Part 23 (1/2)

”My dear lad!” the admiral exclaimed, grasping his hand, ”I gave you up for lost many months ago, and we have all mourned for you deeply. Where have you been? what have you been doing? what on earth have you done to yourself? and where did you get this extraordinary craft?”

”I have been cast away on an island some twelve hundred miles to the west.

Only three of us were saved. We built this craft between us. One of my comrades is dead, the other remains on the island, and I have sailed her back single-handed. I think this, sir, will account for my somewhat strange appearance.”

”Fully, fully, lad. Well, you must tell me all about it afterwards. Why did you not come direct in the boat to my s.h.i.+p instead of sending for me?”

”Because I was afraid of anyone else coming on board until you had sent someone you could trust to take possession of her?”

”Why, bless me!” Lord Cochrane said with a laugh, ”I should not have taken her to be as valuable as all that. She is most creditable as a specimen of the work of three s.h.i.+pwrecked men, and I should say from her appearance as I rowed up to her that she was fairly fast. She might be worth a good deal as an exhibition if you had her in the Thames, but she would not fetch many hundred dollars here; though I have no doubt that, when properly painted up and in trim, she would make an excellent little coaster.”

”It is the cargo and not the s.h.i.+p, sir, that is valuable.”

”What does it consist of?”

”It consists of gold, sir. There are five hundred thousand dollars stowed in boxes.”

The admiral looked at him in astonishment.

”Five hundred thousand dollars, Mr. Embleton! Are you in earnest?”

”Quite so, sir; the s.h.i.+p you sent me off to with twelve hands was laden with military stores and money for the payment of the Spanish troops. I was fortunate enough to get on board and capture her just before the storm burst. When she was wrecked, on an island of whose name I am ignorant, her stern, where the gold was stowed, was fortunately in only four feet of water, and we had, therefore, no difficulty in getting at the boxes and carrying them on sh.o.r.e, where we buried them until we had built this craft.”

The admiral ran down the companion into the cabin and saw the boxes lying side by side along the length of the keel.

”I congratulate you heartily,” he said to Stephen, ”this is by far the richest prize that has fallen into our hands. You did perfectly right in sending for me, for, in faith, I would not trust this treasure out of my sight on any consideration, until I handed it over to the Chilian government, after taking care to deduct the fleet's share of the prize-money. It will be welcome, I can tell you, for the pay of the fleet is terribly in arrear. The treasury is empty, and there are no means of refilling it. Properly speaking, the whole of the fleet's share of the money should go to you, but the rules of the service are arbitrary.”

The conversation had been in English, and the admiral going on deck ordered the officer, who had remained sitting in his gig, to tow the cutter alongside the flag-s.h.i.+p. The officer at once gave the necessary orders. Two of the men jumped on board and hauled up the anchor, and nothing but the presence of the admiral prevented a burst of laughter among the boat's crew as the stone came to the surface. As it was, there was a broad grin on their faces. The two men resumed their places in the boat, and the cutter was towed to the side of the flag-s.h.i.+p. Lord Cochrane ordered a whip to be sent down with slings, and himself superintended the bringing up of the boxes, whose weight in comparison to their size excited lively surprise among the sailors who brought them up to the deck. The slings were placed round them one by one, and they were hoisted to the deck of the frigate, and carried into the admiral's cabin.

After the last box had been swung up, the admiral and Stephen went up the accommodation ladder to the deck. The officers were gathered round the boxes wondering at their weight.

”What should you say they have in them, gentlemen?” Lord Cochrane asked.

”I should say that they contained specie,” the captain said, ”had it not been out of the question that so great an amount could be collected in Chili.”

”I am happy to inform you, gentlemen, that those boxes contain Spanish gold, and that they are a lawful prize captured from the enemy by a boat's crew from this s.h.i.+p, under the command of my flag-mids.h.i.+pman, Mr.

Embleton. Every man on board, therefore, in proportion to his rank, will come in for a share of prize-money, and for this you will have to thank your fellow-officer here.”

Hitherto none of them had recognized Stephen, but had been wondering who the strange figure was, that had come on board with the admiral. They still looked almost incredulous, until Stephen stepped forward and held out his hand to his special friends and addressed them by name.

”Why, is it really you, Don Estevan? We had all given you up for lost. We are glad indeed to see you again.”

The other officers all came round and heartily greeted Stephen, all asking questions together about his long absence and the wonderful prize of which the admiral had spoken.

”I will answer as many questions as I can presently,” Stephen protested; ”but, in the first place, I must have a bath, and change my clothes, and have my hair cut. Are my things still on board, and is anyone else in my cabin?”

He learned to his great satisfaction that his cabin was as he had left it.

”For weeks the admiral hoped that you would return. There was, indeed, much anxiety about the boat when we saw the storm coming on. Whether you had gained the brig before it burst, of course none of us knew. We could only hope that you had done so. The storm was a terrible one here. While some thought that the brig might have foundered at once when it struck her, it was certain that if she weathered the first blow she would have to run for it. It was one of the worst storms, people here say, that has been experienced on the coast for many years, alike in its fury and in its duration, and all agreed that she would have been blown at least a thousand miles off the land before the gale spent its force. As the wind continued in the same quarter for a long time it would have taken the brig weeks to beat back against it, but when two months pa.s.sed without your return, all concluded that you had either sunk before gaining the s.h.i.+p, or that she had gone down in the gale, or been wrecked among some of the islands into whose neighbourhood she must have been blown. However, the admiral continued to hope long after the rest of us had given you up. At the end of two months he appointed me his flag-mids.h.i.+pman to fill your place, as he especially said, until your return. This being the case, I have not s.h.i.+fted my berth, and your cabin has remained unoccupied.”

One of the officers gave orders that a tub should be at once taken to Stephen's cabin filled with water, and that the s.h.i.+p's barber should hold himself in readiness when called upon.