CHAPTER ELEVEN.
As soon as Denham approached the Government house, Barry, who had seenhim from the window, hastened forward to meet him, and after the firstgreetings, said that he must introduce him at once to the Earl, and hissister, and cousin.
"You will like the girls," he whispered to Denham, "you must be entirelyat your ease with them, remember, they are not fine, they have nononsense about them, just as girls should be; if they were otherwise, I,for one, would not own them. I have no idea of girls giving themselvesairs."
Saying this, Barry led Denham into the drawing-room. The youngmidshipman seemed to have the habit of blushing, for in spite of all hecould do, the colour mounted to his cheeks when he made his bow, a verygraceful one, by-the-bye, to the two young ladies. He conversed withease, but the subjects of his conversation, as far as he selected them,were entirely confined to the scenes he had witnessed in the WestIndies, or to a few books which he had the opportunity of reading sincehe had been on board the frigate. As to England, or any other part ofthe world, he seemed to know nothing whatever, as far at least as hisown experience went. He did not speak either of his family or of anyfriend he possessed, and they soon came to the conclusion that he waseither a foundling or an orphan, without any relation whom he wished toown. Still they were very much pleased with his general conversation.
Captain Falkner, in the evening, came up to the Government house, and hethen said that the Admiral had directed him to take a cruise for a fewweeks, and that, at the end of the time, he would come back for hismidshipmen. He was able, however, to remain at anchor two or threedays, and, as will be supposed, he spent most of his time on shore inLady Sophy's company. No one could watch the two without agreeing thatthey were admirably matched. She, gentle and intelligent, andaffectionate; he, frank and brave, and open-hearted in his manner andbearing. He was known, too, as a just, brave, high-spirited officer,and a _very_ first-rate seaman, and more than that, to be a God-fearingand religious man.
The two midshipmen, it should have been remarked, when last at Jamaica,had passed their examination, which gave them the rank of masters'mates, as they were called in those days. They had been for some timeon shore when, a mail arriving, the Earl presented Denham with a longofficial-looking letter. Denham eagerly opened it. His heart beatquicker than usual; the colour rose to his cheeks, and his eyes beamedwith pleasure, for he found that the document announced his being raisedto the rank of lieutenant. The Earl seemed to be aware of the fact, andsoon after addressed him as "Lieutenant Denham."
"But has not Barry also got his promotion?" asked Denham, looking at hisfriend.
"Yes," answered Barry, "I am a lieutenant too, but I do not feel as youdo, because I am sure I have not deserved it. You have done all sortsof gallant things, and I have done nothing."
The Earl laughed.
"Well," he said, "provided those who deserve promotion obtain it, theAdmiralty do not object to raise a few who have less to boast of."
"But I am sure you would have done all sorts of gallant things if youhad had the opportunity," said Lady Nora, turning to her brother with asmile.
"I hope this will not remove me from the _Cynthia_," said Denham; "Ishould indeed be sorry to quit Captain Falkner and my old shipmates."
"I think not," answered the Earl. "From what I hear from the Admiralwho writes to me on the subject, the first lieutenant of the _Cynthia_has been promoted, and another officer has left the ship, so that youtwo will get the vacancies. I hope in the course of another month or soshe will return from Jamaica, and that Barry will rejoin her withrenewed health."
The father's hope buoyed him up, while Denham could not helpacknowledging that he saw his friend every day growing weaker andweaker. It was evident that the injuries he had received in thecutting-out expedition had been more severe than had been supposed, andthat his system had received a shock from which it had never recovered.Nora, too, was scarcely aware of the danger of her brother. Lady Sophy,perhaps, had suspected it, but could not bring herself to speak of it toher cousin. Barry himself declared that he felt better every day,though he showed, by his disinclination to take exercise, that he wasmuch weaker than he was ready to acknowledge.
At length the frigate came back, and the two young lieutenants rejoinedher. When, however, Lord Barry came on board, the surgeon kindly toldhim that he thought he would be better off by remaining on shore alittle longer with his father. The surgeon saw that a great change hadtaken place in him.
Barry declared he was fully capable of doing his duty, but the surgeonpersisted in advising him to return home.
"I am sure a little more rest will do you good," said Captain Falkner,looking at him compassionately; "we will manage to have your duty doneon board, and we must hope that in a short time you will be sufficientlyrecovered to resume it yourself."
The Earl was somewhat surprised at seeing Barry return, but CaptainFalkner, who accompanied him, endeavoured to tranquillise his mind; andthough he could not honestly say his son would recover, he remarked thatyouth and a good constitution often enable persons to gain strength whenotherwise it might be hopeless.
The _Cynthia_ was ordered to cruise about the Windward islands; adangerous locality, but where she would have many places to visit.Captain Falkner observed that he should frequently have to call off theisland, and that he hoped to see the Earl and his family whenever he didso.
It would be difficult to describe the beautiful scenery of the islandnow placed under the government of the Earl. The ground is broken intohills and valleys, and here and there lofty mountains rise, toweringhigh up into the blue sky. Good roads, however, are cut across theisland in every direction, and thus not only were the young ladies ableto drive about, but they also had the pleasure of taking long rides tomany scenes of beauty, accompanied by Barry, who, though he did notappear to recover his strength, was still able to sit on horseback. Anumber of planters were settled about the island, many of whom were menof education, and all were glad to offer hospitality to the Earl and hissick son. The Earl hoped by travelling about, and by amusing Barry'smind, to assist in the restoration of his health. They had on oneoccasion gone to a planter's house at the back of the island, a day'sjourney from the Earl's country residence, and situated near the sea.
The spot was a very beautiful one. In the background rose ranges ofmountains, feathered to their very summits with green foliage. On oneside of the grounds were plantations of coffee and sugar. The sandybeach stretched like a line of silver along the edge of the blue water,fringing the cane-fields, which formed a broad expanse of vivid greenbehind them. Along the coast were lovely little coves and bays,enlivened by neatly laid out mansions of the planters, while numerousfishing and passage-boats, with their raking masts and latteen sails,added life and animation to the scene. A bright and sparkling stream,which found its way down from the mountains above, passed through theplantation, and added much to the refreshing coolness of the scene inthat warm climate. A broad verandah ran round the house, on one side ofwhich or the other shade could be obtained at all times of the day. Acouple of days had been spent very pleasantly at this abode, when oneevening, just as the sun was about to sink through a rain cloud into thedistant horizon, an old whiteheaded slave came hurriedly into thepresence of his master.
"What is the matter, Caesar," asked Mr Jefferson, the planter. The oldman shook his head.
"Very bad, very bad."
"Speak, boy; have you lost your wits?" exclaimed the planterimpatiently.
"No, massa; but me hear there come one hundred Caribs and many whitemen, and a whole lot of negroes, to burn the house this night and theplantations; and they swear that they will kill all the people."
At first the planter was inclined to laugh at this information, soindeed was the Earl; but, on a further examination, the statements ofthe negro were so clear--and he was so well able to explain how heobtained his knowledge--that they began to think more seriously.
"It is too late n
ow," observed the planter, "for your lordship toattempt to return to the town; indeed, you would be very likely to fallin with these rebels; but I have several trusty slaves on the estate whoI am sure would be ready to lay down their lives for my sake. I willsend Caesar to summon them into the house, and as I know that we canmake a better stand here than at the residences of any of the otherplanters, I shall be able to persuade several of them to come here withtheir families, and assist in the defence of the place."
"In the mean time we must send off for assistance," observed the Earl;"I am perfectly ready to agree to your proposition; indeed, I should bevery unwilling to attempt to travel with my two young ladies and son atthis hour; besides which we should probably be watched, and if we wereso, we should eventually be captured by these people. But what couldhave caused them to think of rebelling?"
"Probably, my lord, emissaries from France have landed on the island,and also there are several discontented settlers of other nations,besides Caribs and blacks, who are always ready for a disturbance, inthe hopes of gaining something during it."
"However," observed the Earl, who in his youth had been a soldier, "wemust make preparations for defending the place; I have had a littleexperience of that sort of thing in Ireland, and I suspect there is notmuch difference between the characters we shall have to deal with andthose I have been accustomed to in my native country."
Mr Jefferson, as he had proposed, immediately sent out three of hismost trusty household servants, with notes to the neighbouring planters,inviting them to take refuge in his house, while the other servants ofthe establishment were at once ordered to come in. A number of treesfrom the neighbouring woods were forthwith cut down and brought into thehouse, to assist in barricading the windows and doors. Every availableboard, tops of tables and chests were broken up to close all theentrances, loop-holes being cut in them through which muskets could befired at the advancing foe. Neither Lady Sophy nor Lady Nora seemedmuch alarmed at seeing the preparations.
"It reminds me very much of our younger days," observed Lady Sophy toher cousin. "You remember what work there was in defending the oldcastle, though that appeared to us to be a far better place to defendthan this is. Still as our friends do not appear to be alarmed I do notsee why we should be." Lord Barry seemed aroused by the exertions hewas called on to make, and set to work with zeal in assisting infortifying the house; all languor had disappeared, and he was now fullof animation. In a short time the gentlemen who had been summonedarrived at the house. Most of them came attended by servants wellarmed, and several who had families brought them also, not forgetting tobring, at the same time, a supply of provisions. They all knew thatsome time might elapse before they could get assistance. Indeed, if, aswas not improbable, there was a general rising of the Caribs and blackson the island, the small number of troops stationed in the garrisonwould be fully occupied in attempting to put them down, and perhaps nonecould be spared to come to their relief. None of the party, however,appeared alarmed. They held the people it was expected would attackthem in too much contempt not to feel perfectly secure with thepreparations they had had time to make. The Earl's chief annoyancearose in not having himself received information of the intended rising,as, of course, he felt himself responsible for the well-being of thecountry. He, however, took care to exhibit no doubt or hesitation, anddid his utmost to keep up the resolution of those collected about him.It should have been said, that the day after the _Cynthia_ left theharbour, a boat with several men had contrived to escape from the sideof the ship.
It happened in the following manner. During the latter part of themiddle watch, while the night was excessively dark, there was a shout ofa man overboard. The wind was light. A boat was ordered to be lowered,and to pull in the direction in which the man was supposed to havefloated. There was no cry, however, though a splash was heard, andfears were therefore entertained that he had sunk, or had become theprey of a shark. There was far more confusion than usual on board atthe time, and several voices were heard exclaiming, that he was cryingout, and that the sound came from a different direction to that in whichthe first boat had gone. Without waiting for orders, another boat wasimmediately lowered. It was known that several men had jumped into her,and shoved off without an officer. When it was, as on the presentoccasion, a matter of life and death, this was not of much consequence.Away the boat pulled from the ship, and no officer took upon himself tocall her back. At length, however, it appearing certain that the manmust have sunk, or, what was too likely, been carried off by a shark,the boats were recalled on board. One only returned. In vain the otherwas summoned. No answer was made to the repeated calls of theboatswain. A gun was fired; still, after waiting a certain time, theboat did not return. It was strange that no one could tell in whichdirection she had gone. It was scarcely possible that any accidentcould have happened to her; for, even if she had filled with water, themen in her would certainly have cried out. The ship at the time wassupposed to be about five or six leagues from the land, which had beenseen at sundown over the weather quarter. Since then the wind had beenvery light, and the ship had made but little way. The naturalconclusion to which Captain Falkner came was, the boat must have pulledon shore, and made several tacks in that direction. A strong gale,however, coming on in a short time, he was unable to beat up to theisland; and after making an attempt for some hours in vain, havingdespatches on board, he was obliged to bear up for his destination. Heintended, however, on his return to make inquiries for the boat, in caseshe should have reached the shore. Now, it happened that the mutineer,Higson, had managed to win over six of the men to assist him in escapingfrom the ship. At his suggestion a log had been thrown into the water,and the cry was raised that a man was overboard. This done, he had nogreat difficulty in leaving the ship. While in harbour he had hadfrequent communications with various persons disaffected to theGovernment. He had by chance fallen in with one of them when he was onshore, and this led to his communication with others. Believing thatthe larger portion of the population would join in a rebellion, heentertained the idea of making himself of some importance in thecountry, fully believing that assistance would be gained from the Frenchor Dutch, and that the people might make themselves independent ofEngland. With this object in view, he determined to leave the ship.His success was complete, and he managed before dawn to land safely onthe island. Here the boat was broken up, and a cave by the shore beingfound, the fragments were piled up in it and completely consumed; thushe hoped all trace of his landing was lost. He had some difficulty infinding the people with whom he had before communicated, but at lengththey met, and he at once entered seriously into the plans which had beenproposed for overpowering the British troops, and taking possession ofthe country. He knew where the Earl was living, and entertaining apersonal grudge against him for the part he had played in sending him onboard a man-of-war, he resolved on wreaking his vengeance in the firstplace on his head. On visiting the governor's country-house hediscovered that the Earl had gone to the plantation of Mr Jefferson,and he immediately determined, with such aid as he could collect, toattack it, in the hopes of at once either capturing the Earl ordestroying him and his family. Happily, having to deal with people withwhom he was little acquainted, his plans were not kept so secret as theymight otherwise have been, and the faithful old Caesar thus gotinformation respecting them.
The Heir of Kilfinnan: A Tale of the Shore and Ocean Page 11