Part 29 (2/2)
”Well,” muttered Galleygo, as he descended the stairs; ”if I was to do as he says, now, what would we do with the fleet? s.h.i.+ps wants orders to fight; and flags wants food to give orders; and food wants stewards to be put upon the table; and stewards wants no devils to help 'em do their duty. No--no--Sir Jarvy; I'll not pay that visit, till we all goes in company, as is suitable for them that has sailed so long together.”
”This will be great news, d.i.c.k, if de Vervillin has really come out!”
cried Sir Gervaise, rubbing his hands with delight. ”Hang me, if I wait for orders from London; but we'll sail with the first wind and tide. Let them settle the quarrel at home, as they best can; it is _our_ business to catch the Frenchman. How many s.h.i.+ps do you really suppose the count to have?”
”Twelve of two decks, besides one three-decker, and beating us in frigates. Two or three, however, are short vessels, and cannot be quite as heavy as our own. I see no reason why we should not engage him.”
”I rejoice to hear you say so! How much more honourable is it to seek the enemy, than to be intriguing about a court! I hope you intend to let me announce that red riband in general orders to-morrow, d.i.c.k?”
”Never, with my consent, Sir Gervaise, so long as the house of Hanover confers the boon. But what an extraordinary scene we have just had below! This young lieutenant is a n.o.ble fellow, and I hope, with all my heart, he will be enabled to make good his claim.”
”Of that Sir Reginald a.s.sures me there can be no manner of doubt. His papers are in perfect order, and his story simple and probable. Do you not remember hearing, when we were mids.h.i.+pmen in the West Indies, of a lieutenant of the Sappho's striking a senior officer, ash.o.r.e; and of his having been probably saved from the sentence of death, by the loss of the s.h.i.+p?”
”As well as if it were yesterday, now you name the vessel. And this you suppose to have been the late Sir Wycherly's brother. Did he belong to the Sappho?”
”So they tell me, below; and it leaves no doubt on my mind, of the truth of the whole story.”
”It is a proof, too, how easy it is for one to return to England, and maintain his rights, after an absence of more than half a century. He in Scotland has a claim quite as strong as that of this youth!”
”d.i.c.k Bluewater, you seem determined to pull a house down about your own ears! What have you or I to do with these Scotch adventurers, when a gallant enemy invites us to come out and meet him! But, mum--here is Bunting.”
At this instant the signal-lieutenant of the Plantagenet was shown into the room, by Galleygo, in person.
”Well, Bunting; what tidings from the fleet?” demanded Sir Gervaise. ”Do the s.h.i.+ps still ride to the flood?”
”It is slack-water, Sir Gervaise, and the vessels are looking all ways at once. Most of us are clearing hawse, for there are more round turns in our cables, than I remember ever to have seen in so short a time.”
”That comes of there being no wind, and the uselessness of the stay-sails and spankers. What has brought you ash.o.r.e? Galleygo tells us something of a cutter's coming in, with information that the French are out; but _his_ news is usually _galley_-news.”
”Not always, Sir Gervaise,” returned the lieutenant, casting a side-look at the steward, who often comforted him with s.h.i.+p's delicacies in the admiral's cabin; ”this time, he is right, at least. The Active is coming in slowly, and has been signalling us all the morning. We make her out to say that Monsieur Vervillin is at sea with his whole force.”
”Yes,” muttered Galleygo to the rear-admiral, in a sort of aside; ”the County of Fairvillain has come out of his hole, just as I told Sir Jarvy. Fair-weather-villains they all is, and no bones broken.”
”Silence--and you think, Bunting, you read the signals clearly?”
”No doubt of it, Sir Gervaise. Captain Greenly is of the same opinion, and has sent me ash.o.r.e with the news. He desired me to tell you that the ebb would make in half an hour, and that we can then fetch past the rocks to the westward, light as the wind is.”
”Ay, that is Greenly, I can swear!--He'll not sit down until we are all aweigh, and standing out. Does the cutter tell us which way the count was looking?”
”To the westward, sir; on an easy bowline, and under short canva.s.s.”
”The gentleman is in no hurry, it would seem. Has he a convoy?”
”Not a sail, sir. Nineteen sail, all cruisers, and only twelve of the line. He has one two-decker, and two frigates more than we can muster; just a Frenchman's odds, sir.”
”The count has certainly with him, the seven new s.h.i.+ps that were built last season,” quietly observed Bluewater, leaning back in his easy-chair, until his body inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees, and stretching a leg on an empty stand, in his usual self-indulgent manner. ”They are a little heavier than their old vessels, and will give us harder work.”
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