The Two Admirals

by James Fenimore Cooper

  CHAPTER XVII.

  "'Twas not without some reason, for the wind Increased at night, until it blew a gale; And though 'twas not much to a naval mind, Some landsmen would have look'd a little pale, For sailors are, in fact, a different kind; At sunset they began to take in sail, For the sky show'd it would come on to blow, And carry away, perhaps, a mast or so."

  BYRON.

  As it was just past the turn of the day, Bluewater determined to lingeron the cliffs for several hours, or until it was time to think of hisdinner. Abstracted as his thoughts were habitually, his mind foundoccupation and pleasure in witnessing the evolutions that succeededamong the ships; some of which evolutions it may be well now briefly torelate.

  Sir Gervaise Oakes' foot had not been on the deck of the Plantagenetfive minutes, before a signal for all commanders was flying at thatvessel's mast-head. In ten minutes more every captain of the fleet, withthe exception of those belonging to the vessels in the offing, were inthe flag-ship's cabin, listening to the intentions and instructions ofthe vice-admiral.

  "My plan of sailing, gentlemen, is easily comprehended," continued thecommander-in-chief, after he had explained his general intentions tochase and engage; "and everyone of you will implicitly follow it. Wehave the tide strong at ebb, and a good six-knot breeze is coming up atsouth-west. I shall weigh, with my yards square, and keep them so, untilthe ship has drawn out of the fleet, and then I shall luff up on a tautbowline and on the starboard tack, bringing the ebb well under mylee-bow. This will hawse the ship over towards Morlaix, and bringing usquite as far to windward as is desirable. While the ebb lasts, and thisbreeze stands, we shall have plain sailing; the difficulty will come onthe flood, or with a shift of wind. The ships that come out last must becareful to keep their seconds, ahead and astern, in plain sight, andregulate their movements, as much as they can, by the leading vessels.The object is to spread as wide a clew as possible, while we hold theships within signal-distance of each other. Towards sunset I shallshorten sail, and the line will close up within a league from vessel tovessel, and I have told Bluewater to use his discretion about coming outwith the last ships, though I have requested him to hold on as long ashe shall deem it prudent, in the hope of receiving another express fromthe Admiralty. When the flood makes, I do not intend to go about, butshall continue on the starboard tack, and I wish you all to do the same.This will bring the leading vessels considerably to windward of thoseastern, and may possibly throw the fleet into a bow and quarter line.Being in the van, it will fall to my duty to look to this, and to watchfor the consequences. But I ask of you to keep an eye on the weather,and to hold your ships within plain signal-distance of each other. If itcome on thick, or to blow very hard, we must close, from van to rear,and try our luck, in a search in compact order. Let the man who firstsees the enemy make himself heard at once, and send the news, with thebearings of the French, both ahead and astern, as fast as possible. Inthat case you will all close on the point from which the intelligencecomes; and, mark me, no cruising to get to windward, in your ownfashions, as if you sailed with roving commissions. You know I'll notstand _that_. And now, gentlemen, it is probable that we shall all nevermeet again. God bless you! Come and shake hands with me, one by one, andthen to your boats, for the first lieutenant has just sent Greenly wordthat we are up and down. Let him trip, Greenly, and be off as soon as wecan."

  The leave-taking, a scene in which joyousness and sadness were strangelymingled, succeeded, and then the captains disappeared. From that momentevery mind was bent on sailing.

  Although Bluewater did not witness the scene in the Plantagenet's cabin,he pictured it, in his mind's eye, and remained on the cliffs to watchthe succeeding movements. As Wycherly had disappeared in the house, andDutton clung to his flag-staff, the rear-admiral had no one but LordGeoffrey for a companion. The latter, perceiving that his relation didnot seem disposed to converse, had the tact to be silent himself; a taskthat was less difficult than common, on account of the interest he feltin the spectacle.

  The boats of the different captains were still shoving off from thestarboard side of the Plantagenet, whither etiquette had brought themtogether, in a little crowd, when her three top-sails fell, and theirsheets steadily drew the clews towards the ends of the lower yards. Evenwhile this was in process, the yards began to ascend, and rose with thatsteady but graduated movement which marks the operation in a man-of-war.All three were fairly mast-headed in two minutes. As the wind struck thecanvass obliquely, the sails filled as they opened their folds, and, bythe time their surfaces were flattened by distension, the Plantagenetsteadily moved from her late berth, advancing slowly against a strongtide, out of the group of ships, among which she had been anchored. Thiswas a beautiful evolution, resembling that of a sea-fowl, which lazilyrises on its element, spreads its wings, emerges from the water, andglides away to some distant and unseen point.

  The movement of the flag-ship was stately, measured, and grand. For fiveminutes she held her way nearly due east, with the wind on her starboardquarter, meeting the tide in a direct line; until, having drawnsufficiently ahead of the fleet, she let fall her courses, sheeted hometop-gallant-sails and royals, set her spanker, jibs, and stay-sails, andbraced up sharp on a wind, with her head at south-southeast. Thisbrought the tide well under her lee fore-chains, and set her rapidly offthe land, and to windward. As she trimmed her sails, and steadied herbowlines, she fired a gun, made the numbers of the vessels in the offingto weigh, and to pass within hail. All this did Bluewater note, with theattention of an _amateur_, as well as with the critical analysis of a_connoisseur_.

  "Very handsomely done, Master Geoffrey--very handsomely done, it must beallowed! never did a bird quit a flock with less fuss, or morebeautifully, than the Plantagenet has drawn out of the fleet. It must beadmitted that Greenly knows how to handle his ship."

  "I fancy Captain Stowel would have done quite as well with the Caesar,sir," answered the boy, with a proper esprit-de-_ship_. "Don't youremember, Admiral Bluewater, the time when we got under way offl'Orient, with the wind blowing a gale directly on shore? Even SirGervaise said, afterwards, that we lost less ground than any ship in thefleet, and yet the Plantagenet is the most weatherly two-decker in thenavy; as every body says."

  "Every body!--She is certainly a weatherly vessel, but not more so thanseveral others. Whom did you ever hear give that character to thisparticular ship?"

  "Why, sir, her reefers are always bragging as much as _that_; and agreat deal _more_, too."

  "Her reefers!--Young gentlemen are particularly struck with the charmsof their first loves, both ashore and afloat, my boy. Did you ever hearan _old seaman_ say that much for the Plantagenet?"

  "I think I have, sir," returned Lord Geoffrey, blushing. "Galleygo, SirGervaise's steward, is commonly repeating some such stuff or other. Theyare furious braggarts, the Plantagenet's, all round, sir."

  "That comes honestly," answered Bluewater, smiling, "her namesakes andpredecessors of old, having some such characteristic, too. Look at thatship's yards, boy, and learn how to trim a vessel's sails on a wind. Thepencil of a painter could not draw lines more accurate!"

  "Captain Stowel tells us, sir, that the yards ought not to be braced inexactly alike; but that we ought to check the weather-braces, a little,as we go aloft, so that the top-sail yard should point a little lessforward than the lower yard, and the topgallant than the top-sail."

  "You are quite right in taking Stowel's opinion in all such matters,Geoffrey: but has not Captain Greenly done the same thing in thePlantagenet? When I speak of symmetry, I mean the symmetry of a seaman."

  The boy was silenced, though exceedingly reluctant to admit that anyship could equal his own. In the mean time, there was every appearanceof a change in the weather. Just about the time the Plantagenet bracedup, the wind freshened, and in ten minutes it blew a stiff breeze. Sometime before the admiral spoke the vessels outside, he was compelled totake in all his light canvass; and whe
n he filled, again, after givinghis orders to the frigate and sloop, the topgallant sheets were let fly,a single reef was taken in the top-sails, and the lighter sails were setover them. This change in the weather, more especially as the nightthreatened to be clouded, if not absolutely dark, would necessarilybring about a corresponding change in the plan of sailing, reducing theintervals between the departures of the vessels, quite one-half. To suchvicissitudes are all maritime operations liable, and it is fortunatewhen there is sufficient capacity in the leaders to remedy them.

  In less than an hour, the Plantagenet's hull began to sink, to those ona level with it, when the Carnatic tripped her anchor, opened hercanvass, shot out of the fleet, hauled by the wind, and followed in theadmiral's wake. So accurate was the course she steered, that, half anhour after she had braced up, a hawse-bucket, which had been droppedfrom the Plantagenet in hauling water, was picked up. We may add, here,though it will be a little anticipating events, that the Thundererfollowed the Carnatic; the Blenheim the Thunderer; the Achilles theBlenheim; the Warspite the Achilles; the Dover the Warspite; the Yorkthe Dover; the Elizabeth the York; the Dublin the Elizabeth; and theCaesar the Dublin. But hours passed before all these ships were inmotion, and hours in which we shall have some occurrences to relate thattook place on shore. Still it will aid the reader in betterunderstanding the future incidents of our tale, if we describe, at once,some of the circumstances under which all these ships got in motion.

  By the time the Plantagenet's top-sails were beginning to dip from thecliffs, the Carnatic, the Thunderer, the Blenheim, the Achilles, and theWarspite were all stretching out in line, with intervals of quite twoleagues between them, under as much canvass as they could now bear. Theadmiral had shortened sail the most, and was evidently allowing theCarnatic to close, most probably on account of the threatening look ofthe sky, to windward; while he was suffering the frigate and sloop, theChloe and Driver, to pass ahead of him, the one on his weather, and theother on his lee bow. When the Dover weighed, the admiral's upper sailwas not visible from her tops, though the Warspite's hull had not yetdisappeared from her deck. She left the fleet, or the portions of itthat still remained at anchor, with her fore-course set, and hauled bythe wind, under double-reefed top-sails, a single reef in her main-sail,and with her main-topgallant sail set over its proper sail. With thisreduced canvass, she started away on the track of her consorts, thebrine foaming under her bows, and with a heel that denoted the heavypressure that bore on her sails. By this time, the York was aweigh, thetide had turned, and it became necessary to fill on the other tack inorder to clear the land to the eastward. This altered the formation, butwe will now revert to the events as they transpired on the shore, with aview to relate them more in their regular order.

  It is scarcely necessary to say that Bluewater must have remained on, orabout the cliffs several hours, in order to witness the departure of somany of the vessels. Instead of returning to the Hall at the dinnerhour, agreeably to promise, he profited by the appearance of Wycherly,who left the cottage with a flushed, agitated manner, just as he wasthinking of the necessity of sending a message to Sir Reginald, andbegged the young man to be the bearer of his excuses. He thought thatthe change in the weather rendered it necessary for him to remain insight of the sea. Dutton overheard this message, and, after a privateconference with his wife, he ventured to invite his superior to appeasehis appetite under his own humble roof. To this Bluewater cheerfullyassented; and when the summons came to the table, to his great joy hefound that his only companion was to be Mildred, who, like himself, forsome reason known only to her own bosom, had let the ordinary dininghour pass without appearing at table, but whom her mother had nowdirected to take some sustenance.

  "The late events at the Hall have agitated the poor child, sir," saidMrs. Dutton, in the way of apology, "and she has not tasted food sincemorning. I have told her you would excuse the intrusion, and receive hercarving and attentions as an excuse for her company."

  Bluewater looked at the pallid countenance of the girl, and never beforehad he found the resemblance to Agnes Hedworth so strong, as thatmoment. The last year or two of his own sweet friend's life had been farfrom happy, and the languid look and tearful eyes of Mildred revived therecollection of the dead with painful distinctness.

  "Good God!" he murmured to himself; "that two such beings should existonly to suffer! my good Mrs. Dutton, make no excuses; but believe mewhen I say that you could not have found in England another that wouldhave proved as welcome as my present little messmate."

  Mildred struggled for a smile; and she did succeed in looking extremelygrateful. Beyond this, however, it exceeded her powers to go. Mrs.Dutton was gratified, and soon left the two to partake of their neat,but simple meal, by themselves; household duties requiring her presenceelsewhere.

  "Let me persuade you to take a glass of this really excellent port, mychild," said Bluewater. "If you had cruised as long as I have done, onthe coast of Portugal, you would know how to value a liquor as pure asthis. I don't know of an admiral that has as good!"

  "It is probably _our_ last, sir," answered Mildred, shaking a tear fromeach of her long dark lashes, by an involuntarily trembling motion, asshe spoke. "It was a present from dear, old, Sir Wycherly, who neverleft my mother wholly unsupplied with such plain delicacies, as hefancied poverty placed beyond our reach. The wine we can easily forget;not so easily the donor."

  Bluewater felt as if he could draw a cheque for one-half the fortune hehad devised to his companion; and, yet, by a caprice of feeling that isnot uncommon to persons of the liveliest susceptibility, he answered ina way to smother his own emotion.

  "There will not soon be another _old_ Sir Wycherly to make hisneighbours comfortable; but there is a _young_ one, who is not likely toforget his uncle's good example. I hope you all here, rejoice at thesudden rise in fortune, that has so unexpectedly been placed within thereach of our favourite lieutenant?"

  A look of anguish passed over Mildred's face, and her companion notedit; though surprise and pity--not to say resentment--prevented hisbetraying his discovery.

  "We _endeavour_ to be glad, sir," answered Mildred, smiling in sosuffering a manner, as to awaken all her companion's sympathies; "but itis not easy for us to rejoice at any thing which is gained by the lossof our former valued friend."

  "I am aware that a young follow, like the present Sir Wycherly, can beno substitute for an old fellow like the last Sir Wycherly, my dear; butas one is a sailor, and the other was only a landsman, my professionalprejudices may not consider the disparity as great as it may possiblyappear to be to your less partial judgment."

  Bluewater thought the glance he received was imploring, and he instantlyregretted that he had taken such means to divert his companion'ssadness. Some consciousness of this regret probably passed throughMildred's mind, for she rallied her spirits, and made a partiallysuccessful effort to be a more agreeable companion.

  "My father thinks, sir," she said, "that our late pleasant weather isabout to desert us, and that it is likely to blow heavily beforesix-and-thirty hours are over."

  "I am afraid Mr. Dutton will prove to be too accurate an almanac. Theweather has a breeding look, and I expect a dirty night. Good or bad, weseamen must face it, and that, too, in the narrow seas, where gales ofwind are no gales of Araby."

  "Ah, sir, it is a terrible life to lead! By living on this cliff, I havelearned to pity sailors."

  "Perhaps, my child, you pity us when we are the most happy. Nine seamenin ten prefer a respectable gale to a flat calm. There are moments whenthe ocean is terrific; but, on the whole, it is capricious, rather thanmalignant. The night that is before us promises to be just such a one asSir Gervaise Oakes delights in. He is never happier than when he hears agale howling through the cordage of his ship."

  "I have heard him spoken of as a very daring and self-relying commander.But _you_ cannot entertain such feelings, Admiral Bluewater; for to meyou seem better fitted for a fireside, well filled with friends and
relatives, than for the conflicts and hardships of the sea."

  Mildred had no difficulty now in forcing a smile, for the sweet one shebestowed on the veteran almost tempted him to rise and fold her in hisarms, as a parent would wrap a beloved daughter to his heart.Discretion, however, prevented a betrayal of feelings that might havebeen misinterpreted, and he answered in his original vein.

  "I fear I am a wolf in sheep's clothing," he said; "while Oakes admitsthe happiness he feels in seeing his ship ploughing through a ragingsea, in a dark night, he maintains that my rapture is sought in ahurricane. I do not plead guilty to the accusation, but I will allowthere is a sort of fierce delight in participating, as it might be, in awild strife of the elements. To me, my very nature seems changed at suchmoments, and I forget all that is mild and gentle. That comes of havinglived so much estranged from your sex, my dear; desolate bachelor, as Iam."

  "Do you think sailors ought to marry?" asked Mildred, with a steadinessthat surprised herself; for, while she put the question, consciousnessbrought the blood to her temples.

  "I should be sorry to condemn a whole profession, and that one I so welllove, to the hopeless misery of single life. There are miseries peculiarto the wedded lives of both soldiers and sailors; but are there notmiseries peculiar to those who never separate? I have heard seamensay--men, too, who loved their wives and families--that they believedthe extreme pleasure of meetings after long separations, the delights ofhope, and the zest of excited feelings, have rendered their years ofactive service more replete with agreeable sensations, than the stagnantperiods of peace. Never having been married myself, I can only speak onreport."

  "Ah! this may be so with _men_; but--surely--surely--_women_ never canfeel thus!"

  "I suppose, a sailor's daughter yourself, you know Jack's account of hiswife's domestic creed! 'A good fire, a clean hearth, the children abed,and the husband at sea,' is supposed to be the climax of felicity."

  "This may do for the sailor's jokes, Admiral Bluewater," answeredMildred, smiling; "but it will hardly ease a breaking heart. I fear fromall I have heard this afternoon, and from the sudden sailing of theships, that a great battle is at hand?"

  "And why should you, a British officer's daughter, dread that? Have youso little faith in us, as to suppose a battle will necessarily bringdefeat! I have seen much of my own profession, Miss Dutton, and trust Iam in some small degree above the rhodomontade of the braggarts; but itis _not_ usual for us to meet the enemy, and to give those on shorereason to be ashamed of the English flag. It has never yet been my luckto meet a Frenchman who did not manifest a manly desire to do hiscountry credit; and I have always felt that we must fight hard for himbefore we could get him; nor has the result ever disappointed me. Still,fortune, or skill, or _right_, is commonly of our side, and has given usthe advantage in the end."

  "And to which, sir, do you ascribe a success at sea, so very uniform?"

  "As a Protestant, I ought to say to our _religion_; but, this my ownknowledge of Protestant _vices_ rejects. Then to say _fortune_ would bean exceeding self-abasement--one, that between us, is not needed; and Ibelieve I must impute it to skill. As plain seamen, I do believe we aremore expert than most of our neighbours; though I am far from beingpositive we have any great advantage over them in tactics. If any, theDutch are our equals."

  "Notwithstanding, you are quite certain of success. It must be a greatencouragement to enter into the fight with a strong confidence invictory! I suppose--that is, it seems to me--it is a matter of course,sir,--that our new Sir Wycherly will not be able to join in the battle,this time?"

  Mildred spoke timidly, and she endeavoured to seem unconcerned; butBluewater read her whole heart, and pitied the pain which she hadinflicted on herself, in asking the question. It struck him, too, that agirl of his companion's delicacy and sensibility would not thus advertto the young man's movements at all, if the latter had done aught justlyto awaken censure; and this conviction greatly relieved his mind as tothe effect of sudden elevation on the handsome lieutenant. As it wasnecessary to answer, however, lest Mildred might detect hisconsciousness of her feelings, not a moment was lost before making areply.

  "It is not an easy matter to prevent a young, dashing sailor, like thisSir Wycherly Wychecombe, from doing his part in a general engagement,and that, too, of the character of the one to which we are lookingforward," he said. "Oakes has left the matter in my hands; I suppose Ishall have to grant the young man's request."

  "He has then requested to be received in your ship?" asked Mildred, herhand shaking as she used the spoon it held.

  "That of course. No one who wears the uniform could or would do less. Itseems a ticklish moment for him to quit Wychecombe, too; where I fancyhe will have a battle of his own to fight ere long; but professionalfeeling will overshadow all others, in young men. Among us seamen, it issaid to be even stronger than love."

  Mildred made no answer; but her pale cheek and quivering lips, evidencesof feeling that her artlessness did not enable her to conceal, causedBluewater again to regret the remark. With a view to restore the poorgirl to her self-command, he changed the subject of conversation, whichdid not again advert to Wycherly. The remainder of the meal wasconsequently eaten in peace, the admiral manifesting to the last,however, the sudden and generous interest he had taken in the characterand welfare of his companion. When they rose from table, Mildred joinedher mother, and Bluewater walked out upon the cliffs again.

  It was now evening, and the waste of water that lay stretched before theeye, though the softness of summer was shed upon it, had the wild anddreary aspect that the winds and waves lend to a view, as the light ofday is about to abandon the ocean to the gloom of night. All this had noeffect on Bluewater, however, who knew that two-decked ships, stronglymanned, with their heavy canvass reduced, would make light work ofworrying through hours of darkness that menaced no more than these.Still the wind had freshened, and when he stood on the verge of thecliff sustained by the breeze, which pressed him back from theprecipice, rendering his head more steady, and his footing sure, theElizabeth was casting, under close-reefed top-sails, and two reefs in hercourses, with a heavy stay-sail or two, to ease her helm. He saw that theponderous machine would stagger under even this short canvass, and thather captain had made his dispositions for a windy night. The lights thatthe Dover and the York carried in their tops were just beginning to bevisible in the gathering gloom, the last about a league and a half downchannel, the ship standing in that direction to get to windward, and theformer, more to the southward, the vessel having already tacked tofollow the admiral. A chain of lights connected the whole of the longline, and placed the means of communication in the power of thecaptains. At this moment, the Plantagenet was full fifty miles at sea,ploughing through a heavy south-west swell, which the wind was drivinginto the chops of the channel, from the direction of the Bay of Biscay,and the broad Atlantic.

  Bluewater buttoned his coat, and he felt his frame invigorated by a galethat came over his person, loaded by the peculiar flavour of the sea.But two of the heavy ships remained at their anchors, the Dublin and theCaesar; and his experienced eye could see that Stowel had every thing onboard the latter ready to trip and be off, as soon as he, himself,should give the order. At this moment the midshipman, who had beenabsent for hours, returned, and stood again at his side.

  "Our turn will soon come, sir," said the gallant boy, "and, for one, Ishall not be sorry to be in motion. Those chaps on board the Plantagenetwill swagger like so many Dons, if they should happen to get a broadsideat Monsieur de Vervillin, while we are lying here, under the shore, likea gentleman's yacht hauled into a bay, that the ladies might eat withoutdisturbing their stomachs."

  "Little fear of that, Geoffrey. The Active is too light of foot,especially in the weather we have had, to suffer heavy ships to be soclose on her heels. She must have had some fifteen or twenty miles thestart, and the French have been compelled to double Cape la Hogue andAlderney, before they could even look this way. If coming
down channelat all, they are fully fifty miles to the eastward; and should our vanstretch far enough by morning to head them off, it will bring ushandsomely to windward. Sir Gervaise never set a better trap, than hehas done this very day. The Elizabeth has her hands full, boy, and thewind seems to be getting scant for her. If it knock her off much more,it will bring the flood on her weather-bow, and compel her to tack. Thiswill throw the rear of our line into confusion!"

  "What should we do, sir, in such a case? It would never answer to leavepoor Sir Jarvy out there, by himself!"

  "We would try not to do _that_!" returned Bluewater, smiling at theaffectionate solicitude of the lad, a solicitude that caused himslightly to forget his habitual respect for the commander-in-chief, andto adopt the _sobriquet_ of the fleet. "In such a case, it would becomemy duty to collect as many ships as I could, and to make the best of ourway towards the place where we might hope to fall in with the others, inthe morning. There is little danger of losing each other, for any lengthof time, in these narrow waters, and I have few apprehensions of theFrench being far enough west, to fall in with our leading vessels beforemorning. If they _should_, indeed, Geoffrey--"

  "Ay, sir, if they _should_, I know well enough what would come to pass!"

  "What, boy?--On the supposition that Monsieur de Vervillin _did_ meetwith Sir Gervaise by day-break, what, in your experienced eyes, seemmost likely to be the consequences?"

  "Why, sir, Sir Jarvy, would go at 'em, like a dolphin at a flying-fish;and if he _should_ really happen to catch one or two of 'em, there'll beno sailing in company with the Plantagenet's, for us Caesar's!--When wehad the last 'bout with Monsieur de Gravelin, they were as saucy aspeacocks, because we didn't close until their fore-yard andmizzen-top-gallant-mast were gone, although the shift of wind brought usdead to leeward, and, after all, we had eleven men the most hurt in thefight. You don't know them Plantagenet's, sir; for they never _dare_ sayany thing before _you_!"

  "Not to the discredit of my young Caesars, I'll answer for it. Yet,you'll remember Sir Gervaise gave us full credit, in his despatches."

  "Yes, sir, all very true. Sir Gervaise knows better; and then _he_understands what the Caesar _is_; and what she _can_ do, and _has_ done.But it's a very different matter with his youngsters, who fancy becausethey carry a red flag at the fore, they are so many Blakes and Howards,themselves. There's Jack Oldcastle, now; he's always talking of ourreefers as if there was no sea-blood in our veins, and that just becausehis own father happened to be a captain--a _commodore_, he says, becausehe happened once to have three frigates under his orders."

  "Well, that would make a commodore, for the time being. But, surely hedoes not claim privilege for the Oldcastle blood, over that of theClevelands!"

  "No, sir, it isn't that sort of thing, at all," returned the fine boy,blushing a little, in spite of his contempt for any such womanlyweakness; "you know we never talk of that nonsense in our squadron. Withus it's all service, and that sort of thing. Jack Oldcastle says theClevelands are all civilians, as he calls 'em; or _soldiers_, whichisn't much better, as you know, sir. Now, I tell him that there is anold picture of one of 'em, with an anchor-button, and that was longbefore Queen Anne's time--Queen Elizabeth's, perhaps,--and then youknow, sir, I fetch him up with a yarn about the Hedworths; for I am justas much Hedworth as Cleveland."

  "And what does the impudent dog say to that, Geoffrey?"

  "Why, sir, he says the name should be spelt Head_work_, and that theywere all _lawyers_. But I gave him as good as he sent for that saucyspeech, I'm certain!"

  "And what did you give him, in return for such a compliment? Did youtell him the Oldcastles were just so much stone, and wood, and old iron;and that, too, in a tumbledown condition?"

  "No, sir, not I," answered the boy, laughing; "I didn't think of anyanswer half so clever; and so I just gave him a dig in the nose, andthat, laid on with right good will."

  "And how did he receive that argument? Was it conclusive;--or did thedebate continue?"

  "Oh, of course, sir, we fought it out. 'Twas on board the Dover, and thefirst lieutenant saw fair play. Jack carried too many guns for me, sir,for he's more than a year older; but I hulled him so often that he ownedit was harder work than being mast-headed. After that the Dover's chapstook my part, and they said the Hedworths had no Head_work_ at all, butthey were regular sailors; admirals, and captains, and youngsters, youknow, sir, like all the rest of us. I told 'em my grandfather Hedworthwas an admiral, and a good one, too."

  "In that you made a small mistake. Your mother's father was only a_general_; but _his_ father was a full admiral of the red,--for he livedbefore that grade was abolished--and as good an officer as ever trod aplank. He was my mother's brother, and both Sir Gervaise and myselfserved long under his orders. He was a sailor of whom you well mightboast."

  "I don't think any of the Plantagenets will chase in that quarter again,sir; for we've had an overhauling among our chaps, and we find we canmuster four admirals, two commodores, and thirteen captains in our twomesses; that is, counting all sorts of relatives, you know, sir."

  "Well, my dear boy, I hope you may live to reckon all that and more too,in your own persons, at some future day. Yonder is Sir ReginaldWychecombe, coming this way, to my surprise; perhaps he wishes to see mealone. Go down to the landing and ascertain if my barge is ashore, andlet me know it, as soon as is convenient. Remember, Geoffrey, you willgo off with me; and hunt up Sir Wycherly Wychecombe, who will lose hispassage, unless ready the instant he is wanted."

  The boy touched his cap, and went bounding down the hill to execute theorder.