Part 1 (1/2)
The Missing Merchantman.
by Harry Collingwood.
CHAPTER ONE.
INTRODUCTORY.
This story opens on a glorious day about the middle of July; and Weymouth, with its charming bay, was looking its very best. A gentle southerly breeze was blowing; the air was clear--just warm enough to render a dip in the sea the quintessence of luxury--and so laden with ozone and the wholesome scent of the sea that to breathe it was like imbibing a draught of _elixir vitae_. The east land was in itself a picture as it stretched across the horizon in front of the town, its lofty chalk-cliffs and swelling downs, the latter dotted here and there with a solitary farm-house or a clump of trees, gleaming softly through the clear transparent atmosphere in a thousand varied hues of green, and creamy white, and ruddy neutral, which gradually merged into a series of delicate pearly-greys as the eye followed the bold outline to where Saint Alban's Head sloped down into the azure sea. The n.o.ble bay, gently ruffled by the morning breeze, s.h.i.+mmered and sparkled brilliantly in the strong unclouded sunlight, its rippling wavelets chasing each other sh.o.r.eward in long lines until they plashed with a soothing murmur into mimic breakers upon the broad, smooth, firm expanse of sand, whereon happy children were disporting themselves, bare-footed, with boat, and spade, and bucket, to their innocent hearts' content.
The proprietors of the bathing-vans were doing an excellent business, their lumbering vehicles jolting noisily down into the water with scarcely a moment's intermission. The band, drawn up in front of the hideous statue to George the Fourth, which so greatly disfigures the town, was discoursing, fairly well, a selection of good music; a long line of chairs on the sands was fully occupied by loungers, mostly ladies, reading, or amusing themselves by watching the antics of the thronging children; the broad promenade was crowded with people on pleasure bent. Light skiffs and neat well-appointed sailing boats were darting hither and thither along the surface of the glancing waters; and farther out, at a distance of about a mile from the sh.o.r.e, some half-a- dozen or more yachts of various rigs and tonnage were lying at anchor, with their club burgees gaily fluttering in the breeze, and most of them with mainsail hoisted, or with other preparations actively going forward toward getting under weigh for a day's cruise.
The delightful little watering-place, it has been said, was looking its best; or at least this was the opinion expressed by a young man who, accompanied by his father and sister, walked up the esplanade on that particular morning, on his way to the railway-station _en route_ for London by the ten o'clock South-Western express--his luggage having preceded him on a hand-truck.
As the young man happens to be the hero of the present story, it may not be amiss to describe him somewhat particularly.
Edward Damerell, then--for that was his name--was, at the date of our introduction to him, within a month of reaching his nineteenth year; and he had hoped to spend his birthday at home with his father and sister, the only relatives he possessed on earth, but circ.u.mstances had ordered it otherwise. He stood just five feet seven inches in his stockings; was as stout-built and shapely a youth as one need wish to see, though it was evident that he had not yet attained his full growth; his frank, handsome, albeit sunburnt face was lighted up by a pair of keen, honest grey eyes and crowned by a close-cut crop of crisp, curly, flaxen hair-- a good-tempered, pleasant-looking fellow enough, true as steel, brave as true, and, having been already three years at sea, as smart a seaman as ever trod a plank.
His father was his exact counterpart, with the comparatively trifling difference that he was not quite so tall as Ned; was broader in the beam, and, as of course might be expected, much older-looking, though the appearance of age was due princ.i.p.ally to the grey with which his hair and bushy whiskers (which latter appendages, by the by, Ned was still without) was thickly dashed; the old gentleman's eye being as keen and bright as his son's, and his step almost as springy.
Edward Damerell, senior, it may be as well to mention, was a naval lieutenant, retired upon half-pay. He had seen a great deal of service in his youth, princ.i.p.ally on the West Coast of Africa and in the China seas, and had been fairly fortunate in the matter of acquiring prize- money--to which circ.u.mstance he was indebted for the exceedingly comfortable little cottage on the hill overlooking Newton's Cove, which he had inhabited for some twenty-five years, having purchased and settled down in it upon his marriage and retirement from the service.
His daughter Eva was a beautiful girl, as good as she was beautiful, and the very apple of her father's eye--which is all that need be said of her, as she plays no part in the events which it is the purpose of this narrative to chronicle.
Young Edward Damerell, born and brought up within sight and sound of the sea, early manifested a natural desire to tread in his father's footsteps by following the same profession. To this the old gentleman made no very serious objection, but he would not hear of his son entering the navy. The service, he insisted, had been ruined by the introduction of steam and armour-plates. Moreover, he had discovered, to his cost, that without money and influence, and plenty of both, a man stood but little chance, in these piping times of peace, of making any great amount of headway up the ratlins of promotion. ”So,” said he, ”if Ned chooses to go to sea, he will have to enter the merchant service, where good seamen are still, and always will be, required.”
And this Ned did under the most advantageous circ.u.mstances, as ”mids.h.i.+pman-apprentice” on board an Australian clipper belonging to the ”Bruce” line, in which employ he was duly serving his time--very creditably, indeed, to himself and to the officers who had the training of him, if the report of the skipper, Captain Blyth, was to be believed.
And he was now, on this particular morning, leaving home once more, after a month's leave, to join a brand-new steel-built clipper called the _Flying Cloud_, the latest addition to the ”Bruce” fleet, of which s.h.i.+p Captain Blyth had been given the command.
As the lad arrived opposite King Street, the point where he would have to turn off and leave the esplanade and the ”front,” as the inhabitants term it, he paused a moment, looked longingly to right and left of him at the long terraces of neat houses facing the sea, at the ”Nothe” on the opposite side of the harbour, at the sands, the bay, and the long stretch of bold coast to the northward and eastward, and sighed regretfully at the thought that he was about to leave the place once more for so long a time. He was enthusiastically attached to his profession--as every lad must be if he would make his way in the world-- but he was also attached to the place of his birth, and infinitely more was he attached to his father and sister; and though he was too manly to express sorrow at his departure, the feeling was there and would not be altogether ignored. It was, therefore, with but an indifferently successful a.s.sumption of cheerfulness that he exclaimed:
”Well, good-bye, old town! Who knows how many weary leagues I shall have to travel, and through what hards.h.i.+ps and perils I may have to pa.s.s, before I tread your streets again!”
And, linking his arms in those of his father and sister, he crossed the road and pa.s.sed down the street to the railway-station.
Poor Ned! when he spoke so lightly he little knew that the words had so prophetic a meaning.
In due course he arrived in London, and, chartering a cab, made the best of his way to his new s.h.i.+p, which was taking in cargo in the London Docks. On arriving alongside his first act was naturally to give a scrutinising look at the craft and to mentally compare her with the _Bride of Abydos_, his former s.h.i.+p; and much as he thought of the latter, he was almost reluctantly compelled to admit that the _Flying Cloud_ greatly excelled her in every point most highly prized by a seaman. She was the very latest exponent of the s.h.i.+pbuilder's art, and of the success which has attended the efforts of the naval architect to combine, in the highest degree, a large carrying capacity with perfect sea-going powers and super-excellence in point of speed. She was just a nice, comfortable, handy size--twelve hundred tons register--steel- built, and of exceptional strength, cla.s.sed 100 A1 at Lloyd's; a beamy rather than a deep vessel, with very fine ends. And an innovation had been introduced in her construction in the shape of a pair of deep bilge-keels, which her designer a.s.serted would not only very greatly modify her rolling, but would also cause her to hang to windward like a yacht. She was an exceptionally pretty model, with a full p.o.o.p, and was full-rigged, her stability being most satisfactorily demonstrated by the fact that her skysail-yards were aloft and crossed notwithstanding the circ.u.mstance that she had only just begun to receive her cargo. She was painted grey, with a broad white riband and painted ports, her top-sides being black. She carried a very handsome, well-executed carving of a woman, with long, streaming hair and fluttering drapery, under her bowsprit, by way of figurehead; and Ned noted with deep satisfaction, that instead of the double topsail-yards now so common in large s.h.i.+ps, she was fitted with single revolving yards for patent reefing topsails.
He was interrupted in the midst of his admiring scrutiny by a hail from Mr Bryce, the chief-mate, who, after a somewhat off-hand welcome, informed him that he was wanted to a.s.sist in receiving and taking account of the cargo, which was coming down too rapidly to be dealt with by one man. Stowing away his ”dunnage,” therefore, in the after deck- house, and flinging his bedding into the berth which he selected for his own occupation, he quickly rejoined the mate, who furnished him with book and pencil, and stationed him at the after hatchway to take account of everything which pa.s.sed down that receptacle.
As soon as the work of the day was over and the hatches had been put on and secured, Ned made his way to Captain Blyth's lodgings, and reported himself as having returned to duty.
He had observed, with some surprise, that the stevedores had left a large vacant s.p.a.ce in the centre of the main hatchway, and at the very bottom of the s.h.i.+p; and he had once or twice wondered, during the course of the afternoon, what could be the nature of the cargo for which this s.p.a.ce was being reserved. That it must be something heavy he knew, from the fact that the bottom of the hold had been selected for its stowage.
The secret, however (if secret there was), came out next morning, when several very heavy cases of peculiar shape were brought alongside; which cases turned out to contain twelve steel 14-pounder breech-loading rifled field-pieces, with mountings, etcetera, complete, and several hundred rifles, sword-bayonets, etcetera, for the use of the colonial volunteers. The nature and destination of the contents were legibly enough set forth in stencilled lettering on the outside of the cases, and they very naturally attracted a considerable amount of curiosity as they were carefully hoisted out of the trucks and lowered into the s.h.i.+p's hold. Among the onlookers Ned soon noticed a swarthy- complexioned man, who wore gold rings in his ears, and was dressed in a very natty suit of dark blue cloth--evidently a seaman in sh.o.r.e-going togs--who manifested quite an unusual amount of interest in the cases and their handling, and who finally climbed into the trucks and lent a hand in the slinging of them, exhibiting in the performance of his self- imposed task a very considerable amount of smartness and seamanlike dexterity. And when the cases were all at length safely deposited in their destined place on the dunnage in the bottom of the hold, the man was observed narrowly scrutinising the s.h.i.+p herself--hull, spars, and rigging--with just that appearance of intelligent and appreciative interest which a smart seaman would be likely to bestow upon so handsome and well-appointed a craft as was the _Flying Cloud_.
The cargo came alongside with very satisfactory rapidity, and on the morning of the eighth day from that on which Ned joined, hopes were entertained that the evening would see the loading of the s.h.i.+p completed and the hatches put on for good and all. The swarthy-complexioned man had been seen on the quay alongside two or three times since the loading of the guns. He had evidently taken a fancy to the s.h.i.+p; and Ned was therefore by no means surprised when, on the morning in question, he again appeared, and, seeing Captain Blyth on the p.o.o.p, stepped on board, and approaching the skipper asked if the crew had all been s.h.i.+pped.
They had not, as it happened; so, after a short conversation, which seemed to give complete satisfaction to both parties concerned, the man was instructed to present himself at noon that day at the s.h.i.+pping office to sign articles.