CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.
I was soon in the high road, and clear of the town of Chatham. As myobject was that it should not be supposed that I had been there, I madeall the haste I could to increase my distance; I therefore walked on inthe direction of Gravesend, where I arrived about ten o'clock. A returnchaise offered to take me to Greenwich for a few shillings, and beforemorning dawned I had gained the metropolis.
I lost no time in inquiring when the coaches started for Portsmouth, andfound that I was in plenty of time, as one set off at nine o'clock.
Much as I wished to see London, my curiosity gave way to what Iconsidered the necessity of my immediate return to the frigate. Atseven o'clock in the evening I arrived at Portsmouth; I hastened down,jumped into a wherry, and was on board of the frigate again by eight.
It may be imagined that my sudden and unexpected appearance caused nolittle surprise. Indeed, the first lieutenant considered it right tosend the gig on shore at that late hour to apprise the captain of myreturn, and Bob Cross had just time to give me a wring of the handbefore he jumped into the boat, and went away to make the report.
I gave a history of my adventures to the officers, leaving them,however, to suppose that I had never been to Chatham, but had gone up toLondon in the merchant vessel.
Pearson, the boatswain's mate, came to make inquiries about his wife;and, soon after, Bob Cross came on board with the captain's orders, thatI should go on shore to him in the gig on the following morning.
I wished very much to consult Bob Cross previous to my seeing thecaptain. I told him so, and he agreed to meet me on the gangway aboutten o'clock, as by that time the officers would be almost all in bed,and there would be less chance of interruption.
It was a fine, clear night, and as soon as we found ourselves alone Inarrated to him, in a low voice, all that had taken place, and gave himthe contents of the letter which I had taken possession of. I thenasked him what he thought I ought to do, now that I was certain of beingthe son of the captain.
"Why, Master Keene, you have done it very cleverly, that's the truth;and that letter, which is as good as a certificate from Captain Delmar,must be taken great care of. I hardly know where it ought to be put,but I think the best thing will be for me to sew it in a seal-skin pouchthat I have, and then you can wear it round your neck, and next yourskin; for, as you say, you and that must never part company. But,Master Keene, you must be silent as death about it. You have told me,and I hope I may be trusted, but trust nobody else. As to saying orhinting anything to the captain, you mustn't think of it; you must go onas before, as if you knew nothing, for if he thought you had the letterin your possession he would forget you were his son, and perhaps hateyou. He never would have been induced to acknowledge you under his ownhand as his son had he not thought that you were dead and gone, aseverybody else did; so behave just as respectful and distant as before.It's only in some great emergency that that letter will do you any good,and you must reserve it in case of need. If your mother is suspicious,why, you must blind her. Your granny will swear that it was your ghost;your mother may think otherwise, but cannot prove it; she dare not tellthe captain that she suspects you have the letter, and it will all blowover after a cruise or two."
I agreed to follow the advice of Bob Cross, as I saw it was good, and weparted for the night.
The next morning I went on shore to the captain, who received me, verystiffly, with, "Mr Keene, you have had a narrow escape. How did youget back?"
I replied, that the vessel which picked me up was bound to London andthat I had taken the coach down.
"Well, I never had an idea that we should have seen you again and I havewritten to your mother, acquainting her with your loss."
"Have you, sir?" replied I; "it will make her very unhappy."
"Of course it will; but I shall write by this post, stating that youhave been so fortunately preserved."
"Thanky, sir," replied I; "have you any further orders, sir?"
"No, Mr Keene; you may go on board and return to your duty."
I made my bow, and quitted the room; went down below, and found BobCross waiting for me.
"Well?" said he, as we walked away.
"Stiff as ever," replied I: "told me to go on board and 'tend to myduty."
"Well, I knew it would be so," replied Bob; "it's hard to say what stuffthem great nobs are made of. Never mind that; you've your own game toplay, and your own secret to keep."
"His secret," replied I, biting my lips, "to keep or to tell, as mayhappen."
"Don't let your vexation get the better of you, Master Keene; you've thebest of it, if you only keep your temper; let him play his cards, andyou play yours. As you know his cards and he don't know yours, you mustwin the game in the end--that is, if you are commonly prudent."
"You are right, Cross," replied I; "but you forget that I am but a boy."
"You are but a boy, Master Keene, but you've no fool's head on yourshoulders."
"I hope not," replied I; "but here we are at the boat."
"Yes; and, as I live, here's Peggy Pearson. Well, Peggy, how did youlike your cruise with Master Keene?"
"If I ever go on another, I hope he will be my companion. Master Keene,will you allow me to go on board with you to see my husband?"
"Oh, yes, Peggy," replied Cross; "the first lieutenant would not refuseyou after what has happened, nor Captain Delmar either, stiff as he is:for, although he never shows it, he don't want feeling. Jim will beglad to see you, Peggy; you haven't an idea how he took on, when heheard of your loss. He borrowed a pocket-handkerchief from the corporalof marines."
"I suspect he'd rather borrow a bottle of rum from the purser," repliedPeggy.
"Recollect, Peggy," said I, holding up my finger.
"Mr Keene, I do recollect; I pledge you my word that I have not tasteda drop of spirits since we parted--and that with a sovereign in mypocket."
"Well, only keep to it--that's all."
"I will, indeed, Mr Keene; and, what's more, I shall love you as longas I live."
We pulled on board in the gig, and Peggy was soon in the arms of herhusband. As Pearson embraced her at the gangway--for he could not helpit--the first lieutenant very kindly said, "Pearson, I shan't want youon deck till after dinner: you may go below with your wife."
"Now, may God bless you, for a cross-looking, kind-hearted gentleman,"said Peggy to the first lieutenant.
Peggy was as good as her word to me; she gave such an account of mycourage and presence of mind, of her fears and at last of her gettingtipsy--of my remaining at the helm and managing the boat all night bymyself, that I obtained great reputation among the ship's company, andit was all reported to the officers, and worked its way until it camefrom the first lieutenant to the captain, and from the captain to theport admiral. This is certain, that Peggy Pearson did do me a goodservice, for I was no longer looked upon as a mere youngster, who hadjust come to sea, and who had not been tried.
"Well, sir," said Bob Cross, a day or two afterwards, "it seems, byPeggy Pearson's report, that you're not frightened at a trifle."
"Peg Pearson's report won't do me much good."
"You ought to know better, Master Keene, than to say that; a mouse mayhelp a lion, as the fable says."
"Where did you learn all your fables, Cross?"
"I'll tell you; there's a nice little girl that used to sit on my kneeand read her fables to me, and I listened to her because I loved her."
"And does she do so now?"
"Oh, no; she's too big for that--she'd blush up to the temples; butnever mind the girl or the fables. I told you that Peggy had reportedyour conduct, as we say in the service. Now do you know, that this veryday I heard the first lieutenant speaking of it to the captain, andyou've no idea how proud the captain looked, although he pretended tocare nothing about it; I watched him, and he looked as much as to say,`that's my boy.'"
"Well, if that pleases him, I'll make him prouder yet of me, if I havethe opportu
nity," replied I.
"That you will, Master Keene, if I'm any judge of fizonomy; and that'sthe way to go to a parent's heart: make him feel proud of you."
I did not forget this, as the reader will eventually discover.
I had written to my mother, giving her a long account of my adventures,but not saying a word of my having been at Chatham. I made her suppose,as I did the captain, that I had been carried up to London. My letterreached her the day after the one announcing my safety, written to herby Captain Delmar.
She answered me by return of post, thanking Heaven for my preservation,and stating how great had been her anguish and misery at my supposedloss. In the latter part of the letter was this paragraph:--
"Strange to say, on the night of the 16th, when I was on my bed in tears, having but just received the news of your loss, your grandmother went downstairs, and declares that she saw you or your ghost in the little back parlour. At all events, I found her insensible on the floor, so that she must have seen something. She might have been frightened at nothing; and yet I know not what to think, for there are circumstances which almost make _me_ believe that somebody was in the house. I presume you can prove an _alibi_."
That my mother had been suspicious, perhaps more than suspicious, fromthe disappearance of the letter, I was convinced. When I replied toher, I said:--
"My _alibi_ is easily proved by applying to the master and seamen of the vessel on board of which I was. Old granny must have been frightened at her own shadow: the idea of my coming to your house, and having left it without seeing you is rather too absurd; granny must have invented the story, because she hates me, and thought to make you do the same."
Whatever my mother may have thought, she did not again mention thesubject. I had, however, a few days afterwards, a letter from my auntMilly, in which she laughingly told the same story of granny swearingthat she had seen me or my ghost. "At first we thought it was yourghost, but since a letter from Captain Delmar to your mother has beenmissing, it is now imagined that you have been here, and have takenpossession of it. You will tell me, my dearest Percival, I'm sure, ifyou did play this trick to granny, or not; you know you may trust mewith any of your tricks."
But I was not in this instance to be wheedled by my aunt. I wrote inreturn, saying how much I was amazed at my grandmother telling suchfibs, and proved to her most satisfactorily that I was in London at thetime they supposed I might have been at Chatham.
That my aunt had been requested by my mother to try to find out thetruth, I was well convinced: but I felt my secret of too much importanceto trust either of them and from that time the subject was nevermentioned; and I believe it was at last surmised that the letter mighthave been destroyed accidentally or purposely by the maid-servant, andthat my grandmother had been frightened at nothing at all--an opinionmore supported, as the maid, who had taken advantage of my mother'sretiring to her room, and had been out gossiping, declared that she hadnot left the premises three minutes, and not a soul could have come in.Moreover, it was so unlikely that I could have been in Chatham withoutbeing recognised by somebody.
My grandmother shook her head, and said nothing during all thiscanvassing of the question; but my aunt Milly declared that I neverwould have been at Chatham without coming to see her. And it was heropinion that the servant girl had read the letter when left on thetable, and had taken it out to show to her associates; and somebody whowished to have a hold upon my mother by the possession of the letter hadretained it.
I think my mother came to that opinion at last, and it was the source ofmuch uneasiness to her. She dared not say a word to Captain Delmar, andevery day expected to have an offer made of returning the letter, upon acertain sum being paid down. But the offer was never made, as theletter had been sewed up by Bob Cross in the piece of seal-skin, and wasworn round my neck with a ribbon, with as much care as if it had been asupposed bit of the wood of the true cross, possessed by some old femaleCatholic devotee.
But long before all these discussions were over, H.M. ship Calliope hadbeen ordered to sail, and was steering down the Channel before a smartbreeze.
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