Ford of H.M.S. Vigilant: A Tale of the Chusan Archipelago

by T. T. Jeans

  *CHAPTER XIX*

  *The Captain Receives a Present*

  "Old Lest" Flares Up--Recaptured from the Ringdove--Sally Again

  _Written by Captain Marshall, Royal Marine Light Infantry_

  Old Truscott has asked me to write this chapter, because he says that heis so confoundedly busy paying off the old _Vigilant_, that he hasn't amoment to himself.

  That is his reason for not being bothered with the job; but for all thathe manages to get into plain clothes all right, and fly to the beach andthe bosom of his family, directly after evening "quarters" every day.He is so beastly happy, that I don't really mind shoving another chapterinto this immortal book for him.

  Although it is three months since we left Hong-Kong, I shall neverforget old Rashleigh, in frockcoat and sword, coming fuming on boardthere, and wanting to see the Skipper about that wretched pop-gun whichhe swore we had stolen from him during the night.

  I most distinctly remember having assisted to hoist something on board,at a most unusual hour of the night, but of course it was much too darkfor anyone to be able to swear their Bible oath that it was his gun,though it certainly seemed to be wonderfully like it.

  I said "good morning" to him as kindly as I could, and mentioned thefact that we were having very seasonable weather for this time of theyear; but he was most distinctly rude, and when I saw his little eyessticking out of his head, squinting round the quarterdeck and expectingto see his gun there, I nearly died of laughing.

  His coxswain followed him up the ladder with some rope and blocks andflung them down on the deck.

  "There's your confounded tackle you left aboard me last night. You're aconfounded lot of burglars, the whole boiling lot of you," Rashleighsaid to the Commander, and I am certain I could detect some slighttraces of irritation in his manner.

  Old Truscott himself flared up then--I'd never seen him angrybefore--and cursed the coxswain for throwing the tackle on thequarterdeck, and ordered him to pick it up again. He then took the fatlittle sausage, stamping with rage and red as a lobster, down to see theSkipper, whilst the others hauled me into the battery, banged me on theback, and implored me in the most gentlemanly way to stow "'hee-hawing',like a whole pack of jackasses, you chump-headed son-of-a-sea-cook, oryou'll be giving the whole show away".

  As Trevelyan had been the officer of the watch when the dastardlyoutrage was supposed to have taken place, he was sent for to throw somelight on the subject, and after Rashleigh had gone away we heard fromhim all that had happened down there.

  Neither the Skipper nor Truscott actually did know anything about it atall, and when Rashleigh, like the blundering ass that he was, suggestedthat they both did, the Skipper naturally flew into a rage, and afterTrevelyan and the quartermaster who had been on duty at the time hadsworn blindly that they'd seen nothing come on board during their watch(they had taken jolly care to be out of the way whilst we hoisted itin), he roared out, "What have you to say to that?" and little Rashleighdidn't know what to say, but was so madly angry, and so certain that noother ship could have taken it, that he stammered out that he would likethe ship searched.

  "Search 'Old Lest's' ship for your lousy gun! You! You!----"

  Fortunately the Skipper could never do justice to his vocabulary when hereally was angry, so could not think of any particularly appropriateepithets suitable for this occasion.

  But Rashleigh wasn't finished with yet, and stuttered out, "I'll reportthe whole thing to the Commander-in-chief!"

  "Report till you're blue in the face!" the Skipper roared. "You've gotno blessed right to the gun--no more right than the other gunboats; yougot it under false pretences, in the first place;" and he shook hisfists at him.

  "If a gun and its carriage--umph!--can be taken off your quarterdeckwithout anyone knowing about it, you must run your ship in a prettysmart way. Umph! If you can't be trusted to keep it safely, I'll takejolly good care you don't get the chance again. You got it by alie--yes, a downright lie--and if it does turn up aboard here, you canshout yourself hoarse for it. 'Old Lest's' blowed if he'll give it youagain."

  The Skipper practically turned him out of his cabin, and ordered him totake the tackle back with him. Rashleigh was so furious when he wentback, that he was quite white in the face; and I mentioned the fact toold Barclay as a phenomenon of medical interest, but he was so busytrying to prevent himself exploding with laughter, that the interestinginformation was wasted on him.

  It was lucky that we left Hong-Kong two days afterwards, for feeling ranso high between the two ships, that otherwise there would have beenserious trouble ashore between our liberty men and hers.

  We steamed slowly away for "England, Home, and Beauty", with ourpaying-off pendant streaming from our masthead, and the gilt bladder atits end jumping about in the water astern of us, our wretched bandblaring away "For Auld Lang Syne"--a most inappropriate tune for the"Ringdoves"--and "Rolling Home for Merry England", till we were halfwaythrough Lyemoon Pass.

  The Commodore had made a "general signal"--"Cheer Ship"--and the unhappy"Ringdoves" had to climb on her nettings and give us three cheers as wepassed, though little Rashleigh didn't appear on deck, as you mayimagine. "Hardly what you'd call 'arty cheers," I mentioned to oldWhitmore, who had been brought up on deck to see the last of Hong-Kong.

  We returned them with three absolutely "top hole" shouts, for there wereonly two people aboard who didn't know for certain that the gun wassomewhere on board us--the Skipper and Truscott--and they all knew thatthe "Ringdoves" had no more right to it than the man in the moon, socheered "according".

  We stayed a couple of months at Singapore, waiting for the _Fisgard_ tocome out and relieve us.

  At last she arrived; we transferred some of the mids and cadets to her,cheered ship, and away we went for Colombo and home.

  I assure you, on my solemn "Alfred Davy", that till next morning neitherthe Skipper nor Truscott did know anything about that gun, however muchthey may have suspected. When I went on deck, the first morning afterleaving Singapore, there it was, mounted on its carriage, just below themuzzle of our after eight-inch gun. A brass plate had been screwed onto the carriage and engraved with--"This gun was captured during theoperations against Chinese pirates in the Hector Islands, and presentedby the Officers and Ship's Company of H.M.S. _Vigilant_ to Captain Chas.E. Lester, R.N., and Mrs. Lester".

  They had had the plate engraved ashore at Singapore.

  Of course the Skipper saw it directly he came up to "divisions" and"morning prayers", and it was as good as a play to watch his face.

  Truscott had been let into the secret an hour before, and he and thechief boatswain's mate asked the Skipper if he would mind accepting it.

  "Mind accepting it?" he roared, when he'd read the inscription on thebrass plate, and "Blucher" had sniffed round the wheels, "Mind acceptingit? I'm proud to accept it, and the missus will be prouder still.Umph! You're a darned set of rascals! But that plate, wants somethingadded to it. How about 'Recaptured from the _Ringdove_'?"

  The men all laughed and guffawed. They were as pleased as "Punch".

  "There is something I'd like to have on that gun," he growled, moregently--"the names of those of us who were killed; and if the Commanderand the chief bo's'n's mate will see to that, 'Old Lest''ll take it homewith him. Umph! When we get home I'm going to try to get you a week'sextra leave--for your active service--if none of you give the Commanderany trouble at Portsmouth."

  The men were dismissed, and crowded for'ard, as happy as kings, and Iheard the Skipper growl to, old Truscott, "Umph! you rascal, waited tillwe got off the China station, did you? Umph!"

  "I knew nothing about it till this morning, I assure you, sir," heanswered.

  "Umph!" he grunted to me, "you're looking mighty pleased with yourself.What did you have to do with it, eh?"

  "I did happen to lend a hand at hoisting in something very like it,sir."

  "You're a dis
grace to the marines," he growled, and went below grandlypleased.

  * * * * *

  By the end of August we were made fast to the north railway jetty atPortsmouth, and, as I knew they would--my troubles began. They weremostly connected with unpaid bills, so I won't bother you with them; butit was Grainger, my trusty servant, who was more angry at them botheringme than I was myself.

  "'Ere's a 'ome-comin', sir," he said mournfully, as he was packing mygear and snorting at the condition of my worn-out plain clothes; "'ere'sa 'ome-comin', and arter all we've done for "The Corps", to say nothinkof the wound in your for'ud, and that 'ere jab in the leg, and thosetrouses and serges, abso--lutely ruinationed. We can't 'ardly turn youout fit to march the de--tachment into barracks, sir, that we can't."

  One thing gave him a little pleasure, and that was producing an eyeglasswhich he'd carefully preserved in a corner of a drawer. I thought thatI had broken my last one before leaving Aden, but he had been keepingthis one to make certain that, when the time came for marching intobarracks, I should have one jammed in my port optic. "They'll thinkthere's summat gone wrong with us, sir, if you don't 'ave it--up in thehofficers' mess."

  Some of us had expected to be made a fuss of when we arrived atPortsmouth; but it was four months since the papers had been full of ourexploits, and everyone had forgotten all about them--and us.

  Old "B.-T.'s" leg was all right again, and he and I got Old Bax toadvance us some pay, and had a couple of days in London together. Weran up against--whom do you think? Old man Hobbs and Sally--my littleprincess looking absolutely sweet. They had come along across Canada.

  We helped them choose a dressing-bag for Ching, of the _Huan Min_. Itwas fitted with more things than I dreamt could be crowded into abag--everything gold-mounted, and costing a small fortune.

  What the Christopher Columbus old Ching would do with it, "B.-T." and Icouldn't think; and we knew, jolly well, that the only thing he wouldwant to find in it was my little princess herself.

  We dined with them at their hotel, and next night "stood" them atheatre, and supper afterwards.

  Old "B.-T." wasn't in very good form, because I'd cut him out with thelittle princess--my little princess--and he'd been saddled with old manHobbs, and didn't like it a little bit.

  They'd asked us to spend some of our leave with them up in Scotland; but"B.-T." had the "hump", and refused, though you may bet your life I wasgoing, if I could only raise enough money to pay my fares.

  * * * * *

  "What d'you think of me getting married?" I asked Grainger, when hebrought my breakfast the morning after my return to the ship.

  "Who's it this time, sir?"

  "What d'you say to a princess?"

  "If she be a real princess, sir," he snorted, "she won't darn yoursocks, so won't be no 'elp to me. You don't want none of them sort,sir. You want one of 'em steadyin' kind of ones, if you don't mind mea-sayin' so, sir."

  "Just you wait and see," I told him.

  I had asked them to come down to Portsmouth, to see the old _Vigilant_again, and they did. They stayed there till we paid off, and I had agreat deal of difficulty to boom the others away from my littleprincess, but managed it fairly successfully.

  At last the great day of paying off did arrive, the white ensign and thependant were hauled down, and we all began scattering to the winds.

  Everyone said goodbye to everyone else, and I shook hands with dear "OldLest".

  "Umph! Where are you going?" he asked.

  "Going to march the detachment into barracks, sir."

  "Umph! I know that. What are you doing with your leave?"

  "Going up to Scotland, sir."

  "Umph!" he growled. "That's it, is it? When you get tired of Scotland,come down and get a bit of shooting with 'Blucher' and me. The missuswill be glad to see you."

  "Thank you very much, sir, but I hope not to get tired of Scotland assoon as that," and marched down the gangway to the shore for the lasttime. The old sergeant-major reported the detachment present; I sungout, "Royal Marines! At'shun! Shoulder arms! Left turn! Quickmarch!" and we left the old _Vigilant_, which had been our home forthree years, and embarked in a tug for Clarence Victualling Yard, atGosport, where headquarters' band was waiting to play us into barracks.

  I left Grainger behind to bring all my gear across later on.

  *CHAPTER XX*

  *Home Again*

  Paying Off--Home Again

  _Written by Midshipman Ford_

  Jim Rawlings, Dicky Morton, and I had been such a very short time on theChina station, that we all three ought to have gone to the _Fisgard_when she came out to relieve us.

  But just after we had reached Singapore, the Captain asked me whether Iwanted to go home with him in the _Vigilant_, and though I felt an awfulbrute at leaving Jim and Dicky, I simply jumped at the chance. I wantedto see them at home so much, and go back to Upton Overy and see peoplenod at each other, and know that they were saying, "That be Master Dickwho saved the Cap'en's life," that I forgot all about the other two. Iwas jolly sad to see them go aboard the _Fisgard_ with their chests, andthey were jolly sad too. Dicky was quite well now, and not half the assthat he had been when he first joined.

  What made them more sad than anything else, was not being able to seethe Chinese field gun given to the Captain. We gave it to him themorning after they left, when we were at sea. He was awfully delightedwith it. You could see that by the way he patted it, and ran hisfingers over it, and lifted it out of its carriage to test his strength,grunting and growling splendidly.

  I wrote to tell Jim all about it, and sent the letter from Aden.

  Before we left Singapore, we got the English papers with the accounts ofall our fighting, and I was awfully proud to see my name in among theseverely wounded, and rather expected that they would make a great fussof us all at Portsmouth. They didn't, however, and when I went ashoreto give "Blucher" a run, and got out of the dockyard gates on to the"Hard", I was disappointed that people didn't take the least notice; youknow the funny sort of feeling one has. I kept on thinking whether anyof them had an idea that I had been the captain of the junk _Sally_, andhad been all that terrible night in the walled house.

  Wasn't it strange for Mr. Hobbs and Sally to turn up there whilst wewere paying off? A lot of our chaps think that she's "spoony" onCaptain Marshall, but I rather think that she'd be "spoony" on anyonewho was tall and good looking--if he took any notice of her.

  Mr. Travers thinks so too, because I heard him tell Captain Marshall so;but he only "hee-hawed", and said something about "sour grapes".

  She was jolly smartly rigged out, and Webster said she looked a perfect"knock out"; and she came down into the gunroom one afternoon withCaptain Marshall, and, I suppose, had forgotten about poor old Withers,because she wanted to play the piano. Mr. Langham sent for the armourerto force the lock, and it was Miller who came, and she recognized him,and asked him if he remembered carrying her across the garden in thatwalled house. He got frightfully red and out of breath, and scratched alot of veneer off the piano.

  Mrs. Lester came to stay at Portsmouth, and was jolly nice to me. Shecame so that the Chinese gun could be properly presented to her, and themen were awfully pleased.

  You remember Martin, the marine, and how he had made me so tired bytelling me so often about having tried to save my life. Well, this hadtaught me not to remind people about things like that, so I never evenled up to it; but Mrs. Lester said awfully jolly things about my havingshot that brute. She had brought messages from my mother and Nan, andfrom lots of people; but my mother couldn't come herself, because shecouldn't afford to, and I had to wait to see her till we "paid off", andI went on leave.

  I did go to see Mrs. Scroggs and all Scroggs's children. She had come tolive quite close to Portsmouth, and Sharpe, the petty officer,
came withme, and we had a very "weepy" time, because she was so miserable, andcried a great deal, and said that it was awfully hard to make both endsmeet on her pension, even with what we had subscribed. The childrenwere all growing up, and wanting boots and things, and had mosttremendous appetites.

  I was jolly glad to get away, and I'm certain that Sharpe was.

  Mrs. Lester went back two or three days before we actually did "payoff", and then came the morning when we all said goodbye. The marinesmarched away, and the bluejackets streamed ashore with their bags ontheir shoulders to go on leave, and cabs came rattling up to take us tothe station.

  I did intend to walk, because all my heavy gear had gone to the"outfitters", and I only had two small bags and some paper parcels withthat boat's ensign and the presents for Nan and my father and mother;but the Captain called out, "Comin' with me, Dick?" and I actually wentwith him and "Blucher" in his cab, with "Willum" sitting up on the box,and right the way to Upton Overy with him in a first-class carriage. Hepaid for it, too, and gave me some grub at Salisbury, and a ripping teaat Exeter.

  We didn't get to Upton Overy till ten o'clock at night, and I was sojolly excited, and so fearfully proud of being with the Captain, that Icouldn't feel tired; and when we ran into the station they fired off fogsignals, and there were flags all over the place. Old Puddock, thestation master, opened the door, and Mrs. Puddock "bobbed" behind him,and I caught sight of my mother under a lamp, and forgot all about mybags and parcels, and rushed across to her.

  "Blucher" nearly went off his head with joy, and chased Mr. Puddock'scat till it turned round and faced him, and then he forgot about it. Ido believe that everyone in Upton Overy was waiting outside, and therewere more flags in the streets, and a triumphal arch, and Mrs. Lesterwas waiting in one of the carriages. Everyone was cheering like mad,and the fishermen had taken the horses out of the carriage and weregoing to pull the Captain up to The House.

  My mother and I slipped away--I'd asked Puddock to send up mythings--and got home, and it was grand being back again, though myfather was very worried, and hardly cheered up when he saw me. Mymother had told me how miserable he was, and that I must be very quietand not talk too much or too loudly, so that rather took the gilt offthe gingerbread.

  Even when I showed them the white ensign with the bullet holes in it,and told them all about it, he only said that it was a shame to send achild like me away on such a job, and said it was time to be going tobed, and he was thankful that I wasn't a cripple for life after havingmy arm smashed.

  "He'll be all right to-morrow," my mother told me, and I showed her myarm, and the places where the bullet had gone through it, and moved myfingers, and picked up heavy things to show her that it really was quitestrong, and that I should not have to leave the Service and simply stayat home and be an expense to them, and we just hugged each other, and Iwent to bed presently.

  I was up again very early in the morning, and ran down to the beach tosee all my chums in the fishing boats, and they "bucked me up"splendidly. They all crowded round, and had heard abouteverything--everything--and they told me all the news, and that Ned thePoacher was in prison, and his wife and children had gone to theworkhouse, and that old Gurridge was coming back at the end of the weekand wanted to see me, and I slipped back in time to prevent my motherworrying about where I'd gone, and after breakfast I rushed up to TheHouse.

  The Captain was there in his old shooting suit, with a gun over hisshoulder, and "Blucher" was careering all over the flower beds, and notstopping when he was told to. "Umph! I'll shoot that dog if he don'tcome to heel when I tell him," the Captain grunted, and I ran off andmanaged to catch him. I knew jolly well that old "Blucher" might havedestroyed every flower in the place if he wanted to, for anything theCaptain would have done to him.

  "What became of you, Dick, last night? The missus waited for you andyour mother till we couldn't wait any longer. Umph! Must go down andsee her and the Parson after lunch."

  I very much hoped that he wouldn't, because I was afraid my father wouldsay something to him about sending me away in charge of that junk. Itold him about Ned the Poacher and his wife.

  "Umph! Serve the beggar right; we'll see what we can do about hismissus and the kids. Umph! Go in and see the girls, and then comealong with 'Blucher'. I'm going after rabbits."

  I'd brought a Chinese embroidered skirt for Nan, and she simply lovedit, and I couldn't get away, and didn't want to, and presently theCaptain began bellowing "that he couldn't wait till Domesday", and Nansaid, "I'll come too", and we raced each other round to the stables toget "Blucher's" chain, and off we went.

  It was awfully ripping, and "Blucher" gave us no end of a time, pullingus about whenever the Captain fired his gun.

  * * * * * * * *

  [Transcriber's note: the source book had running headings on its odd-numbered pages. In this etext, those headings have been combined into an introductory paragraph at the start of each chapter.]