Part 1 (1/2)
A Middy of the King.
by Harry Collingwood.
CHAPTER ONE.
H.M.S. EUROPA.
I had just dismounted before the rather imposing main entrance to Delamere Hall, situate close to the west Dorset coast, and had handed over my horse to Tom Biddlecome, the groom who had accompanied me in my before-breakfast ride down to the beach for my morning dip, when my father appeared in the portico.
”Good morning, d.i.c.k,” he greeted me. ”I suppose you have been for your swim, as usual. How did you find the water?”
”Grand, sir,” I replied; ”just the right temperature to put new life into one. Another week, at this rate, ought to see me as well as ever I was.”
”Well, your present appearance is scarcely that of an invalid, I must confess,” he remarked laughingly. ”If you were called upon to submit to a medical examination, I fancy the verdict would be that there is not very much the matter with you. And I am very glad that it is so; for I have just received a letter from my friend Vava.s.sour, in which he informs me that he has been posted to the new frigate _Europa_, launched last week at Portsmouth and now fitting-out; that he has entered your name on her books; and that, if you feel sufficiently recovered to resume duty, he would very strongly advise you to proceed to Portsmouth at once and a.s.sist in the operation of fitting-out, as he is of opinion that by doing so you will gain a considerable amount of knowledge that will be of the utmost value to you when you come to sit for your examination. Now, what is your opinion? Do you think you are sufficiently recovered to do as Vava.s.sour suggests; or should I write and ask him to--”
”By no means, my dear father,” I interrupted hastily. ”I am quite well, and perfectly fit for duty in every respect; indeed, I feel sure that, having advanced so far along the road to recovery, a return to a life of greater activity than that which I have been living of late will be positively beneficial to me. Of course I shall be very sorry to leave you again to a life of solitude.”
”Do not think of that, d.i.c.k,” interrupted my father in his turn. ”I a.s.sure you that my life here is not nearly so lonely as you seem to imagine. True, there are not many neighbours, but what there are, are eminently satisfactory; also I have my horses, my dogs, my gun, and my rod for outdoor companions, and books to exorcise the loneliness of my evenings; so that you see I am not at all badly off. No doubt I shall miss you after you are gone, my son; but this is not the time to study one's own feelings. Britain just now needs every one of her sons who can strike a blow in her defence; and when I look at your empty chair I shall at least have the pride and satisfaction of knowing that, wherever you may be, you are upholding the honour of your country and your name.
Well, well,” he sighed, ”let us get indoors and to breakfast. There is a letter also for you from Vava.s.sour, and you will be curious to learn what he has to say to you.”
Whereupon, linked arm in arm, my father and I entered and made our way to the breakfast room, where we seated ourselves, and were soon busy with the viands placed before us. The letter to which my father had referred lay beside my plate; and, having obtained his permission, I at once broke the seal and glanced at its contents, for I was full of curiosity to learn in detail the splendid news which my father had outlined to me as he stood in the portico.
But before proceeding further with this veracious history it will be well that I should say a word or two about myself, by way of formally introducing myself as it were to the reader, in order that if he feels inclined to follow my fortunes, as set forth in the following pages, he may know just who I am and how matters were standing with me at the moment when this story opens.
To begin, then, I was the only son of Sir Richard Delamere, of Delamere Hall, in the county of Dorsets.h.i.+re; Baronet, Justice of the Peace, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera; and some sixteen and a half years before the date at which this story starts I had received the name of Richard, after my father, at the baptismal font in the fine old church in the village of Delamere, that nestles snugly in the valley about a mile to the north-eastward of the Hall.
I never knew my mother, for she died in giving me birth; and my father, who adored her living, and revered her memory, was some years older before he fully forgave me for being the unwitting cause of her premature departure from this world. And in this I could sympathise with him as soon as I came to years of understanding, for she was not only, as everybody who had known her a.s.serted, of a most amiable and loveable disposition, but--as her portrait in the big library bore witness--a most lovely woman.
But although I was unfortunate enough never to have known a mother's love, I do not think I was actually very much the worse for the loss; for upon my mother's death her place was most ably and conscientiously filled by my aunt Griselda, my father's maiden sister, who faithfully did her duty both by my father and me until she too pa.s.sed away when I was about eleven years old, by which time my father had completely conquered his original resentment toward me, and we had become all that father and son ought to be to each other.
Then, after receiving the best education that it was at that time possible for a lad to receive, I had entered the navy as a mids.h.i.+pman, at the age of fourteen, and had gone out to the Mediterranean in the old _Colossus_, two-decker, under the command of Sir Percy Fitzgerald, where, for some two and a half years, we spent our time partly in chasing the French up and down the great inland sea, and partly in blockading the port of Toulon, under Sir John Jervis. It was while engaged upon this latter service that I was so seriously wounded in the head by a flying splinter that I was invalided home to recover, the _Colossus_ being opportunely ordered to England at the same time to undergo a general overhaul and refit.
Of course I had not been in the navy for more than two years without making a few friends, among the staunchest of whom I reckoned Mr Henry Vava.s.sour, the first lieutenant of the _Colossus_, and also a friend of my father. This officer was a very das.h.i.+ng fellow, a prime seaman, and a cool, courageous, resolute leader of men--he had frequently been mentioned in dispatches--and I was therefore not at all surprised to learn, as I now did, that he had gained his post rank and had been given the command of a fine s.h.i.+p. His letter to me ran as follows:
”My dear Delamere--I think you will be glad to learn that their Lords.h.i.+ps have been pleased to promote me, bestow upon me post rank, and give me the command of the new frigate _Europa_, just launched at Portsmouth. She is an exceedingly fine s.h.i.+p of 1216 tons, mounting 38 guns; and, with smart officers and a good crew, I think she ought, given ordinary luck, to render an excellent account of herself.
”I have been allowed to nominate all my own officers, and I have therefore entered you on the s.h.i.+p's books, not only for your father's sake, but also on account of your excellent behaviour while aboard the _Colossus_; and if, as I hope, you have sufficiently recovered to join, you will again meet one or two of your former s.h.i.+pmates on the quarter-deck of the new s.h.i.+p.
”If you feel fit for duty I would very strongly advise you to join at the earliest possible moment, as at present the _Europa_ has only her three lower-masts stepped. She is in the hands of the riggers, and I am of opinion that it would be of the utmost service to you if you could be on the spot to witness the process of rigging; you would thus obtain at first hand an insight into details, which will a.s.suredly stand you in good stead when you come to present yourself for examination. I ought, perhaps, to inform you that in the event of your deciding to act upon my advice it will be necessary for you to take up your quarters temporarily aboard the receiving hulk, but this inconvenience will be more than compensated by the knowledge that you will gain. For myself, I am putting up at the 'George' in the High Street, and it will be well for you to report yourself to me there upon your arrival. I have written to your father, explaining everything; I need therefore add nothing to this beyond the expression of the hope that you may be able to avail yourself to the fullest extent of this splendid opportunity for gaining a great deal of most useful knowledge in a very short time.--Yours sincerely, Henry Vava.s.sour.”
When I had finished the perusal of this exceedingly kind and friendly letter I pa.s.sed it over to my father, who in his turn read it carefully through, and then pa.s.sed it back to me with the question:
”Well, d.i.c.k, my boy, what do you think of it?”
”Simply, sir, that if you approve I will at once write to Captain Vava.s.sour, thanking him heartily for his very great kindness, and telling him that I will start for Portsmouth to-morrow,” I said.
My father regarded me, rather wistfully I thought, for a few moments, and then said:
”Very well; be it so. Write your letter, by all means, and I will enclose a few lines in it. And,”--suddenly, in a much more cheerful tone of voice, as an idea seemed to suggest itself to him--”I'll tell you what I'll do, d.i.c.k, I'll run over to Portsmouth with you, and stay for a few days. A little change will do me good; and I should like very much to see this new s.h.i.+p of yours, as well as to meet Vava.s.sour again, whom I have not seen for quite a number of years. Yes, certainly, I will go over with you.”
Thus it was arranged. We wrote and dispatched our letters, spent the remainder of the day in making our preparations, and started on our journey soon after ten o'clock the next morning, posting it all the way to Portsmouth, where we arrived at six o'clock the same evening, and put up at the ”George,” where Captain Vava.s.sour had established himself. Of course, it was scarcely in accordance with strict naval etiquette for me, a mere mids.h.i.+pman, to presume to quarter myself in the hotel that my captain honoured with his patronage, but the circ.u.mstances were exceptional in so far as that I was with my father; moreover, it was to be for but one night, and the skipper was far too fine and manly a fellow to take notice of so insignificant a breach of the unwritten law as I was committing. My father and I dined with him that night, incidentally making the acquaintance of Mr Malcolm Adair, the _Europa's_ first lieutenant; and on the following morning, immediately after breakfast, I proceeded on board the receiving hulk, reported myself, then returned to the sh.o.r.e and made my way to Number 3 basin, in which the frigate was undergoing the process of being rigged and prepared for sea.