Many questions were asked, and it was generally regrettedthat they were not sailors. Upon going up on deck there was quite anexcitement among the sailors to get a look at them, and the gunner andother petty officers came up and shook hands with them heartily, andthe boys wished from the depths of their hearts that people would notmake such a fuss about nothing; for, as Tom said to Peter, "Of coursewe should not have jumped overboard if we had thought that we couldnot have kept hold of the rope."
That day they dined in the cabin with the captain, who, after theofficers present had withdrawn, asked them if they would tell himabout their past lives. This the boys did frankly, and took theopportunity of explaining that they had chosen the army because theenemies' fleet having been destroyed, there was less chance of activeservice in the navy than with the army just starting for Lisbon, andthat their uncle having commanded the regiment that they were in, theyhad entered it, and had received so much kindness that they had fairreason to hope that they would eventually obtain commissions. Hence,while thanking him most warmly for his offer, they had decided to goon in the path that they had chosen.
The captain remarked that, after what they had said, although heshould have been glad to have them with him, he thought that they haddecided rightly.
The next morning, when the boys woke, they were surprised at theabsence of any motion of the vessel, and upon going on deck they foundthat they were running up the Tagus, and that Lisbon was in sight.