Part 43 (2/2)

THE LUGGER AGAIN.

A Post-Chaise which had conveyed Harry and the general to Portsmouth drove up to the ”George,” just as Captain Headland, who was living there, returned from a visit to his s.h.i.+p.

The old general, thinking that Harry would benefit by his society, had insisted on accompanying him, declaring that he had promised Lady Castleton to see him safe on board his frigate.

Sir Ralph, suspecting perhaps that Harry might take it into his head to run off with May, had encouraged the general in doing as he had offered, little aware that there was no risk of such an occurrence happening, while the general took good care to show that he had not come as a spy on his actions. Harry, indeed, was too generous to suspect him of such a proceeding.

The general having shaken hands with Headland, went into the hotel, as he said, to order rooms, leaving the two friends alone. He guessed that the captain would have enquiries to make about Julia. They joined him before long in the sitting-room he had engaged, and Headland thanked him heartily for the invitation which Harry had just delivered.

The general had ordered dinner, and insisted on the two young officers being his guests for the day.

”You shall give me a return dinner on board the _Thisbe_,” he observed.

The dinner was the best the hotel could supply, and the wines were good, the general keeping his guests well amused.

”By-the-bye, I daresay you two young men would rather sail together than cruise in different s.h.i.+ps, and as I have a modic.u.m of interest in high quarters, though I do not boast of much, if you wish, Captain Headland, to apply for Harry, it is possible that I may induce the Lords Commissioners to grant your request, unless Harry would prefer remaining as he is.”

Both Headland and Harry begged the general would do as he proposed.

”Well, do you write the official letter, and I will support it,” said the general, ”and if necessary I will run up to town and see my official friends. Harry will get a longer spell on sh.o.r.e to recover from the hurts he received from those rascally highwaymen. I cannot compliment the police of your county for not catching them though. I always felt when riding about, the unpleasant possibility of having a bullet sent through my head.”

Harry said the search for them was not over, however, and that Mr Grooc.o.c.k especially was taking every means in his power to discover them, though, for his part, as they had failed in their attempt, unless to prevent their attacking anyone else, he had no wish to have them brought to justice, as it might compel him to remain on sh.o.r.e as a witness.

Little was the general aware when he made this offer that Sir Ralph had expressly got the young men appointed to different s.h.i.+ps, and had taken care that Headland's should be destined for a foreign station. How far, had he known this, he would have ventured to counteract the baronet's arrangements it is difficult to say.

The next morning Harry joined the _Aurora_. The same day he paid Headland a visit on board the _Thisbe_, which had just come out of dock and been brought alongside the hulk. She was a remarkably fine corvette of eighteen guns, just such a craft as a young officer would be proud to command, and, from her build, both he and Headland thought she would prove very fast.

Within a week Harry found himself superseded, and appointed first lieutenant of the _Thisbe_.

Orders came down the next day to hurry on with her equipment, and Portsmouth was again alive with preparations for war.

Lord Whitworth's final interview with Napoleon had taken place. The First Consul had stormed, and threatened, and insulted the English amba.s.sador. All doubts as to his intentions vanished. The whole of England was aroused, for her sh.o.r.es were threatened with invasion. The militia were called out, and volunteers rapidly enrolled. A few months later, the great minister of England, his tall, gaunt figure dressed in regimental scarlet, might have been seen in his character of Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, at the head of 3000 volunteers, drilling them as he best could. Not only he, however, but every Lord-lieutenant of England and Scotland was endeavouring to prepare his countrymen to drive the invaders from their sacred sh.o.r.es back into the Channel should they audaciously venture to cross it. In a short time, nearly 400,000 men, providing their own clothing, receiving no pay, and enjoying no privileges, sprang up at a word--a n.o.ble congregation of citizens, united as one individual soul, ready to fight to the death as long as a Frenchman remained in arms on their native soil.

As soon as war was declared, the general bade his naval friends farewell. ”Though laid on the shelf so far as foreign service was concerned,” he observed, ”it would be found, he hoped, that there was still some life left in him for duty at home.”

The _Thisbe_ was rapidly got ready for sea. Though any men who had sailed with Captain Headland were willing to join her, there was great difficulty in procuring hands, and he knew too well the importance of having an efficient crew, to take any but the best men.

The _Thisbe_ at length sailed with sealed orders, though still short handed. Unless she could obtain the remainder of her crew by taking them out of any homeward-bound vessels or fis.h.i.+ng-boats, she was to put into Plymouth to make up her complement. She was to avoid, however, touching anywhere, and to proceed, if possible, with all despatch on her voyage southward. She lost sight of the Needles just as the sun sank into the ocean. A light breeze to the northward filling her sails, she made some progress during the night, but as morning approached, a thick fog came on, and she lay almost becalmed on the gla.s.s like sea. It was Harry's morning watch. Look-outs were stationed aloft to catch the first glimpse of any sail which might be near, though their hulls and lower rigging would be hidden by the mist. It was a time when vigilance was doubly necessary, for it was possible that an enemy's cruiser might have ventured thus far towards the English coast in the hopes of capturing any homeward-bound merchantmen in ignorance of the war.

At length dawn broke, and the mist a.s.sumed that silvery hue which showed that the sun was about once more to rise above the horizon. All hands were on deck, employed in the morning duties of a man-of-war's crew.

The sails which had hitherto hung down against the masts gave several loud flaps, then gradually bulged out, and the s.h.i.+p obtaining steerage way, once more glided slowly onwards.

Harry sent a mids.h.i.+pman forward to see that the look-outs had their eyes open.

Suddenly the fog lifted.

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