CHAPTER XXX. AN OLD SAILOR OF THE EMPIRE
No circumstance of any interest occurred on my journey to Marboeuf; mypassport, made out in my own name as a sous-officier on leave, securedme against any interruption or delay; and on the third evening I reachedthe little wayside cabaret, about a league beyond the town, where I wasinformed by the count that the abbe would await me.
To my surprise, however, I discovered that the house was occupied by adetachment of the Marines of the Guard, proceeding from Marboeuf to thecoast; with these, assuming the "camaraderie" of the service, I soonmade acquaintance, and being possessed of some information aboutthe army, my company was at once coveted by the sailors, who had noopportunity of learning the events of the campaign.
The flurried manner and the over-solicitous desire of the landlordto please, did not escape me; and taking the first opportunity thatoffered, I followed him into his room, and closed the door behind me.
"Has _he_ arrived?" said I, assuming at once the tone of one with whomthere need be no secrecy.
"Ha! you are the captain, then, and I was right?" said he, not replyingto my question, but showing that he was aware who I was. But in aninstant he resumed, "Alas! no, sir; the orders to have quarters readyfor ten men reached me yesterday; and though I told his messenger thathe might come in safety,--the marines never noticing any traveller,--hehas evidently been afraid to venture. This is the 10th; on the 12th thevessel is to be off the coast; after that it will be too late."
"But he may come yet."
The man shook his head and sighed; then muttered half aloud, "It was afoolish choice to take a coward for a hazardous enterprise. The Comte deChambord has been here twice to-day to see him, but in vain."
"Where is he, then? at what distance from here?"
"No one knows. It must be some leagues away, however, for his messengerseems tired and weary when he comes, and never returns the same day."
"Is it not possible he may have pushed on to the coast, finding thisplace occupied?"
"Ah, sir, it is plain you know him not; he has no daring like this, andwould never seek a new path if the old were closed against him. Butafter all, it would be useless here."
"How so?"
"The letters have not come yet, and without them he could not leave thecoast. Meanwhile, be cautious: take care lest your absence should beremarked by the men; return to them now, and if anything occur, I willmake a signal for you."
The landlord's advice was well timed, for I found that the party werealready becoming impatient at my delay, and wondering what had causedit.
"They say, Comrade," said a short-set, dark-featured Breton, whose blackbeard and mustache left little vestige of a human face visible,--"theysay that the cavalry of the Guard give themselves airs with us marines,and that our company is not good enough for them. Is this the case?"
"It is the first time I have heard the remark," replied I, "and I hopeit may be the last; with us of the Eighth I know such a feeling neverexisted; and yet we thought ourselves not inferior to our neighbors."
"Then why did you leave us just now?" grumbled out two or three in abreath.
"You shall know that presently," said I, smiling; at the same time Iarose and opened the door. "You may bring in the Burgundy now, MasterJoseph; we are all ready for it."
A hearty cheer welcomed this speech, and many a rude hand was stretchedforth to grasp mine; at the same instant the host, accurately diviningthe necessity of the moment, entered with a basket containing sixbottles, whose cobwebbed necks and crusted surface bespoke the choicestbin of his cellar.
"_Macon!_ gentlemen," said he, drawing the cork of a flask with all thesteadiness of hand of one accustomed to treat Burgundy properly.
"Ah, _parbleu!_ a generous grape, too," said the short sailor, who spokefirst, as he drained his glass and refilled it. "_Allons_, Comrades,'The Emperor! '"
"The Emperor!" repeated each voice in turn, even to the poor landlord,whose caution was stronger than his loyalty.
"The Emperor, and may Heaven preserve him!" said the dark-whiskeredfellow.
"The Emperor, and may Heaven forgive him!" said the host, who this timeuttered the true sentiments of his heart, without knowing it.
"Forgive him!" roared three or four together,--"forgive him what?"
"For not making thee an admiral of the fleet," said the landlord,slapping the stout sailor familiarly on the shoulder.
A burst of rude laughter acknowledged the success of this speech, andby common consent the host was elected One of the company. As the winebegan to work upon the party, the dark fellow, whose grade of sergeantwas merely marked by a gold cord on his cuff, and which had hithertoescaped my notice, assumed the leadership, and recounted some storiesof his life; which, treating of a service so novel to me in all itsdetails, were sufficiently interesting, though the materials themselveswere slight and unimportant.
One feature struck me in particular through all he said, and gave acharacter most distinctive to the service he belonged to, and totallyunlike what I had observed among the soldiers of the army. With _them_the armies of all Europe were accounted the enemy,--the Austrian, theRussian, the Italian, and the Prussian were the foes he had met andconquered in so many fields of glory. The pride he felt in his triumphswas a great but natural sentiment; involving, however, no hatred of hisenemy, nor any desire to disparage his courage or his skill. With thesailor of the Empire, however, there was but one antagonist, and thatone he detested with his whole heart: England was a word which stirredhis passion from its very inmost recesses, and made his blood boilwith intense excitement. The gay insolence of the soldier, treating hisconquest as a thing of ease and certainty, had no resemblance to thecollected and impassioned hate of the sailor, who felt that _his_victories were not such as proclaimed his superiority by evidenceincontestable. The victories on land contrasted, too, so stronglywith even what were claimed as such at sea, that the sailors could notcontrol their detestation of those who had robbed them of a share oftheir country's praise, and made the hazardous career they followed oneof mere secondary interest in the eyes of France.
A more perfect representative of this mingled jealousy and hate couldnot be found than Paul Dupont, the sous-officier in command of thislittle party. He was a Breton, and carried the ruling trait of hisprovince into the most minute feature of his conduct. Bold, blunt,courageous, open-hearted, and fearless, but passionate to the verge ofmadness when thwarted, and unforgiving in his vengeance when insulted,he only believed in Brittany, and for the rest of France he cared aslittle as for Switzerland. His whole life had been spent at sea, untilabout two years previous, when from boatswain he was promoted to be asergeant of the Marines of the Guard,--a step he regretted every day,and was now actually petitioning to be restored to his old grade, evenat the sacrifice of pay and rank; such was the impression a short lifeashore had made on him, and so complete his contempt for any servicesave that in blue water.
"Come, old 'sea-wolf,'"--such was the sobriquet Paul went by among hiscomrades,--"thou art dull to-night," said an old sailor with a head aswhite as snow. "I haven't seen thee so low of heart this many a day."
"What wonder, Comrade, if I am so?" retorted Paul, gruffly. "This shoreservice is bad enough, not to make it worse by listening to such yarnsas these we have been hearing, about platoons and squadrons; of chargeshere and counter-marches there. _Ventre d'enfer!_ that may amusethose who never saw a broadside or a boarding; but as for me, look ye,Comrade!"--here he addressed himself to me, laying his great hand uponmy shoulder as he spoke,--"until ye can bring your mounted lines tocharge up to the mouth of a battery vomiting grape and roundshot, yemust not tell your stories before old sailors, ay, though they be onlyMarines' of the Guard, some of them."
"Don't be angry with old Paul, Comrade," said the man who spoke before;"he does not mean to offend you."
"Who told you that?" said Paul, sternly. "Why can't you sheer off, andleave me to' lay alongside of my enemy my own way?"
"You must
not call me by such a name," said I; "we all serve theEmperor, and have no enemies save his. Come, Paul, let us have a cup ofwine together."
"Agreed! an ye promise to tell no more tales of dragoons and hussars,and such like cattle, I'll drink with you. Bah! it's not Christianliketo fight a-horse-back,--it's only fit for Turks and Arabs; but for menthat are made to stand fast on their own stout timbers, they have noneed of four-footed beasts to carry them against an enemy. Here's myhand, Comrade; is it a bargain?"
"Willingly," said I, laughing. "If you consent, instead, to tell us someof your own adventures, I promise faithfully not to trouble you with oneof mine."
"That's like a man," said Paul, evidently flattered by the successfulassertion of his own superiority. "And now, if the host will let us havesome more wine, I'm ready."
"Ay, ay," cried several together; "replenish the basket once more."
"This time, gentlemen, you must permit me to treat you. It is not everyday such guests assemble under my poor roof," said the landlord, bowingcourteously, "nor am I likely soon to pass so pleasant an evening."
"That's as you please it," said Paul, carelessly. "If you are too gooda fellow to care for money, there's three naps for the poor of thevillage; mayhap there may be an old sailor amongst them."
A murmur of satisfaction at their comrade's conduct ran round thecircle, as the host disappeared for the fresh supply of wine. In aninstant he was back again, carrying a second basket under his arm, whichhe placed carefully on the table, saying, "Pomard of '87, gentlemen; Iwish it were Chambertin for your sakes."
"_Tete bleue!_that's what I call wine," said one, smacking his lips, ashe tasted the generous liquor.
"Yes," said Paul, "that's better than drinking the pink water they serveus out on service. _Morbleu!_ how we 'd fight, if they'd tap an aume ofthat when they beat to quarters."
The bottle now passed freely from hand to hand; and Paul, leaningback in his chair, crossed his arms before him, as, with his eyeshalf closed, he seemed to be occupied in remembering some long passedoccurrence.
"Ay, Comrades," said he, after a long pause, "the landlord was not sofar out as you may think him. I might have been, if not an admiral ofthe fleet, at least a captain or a commodore by this time, if I onlywished it, but I wouldn't."
"You wouldn't, Paul?" cried three or four in a breath. "How do you mean,you wouldn't? Is it that you didn't like it?"
"That's it: I didn't like it," replied he, glaring around him as hespoke, with a look which had repressed any tendency to mirth, if suchan inclination existed in the party. "Mayhap there are some here don'tbelieve this," he continued, as if anxious to extort a contradictionfrom any one bold enough to adventure it; but none seemed disposed tomeet his wishes. He resumed. "The way of it was this:--
"We sailed from Brest, seven sail and two frigates, on a cruise, in theMessidor of the year '13, (it was the time of the Republic then), andour orders were to keep together, and afford protection to all vesselsof our flag; and wherever an opportunity offered to engage the enemy, todo so, if we had a fair chance of success. There was one heavy sailerof the fleet, the 'Old Torch,' and by good luck I was in her; and so,before we were eight days out, it came on to blow a hurricane from thenortheast, with a great sea that threatened to poop us at every stroke.How the others weathered it I can't say; we rolled so badly that wecarried away our mainmast and half our bulwarks, and when day broke wecould see nothing of the rest. We were lying floundering there in thetrough of the sea, with nothing left but a storm-jib to keep her headstraight, and all hands at the pumps; for in working she had opened herold seams, and leaked like a basket. Well, we cut away the wreck of themast, and we threw twelve of our guns over,--short eighteens they were,and all heavy metal,--and that lightened her a bit, and we began to havehopes of weathering out the gale, when the word was passed of a strangesail to windward.
"We looked, and there saw a great vessel looming, as large as athree-decker, coming down towards us with close-reefed topsails, butgoing through the water like a swordfish. At first we hoped it was oneof our own; but that hope did not last long, for as she neared us wesaw floating from the peak that confounded flag that never boded us goodfortune. She was an English eighty-gun ship; the 'Blanche' they calledher. _Ventrebleu!_ I didn't know how they ever got so handsome a model;but, I learned after, she was a French ship, and built at Toulon,--foryou see, Comrades, they never had such craft as ours. Well, down theycame, as if they were about to come right over us, and never once madea signal, nor took any notice of us whatever, till quite close; whena fellow from the poop-deck shouted out in French,--bad enough it was,too,--desiring us to keep close till the sea went down a bit, and thento send a boat to them. _Sacristi!_there was no more about it than that;and they made a prize of us at once.
"But our captain was not one of that mould, and he answered by beatingto quarters; and just as the 'Blanche' swept past, up flew our ports,and eight carronades threw in a fire of grape along her deck that madethem dance to the music. _Diable!_ the fun was short, though. Round shecame in stays like a pinnace, down helm, and passed us again; when, asif her sides slit open, forty guns flashed forth their flame, and sentus a broadside that made the craft tremble again, and left our deck onemass of dead and wounded. There was no help for it now. The clearwater came gushing up the hatchways from many a shothole; the craft wassettling fast, and so we hauled down the ensign and made the signal ofdistress. The answer was, 'Keep her afloat if you can.' But, faith, ourfellows didn't care much to save a prize for the English, and they wouldn't lend a hand to the pumps, but crossed their arms and stood still,waiting for her to go down; when what did we see but two boats loweredfrom the 'Blanche' and dropped into the sea, which was then runningmountains high. _Feu d'enfer!_ they don't know where there is danger andwhere not, these English; and that's the reason they seem so brave!For a minute or two we thought they were swamped, for they were hiddenentirely; then we saw them on the top of a wave, balancing, as it mightbe; and again they disappeared, and the huge dark swell seemed to haveswallowed them. And so we strained eyes after them, just as if our owndanger was not as great as theirs; when suddenly a fearful cry for'edwas heard, and a voice called out. 'She is sinking by the head!'
"And so it was. A crash like falling timber was heard above the stormand the sea, and the 'Torch' rolled heavily from side to side, and thenplunged bowsprit down, and the boiling surf met over her. There wasa wild yell; some said it was a cheer; I thought it like a drowningcry,--and I remember no more. That is, I have a kind of horrid dreamyremembrance of buffeting in the waves, and shaking off a hand thatgrasped me by the shoulder, and then feeling the water gathering over meas I grew more and more exhausted. But the end of it was, I came tomy senses some hours after, and found myself in a hammock on board the'Blanche,' with twenty-eight of my comrades. All the rest--above twohundred and fifty--had perished, the captain and the officers amongthem.
"The 'Blanche' was under orders for St. Domingo, and was in no wayanxious to have our company; and before a week was over we were draftedinto a small sloop of war, carrying eight guns, and called the 'Fawn,'She was bound for England with despatches from Nelson,--one of theirEnglish admirals they 're always talking about. This little craft couldsail like the wind, but she was crowded with sick and invalided men fromsome foreign station, and there was not a place the size of a dog-kennelon board of her that was not occupied. As for us, we were onlyprisoners, and you may think they were n't very particular aboutour comforts; and so they ranged us along under the bulwarks toleeward,--for they would n't spoil her sailing trim by suffering us tosit to windward; and there we were, drenched to the skin, and shiveringfrom day to dark.
"Four days went over in this way, when, on the fifth, about eighto'clock in the morning, the lookout announced several strange sailin sight; and the same instant we perceived the officers setting theglasses to observe them. We could remark that the sight did not seem toplease them much; but more we knew not, for we were not allowed to standup nor look
over the bulwarks. The lieutenant of the watch called up thecommander; and when he came on deck he ordered the men to cram on moresail, and hold her head a point or so off the wind; and as soon asit was done, the rushing noise at the cutwater told the speed she wasmaking through the sea. It was a fine day, with a fresh breeze and anice curl from the water; and it was a handsome thing to see how thesloop bent to the gale and rose again, her canvas white as snow andsteady as a board; and we soon knew, from the manner of the officersand the anxious looks they 'd give to leeward from time to time, thatanother vessel was in chase of the 'Fawn.' Not a man stirred on the decksave the lieutenant of the watch, who walked the quarterdeck with hisglass in his hand; now lifting it to his eye, and now throwing a glancealoft to see how the sails were drawing.
"'She's gaining on us, sir,' cried the boatswain, as he went aloft, tothe lieutenant. 'Shall we ease her off a little more?'
"'No, no,' said he, impatiently. 'She's coming handover-hand now. Clearthe deck, and prepare for action.'
"My heart jumped to my throat as I heard the words; and waiting untilthe lieutenant's back was turned, I stole my eyes above the bulwark,and beheld the tall masts and taper spars of a frigate, all coveredwith canvas, about two miles astern of us. She was a good-sized craft,apparently of thirty-eight guns; but what I liked best about her was thebroad tricolor that fluttered from her masthead. Every curl that floatedon the breeze whispered liberty to my heart.
"'You know her?' said the lieutenant, laying his hand on my shoulder,before I was aware he was behind me. 'What is she?'
"'Lend me your glass, Lieutenant, and perhaps I can tell you,' saidI; and with that he gave the telescope into my hand, and leaned on thebulwark beside me. 'Ha!' said I, as soon as I caught the side of herhull, 'I ought to know her well; I sailed in her for two years and ahalf. She's the "Creole," of thirty-eight guns, the fastest frigate inour navy; she has six carronades on her quarterdeck, and never goes tosea without three hundred and twenty men.'
"'If she had three tiers of them we 'd not flinch from her,' said avoice behind. It was the commander himself, who was now in full uniform,and wore a belt with four pistols stuck around it.
"There is no use in denying it,--the English prepared for action likebrave fellows, and soon cleared the deck of everything in the way of theguns. But what use was it? In less than an hour the 'Creole' worked towindward, and opened a fire from her long guns to which the other couldmake no reply. There they came plumping in,--some into the hull, somesplintering through the bulwarks, and some crashing away through therigging; and all the crew could do was to repair the mischief thedistant cannonade was making.
"'It's a cowardly way your countrymen come into action, after all,' saidthe lieutenant, as he watched the shot hopping and skipping along thewater to leeward. 'With four times our strength, they don't bear downand encourage us.'
"As he spoke, a shot cut the peak halyards in two, and down came thespar with a crash, carrying with it in its fall that ensign they 're soproud of. It was all we could do, prisoners as we were, not to cheer atthis; but the faces around us did not encourage us to such a course, andwe sat silently watching them.
"The moment the accident happened, twenty stout fellows were clamberingup the rigging, and as many more engaged to repair the mischief. Butsuddenly the commander whispered something to the lieutenant; themen were called down again, and the craft was let fall off the wind,trailing the sails and the tangled rigging over her sides.
"'And the prisoners, sir?' said the lieutenant, at the close ofsomething I could not hear.
"'Send them below,' was the short reply.
"'We cannot; the space between decks is crowded to suffocation. But hereshe comes.' And, as he spoke, the frigate came bearing down in gallantstyle, her whole deck swarming with men.
"'Down, men, down!' whispered the lieutenant, and he dropped on hisknee behind the bulwark, and motioned to the rest to kneel. And I nowperceived that every sailor had a drawn cutlass in his hand and pistolsin his belt, as he lay crouching on the deck.
"The frigate was now so close, I could hear the commands of the officerson the quarterdeck, and the words 'Bas les branles'--the signal toboard--passed from mouth to mouth. The next instant, she closed on us,and showed her tall sides towering above us.
"'Now, men!' cried the commander of the 'Fawn,' 'now, forward! 'All whocare to live, there's your ground,' said he, pointing to the frigate.'Such as like to die on a British deck, remain with me.' The boarderssprang up the side of the 'Creole' before the crew could fasten thegrapples. _Tonnerre de Dieu!_ what a moment it was! The fellows cheeredlike madmen, as they poured in to certain death; the lieutenant himselfwas one of the first on board, and fell back the same instant, dead uponhis own deck. The struggle was a bloody but brief one; for a fewminutes the English pressed our men back, and gained a footing onthe quarterdeck, but a murderous fire from the tops cut them down innumbers, and they now fought, not for victory, but vengeance.
"'Now, Captain, now!' screamed a youth, in a lieutenant's uniform, butall covered with blood, and his face gashed with a cutlass-wound, as heleaned over the bulwark of the 'Creole,' and waved his cap in the air.
"'I'm ready,' replied the English commander, and sprang down the mainhatchway as he spoke, with a pistol in his hand. At the same instant,a fearful cry burst forth from the prisoners; for, with the instinct ofdespair, they guessed his desperate resolve was to blow up the vessel.We were tied, wrist to wrist, and the rope run through the blocks at ourback in such a way as to prevent our moving more than a few inches. Butwhat will not the fear of a dreadful death do? With one unanimous effortwe tore the lashings in pieces, and got free. I was myself the firstat liberty, and sprang towards the 'Creole.' Alas! they had divinedthe awful doom awaiting us, and were endeavoring to shove off at once.Already there were some ten or twelve feet between the vessels. I rushedforward to gain the bowsprit, a vague hope of escape suggesting theeffort. As I did so, my eyes caught sight of a book, which, with hishat, the captain threw from him as he hastened below. I stooped downand put it in my bosom,--why, I know not. Life, and life only, was mythought at that moment. Then, with lightning's speed, I ran along thedeck, and out on the bowsprit.
"At this instant, the frigate shot ahead of us; I made a leap, the lasteffort of despair, and caught the fluke of the anchor; a friendlyhand threw me a rope and dragged me on the deck. As I gained it, athunderclap, louder than ten broadsides, broke forth, and the frigatefell over on one side as if sinking; while over her rigging and hermasts flew spars and timbers, blazing and burning, amid a black smokethat filled the air on every side. Every man about dropped woundedor terrified on the deck, where they lay amid the falling fire of thewreck, and the terrible carnage. I wiped the blood from my eyes, forI was bleeding profusely from a splinter cut, and looked about me. Thedeck was a mass of dead and dying; their piercing cries and groans weremaddening to hear. The frigate, however, was flying fast through thewater; the 'Fawn' was gone!"
"_Tete-bleue!_ he blew her up?" said three or four in a breath.
Paul nodded, and resumed:--
"Ay, Comrades, and the half-dozen of her crew who stood alive on ourquarterdeck cheered the explosion as if it was a victory; and onefellow, as he lay bleeding on the planks, cried out, 'See, there; look,if our gay flag is not high above yours, as it always will be! 'And thattime he was right, for the spar that bore it was nigh the clouds.
"Well, to finish my story: In eight days we made Brest, and all of uswho were wounded were sent on shore to the naval hospital. A sorry setwe were; most of us disabled by splinter-wounds, and many obliged tosuffer amputation. I was about again sooner than the rest, and was sentfor one morning on board the admiral's ship, to give some account of the'Fawn,' of which they never could hear enough; and when I came to thatpart where I made my escape, they all began a-laughing at my stoppingto take up a book at such a moment. And one of the lieutenants said,jokingly,--
"'Well, Paul, I suppose it was the Englishman's breviary save
d yourlife, was n't it?'
"'No, Lieutenant,' said I; 'but you 'd be mighty proud this day to havethat same breviary in your possession.'
"'How so, good fellow?' said the admiral himself, old Villaret Joyeuse,who always talked like one of ourselves. 'What is this book, then, thatis so precious?'
"'I 'll show it you, sir, because I 've no fear of foul play at yourhands; but there's not another man of the fleet I 'd let see it,' Andwith that I took it out of my breast, where I always carried it, andgave it to him. Ah! if you'd seen his face,--how it flushed up as heturned over the leaves, and how his eyes sparkled with fire!
"'Paul Dupont,' said he, 'are you aware what this is?'
"'Yes, Admiral,' said I, 'as well as you are.'
"'Your fortune's made, then, my brave fellow,' said he, slapping me onthe shoulder. 'The finest frigate in the English navy is a less prizethan this.'
"_Mille tonnerres!_ how the others stared at me then. But I stoodwithout minding how they looked, for I was the same Paul Dupont theylaughed at a few minutes before.
"Meanwhile the admiral laid down the book on the table, and coveredit with his cocked hat; and then taking a pen he wrote some lines on apiece of paper before him.
"'Will that do, Paul?' said he, handing it towards me.
"It was just this: 'Bureau of the Marine, Brest. Pay Paul Dupont the sumof ten thousand francs, for service rendered to his Imperial Majesty,and attested in a note by me Villaret Joyeuse, Admiral of France.'
"I could scarce read the lines, Comrades, for pure passion.
"'Ten thousand francs!' said I at last, as soon as I found breath,--'tenthousand francs!'
"'What!' cried the admiral, 'not content? Well, then, thou shalt havemore; but I have rarely met one of your cloth with so mercenary aspirit.'
"'Stay, Admiral,' said I, as I saw him about to write a new order; 'weboth are in an error here. You mistake me, and I you. An old admiral ofthe fleet ought to know his sailors better than to think that money istheir highest reward; it never was so at least with Paul Dupont Let mehave my book again.'
"'Come, come, Paul; I believe I understand you now,' laid he. 'Yourwarrant shall be made out this day.'
"'No, Admiral, it's too late,' said I. 'If that had come first, and fromyourself, all well; but it looks like a bargain now, and I 'll not havepromotion that way.'
"'Mort du diable!' said he, stamping with passion. 'But they 're allthe same; these Bretons are as brutal in their obstinacy as their owncattle.'
"'You say true, Admiral,' said I; 'but if they're obstinate in wrong,they're resolute in right. You are a Breton gentleman; give me back mybook.'
"'Take it,' said he, flinging it at me, 'and let me never see your faceagain.' And with that he left the cabin, and banged the door after himin a rage.
"And so, I went my way, Comrades, back to my ship, and served for many along year after, carrying that book always in my breast, and thinkingto myself, 'Well, what if thou art only a boatswain, Paul; thou hastwherewithal in thy keeping to make thee a commodore any day.'"
"And what can it be, then, this book?" said the party, in a breath.
"You shall see," said Paul, solemnly; "for though I have never shown itsince, nor have I ever told the story before, here it is."
With these words he drew from his bosom a small square volume, bound invellum, and fastened by a clasp; lettered on the cover, "Signals of theChannel Fleet."
This was the secret of honest Paul's life; and as he turned over theleaves, he expatiated with eloquent delight on the various Britishemblems which were represented there, in all their brilliant coloring.
"That double streak of yellow on the black is to make all sail,Comrades," said he. "Whenever they see us standing out to sea you mayremark that signal flying."
"And what is this large blue flag here, with all the colored bars acrossit?" said one.
"Ay," cried another, "they're very fond of that ensign; what can it be?"
"Close action," growled out Paul, sullenly, who didn't fancy even thereflective praise this question implied to the hated rival.
"_Sacrebleu!_" said a third, "they've no other to announce a victory.Look here; it is the same flag for both."
Paul shut up the book at this, with a muttered curse, which might havebeen intended either for his comrades or the English, or both together,and the whole party became suddenly silent.
It was now that the landlord's tact became conspicuous; for insteadof any condoling expressions on what might have been deemed theunsuccessful result of Paul's career, he affected to think that thebrave seaman was more to be envied for the possession of that volumethan if he walked the deck an admiral of France.
This flattery, aided by a fresh supply of Burgundy, had full success;and from story-telling the party fell to singing,--the songs beingonly a more boastful detail of their prowess at sea than their prosenarratives; and even here Paul maintained his supremacy.
Sleep, however, stronger than self-glorification and pride, fell on theparty one by one, and they lay down at last on the tables and benches,and slumbered heavily.
Tom Burke Of Ours, Volume II Page 30