Part 26 (1/2)
A short time later the admiral himself came down and shook hands with the boy, and thanked him for his services, and cheered him up by telling him that he would take care that his presence of mind and courage should be known.
For some days Harry lay between life and death, but by the time that the s.h.i.+p sailed into Portsmouth harbor the doctors had considerable hope that he would pull round. He was carried at once to the Naval Hospital, and a few hours later Peter Langley was by his bedside. His captain frequently came to see him, and upon one occasion came while his foster-father was sitting by his bedside.
”Ah, Peter, is it you?” he said. ”Your son told me that you had served his majesty; but I didn't recognize the name as that of my old boatswain on board the _Cleopatra_.”
”I am glad to see your honor,” Peter said; ”but I wish it had been on any other occasion. However, I think that the lad will not slip his wind this time; but he's fretting that his career on blue water is at an end.”
”It is sad that it should be so,” Captain Ball said; ”but there are many men who may live to a good age and will have done less for their country than this lad in the short time he was at sea. First, he prevented the dispatch, which would have warned the enemy of what was coming, from reaching them; and, in the second place, his sharpness and readiness saved no small portion of Admiral Nelson's fleet, and converted what threatened to be a defeat into a victory. You must be proud of your son, old salt.”
”Has not the boy told you, sir, that he's not my son?” the boatswain said.
”No, indeed!” Captain Ball exclaimed, surprised; ”on the contrary, he spoke of you as his father.”
In a few words Peter Langley related the circ.u.mstances of the finding of Harry when a baby. Captain Ball was silent for a while, and then said, ”Do you know, Peter, that I have been greatly struck by the resemblance of that lad to an old friend and school-fellow of mine, a Mr. Harper? They are as like as two peas--that is, he is exactly what my friend was at his age. My friend never was married; but I remember hearing a good many years ago--I should say some fifteen years ago, which would be about in accordance with this lad's age--that he had lost a sister at sea. The s.h.i.+p she was in was supposed to have foundered, and was never heard of again. She was the wife of the captain, and was taking her first voyage with him. Of course it may be a mere coincidence; still the likeness is so strong that it would be worth while making some inquiries. Have you anything by which the child can be identified?”
”There are some trinkets, sir, of Indian workmans.h.i.+p for the most part, and a locket. I will bring them over to your honor to-morrow if you will let me.”
”Do so,” Captain Ball said; ”I am going up to London to-morrow, and shall see my friend. Don't speak to the boy about it, for it's a thousand to one against its being more than a coincidence. Still I hope sincerely for his sake that it may be so.”
The next evening Captain Ball went up by coach to London, and the following day called upon his friend, who was a rich retired East-Indian director. He told the story as Peter had told it to him.
”The dates answer,” he said; ”and, curiously, although the s.h.i.+p was lost in the West Indies, it's likely enough that the ornaments of my poor sister would have been Indian, as I was in the habit of often sending her home things from Calcutta.”
”I have them with me,” Captain Ball said, and produced the little packet which Peter had given him.
The old gentleman glanced at the ornaments, and then, taking the locket, pressed the spring. He gave a cry as he saw the portrait within it, and exclaimed, ”Yes, that's the likeness of my sister as she was when I last saw her! What an extraordinary discovery! Where is the lad of whom you have been speaking? for surely he is my nephew, the son of my sister Mary and Jack Peters.”
Captain Ball then related the story of Harry's doings from the time he had known him, and the old gentleman was greatly moved at the tale of bravery. The very next day he went down to Portsmouth with Captain Ball, and Harry, to his astonishment, found himself claimed as nephew by the friend of his captain.
When Harry was well enough to be moved he went up to London with his uncle, and a fortnight later received an official letter directing him to attend at the Board of Admiralty.
Donning his mids.h.i.+pman uniform he proceeded thither in his uncle's carriage, and walked with crutches--for his wound was not as yet sufficiently healed to allow him to wear an artificial leg--to the board-room. Here were a.s.sembled the first lord and his colleagues.
Admiral Nelson was also present, and at once greeted him kindly.
A seat was placed for him, and the first lord then addressed him. ”Mr.
Peters, Admiral Nelson has brought to our notice the clever stratagem by which, on your own initiation and without instruction, you obtained the surrender of the Danish fort, and saved the _Caesar_ at a time when she was aground and altogether overmatched. Admiral Nelson has also been good enough to say that it was the success which attended your action which suggested to him the course that he took which brought the battle to a happy termination. Thus we cannot but feel that the victory which has been won is in no small degree due to you. Moreover, we are mindful that it was your bravery and quickness which prevented the news of the intended sailing of the fleet from reaching the Continent, in which case the attack could not have been carried out.
Under such extraordinary and exceptional circ.u.mstances we feel that an extraordinary and exceptional acknowledgment is due to you. We all feel very deep regret that the loss of your leg will render you unfit for active service at sea, and has deprived his majesty of the loss of so meritorious and most promising a young officer. We are about, therefore, to take a course altogether without precedent. You will be continued on the full-pay list all your life, you will at once be promoted to the rank of lieutenant, three years hence to that of commander, and again in another three years to the rank of post captain. The board are glad to hear from Captain Ball that you are in good hands, and wish you every good fortune in life.”
Harry was so overcome with pleasure that he could only stammer a word or two of thanks, and the first lord, his colleagues, and Admiral Nelson having warmly shaken hands with him, he was taken back to the carriage, still in a state of bewilderment at the honor which had been bestowed upon him.
There is little more to tell. Having no other relations his uncle adopted him as his heir, and the only further connection that Harry had with the sea was that when he was twenty-one he possessed the fastest and best-equipped yacht which sailed out of an English port.
Later on he sat in Parliament, married, and to the end of his life declared that, after all, the luckiest point in his career was the cutting off of his leg by the last shot fired by the Danish batteries, for that, had this not happened, he should never have known who he was, would never have met the wife whom he dearly loved, and would have pa.s.sed his life as a miserable bachelor. Peter Langley, when not at sea with Harry in his yacht, lived in a snug cottage at Southsea, and had never reason to the end of his life to regret the time when he sighted the floating box from the tops of the _Alert_.
SURLY JOE.
”You wonder why I am called Surly Joe, sir? No, as you say, I hope I don't deserve the t.i.tle now; but I did once, and a name like that sticks to a man for life. Well, sir, the fish are not biting at present, and I don't mind if I tell you how I got it.”
The speaker was a boatman, a man some fifty years old, broad and weather-beaten; he had but one arm. I had been spending a month's well-earned holiday at Scarborough, and had been making the most of it, sailing or fis.h.i.+ng every day. Upon my first arrival I had gone out with the one-armed boatman, and as he was a cheery companion, and his boat, the _Grateful Mary_, was the best and fastest on the strand, I had stuck to him throughout. The boatmen at our watering-places soon learn when a visitor fixes upon a particular boat, and cease to importune him with offers of a sail; consequently it became an understood thing after a day or two that I was private property, and as soon as I was seen making my way across the wet, soppy sand, which is the one drawback to the pleasure of Scarborough, a shout would at once be raised for Surly Joe. The name seemed a singularly inappropriate one; but it was not until the very day before I was returning to town that I made any remark on the subject. By this time we had become great allies; for what with a bathe in the morning early, a sail before lunch, and a fis.h.i.+ng expedition afterwards, I had almost lived on board the _Grateful Mary_. The day had been too clear and bright for fis.h.i.+ng; the curly-headed, barefooted boy who a.s.sisted Joe had grown tired of watching us catch nothing, and had fallen asleep in the bow of the boat; and the motion, as the boat rose and fell gently on the swell, was so eminently provocative of sleep that I had nodded once or twice as I sat with my eyes fixed on my line. Then the happy idea had occurred to me to remark that I wondered why my companion was called by a nickname which seemed so singularly inappropriate. Joe's offer to tell me how he obtained it woke me at once. I refilled my pipe,--an invariable custom, I observe, with smokers when they are sitting down to listen to a story,--pa.s.sed my pouch to Joe, who followed my example; and when we had ”lighted up”