Part 8 (1/2)
I led the way towards the forecastle of the old s.h.i.+p, where the high bulwarks, I saw, would screen us well from observation; although the place, of course, was on the open deck, and visible from aloft, had anybody been there on the look-out, anxious to take a peep at us.
In the old days, indeed, had this rencontre between 'Ugly' and me then took place, we might have fought in an enclosed arena; for the _Saint Vincent_, I have been told, when she was first built, was fitted with a p.o.o.p and topgallant-forecastle, and went to sea with them, but Admiral Sir Charles Napier, who was then commodore of the Channel Squadron, and hoisted his broad pennant in her, found the s.h.i.+p so top-heavy when under his command that he reported her to be unseaworthy on his return to Spithead with the fleet, the result of which was that she lost her p.o.o.p and topgallant-forecastle; hence 'Ugly' and I had now to fight under the eye of the circling seagulls, always on the wing, screeching round the old training-s.h.i.+p in their plaintive fas.h.i.+on, and diving ever and anon into the tideway to pick up sc.r.a.ps that were chucked overboard by our comrades, more sensible than us, down below at their dinners!
The deck was quite clear, the only person visible being the captain of the afterguard, who was taking a snooze on a pile of canvas and old sails that were stowed in a heap close by the main bitts; so, acting under the chaperonage of Larrikins, who officiated as bottle-holder, 'Ugly' and I stood up, facing each other with our fists doubled, ready for action, in a nice little open s.p.a.ce that seemed to have been left especially for the purpose between the heel of the bowsprit and the knight-heads.
One of the other first-cla.s.s boys had stopped up to see the fun in addition to Larrikins, and he now offered himself as second to 'Ugly,'
while Mick, of course, he being really the main cause of the quarrel, naturally came forward as mine.
”Now, gents,” cried Larrikins, seeing my antagonist and myself were duly prepared, ”yer can bergin the puffomince as soon as yer likes!”
Before waiting even for this mandate, 'Ugly' made that mad-bull rush at me which he had contemplated in the first instance at the commencement of hostilities; but having had some considerable previous experience in the use of those weapons of attack and defence alike, with which a beneficent nature has so thoughtfully provided menfolk, from many a rough and tumble fight on Common Hard with the mudlarks and other idle scamps frequenting that place, who used to be always playing pranks with father's wherry, trying to steal anything they could lay hold of, should we leave her for a minute alone, I had no difficulty in avoiding the onslaught of my opponent.
I kept my right hand well up on guard, across my chest; and, my left fist being extended, I caught my gentleman a pretty tidy blow under the chin that floored him as quickly as before.
”Bedad, Tom, ye had him there!” cried Mick, dancing round me in ecstasy, while 'Ugly's' second was picking him up. ”Jist giv' him a onener in his bread-basket, me jewel, an' ye'll finish him!”
This was not so easy a matter, however, as my chum supposed; Moses Reeks being of that bulldog nature, as his looks testified, that would not give in until thoroughly licked.
”Steady there,” cautioned his second, trying his best to prevent him from continuing his foolish mode of plunging attack; but the pig-headed chap would persist in continually rus.h.i.+ng in on my guard, and getting knocked down as regularly, time after time, without his having a chance of landing a blow at me, his fists ever whirling about aimlessly, and being easily avoided by myself. ”Keep yer bloomin' dukes out straight in front of yer, silly! 'It 'im in the heye, I tell yer! Wy, yer lettin' 'im 'ave hit hall 'is own way!”
”Blatheration!” cried Mick, my champion, quite as energetically, in counter encouragement to me. ”Go for him, Tom; go straight for him agin! Faith, me jewel, you'll lave him soon so as how his blessed own mother, bad cess to her, wouldn't know him, sure as me name now's Mick Donovan!”
Urged on in this fas.h.i.+on on either side, we went at it hammer and tongs, 'Ugly' getting more cautious from his repeated familiarity with the deck planking, and fighting more scientifically after the first two or three rounds.
The consequence of this was that he got in one or two nasty blows with his sledge-hammer fists on the side of my head, which made my ears ache, besides giving me a fine black eye on the port side.
He could not manage to land me a facer, however, straight out, try all that he could; and presently, on my feeling particularly 'riled' by a backhanded clout he succeeded in landing on my cheek, I drew out my left, and, driving it home forwards with all my strength, let him have it straight on the nose.
”Faith, ye tapped his claret for him that time, mabouchal; it's stramin'
out all over the d.i.c.k.”
Hardly had my chum made this observation, so highly expressive of his unconcealed delight, ere 'Ugly,' wiping away the blood from his face with the sleeve of his jumper, and clutching hold of the lanyard round his neck, to the end of which his knife was attached, made a spring at me from the knee of his second, where he had sat dazed for half a moment, giving vent to a cry that was more like the howl of a wild animal than anything else.
I put up my hands mechanically, though I had hardly then imagined he would have come so soon at me again; intending, however, more to guard his attack than hit him any blow, for I really thought he had received quite enough punishment already.
But he beat down my guard as easily as if my arms really had been made of pipeclay, and then I felt a stinging sensation through one of these and my left side, just as if I had run foul of a jelly-fish when swimming off the 'Hot Walls,' as I have done sometimes when bathing.
”Begorrah, the thafe's stabbed ye!” exclaimed Mick, putting his arms round me as I fell back. ”Whare now is ye hoort, Tom, alannah?”
”Oh, it's nothing,” I said with a laugh, as soon as I got back my breath, which had been knocked out of me by the rush 'Ugly' made, the knife having only grazed my ribs, while it had given an ugly gash to my arm; though, probably, had I not guarded the blow, the sharp weapon with which my antagonist had only been supplied, like the rest of us, that very morning, would as likely as not have 'settled my hash,' as father used to say. ”Pray don't make a fuss of it, Mick, or any of you fellows. It will all rub off when it's dry!”
Larrikins and the other first-cla.s.s boy had meanwhile collared 'Ugly'
and taken the knife from him, to prevent his doing any further mischief with it; and, as fighting was prohibited on board, and they might possibly have been brought up on the quarter-deck as accomplices, should the affair get wind and come to the notice of the s.h.i.+p's police, the two, who no doubt were old and tried hands at the game, thought it best to take my advice and 'keep the matter dark,' as they said.
”I doesn't like that yere knifin', though,” said Master Larrikins, when Mick had bound up my arm with his handkerchief, taking it off his neck for the purpose; and we had all turned to sneak below out of observation before 'quarters' should be sounded and the fellows come tumbling up from dinner, 'Ugly' concealing his battered face by dragging down his cap over his eyes, and pulling up his collar as if he had toothache, which no doubt was not very far from the truth. ”Don't yer try on that yere bloomin' game agin, you Reeks, I tell yer, my joker, or else yer 'ad better git yer coffin ready afore yer comes aboard this s.h.i.+p. Lor'!
W'y, if the 'Jaunty' or 'Jimmy the One' knowed it, yer'd be strung up at the yard-arm this very minnit!”
The incident, however, pa.s.sed off without notice from the authorities; although the news of our encounter, with its almost tragic finale, got about amongst the boys, most of the well-conducted of whom gave 'Ugly' a wide berth in consequence, the poor beggar being shunned thenceforth by all but the ne'er-do-wells of the s.h.i.+p, that is, until the circ.u.mstance became gradually buried in the past through the pressure of more prominent events.