prepare_data.ipynb

{
 "cells": [
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 1,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [],
   "source": [
    "## prepare data\n",
    "import datasets\n",
    "import json,os,random"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 2,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [],
   "source": [
    "templates_for_qa = [\n",
    "    \"Question: {question}?\\nAnswer:\",\n",
    "    \"{question}?\",\n",
    "    \"Answer the following question:\\n\\n{question}\",\n",
    "    \"Answer this question:\\n\\n{question}?\",\n",
    "    \"Please answer this question: {question}\",\n",
    "    \"Answer the question...{question}?\",\n",
    "    \"What is the answer to this question? {question}\\n\\n\",\n",
    "    \"Can you tell me the answer to {question}?\",\n",
    "    \"Next question: {question}\\n\\n\",\n",
    "    \"Q: {question} A:\",\n",
    "    \"{question}\\nWhat is the answer?\",\n",
    "    \"Write the answer: {question}\",\n",
    "    \"{question}???\",\n",
    "]\n",
    "\n",
    "templates_for_sum = [\n",
    "    \"Write a short summary for the text\\n\\nSummary:\",\n",
    "    \"Briefly summarize this article:\\nSummary:\", \n",
    "    \"What is a shorter version of this:\\n\\nSummary:\",\n",
    "    \"Write a brief summary in a sentence or less.\", \n",
    "    \"What is a very short summary of the above text?\",\n",
    "    \"Summarize the aforementioned text in a single phrase.\",\n",
    "    \"Can you generate a short summary of the above paragraph?\",\n",
    "    \"Summarize the above articles\\n\\ntl;dr:\",\n",
    "]\n",
    "template_for_fact_checking = [\n",
    "    \"Verify the following claims with \\\"True\\\" or \\\"False\\\":\\n{question}\",\n",
    "]"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 3,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [],
   "source": [
    "total_data = []"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 4,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "9741\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## commonsense_qa\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset(\"commonsense_qa\")\n",
    "print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data['train']):\n",
    "    question = sample['question']+'\\n\\n'\n",
    "    for choice,text in zip(sample['choices']['label'],sample['choices']['text']):\n",
    "        question += choice + \". \" + text + '\\n'\n",
    "\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "    answer = sample['answerKey']\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages = [\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question},\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer},\n",
    "    ]\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"commonsense_qa_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"open_qa\",\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 5,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "3778\n",
      "{'id': 'web_questions_3777', 'messages': [{'role': 'user', 'content': 'what kind government does the us have?\\n?'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Presidential system'}], 'task_type': 'open_qa'}\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## webqa\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset('web_questions')\n",
    "print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data['train']):\n",
    "    question = sample['question']+'\\n'\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "    answer = sample['answers'][0]\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages = [\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question},\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer},\n",
    "    ]\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"web_questions_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"open_qa\",\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "print(total_data[-1])"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 6,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "20360\n",
      "{'id': 'wiki_qa_20349', 'messages': [{'role': 'user', 'content': 'Answer this question:\\n\\nwhat is section eight housing\\n?'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'It operates through several programs, the largest of which, the Housing Choice Voucher program, pays a large portion of the rents and utilities of about 2.1 million households.'}], 'task_type': 'open_qa'}\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## wikiqa\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset('wiki_qa')\n",
    "print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data['train']):\n",
    "    if sample['label'] == 0: continue\n",
    "    question = sample['question'] + '\\n'\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "    answer = sample['answer']\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages = [\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question},\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer},\n",
    "    ]\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"wiki_qa_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"open_qa\",\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "print(total_data[-1])"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 7,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "87362\n",
      "{'id': '2020338', 'question': 'Why did the U.S Invade Iraq ?', 'answer': \"A small group of politicians believed strongly that the fact that Saddam Hussien remained in power after the first Gulf War was a signal of weakness to the rest of the world, one that invited attacks and terrorism. Shortly after taking power with George Bush in 2000 and after the attack on 9/11, they were able to use the terrorist attacks to justify war with Iraq on this basis and exaggerated threats of the development of weapons of mass destruction. The military strength of the U.S. and the brutality of Saddam's regime led them to imagine that the military and political victory would be relatively easy.\", 'nbestanswers': [\"A small group of politicians believed strongly that the fact that Saddam Hussien remained in power after the first Gulf War was a signal of weakness to the rest of the world, one that invited attacks and terrorism. Shortly after taking power with George Bush in 2000 and after the attack on 9/11, they were able to use the terrorist attacks to justify war with Iraq on this basis and exaggerated threats of the development of weapons of mass destruction. The military strength of the U.S. and the brutality of Saddam's regime led them to imagine that the military and political victory would be relatively easy.\", 'Because there is a lot of oil in Iraq.', 'It is tempting to say that the US invaded Iraq because it has lots of oil, but the US is not a country in a deep economic problem that capturing other country’s oil is an actual need for survival. It is more likely that the Iraq invading Kuwait scenario would fall under that assumption.. I think that the US government has come to a conclusion that we are on the verge of a war of religions, or more likely ideologies. It would be presumptuous to try and determent a one cause to the coming war. . I think that the world wide spread of the media with its many forms (Cable, Satellite, Internet, etc.)  have pushed the Moslem regimes to the extreme, fearing that secularity and democratic influence is penetrating their country and will result in an up raising against them. One of the best way to maintain the power that you have and even gain more of it, is by hatred. When the common man is occupied hating an outside enemy, its hatred is kept out side the county and would not be directed towards the regime. . So- I believe that the US understands that the fanatic Moslem regimes have already started a war on the democratic world and now is the time to try a fight it.. . So why invade Iraq? Because it is a huge, week Moslem country that thought to be easy to defeat. . This is exactly the same reason why Afghanistan was first and Syria is next in line.', 'I think Yuval is pretty spot on. It\\'s a proving ground and a focal point for terror activity that\\'s not on American soil. And, because no one liked Saddam Hussein, no other countries (even in the Middle East) were about to rise up and join his side.. . Rabid speculation: now the Pentagon has a model that says it takes ~5 years, ~$200B and ~2,000 casualties to \"rebuild\" a dictatorship into a democracy. Who\\'s next on the list?'], 'main_category': 'News & Events'}\n",
      "{'id': 'yahoo_answers_qa_87361', 'messages': [{'role': 'user', 'content': 'Please answer this question: How can I finance investment property?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'You could try to get the owners of the property to sell to you on a lease option for say 2 years, and lets say that you pay 500 a month, with 500 down, then you would have control of the property and you could do your fix-ups or rent it out and collect the rent.( Be sure and include that in the offer that you can rent the property out) You should be able to get a 2nd mortgage to do your rehabs, (most banks would want to be in 1st position and the owner would hold the 2nd mortgage) If you have control of the property it makes thing alot easier, check out a mortgage broker they can usually find something. I currently use GMAC mortgage and they found a place that we only need 5% down on investment property. Good luck!'}], 'task_type': 'open_qa'}\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## yahoo_qa\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset('yahoo_answers_qa')\n",
    "print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "print(data['train'][0])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data['train']):\n",
    "    question = sample['question'] + '\\n'\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "    answer = sample['answer']\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages = [\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question},\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer},\n",
    "    ]\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"yahoo_answers_qa_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"open_qa\",\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "print(total_data[-1])"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 8,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "20358\n",
      "{'Question-ID': 'FreebaseQA-train-0', 'RawQuestion': \"What was Pierce Brosnan's first outing as 007?\", 'ProcessedQuestion': \"what was pierce brosnan's first outing as 007\", 'Parses': {'Parse-Id': ['FreebaseQA-train-0.P0', 'FreebaseQA-train-0.P1'], 'PotentialTopicEntityMention': ['007', 'pierce brosnan'], 'TopicEntityName': ['james bond', 'pierce brosnan'], 'TopicEntityMid': ['m.0clpml', 'm.018p4y'], 'InferentialChain': ['film.film_character.portrayed_in_films..film.performance.film', 'film.actor.film..film.performance.film'], 'Answers': [{'AnswersMid': ['m.01npcx'], 'AnswersName': [['goldeneye']]}, {'AnswersMid': ['m.01npcx'], 'AnswersName': [['goldeneye']]}]}}\n",
      "{'id': 'freebase_qa_20357', 'messages': [{'role': 'user', 'content': 'Answer the question...Zydeco is a type of music from which country?\\n?'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'united states'}], 'task_type': 'open_qa'}\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## freebase_qa\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset('freebase_qa')\n",
    "print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "print(data['train'][0])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data['train']):\n",
    "    question = sample['RawQuestion'] + '\\n'\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "    answer = sample[\"Parses\"]['Answers'][0]['AnswersName'][0][0]\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages = [\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question},\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer},\n",
    "    ]\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"freebase_qa_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"open_qa\",\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "print(total_data[-1])"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 9,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "{'id': 'ms_marco_99999', 'messages': [{'role': 'user', 'content': 'Answer the following question:\\n\\nis carbonic acid soluble\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Yes'}], 'task_type': 'open_qa'}\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## ms_marco\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset('ms_marco',\"v2.1\")\n",
    "data = list(data['train'])\n",
    "# print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "# print(data['train'][0])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data[:100_000]):\n",
    "\n",
    "    question = sample['query'].lstrip(\")\") + '\\n'\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "    answer = sample[\"answers\"][0]\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages = [\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question},\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer},\n",
    "    ]\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"ms_marco_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"open_qa\",\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "print(total_data[-1])"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 10,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "7199\n",
      "{'source': 'wikipedia', 'story': 'The Vatican Apostolic Library (), more commonly called the Vatican Library or simply the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City. Formally established in 1475, although it is much older, it is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts. It has 75,000 codices from throughout history, as well as 1.1 million printed books, which include some 8,500 incunabula. \\n\\nThe Vatican Library is a research library for history, law, philosophy, science and theology. The Vatican Library is open to anyone who can document their qualifications and research needs. Photocopies for private study of pages from books published between 1801 and 1990 can be requested in person or by mail. \\n\\nIn March 2014, the Vatican Library began an initial four-year project of digitising its collection of manuscripts, to be made available online. \\n\\nThe Vatican Secret Archives were separated from the library at the beginning of the 17th century; they contain another 150,000 items. \\n\\nScholars have traditionally divided the history of the library into five periods, Pre-Lateran, Lateran, Avignon, Pre-Vatican and Vatican. \\n\\nThe Pre-Lateran period, comprising the initial days of the library, dated from the earliest days of the Church. Only a handful of volumes survive from this period, though some are very significant.', 'questions': ['When was the Vat formally opened?', 'what is the library for?', 'for what subjects?', 'and?', 'what was started in 2014?', 'how do scholars divide the library?', 'how many?', 'what is the official name of the Vat?', 'where is it?', 'how many printed books does it contain?', 'when were the Secret Archives moved from the rest of the library?', 'how many items are in this secret collection?', 'Can anyone use this library?', 'what must be requested to view?', 'what must be requested in person or by mail?', 'of what books?', 'What is the Vat the library of?', 'How many books survived the Pre Lateran period?', 'what is the point of the project started in 2014?', 'what will this allow?'], 'answers': {'input_text': ['It was formally established in 1475', 'research', 'history, and law', 'philosophy, science and theology', 'a  project', 'into periods', 'five', 'The Vatican Apostolic Library', 'in Vatican City', '1.1 million', 'at the beginning of the 17th century;', '150,000', 'anyone who can document their qualifications and research needs.', 'unknown', 'Photocopies', 'only books published between 1801 and 1990', 'the Holy See', 'a handful of volumes', 'digitising manuscripts', 'them to be viewed online.'], 'answer_start': [151, 454, 457, 457, 769, 1048, 1048, 4, 94, 328, 917, 915, 546, -1, 643, 644, 78, 1192, 785, 868], 'answer_end': [179, 494, 511, 545, 879, 1127, 1128, 94, 150, 412, 1009, 1046, 643, -1, 764, 724, 125, 1384, 881, 910]}}\n",
      "{'id': 'coqa_13', 'messages': [{'role': 'user', 'content': 'Who was in charge of FIFA?\\n???'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Sepp Blatter'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'What position was he?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'president'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'Who won 7 to 3?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Real Madrid'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'Who began as a home player at Bernabeu?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Gareth Bale'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'How many times did he score?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'unknown'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'How many times did he appear for Madrid?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Seven'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'Who coached Real Madrid?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Carlo Ancelotti'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'Was Bale 25 years old?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'No'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'How old was he?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': '24'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'Who was a sub?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Xabi Alonso'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'Was it his first game this year?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Yes'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'What position did the team reach?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'third'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'Who was ahead of them?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Barca.'}, {'role': 'user', 'content': 'By how much?\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'six points'}], 'task_type': 'close_qa', 'background': '(CNN) -- Cristiano Ronaldo provided the perfect riposte to FIFA president Sepp Blatter after scoring a hat-trick as Real Madrid beat Sevilla 7-3 on a night when Gareth Bale grabbed his first goals at the Bernabeu. \\n\\nDays after Blatter had made a bizarre impersonation of the Portuguese while saying the star spent \"a lot of money at the hairdressers\", the 28-year-old scored his third career hat-trick against Sevilla to go top of the scoring charts in Spain with 11 goals. \\n\\nHe celebrated his first goal from the penalty spot with a military salute in a mocking response to Blatter\\'s description of him as a \"commander\" last week. \\n\\nThe absorbing victory also allowed Real to put Saturday\\'s defeat by Barcelona behind them, not just because of the three points but also because Bale, the most expensive footballer in history, began to repay some of his fee. \\n\\nMaking his first start as a home player at the legendary Bernabeu, the Welshman scored twice, made another two and also managed to complete his first 90 minutes in his seventh appearance for Madrid. \\n\\nDespite Bale\\'s largely anonymous display at Camp Nou, which was blamed on a lack of match practice, Real coach Carlo Ancelotti was wholly vindicated by his decision to keep faith in the 24-year-old, who curled home a fine opener before a free-kick was deflected in as he handed Real a 2-0 lead. \\n\\nOn a satisfying night for the hosts, for whom substitute Xabi Alonso made his first appearance of the season after injury, Karim Benzema also grabbed a brace as Real moved up to third in the table, six points behind Barca. '}\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## coqa\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset(\"coqa\")\n",
    "print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "print(data['train'][0])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data['train']):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    assert len(sample['answers']['input_text']) == len(sample['questions'])\n",
    "    for idx,(q,a) in enumerate(zip(sample['questions'],sample['answers']['input_text'])):\n",
    "\n",
    "        question = q + '\\n'\n",
    "        if idx == 0:\n",
    "            question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "        answer = a\n",
    "\n",
    "        messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "        messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"coqa_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"close_qa\",\n",
    "            \"background\":sample['story'],\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "print(total_data[-1])"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 11,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "77400\n",
      "{'section_id': 'nfl_2201', 'query_id': 'f16c0ee7-f131-4a8b-a6ac-4d275ea68066', 'passage': \"To start the season, the Lions traveled south to Tampa, Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Lions scored first in the first quarter with a 23-yard field goal by Jason Hanson. The Buccaneers tied it up with a 38-yard field goal by Connor Barth, then took the lead when Aqib Talib intercepted a pass from Matthew Stafford and ran it in 28 yards. The Lions responded with a 28-yard field goal. In the second quarter, Detroit took the lead with a 36-yard touchdown catch by Calvin Johnson, and later added more points when Tony Scheffler caught an 11-yard TD pass. Tampa Bay responded with a 31-yard field goal just before halftime. The second half was relatively quiet, with each team only scoring one touchdown. First, Detroit's Calvin Johnson caught a 1-yard pass in the third quarter. The game's final points came when Mike Williams of Tampa Bay caught a 5-yard pass.  The Lions won their regular season opener for the first time since 2007\", 'question': 'How many points did the buccaneers need to tie in the first?', 'answers_spans': {'spans': ['3'], 'types': ['number']}}\n",
      "{'id': 'drop_77399', 'messages': [{'role': 'user', 'content': 'Next question: Which NATO partnerships is Ireland involved in?\\n\\n\\n'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Partnership for Peace program'}], 'task_type': 'close_qa', 'background': \"Ireland tends towards independence in foreign policy; thus the country is not a member of NATO and has a longstanding policy of military neutrality. This policy has helped the Irish Defence Forces to be successful in their contributions to peace-keeping missions with the United Nations since 1960, during the Congo Crisis and subsequently in Cyprus, Lebanon and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite Irish neutrality during World War II, Ireland had more than 50,000 participants in the war through enlistment in the British armed forces. During the Cold War, Irish military policy, while ostensibly neutral, was biased towards NATO. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Seán Lemass authorised the search of Cuban and Czechoslovak aircraft passing through Shannon and passed the information to the CIA. Ireland's air facilities were used by the United States military for the delivery of military personnel involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq through Shannon Airport. The airport had previously been used for the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, as well as the First Gulf War. Since 1999, Ireland has been a member of NATO's Partnership for Peace  program and NATO's Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council , which is aimed at creating trust between NATO and other states in Europe and the former Soviet Union.\"}\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## drop\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset(\"drop\")\n",
    "print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "print(data['train'][0])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data['train']):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    question = sample['question'] + '\\n'\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "    answer = sample[\"answers_spans\"]['spans'][0]\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"drop_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"close_qa\",\n",
    "            \"background\":sample['passage'],\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "print(total_data[-1])"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 12,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stderr",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "/home/azureuser/miniconda3/envs/xrag/lib/python3.10/site-packages/datasets/load.py:1454: FutureWarning: The repository for narrativeqa contains custom code which must be executed to correctly load the dataset. You can inspect the repository content at https://hf.co/datasets/narrativeqa\n",
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      "{'document': {'id': '0029bdbe75423337b551e42bb31f9a102785376f', 'kind': 'gutenberg', 'url': 'http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21572.txt.utf-8', 'file_size': 814507, 'word_count': 173334, 'start': 'Produced by Nick', 'end': 'new eBooks .', 'summary': {'text': \" At Madeline Hall, an old mansion-house near Southampton belonging to the wealthy de Versely family, lives an elderly spinster Miss Delmar, the aunt of the earl de Versely and Captain Delmar. Miss Delmar invites Arabella Mason, the daughter of a deceased, well-liked steward to stay with her as a lower-class guest in the house. Captain Delmar is known to visit his aunt at Madeline Hall frequently, accompanied by his valet Ben Keene, who is also a private marine. Captain Delmar eventually suggests that Ben should propose to Arabella, and the two marry in secret, to the frustration of Miss Delmar and Arabella's mother. The captain is able to smooth over the situation with his aunt, even after it is discovered that Arabella was six months pregnant at the time of the marriage. She later gives birth to a boy, who takes the Captain's Christian name and Ben's surname--the titular Percival Keene.\\nThe family moves to Chatham, after Ben is ordered back with his detachment. Arabella opens up a successful shop and circulating library below her house, enlisting the help of her mother and sister, Amelia. Percival becomes well known in town from his mischievous pranks on officers and other strangers, often encouraged by his aunt Amelia. However, Percival's mother and grandmother are less fond of his disregard for manners, and insist on sending him to school after an episode in which he bites his grandmother. Percival reports to the school house of Mr. O'Gallagher, a poor Irish scholar, who rules his class with a system of severe corporal punishment. Mr. O'Gallagher routinely bullies Percival by stealing his lunch, leading Percival to seek revenge by poisoning his sandwiches with calomel. On Guy Fawkes Day the schoolteacher confiscates all the schoolboys' fireworks, for which Percival retaliates by setting off the collected fireworks while the teacher sits above them, leading to the total destruction of the schoolhouse and near death of the schoolmaster.\\nWhen Percival is a young teenager, Captain Delmar reappears and offers him a position aboard his new navy ship, the H.M. Calliope. While preparing to enter service, Percival overhears gossip of his illegitimate birth, introducing the idea that Captain Delmar may be his father. He confronts his mother about his parentage, which she at first harshly denies but later tearfully explains the truth of her affair. Early in his service in the navy, Percival is captured during a pirate raid along with others. The pirate crew is entirely black, and the captain explains that they are primarily escaped slaves from the Americas. Percival is taken in as a cabin boy, and later dyes his skin tan in the appearance of a mulatto to please the captain who doesn't approve of white skin. The pirates often seek to take over slave trading vessels, killing every white person on board. During the taking of one such vessel, Percival is able is convince the captain to spare the lives of a wealthy Dutch merchant and his young daughter, Minnie. Eventually the H.M. Calliope takes the pirate ship, and Percival--unrecognizable with his dyed skin--is taken as a prisoner, later to convince his fellow shipman of his true identity.\\nAfter his reappearance aboard the ship, Percival gains esteem among the crew and is welcomed back by the emotional Captain Delmar. His reputation continues to grow over the course of his service in conflicts with Dutch and French vessels around the island of Curacao. He also stands in for an ill Captain Delmar in a duel with a French officer, effectively saving the captain's life. At this point, the captain receives news that his older brother has died, making him the new Lord de Versely, and before returning to England he grants Perceval command of his own schooner. After another intense but successful battle with a French war ship, Percival is promoted to captain. During his service in the Navy, Percival still partakes in the merry pranks of his youth, and at one point teams up with a mulatto hotel owner in Curaรงao to convince his fellow officers they've been poisoned. He also keeps correspondence with Minnie, developing a romance with the beautiful heiress.\\nNear the end of the story, Percival guides his crew through a terrible storm in which many of the crew are killed and the ship is heavily damaged. After being saved by another English vessel, he receives a letter informing him of Lord de Versely's sudden death from heart complications and learns that he has been left all of his personal property. Percival is still disappointed that he can not take his father's name. He later journey's with his friend Bob Cross to Hamburg to reunite with Minnie, but is captured by French troops on the road and sentenced to execution for spying. During a skirmish between the French and the Cossacks, Percival and Cross are able to escape and continue on the road. At the end of the novel, Percival proposes to Minnie, and stands to inherit a great fortune through her father. He also receives a letter from the de Versely attorney letting him know he has been granted the arms and name of Delmar.\", 'tokens': ['At', 'Madeline', 'Hall', ',', 'an', 'old', 'mansion-house', 'near', 'Southampton', 'belonging', 'to', 'the', 'wealthy', 'de', 'Versely', 'family', ',', 'lives', 'an', 'elderly', 'spinster', 'Miss', 'Delmar', ',', 'the', 'aunt', 'of', 'the', 'earl', 'de', 'Versely', 'and', 'Captain', 'Delmar', '.', 'Miss', 'Delmar', 'invites', 'Arabella', 'Mason', ',', 'the', 'daughter', 'of', 'a', 'deceased', ',', 'well-liked', 'steward', 'to', 'stay', 'with', 'her', 'as', 'a', 'lower-class', 'guest', 'in', 'the', 'house', '.', 'Captain', 'Delmar', 'is', 'known', 'to', 'visit', 'his', 'aunt', 'at', 'Madeline', 'Hall', 'frequently', ',', 'accompanied', 'by', 'his', 'valet', 'Ben', 'Keene', ',', 'who', 'is', 'also', 'a', 'private', 'marine', '.', 'Captain', 'Delmar', 'eventually', 'suggests', 'that', 'Ben', 'should', 'propose', 'to', 'Arabella', ',', 'and', 'the', 'two', 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'raid', 'along', 'with', 'others', '.', 'The', 'pirate', 'crew', 'is', 'entirely', 'black', ',', 'and', 'the', 'captain', 'explains', 'that', 'they', 'are', 'primarily', 'escaped', 'slaves', 'from', 'the', 'Americas', '.', 'Percival', 'is', 'taken', 'in', 'as', 'a', 'cabin', 'boy', ',', 'and', 'later', 'dyes', 'his', 'skin', 'tan', 'in', 'the', 'appearance', 'of', 'a', 'mulatto', 'to', 'please', 'the', 'captain', 'who', 'does', \"n't\", 'approve', 'of', 'white', 'skin', '.', 'The', 'pirates', 'often', 'seek', 'to', 'take', 'over', 'slave', 'trading', 'vessels', ',', 'killing', 'every', 'white', 'person', 'on', 'board', '.', 'During', 'the', 'taking', 'of', 'one', 'such', 'vessel', ',', 'Percival', 'is', 'able', 'is', 'convince', 'the', 'captain', 'to', 'spare', 'the', 'lives', 'of', 'a', 'wealthy', 'Dutch', 'merchant', 'and', 'his', 'young', 'daughter', ',', 'Minnie', '.', 'Eventually', 'the', 'H.M.', 'Calliope', 'takes', 'the', 'pirate', 'ship', ',', 'and', 'Percival', '--', 'unrecognizable', 'with', 'his', 'dyed', 'skin', '--', 'is', 'taken', 'as', 'a', 'prisoner', ',', 'later', 'to', 'convince', 'his', 'fellow', 'shipman', 'of', 'his', 'true', 'identity', '.', 'After', 'his', 'reappearance', 'aboard', 'the', 'ship', ',', 'Percival', 'gains', 'esteem', 'among', 'the', 'crew', 'and', 'is', 'welcomed', 'back', 'by', 'the', 'emotional', 'Captain', 'Delmar', '.', 'His', 'reputation', 'continues', 'to', 'grow', 'over', 'the', 'course', 'of', 'his', 'service', 'in', 'conflicts', 'with', 'Dutch', 'and', 'French', 'vessels', 'around', 'the', 'island', 'of', 'Curacao', '.', 'He', 'also', 'stands', 'in', 'for', 'an', 'ill', 'Captain', 'Delmar', 'in', 'a', 'duel', 'with', 'a', 'French', 'officer', ',', 'effectively', 'saving', 'the', 'captain', 's', 'life', '.', 'At', 'this', 'point', ',', 'the', 'captain', 'receives', 'news', 'that', 'his', 'older', 'brother', 'has', 'died', ',', 'making', 'him', 'the', 'new', 'Lord', 'de', 'Versely', ',', 'and', 'before', 'returning', 'to', 'England', 'he', 'grants', 'Perceval', 'command', 'of', 'his', 'own', 'schooner', '.', 'After', 'another', 'intense', 'but', 'successful', 'battle', 'with', 'a', 'French', 'war', 'ship', ',', 'Percival', 'is', 'promoted', 'to', 'captain', '.', 'During', 'his', 'service', 'in', 'the', 'Navy', ',', 'Percival', 'still', 'partakes', 'in', 'the', 'merry', 'pranks', 'of', 'his', 'youth', ',', 'and', 'at', 'one', 'point', 'teams', 'up', 'with', 'a', 'mulatto', 'hotel', 'owner', 'in', 'Curaรงao', 'to', 'convince', 'his', 'fellow', 'officers', 'they', 've', 'been', 'poisoned', '.', 'He', 'also', 'keeps', 'correspondence', 'with', 'Minnie', ',', 'developing', 'a', 'romance', 'with', 'the', 'beautiful', 'heiress', '.', 'Near', 'the', 'end', 'of', 'the', 'story', ',', 'Percival', 'guides', 'his', 'crew', 'through', 'a', 'terrible', 'storm', 'in', 'which', 'many', 'of', 'the', 'crew', 'are', 'killed', 'and', 'the', 'ship', 'is', 'heavily', 'damaged', '.', 'After', 'being', 'saved', 'by', 'another', 'English', 'vessel', ',', 'he', 'receives', 'a', 'letter', 'informing', 'him', 'of', 'Lord', 'de', 'Versely', 's', 'sudden', 'death', 'from', 'heart', 'complications', 'and', 'learns', 'that', 'he', 'has', 'been', 'left', 'all', 'of', 'his', 'personal', 'property', '.', 'Percival', 'is', 'still', 'disappointed', 'that', 'he', 'can', 'not', 'take', 'his', 'father', 's', 'name', '.', 'He', 'later', 'journey', 's', 'with', 'his', 'friend', 'Bob', 'Cross', 'to', 'Hamburg', 'to', 'reunite', 'with', 'Minnie', ',', 'but', 'is', 'captured', 'by', 'French', 'troops', 'on', 'the', 'road', 'and', 'sentenced', 'to', 'execution', 'for', 'spying', '.', 'During', 'a', 'skirmish', 'between', 'the', 'French', 'and', 'the', 'Cossacks', ',', 'Percival', 'and', 'Cross', 'are', 'able', 'to', 'escape', 'and', 'continue', 'on', 'the', 'road', '.', 'At', 'the', 'end', 'of', 'the', 'novel', ',', 'Percival', 'proposes', 'to', 'Minnie', ',', 'and', 'stands', 'to', 'inherit', 'a', 'great', 'fortune', 'through', 'her', 'father', '.', 'He', 'also', 'receives', 'a', 'letter', 'from', 'the', 'de', 'Versely', 'attorney', 'letting', 'him', 'know', 'he', 'has', 'been', 'granted', 'the', 'arms', 'and', 'name', 'of', 'Delmar', '.'], 'url': 'http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percival_Keene', 'title': 'Percival Keene'}, 'text': 'ï»¿The Project Gutenberg EBook of Percival Keene, by Frederick Marryat\\n\\nThis eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with\\nalmost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or\\nre-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included\\nwith this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org\\n\\n\\nTitle: Percival Keene\\n\\nAuthor: Frederick Marryat\\n\\nRelease Date: May 22, 2007 [EBook #21572]\\n\\nLanguage: English\\n\\n\\n*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PERCIVAL KEENE ***\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nProduced by Nick Hodson of London, England\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nPercival Keene, by Captain Marryat.\\n\\n________________________________________________________________________\\n\\nCaptain Frederick Marryat was born July 10 1792, and died August 8 1848.\\nHe retired from the British navy in 1828 in order to devote himself to\\nwriting.  In the following 20 years he wrote 26 books, many of which are\\namong the very best of English literature, and some of which are still\\nin print.\\n\\nMarryat had an extraordinary gift for the invention of episodes in his\\nstories.  He says somewhere that when he sat down for the day\\'s work, he\\nnever knew what he was going to write.  He certainly was a literary\\ngenius.\\n\\n\"Percival Keene\" was published in 1842, the nineteenth book to flow from\\nMarryat\\'s pen.\\n\\nThis e-text was transcribed in 1998 by Nick Hodson, and was reformatted\\nin 2003, and again in 2005.\\n\\n________________________________________________________________________\\n\\nPERCIVAL KEENE, BY CAPTAIN FREDERICK MARRYAT.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER ONE.\\n\\nA few miles from the town of Southampton there is an old mansion-house,\\nwhich has been for centuries known as Madeline Hall, in the possession\\nof the de Versely family.  It is a handsome building, surrounded by a\\nfinely timbered park of some extent, and, what is more important, by\\nabout 12,000 acres of land, which also appertain to it.  At the period\\nin which I commence this history, there resided in this mansion an\\nelderly spinster of rank, named the Honourable Miss Delmar, sister of\\nthe late Lord de Versely and aunt to the present earl, and an Honourable\\nCaptain Delmar, who was the second son of the deceased nobleman.  This\\nproperty belonged to the Honourable Miss Delmar, and was at her entire\\ndisposal upon her decease.\\n\\nThe Honourable Captain Delmar, at the time I am speaking of, commanded a\\nfrigate employed upon what was designated channel service, which in\\nthose days implied that the captain held a seat in the House of Commons\\nand that he voted with the ministry; and further, that his vote might,\\nwhen required, be forthcoming, the frigate was never sea-going, except\\nduring the recess.  It must be admitted that H.M. ship Paragon did\\noccasionally get under weigh and remain cruising in sight of land for\\ntwo or three days, until the steward reported that the milk provided for\\nthe captain\\'s table was turning sour; upon which important information\\nthe helm was immediately put up, and the frigate, in a case of such\\nextreme distress, would drop her anchor at the nearest port under her\\nlee.  Now as the Paragon was constantly at Spithead, Captain Delmar was\\nvery attentive in visiting his aunt, who lived at Madeline Hall;\\nill-natured people asserted, because she had so fine an estate in her\\nown gift.  Certain it is, that he would remain there for weeks, which\\ngave great satisfaction to the old lady, who liked her nephew, liked\\nattention, and was even so peculiar as to like sailors.  But it must be\\nobserved that there was another person at the mansion who also liked the\\ncaptain, liked attention, and liked sailors; this was Miss Arabella\\nMason, a very pretty young woman of eighteen years of age, who\\nconstantly looked in the glass merely to ascertain if she had ever seen\\na face which she preferred to her own, and who never read any novel\\nwithout discovering that there was a remarkable likeness between the\\nheroine and her pretty self.\\n\\nMiss Arabella Mason was the eldest daughter of the steward of the old\\nLord de Versely, brother to the Honourable Miss Delmar, and was much\\nrespected by his lordship for his fidelity and his knowledge of\\nbusiness, in the transaction of which he fell, for he was felling trees,\\nand a tree fell upon him.  He left a widow and two daughters: it was\\nsaid that at his death Mrs Mason was not badly off, as her husband had\\nbeen very careful of his earnings.  Mrs Mason, however, did not\\ncorroborate this statement; on the contrary, she invariably pleaded\\npoverty; and the Honourable Miss Delmar, after Lord de Versely\\'s death--\\nwhich happened soon after that of his steward--sent both the daughters\\nto be educated at a country school, where, as everything that is taught\\nis second-rate, young ladies, of course, receive a second-rate\\neducation.  Mrs Mason was often invited by the Honourable Miss Delmar\\nto spend a month at Madeline Hall, and used to bring her eldest\\ndaughter, who had left school, with her.  Latterly, however, the\\ndaughter remained as a fixture, and Mrs Mason received but an\\noccasional invitation.  It may be inquired in what capacity Miss\\nArabella Mason remained at the Hall; she was not a servant, for her\\nposition in life was above that of a menial; neither was she received\\naltogether in the saloon, as she was of too humble a grade to mix with\\ngentry and nobility; she was, therefore, betwixt and between, a sort of\\nhumble companion in the drawing-room, a cut above the housekeeper in the\\nstill-room, a fetcher and carrier of the honourable spinster\\'s wishes, a\\nsort of link between the aristocratic old dame and her male attendants,\\ntowards whom she had a sort of old maidish aversion.  However this\\nposition might be found useful to her mistress, it must be admitted that\\nit was a most unfortunate position for a young, thoughtless, and very\\npretty girl, moreover, who was naturally very lively, very smart in\\nrepartee, and very fond of being admired.\\n\\nAs the Honourable Captain Delmar was very constant in his visits to his\\naunt, it was but natural that he should pay some little attention to her\\nhumble companion.  By degrees the intimacy increased, and at last there\\nwere reports in the servants\\' hall, that the captain and Miss Bella\\nMason had been seen together in the evergreen walk; and as the captain\\'s\\nvisits were continually repeated during the space of two years so did\\nthe scandal increase, and people became more ill-natured.  It was now\\nseen that Miss Bella had been very often found in tears, and the old\\nbutler and the older housekeeper shook their heads at each other like\\nresponsive mandarins; the only person who was ignorant of the scandal\\nafloat was the old lady spinster herself.\\n\\nI must now introduce another personage.  The Honourable Captain Delmar\\ndid not, of course, travel without his valet, and this important\\npersonage had been selected out of the marine corps which had been\\ndrafted into the frigate.  Benjamin Keene, for such was his name, was\\ncertainly endowed with several qualities which were indispensable in a\\nvalet; he was very clean in his person, very respectful in his\\ndeportment, and, after the sovereign of Great Britain, looked upon the\\nHonourable Captain Delmar as the greatest person in the world.\\nMoreover, Benjamin Keene, although only a private marine was, without\\nexception, one of the handsomest men that ever was seen and being\\nequally as well made and well drilled as he was handsome in person, he\\nwas the admiration of all the young women.  But Nature, who delights in\\na drawback, had contrived to leave him almost without brains; and\\nfurther, he was wholly uneducated--for he was too stupid to learn--his\\nfaculties were just sufficient to enable him, by constant drilling, to\\nbe perfect in the manual exercise, and mechanically to perform his\\nduties as a valet.\\n\\nBen always accompanied his master to the hall, where the former was at\\none and the same time the admiration and laughter of all the servants.\\nIt hardly need be observed, that the clever and sprightly Miss Arabella\\nMason considered Ben as one much beneath her, that is, she said so on\\nhis first arrival at Madeline hall; but, strange to say, that two years\\nafterwards, just at the time that reports had been raised that she had\\nbeen frequently discovered in tears, there was a change in her manner\\ntowards him; indeed some people insinuated that she was setting her cap\\nat the handsome marine: this idea, it is true, was ridiculed by the\\nmajority; but still the intimacy appeared rapidly to increase.  It was\\nafterwards asserted by those who find out everything after it has taken\\nplace, that Ben would never have ventured to look up to such an unequal\\nmatch had he not been prompted to it by his master, who actually\\nproposed that he should marry the girl.  That such was the fact is\\nundoubted, although they knew it not; and Ben, who considered the wish\\nof his captain as tantamount to an order, as soon as he could comprehend\\nwhat his captain required of him, stood up erect and raised his hand\\nwith a flourish to his head, in token of his obedience.  Shortly\\nafterwards, Captain Delmar again came over to Madeline Hall, accompanied\\nas usual, by Ben, and the second day after their arrival it was made\\nknown to all whom it might concern, that Miss Arabella Mason had\\nactually contracted a secret marriage with the handsome Benjamin Keene.\\n\\nOf course, the last person made acquainted with this interesting\\nintelligence was the Honourable Miss Delmar, and her nephew took upon\\nhimself to make the communication.  At first the honourable spinster\\nbridled up with indignation, wondered at the girl\\'s indelicacy, and much\\nmore at her demeaning herself by marrying a private marine.  Captain\\nDelmar replied, that it was true that Ben was only a private, but that\\nevery common soldier was a gentleman by profession.  It was true that\\nBella Mason might have done better--but she was his aunt\\'s servant, and\\nKeene was his valet, so that the disparity was not so very great.  He\\nthen intimated that he had long perceived the growing attachment; talked\\nof the danger of young people being left so much together; hinted about\\nopportunity, and descanted upon morals and propriety.  The Honourable\\nMiss Delmar was softened down by the dexterous reasoning of her nephew;\\nshe was delighted to find so much virtue extant in a sailor; and, after\\nan hour\\'s conversation, the married couple were sent for, graciously\\npardoned, and Mrs Keene, after receiving a very tedious lecture,\\nreceived a very handsome present.  But if her mistress was appeased,\\nMrs Keene\\'s mother was not.  As soon as the intelligence was received,\\nold Mrs Mason set off for Madeline Hall.  She first had a closeted\\ninterview with her daughter, and then with Captain Delmar, and as soon\\nas the latter was over, she immediately took her departure, without\\npaying her respects to the mistress of the Hall, or exchanging one word\\nwith any of the servants; this conduct gave occasion to more\\ninnuendoes--some indeed ascribed her conduct to mortification at her\\ndaughter\\'s having made so imprudent a match, but others exchanged very\\nsignificant glances.\\n\\nThree weeks after the marriage, the Parliament having been prorogued,\\nthe admiral of the port considered that he was justified in ordering the\\nfrigate out on a cruise.  Ben Keene, of course accompanied his master,\\nand it was not until three months had passed away that the frigate\\nreturned into port.  As usual, the Honourable Captain Delmar, as soon as\\nhe had paid his respects to the admiral, set off to visit his aunt,\\naccompanied by his benedict marine.  On his arrival, he found that\\neverything appeared to be in great confusion; indeed an event was\\noccurring which had astonished the whole household; the butler made a\\nprofound bow to the captain; the footmen forgot their usual smirk when\\nhe alighted.  Captain Delmar was ushered in solemn silence into the\\ndrawing-room, and his aunt, who had notice of his arrival received him\\nwith a stiff, prim air of unwonted frigidity, with her arms crossed\\nbefore her on her white muslin apron.\\n\\n\"My dear aunt,\" said Captain Delmar, as she coldly took his proffered\\nhand, \"what is the matter?\"\\n\\n\"The matter is this, nephew,\" replied the old lady--\"that marriage of\\nyour marine and Bella Mason should have taken place six months sooner\\nthan it did.  This is a wicked world, nephew; and sailors, I\\'m afraid,\\nare--\"\\n\\n\"Marines, you should say, in this instance, my dear aunt,\" replied\\nCaptain Delmar, insinuatingly.  \"I must confess that neither sailors nor\\nmarines are quite so strict as they ought to be; however, Ben has\\nmarried her.  Come, my dear aunt, allow me to plead for them, although I\\nam very much distressed that such an event should take place in your\\nhouse.  I think,\" added he, after a pause, \"I shall give Mr Keene seven\\ndozen at the gangway, for his presumption, as soon as I return on\\nboard.\"\\n\\n\"That won\\'t mend the matter, nephew,\" replied Miss Delmar.  \"I\\'ll turn\\nher out of the house as soon as she can be moved.\"\\n\\n\"And I\\'ll flog him as soon as I get him on board,\" rejoined the captain.\\n\"I will not have your feelings shocked, and your mind harassed in this\\nway, by any impropriety on the part of my followers--most infamous--\\nshameful--abominable--unpardonable,\" interjected the captain, walking\\nthe quarter-deck up and down the room.\\n\\nThe Honourable Miss Delmar continued to talk, and the honourable captain\\nto agree with her in all she said, for an hour at least.  When people\\nare allowed to give vent to their indignation without the smallest\\nopposition they soon talk it away; such was the case with the Honourable\\nMiss Delmar.  When it was first announced that Bella Keene was safely in\\nbed with a fine boy, the offended spinster turned away from the\\ncommunication with horror; when her own maid ventured to remark that it\\nwas a lovely baby, she was ordered to hold her tongue; she would not see\\nthe suffering mother, and the horrid marine was commanded to stay in the\\nkitchen, lest she should be contaminated by meeting him on the stairs;\\nbut every day softened down her indignation, and before a fortnight was\\nover the Honourable Miss Delmar had not only seen but admired the baby;\\nand at last decided upon paying a visit to the mother, who was now\\nsufficiently recovered to undergo a lecture of about two hours\\' length,\\nin which the honourable spinster commented upon her _in_decency,\\n_in_discretion, _in_considerateness, _in_correctness, _in_decorum,\\n_in_continence, and _in_delicacy; pointing out that her conduct was most\\ninexcusable, iniquitous, and most infamous.  The Honourable Miss Delmar\\nhaving had such a long innings then gave it up, because she was out of\\nbreath.  Bella, who waited patiently to make her response, and who was a\\nvery clever girl, then declared, with many tears, that she was aware\\nthat her conduct was _in_excusable, her faults had been _in_voluntary,\\nand her sorrow was _in_expressible; her _in_experience and her\\n_in_fatuation her only apology; that her _in_felicity at her mistress\\'s\\ndispleasure would _in_evitably increase her sufferings; assured her that\\nshe was not _in_corrigible, and that if her mistress would only indulge\\nher with forgiveness, as she hoped to _in_herit heaven she would never\\n_in_cur her anger by committing the same fault again.  Satisfied with\\nthis assurance, the Honourable Miss Delmar softened down, and not only\\nforgave, but actually took the child into her lap that Bella might read\\nthe Bible which she had presented her with.  Reader, the child who had\\nthis great honour conferred upon him, who actually laid in the\\nimmaculate lap, on the apron of immaculate snowy whiteness of the\\nimmaculate Honourable Miss Delmar, was no other person than the narrator\\nof this history--or, if you please it, the Hero of this Tale.\\n\\nThat my mother had so far smoothed things pretty well must be\\nacknowledged; but it was to be presumed that her husband might not be\\npleased at so unusual an occurrence, and already the sneers and\\ninnuendoes of the servants\\' hall were not wanting.  It appeared,\\nhowever, that an interview had taken place between Ben and Captain\\nDelmar shortly after my making my appearance: what occurred did not\\ntranspire, but this is certain that, upon the marine\\'s return to the\\nkitchen, one of the grooms, who ventured to banter him, received such a\\nsound thrashing from Ben that it put an end to all further joking.  As\\nBen had taken up the affair so seriously, it was presumed that if there\\nhad been anticipation of the hymeneal rites he was himself the party who\\nhad been hasty; and that now he was married, he was resolved to resent\\nany impertinent remarks upon his conduct.  At all events, the question\\nnow became one of less interest, as the scandal was of less importance;\\nand as Ben had made known his determination to resent any remarks upon\\nthe subject, not a word more was said, at all events when he was\\npresent.\\n\\nIn due time I was christened, and so completely was my mother\\nreinstalled in the good graces of her mistress, that as Captain Delmar\\nhad volunteered to stand my sponsor, the Honourable Miss Delmar gave the\\nnecessary female security; at the particular request of my mother, the\\ncaptain consented that I should bear his own Christian name, and I was\\nduly registered in the church books as Percival Keene.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWO.\\n\\nThere is no security in this world.  A dissolution of Parliament took\\nplace, and on the following election the Honourable Captain Delmar\\'s\\nconstituents, not being exactly pleased at the total indifference which\\nhe had shown to their interests, took upon themselves to elect another\\nmember in his stead, who, as Captain Delmar had previously done,\\npromised everything, and in all probability would follow the honourable\\ncaptain\\'s example by performing nothing.  The loss of his election was\\nfollowed up by the loss of his ship, his majesty\\'s government not\\nconsidering it necessary that Captain Delmar (now that he had leisure to\\nattend to his professional duties) should retain his command.  The\\nfrigate, therefore, was paid off, and recommissioned by another captain\\nwho had friends in Parliament.\\n\\nAs Ben Keene belonged to the marine corps, he could not, of course,\\nremain as valet to Captain Delmar, but was ordered, with the rest of the\\ndetachment, to the barracks at Chatham; my mother, although she was\\ndetermined that she would not live at barracks, was not sorry to leave\\nthe Hall, where she could not fail to perceive that she was, from her\\nimprudent conduct, no longer treated with the respect or cordiality to\\nwhich she had been previously accustomed.  She was most anxious to quit\\na place in which her disgrace was so well known; and Captain Delmar\\nhaving given her his advice, which coincided with her own ideas, and\\nalso a very munificent present to enable her to set up housekeeping,\\ntook his departure from the Hall.  My mother returned to her room as the\\nwheels of his carriage rattled over the gravel of the drive, and many\\nwere the bitter tears which she shed over her unconscious boy.\\n\\nThe following day the Honourable Miss Delmar sent for her; as usual,\\ncommenced with a tedious lecture, which, as before, was wound up at\\nparting with a handsome present.  The day after my mother packed up her\\ntrunks, and with me in her arms set off to Chatham, where we arrived\\nsafely, and immediately went into furnished lodgings.  My mother was a\\nclever, active woman, and the presents which she had at different times\\nreceived amounted to a considerable sum of money, over which her husband\\nhad never ventured to assert any claim.\\n\\nIndeed, I must do Ben Keene the justice to say that he had the virtue of\\nhumility.  He felt that his wife was in every way his superior and that\\nit was only under peculiar circumstances that he could have aspired to\\nher.  He was, therefore, submissive to her in everything, consenting to\\nevery proposal that was made by her, and guided by her opinion.  When,\\ntherefore, on her arrival at Chatham, she pointed out how impossible it\\nwould be for one brought up as she had been to associate with the women\\nin the barracks, and that she considered it advisable that she should\\nset up some business by which she might gain a respectable livelihood,\\nBen, although he felt that this would be a virtual separation _a mensa\\net thoro_, named no objections.  Having thus obtained the consent of her\\nhusband, who considered her so much his superior as to be infallible, my\\nmother, after much cogitation, resolved that she would embark her\\ncapital in a circulating library and stationer\\'s shop; for she argued\\nthat selling paper, pens, and sealing-wax was a commerce which would\\nsecure to her customers of the better class.  Accordingly, she hired a\\nhouse close to the barracks, with a very good-sized shop below, painting\\nand papering it very smartly; there was much taste in all her\\narrangements, and although the expenses of the outlay and the first\\nyear\\'s rent had swallowed up a considerable portion of the money she had\\nlaid by, it soon proved that she had calculated well, and her shop\\nbecame a sort of lounge for the officers, who amused themselves with her\\nsmartness and vivacity, the more so as she had a talent for repartee,\\nwhich men like to find in a very pretty woman.\\n\\nIn a short time my mother became quite the rage, and it was a mystery\\nhow so pretty and elegant a person could have become the wife of a\\nprivate marine.  It was however, ascribed to her having been captivated\\nwith the very handsome person and figure of her husband, and having\\nyielded to her feelings in a moment of infatuation.  The ladies\\npatronised her circulating library; the officers and gentlemen purchased\\nher stationery.  My mother then added gloves, perfumery, canes, and\\nlastly cigars, to her previous assortment and before she had been a year\\nin business, found that she was making money very fast, and increasing\\nher customers every day.  My mother had a great deal of tact; with the\\nother sex she was full of merriment and fond of joking, consequently a\\ngreat favourite; towards her own sex her conduct was quite the reverse;\\nshe assumed a respectful, prudish air, blended with a familiarity which\\nwas never offensive; she was, therefore, equally popular with her own\\nsex, and prospered in every sense of the word.  Had her husband been the\\nleast inclined to have asserted his rights, the position which she had\\ngained was sufficient to her reducing him to a state of subjection.  She\\nhad raised herself, unaided, far above him; he saw her continually\\nchatting and laughing with his own officers, to whom he was compelled to\\nmake a respectful salute whenever they passed by him; he could not\\nventure to address her, or even to come into the shop, when his officers\\nwere there, or it would have been considered disrespectful towards them;\\nand as he could not sleep out of barracks, all his intercourse with her\\nwas to occasionally slink down by the area, to find something better to\\neat than he could have in his own mess, or obtain from her an occasional\\nshilling to spend in beer.  Ben, the marine, found at last that somehow\\nor another, his wife had slipped out of his hands; that he was nothing\\nmore than a pensioner on her bounty a slave to her wishes, and a fetcher\\nand carrier at her command, and he resigned himself quietly to his fate,\\nas better men have done before.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THREE.\\n\\nI think that the reader will agree with me that my mother showed in her\\nconduct great strength of character.  She had been compelled to marry a\\nman whom she despised, and to whom she felt herself superior in every\\nrespect; she had done so to save her reputation.  That she had been in\\nerror is true but situation and opportunity had conspired against her;\\nand when she found out the pride and selfishness of the man to whom she\\nwas devoted, and for whom she had sacrificed so much,--when her ears\\nwere wounded by proposals from his lips that she should take such a step\\nto avoid the scandal arising from their intimacy--when at the moment\\nthat he made such a proposition, and the veil fell down and revealed the\\nheart of man in its selfishness, it is not to be wondered that, with\\nbitter tears, arising from wounded love, anger, and despair at her\\nhopeless position, she consented.  After having lost all she valued,\\nwhat did she care for the future?  It was but one sacrifice more to\\nmake, one more proof of her devotion and obedience.  But there are few\\nwomen who, like my mother, would have recovered her position to the\\nextent that she did.  Had she not shown such determination, had she\\nconsented to have accompanied her husband to the barracks, and have\\nmixed up with the other wives of the men, she would have gradually sunk\\ndown to their level; to this she could not consent.  Having once freed\\nherself from her thraldom, he immediately sunk down to his level, as she\\nrose up to a position in which, if she could not ensure more than\\ncivility and protection, she was at all events secure from insult and\\nill-treatment.\\n\\nSuch was the state of affairs when I had arrived at the important age of\\nsix years, a comic-looking, laughing urchin, petted by the officers, and\\nas fall of mischief as a tree full of monkeys.  My mother\\'s business had\\nso much increased, that, about a year previous to this date, she had\\nfound it necessary to have some one to assist her, and had decided upon\\nsending for her sister Amelia to live with her.  It was, however,\\nnecessary to obtain her mother\\'s consent.  My grandmother had never seen\\nmy mother since the interview which she had had with her at Madeline\\nHall shortly after her marriage with Ben the marine.  Latterly, however,\\nthey had corresponded; for my mother, who was too independent to seek\\nher mother when she was merely the wife of a private marine, now that\\nshe was in flourishing circumstances had first tendered the olive\\nbranch, which had been accepted, as soon as my grandmother found that\\nshe was virtually separated from her husband.  As my grandmother found\\nit rather lonely at the isolated house in which she resided, and Amelia\\ndeclared herself bored to death, it was at last agreed that my\\ngrandmother and my aunt Amelia should both come and take up their\\nresidence with my mother, and in due time they arrived.  Milly, as my\\naunt was called, was three years younger than my mother, very pretty and\\nas smart as her sister, perhaps a little more demure in her look, but\\nwith more mischief in her disposition.  My grandmother was a cross,\\nspiteful old woman; she was very large in her person, but very\\nrespectable in her appearance.  I need not say that Miss Amelia did not\\nlessen the attraction at the circulating library, which after her\\narrival was even more frequented by the officers than before.\\n\\nMy aunt Milly was very soon as fond of me as I was of mischief; indeed\\nit is not to be wondered at, for I was a type of the latter.  I soon\\nloved her better than my mother, for she encouraged me in all my tricks.\\nMy mother looked grave, and occasionally scolded me; my grandmother\\nslapped me hard and rated me continually; but reproof or correction from\\nthe two latter were of no avail; and the former, when she wished to play\\nany trick which she dared not do herself, employed me as her agent; so\\nthat I obtained the whole credit for what were her inventions, and I may\\nsafely add, underwent the whole blame and punishment; but that I cared\\nnothing for; her caresses, cakes, and sugar-plums, added to my natural\\npropensity, more than repaid me for the occasional severe rebukes of my\\nmother, and the vindictive blows I received from the long fingers of my\\nworthy grandmother.  Moreover, the officers took much notice of me, and\\nit must be admitted, that, although I positively refused to learn my\\nletters, I was a very forward child.  My great patron was a Captain\\nBridgeman, a very thin, elegantly-made man, who was continually\\nperforming feats of address and activity; occasionally I would escape\\nwith him and go down to the mess, remain at dinner, drink toasts, and,\\nstanding on the mess-table, sing two or three comic songs which he had\\ntaught me.  I sometimes returned a little merry with the bumpers, which\\nmade my mother very angry, my old grandmother to hold up her hands, and\\nlook at the ceiling through her spectacles, and my aunt Milly as merry\\nas myself.  Before I was eight years old, I had become so notorious,\\nthat any prank played in the town, any trick undiscovered, was\\ninvariably laid to my account; and many were the applications made to my\\nmother for indemnification for broken windows and other damage done, too\\noften, I grant, with good reason, but very often when I had been\\nperfectly innocent of the misdemeanour.  At last I was voted a common\\nnuisance, and every one, except my mother and my aunt Milly, declared\\nthat it was high time that I went to school.\\n\\nOne evening the whole of the family were seated at tea in the back\\nparlour.  I was sitting very quietly and demurely in a corner, a sure\\nsign that I was in mischief, and so indeed I was (for I was putting a\\nlittle gunpowder into my grandmother\\'s snuff-box, which I had purloined,\\njust that she might \"smell powder,\" as they say at sea, without danger\\nof life or limb), when the old woman addressed my mother--\\n\\n\"Bella, is that boy never going to school? it will be the ruin of him.\"\\n\\n\"What will be the ruin of him, mother?\" rejoined my aunt Milly; \"going\\nto school?\"\\n\\n\"Hold your nonsense, child: you are as bad as the boy himself,\" replied\\ngranny.  \"Boys are never ruined by education; girls sometimes are.\"\\n\\nWhether my mother thought that this was an innuendo reflecting upon any\\nportion of her own life, I cannot tell; but she replied very tartly.\\n\\n\"You\\'re none the worse for my education, mother, or you would not be\\nsitting here.\"\\n\\n\"Very true, child,\" replied granny; \"but recollect, neither would you\\nhave married a marine--a private marine, Bella, while your sister looks\\nup to the officers.  Ay,\" continued the old woman, leaving off her\\nknitting and looking at her daughter, \"and is likely to get one, too, if\\nshe plays her cards well--that Lieutenant Flat can\\'t keep out of the\\nshop.\"  (My granny having at this moment given me an opportunity to\\nreplace her snuff-box, I did not fail to profit by it; and as I\\nperceived her knitting-pin had dropped on the floor, I stuck it into the\\nskirt of her gown behind, so that whenever she looked for it, it was\\ncertain ever to be behind her.)\\n\\n\"Mr Flat is of a very respectable family, I hear say,\" continued my\\ngrandmother.\\n\\n\"And a great fool,\" interrupted my mother.  \"I hope Milly won\\'t listen\\nto him.\"\\n\\n\"He\\'s an officer,\" replied my granny, \"not a private.\"\\n\\n\"Well, mother, I prefer my private marine, for I can make him do as I\\nplease; if he\\'s a private, I\\'m commanding officer, and intend so to be\\nas long as I live.\"\\n\\n\"Well, well, Bella, let us say no more on the old score; but that boy\\nmust go to school.  Deary me, I have dropped my needle.\"\\n\\nMy grandmother rose, and turned round and round, looking for her needle,\\nwhich, strange to say, she could not find; she opened her snuff-box, and\\ntook a pinch to clear her optics.  \"Deary me, why, what\\'s the matter\\nwith my snuff? and where can that needle be?  Child, come and look for\\nthe needle; don\\'t be sticking there in that corner.\"\\n\\nI thought proper to obey the order and pretended to be very diligent in\\nmy search.  Catching aunt Milly\\'s eye, I pointed to the knitting-needle\\nsticking in the hind skirts of my grandmother\\'s gown, and then was down\\non my knees again, while my aunt held her handkerchief to her mouth to\\ncheck her laughter.\\n\\nA minute afterwards, Ben the marine first tapped gently, and then opened\\nthe door and came in; for at that late hour the officers were all at\\ndinner, and the shop empty.\\n\\n\"There are three parcels of books for you to take,\" said my mother; \"but\\nyou\\'ve plenty of time, so take down the tea-things, and get your tea in\\nthe kitchen before you go.\"\\n\\n\"You haven\\'t got a shilling, Bella, about you?  I want some \\'baccy,\"\\nsaid Ben, in his quiet way.\\n\\n\"Yes, here\\'s a shilling, Ben; but don\\'t drink too much beer,\" replied my\\nmother.\\n\\n\"Deary me, what can have become of my needle?\" exclaimed my grandmother,\\nturning round.\\n\\n\"Here it is, ma\\'am,\" said Ben, who perceived it sticking in her skirt.\\n\"That\\'s Percival\\'s work, I\\'ll answer for it.\"\\n\\nMy granny received the needle from Ben, and then turned to me: \"You\\ngood-for-nothing boy; so you put the needle there, did you? pretending\\nto look for it all the while; you shall go to school, sir, that you\\nshall.\"\\n\\n\"You said a needle, granny; I was looking for a needle: you didn\\'t say\\nyour knitting-pin; I could have told you where that was.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, yes, those who hide can find; to school you go, or I\\'ll not stay\\nin the house.\"\\n\\nBen took the tea-tray out of the room.  He had been well drilled in and\\nout of barracks.\\n\\n\"I\\'ll go down in the kitchen to father,\" cried I, for I was tired of\\nsitting still.\\n\\n\"No, you won\\'t, sir,\" said my mother, \"you naughty boy; the kitchen is\\nnot the place for you, and if ever I hear of you smoking a pipe again--\"\\n\\n\"Captain Bridgeman smokes,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Yes, sir, he smokes cigars; but a child like you must not smoke a\\npipe.\"\\n\\n\"And now come here, sir,\" said my granny, who had the lid of her\\nsnuff-box off, and held it open in her hand; \"what have you been doing\\nwith my snuff?\"\\n\\n\"Why, granny, have I had your snuff-box the whole day?\"\\n\\n\"How should I know?--a boy like you, with every finger a fish-hook; I do\\nbelieve you have; I only wish I could find you out.  I had fresh snuff\\nthis morning.\"\\n\\n\"Perhaps they made a mistake at the shop, mother,\" said aunt Milly;\\n\"they are very careless.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I can\\'t tell: I must have some more; I can\\'t take this.\"\\n\\n\"Throw it in the fire, granny,\" said I; \"and I\\'ll run with the box and\\nget it full again.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I suppose it\\'s the best thing I can do,\" replied the old woman,\\nwho went to the grate, and leaning over, poured the snuff out on the\\nlive coals.  The result was a loud explosion and a volume of smoke,\\nwhich burst out of the grate into her face--the dinner and lappets\\nsinged, her spectacles lifted from her nose, and her face as black as a\\nsweep\\'s.  The old woman screamed, and threw herself back; in so doing,\\nshe fell over the chair upon which she had been sitting, and, somehow or\\nanother, tripped me up, and lay with all her weight upon me.  I had been\\njust attempting to make my escape during the confusion--for my mother\\nand Milly were equally frightened--when I found myself completely\\nsmothered by the weight of my now almost senseless granny, and, as I\\nhave before mentioned, she was a very corpulent woman.  Had I been in\\nany other position I should not have suffered so much; but I had\\nunfortunately fallen flat on my back, and was now lying with my face\\nupwards, pressed upon by the broadest part of the old woman\\'s body; my\\nnose was flattened, and my breath completely stopped.  How long my\\ngranny might have remained there groaning I cannot tell; probably, as I\\nwas somewhat a spoiled child before this, it might have ended in her\\ncompletely finishing me; but she was roused up from her state of half\\nsyncope by a vigorous attack from my teeth, which, in the agony of\\nsuffocation, I used with preternatural force of jaw from one so young.\\nI bit right through everything she had on, and as my senses were fast\\ndeparting, my teeth actually met with my convulsive efforts.  My granny,\\nroused by the extreme pain, rolled over on her side, and then it was\\nthat my mother and aunt, who supposed that I had made my escape from the\\nroom, discovered me lifeless, and black in the face.  They ran to me,\\nbut I still held on with my teeth, nor could I be separated from my now\\nscreaming relative, until the admission of fresh air, and a plentiful\\nsprinkling of cold water brought me to my senses, when I was laid on the\\nsofa utterly exhausted.  It certainly was a narrow escape, and it may be\\nsaid that the \"biter was nearly bit.\"  As for my granny, she recovered\\nher fright and her legs, but she did not recover her temper; she could\\nnot sit down without a pillow on the chair for many days, and, although\\nlittle was said to me in consequence of the danger I had incurred, yet\\nthere was an evident abhorrence of me on the part of the old woman, a\\nquiet manner about my mother, and a want of her usual hilarity on the\\npart of my aunt, which were to me a foreboding of something unpleasant.\\nA few days brought to light what was the result of various whisperings\\nand consultations.  It was on a fine Monday morning, that Ben made his\\nappearance at an unusually early hour; my cap was put on my head, my\\ncloak over my shoulders; Ben took me by the hand, having a covered\\nbasket in the other, and I was led away like a lamb to the butcher.  As\\nI went out there was a tear in the eyes of my aunt Milly, a melancholy\\nover the countenance of my mother, and a twinkling expression of\\nsatisfaction in my grandmother\\'s eyes, which even her spectacles could\\nnot conceal from me: the fact was, my grandmother had triumphed, and I\\nwas going to school.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER FOUR.\\n\\nAs soon as I was clear of the door, I looked up into Ben\\'s face and\\nsaid, \"Father, where are we going?\"\\n\\n\"Well,\" replied he, \"I am going to take you to school.\"\\n\\n\"School!  What am I going to school for?\" replied I.\\n\\n\"For biting your grandmother, I expect, in the first place, and to get a\\nlittle learning, and a good deal of flogging, if what they say is true!\\nI never was at school myself.\"\\n\\n\"What do you learn, and why are you flogged?\"\\n\\n\"You learn to read, and to write, and to count; I can\\'t do either--\\nmore\\'s the pity; and you are flogged, because without flogging, little\\nboys can\\'t learn anything.\"\\n\\nThis was not a very satisfactory explanation.  I made no further\\ninquiries, and we continued our way in silence until we arrived at the\\nschool door; there was a terrible buzz inside.  Ben tapped, the door\\nopened, and a volume of hot air burst forth, all the fresh air having\\nbeen consumed in repeating the fresh lessons for the day.  Ben walked up\\nbetween the forms, and introduced me to the schoolmaster, whose name was\\nMr Thadeus O\\'Gallagher, a poor scholar from Ireland, who had set up an\\nestablishment at half-a-guinea a quarter for day scholars; he was\\nreckoned a very severe master, and the children were kept in better\\norder in his school than in any other establishment of the kind in the\\ntown; and I presume that my granny had made inquiries to that effect, as\\nthere were one or two schools of the same kind much nearer to my\\nmother\\'s house.  Ben, who probably had a great respect for learning, in\\nconsequence of his having none himself, gave a military salute to Mr\\nO\\'Gallagher, saying, with his hand still to his hat, \"A new boy, sir,\\ncome to school.\"\\n\\n\"Oh, by the powers! don\\'t I know him?\" cried Mr O\\'Gallagher; \"it\\'s the\\nyoung gentleman who bit a hole in his grandmother; Master Keene, as they\\ncall him.  Keen teeth, at all events.  Lave him with me; and that\\'s his\\ndinner in the basket I presume; lave that too.  He\\'ll soon be a good\\nboy, or it will end in a blow-up.\"\\n\\nBen put down the basket, turned on his heel, and left the schoolroom,\\nand me standing by the throne of my future pedagogue--I say throne,\\nbecause he had not a desk, as schoolmasters generally have, but a sort\\nof square dais, about eighteen inches high, on which was placed another\\noblong superstructure of the same height, serving him for a seat; both\\nparts were covered with some patched and torn old drugget, and upon\\nsubsequent examination I found them to consist of three old claret cases\\nwithout covers, which he had probably picked up very cheap; two of them\\nturned upside down, so as to form the lower square, and the third placed\\nin the same way upside down, upon the two lower.  Mr O\\'Gallagher sat in\\ngreat dignity upon the upper one, with his feet on the lower, being thus\\nsufficiently raised upon an eminence to command a view of the whole of\\nhis pupils in every part of the school.  He was not a tall man, but very\\nsquare built, with carroty hair and very bushy red whiskers; to me he\\nappeared a most formidable person, especially when he opened his large\\nmouth and displayed his teeth, when I was reminded of the sign of the\\nRed Lion close to my mother\\'s house.  I certainly never had been before\\nso much awed during my short existence as I was with the appearance of\\nmy pedagogue, who sat before me somewhat in the fashion of a Roman\\ntribune, holding in his hand a short round ruler, as if it were his\\ntruncheon of authority.  I had not been a minute in the school before I\\nobserved him to raise his arm; away went the ruler whizzing through the\\nair, until it hit the skull of the lad for whom it was intended at the\\nother end of the schoolroom.  The boy, who had been talking to his\\nneighbour, rubbed his poll, and whined.\\n\\n\"Why don\\'t you bring back my ruler, you spalpeen?\" said Mr O\\'Gallagher.\\n\"Be quick, Johnny Target, or it will end in a blow-up.\"\\n\\nThe boy, who was not a little confused with the blow, sufficiently\\nrecovered his senses to obey the order, and whimpering as he came up,\\nreturned the ruler to the hands of Mr O\\'Gallagher.\\n\\n\"That tongue of yours will get you into more trouble than it will\\nbusiness, I expect, Johnny Target; it\\'s an unruly member, and requires a\\nconstant ruler over it.\"  Johnny Target rubbed his head and said\\nnothing.\\n\\n\"Master Keene,\" said he, after a short pause, \"did you see what a\\ntundering tump on the head that boy got just now, and do you know what\\nit was for?\"\\n\\n\"No,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Where\\'s your manners, you animal?  No `If you plase.\\'  For the future,\\nyou must not forget to say, `No, sir,\\' or, `No, Mr O\\'Gallagher.\\'  D\\'ye\\nmind me--now say yes--what?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, what!\"\\n\\n\"Yes, what! you little ignoramus; say `yes, Mr O\\'Gallagher,\\' and\\nrecollect, as the parish clerk says, `this is the last time of asking.\\'\"\\n\\n\"Yes, Mr O\\'Gallagher.\"\\n\\n\"Ah! now you see, there\\'s nothing like coming to school--you\\'ve learn\\'t\\nmanners already; and now, to go back again, as to why Johnny Target had\\nthe rap on the head, which brought tears into his eyes?  I\\'ll just tell\\nyou, it was for talking; you see, the first thing for a boy to learn, is\\nto hold his tongue, and that shall be your lesson for the day; you\\'ll\\njust sit down there and if you say one word during the whole time you\\nare in the school, it will end in a blow-up; that means, on the present\\noccasion, that I\\'ll skin you alive as they do the eels, which being\\nrather keen work, will just suit your constitution.\"  I had wit enough\\nto feel assured that Mr O\\'Gallagher was not to be trifled with, so I\\ntook my seat, and amused myself with listening to the various lessons\\nwhich the boys came up to say, and the divers punishments inflicted--few\\nescaped.  At last, the hour of recreation and dinner arrived, the boys\\nwere dismissed, each seized his basket, containing his provisions, or\\nran home to get his meal with his parents: I found myself sitting in the\\nschool-room _tete-a-tete_ with Mr O\\'Gallagher, and feeling very well\\ninclined for my dinner I cast a wistful eye at my basket, but I said\\nnothing; Mr O\\'Gallagher, who appeared to have been in thought, at last\\nsaid--\\n\\n\"Mr Keene, you may now go out of school, and scream till you\\'re hoarse,\\njust to make up for lost time.\"\\n\\n\"May I take my dinner, sir?\" inquired I.\\n\\n\"Is it your dinner you mane?--to be sure you may; but, first, I\\'ll just\\nlook into the basket and its contents; for you see, Mr Keene, there\\'s\\nsome victuals that don\\'t agree with larning; and if you eat them, you\\'ll\\nnot be fit for your work when your play-hours are over.  What\\'s easy of\\ndigestion will do; but what\\'s bad for little boys\\' stomachs may get you\\ninto a scrape, and then it will end in a blow-up; that is, you\\'ll have a\\ntaste of the ferrule or the rod--two assistants of mine, to whom I\\'ve\\nnot yet had the pleasure of introducing you--all in good time.  If what\\nI\\'ve hear of you be true, you and they will be better acquainted afore\\nlong.\"\\n\\nMr O\\'Gallagher then examined the contents of my basket; my aunt Milly\\nhad taken care that I should be well provided: there was a large paper\\nof beef sandwiches, a piece of bread and cheese, and three or four\\nslices of seed-cake.  Mr O\\'Gallagher opened all the packages, and,\\nafter a pause, said--\\n\\n\"Now, Master Keene, d\\'ye think you would ever guess how I came by all my\\nlarning, and what I fed upon when it was pumped into me?  Then I\\'ll tell\\nyou; it was dry bread, with a little bit of cheese when I could get it,\\nand that wasn\\'t often.  Bread and cheese is the food to make a scholar\\nof ye; and mayhap one slice of the cake mayn\\'t much interfere, so take\\nthem, and run away to the play-ground as fast as you can; and, d\\'ye hear\\nme, Master Keene, recollect your grace before meat--`For what we have\\nreceived, the Lord make us truly thankful.\\'  Now, off wid you.  The rest\\nof the contents are confiscated for my sole use, and your particular\\nbenefit.\"\\n\\nMr O\\'Gallagher grinned as he finished his oration; and he looked so\\nmuch like a wild beast, that I was glad to be off as fast as I could.  I\\nturned round as I went out of the door, and perceived that the\\nsandwiches were disappearing with wonderful rapidity; but I caught his\\neye: it was like that of a tiger\\'s at his meal, and I was off at\\nredoubled speed.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER FIVE.\\n\\nAs soon as I gained the play-ground, which was, in fact, nothing more\\nthan a small piece of waste land, to which we had no more claim than any\\nother people, I sat down by a post, and commenced my dinner off what Mr\\nO\\'Gallagher had thought proper to leave me.  I was afraid of him, it is\\ntrue, for his severity to the other boys convinced me that he would have\\nlittle mercy upon me, if I dared to thwart him; but indignation soon\\nbegan to obtain the mastery over my fears and I began to consider if I\\ncould not be even with him for his barefaced robbery of my dinner; and\\nthen I reflected whether it would not be better to allow him to take my\\nfood if I found out that by so doing he treated me well; and I resolved,\\nat all events, to delay a little.  The hour of play was now over, and a\\nbell summoned us all to school; I went in with the others and took my\\nseat where Mr O\\'Gallagher had before desired me.\\n\\nAs soon as all was silent, my pedagogue beckoned me to him.\\n\\n\"Now, Mr Keene,\" said he, \"you\\'ll be so good as to lend me your ears--\\nthat is, to listen while I talk to you a little bit.  D\\'ye know how many\\nroads there are to larning?  Hold your tongue.  I ask you because I know\\nyou don\\'t know, and because I\\'m going to tell you.  There are exactly\\nthree roads: the first is the eye, my jewel; and if a lad has a sharp\\neye like yours, it\\'s a great deal that will get into his head by that\\nroad; you\\'ll know a thing when you see it again, although you mayn\\'t\\nknow your own father--that\\'s a secret only known to your mother.  The\\nsecond road to larning, young spalpeen, is the ear; and if you mind all\\npeople say, and hear all you can, you\\'ll gain a great many truths and\\njust ten times as much more in the shape of lies.  You see the wheat and\\nthe chaff will come together, and you must pick the latter out of the\\nformer at any seasonable future opportunity.  Now we come to the third\\nroad to larning, which is quite a different sort of road; because, you\\nsee, the two first give us little trouble, and we trot along almost\\nwhether we will or not: the third and grand road is the head itself,\\nwhich requires the eye and the ear to help it; and two other assistants,\\nwhich we call memory and application; so you see we have the visual,\\nthen the aural, and then the mental roads--three hard words which you\\ndon\\'t understand, and which I shan\\'t take the trouble to explain to such\\nan animal as you are; for I never throw away pearls to swine, as the\\nsaying is.  Now, then, Mr Keene, we must come to another part of our\\nhistory.  As there are three roads to larning, so there are three manes\\nor implements by which boys are stimulated to larn: the first is the\\nruler, which you saw me shy at the thick skull of Johnny Target, and you\\nsee\\'d what a rap it gave him; well, then, the second is the ferrule--a\\nthing you never heard of, perhaps; but I\\'ll show it you; here it is,\"\\ncontinued Mr O\\'Gallagher, producing a sort of flat wooden ladle with a\\nhole in the centre of it.  \"The ruler is for the head, as you have seen;\\nthe ferrule is for the hand.  You have seen me use the ruler; now I\\'ll\\nshow you what I do with the ferrule.\"\\n\\n\"You Tommy Goskin, come here, sir.\"\\n\\nTommy Goskin put down his book, and came up to his master with a good\\ndeal of doubt in his countenance.\\n\\n\"Tommy Goskin, you didn\\'t say your lesson well to-day.\"\\n\\n\"Yes I did, Mr O\\'Gallagher,\" replied Tommy, \"you said I did yourself.\"\\n\\n\"Well then, sir, you didn\\'t say it well yesterday,\" continued Mr\\nO\\'Gallagher.\\n\\n\"Yes I did, sir,\" replied the boy, whimpering.\\n\\n\"And is it you who dares to contradict me?\" cried Mr O\\'Gallagher; \"at\\nall events, you won\\'t say it well to-morrow, so hold out your right\\nhand.\"\\n\\nPoor Tommy held it out, and roared lustily at the first blow, wringing\\nhis fingers with the smart.\\n\\n\"Now your left hand, sir; fair play is a jewel; always carry the dish\\neven.\"\\n\\nTommy received a blow on his left hand, which was followed up with\\nsimilar demonstrations of suffering.\\n\\n\"There sir you may go now,\" said Mr O\\'Gallagher, \"and mind you don\\'t do\\nit again; or else there\\'ll be a blow-up.  And now Master Keene, we come\\nto the third and last, which is the birch for the tail--here it is--have\\nyou ever had a taste?\"\\n\\n\"No, sir,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Well, then, you have that pleasure to come, and come it will, I don\\'t\\ndoubt, if you and I are a few days longer acquainted.  Let me see--\"\\n\\nHere Mr O\\'Gallagher looked round the school, as if to find a culprit;\\nbut the boys, aware of what was going on, kept their eyes so attentively\\nto their books, that he could not discover one; at last he singled out a\\nfat chubby lad.\\n\\n\"Walter Puddock, come here, sir.\"\\n\\nWalter Puddock came accordingly; evidently he gave himself up for lost.\\n\\n\"Walter Puddock, I just have been telling Master Keene that you\\'re the\\nbest Latin scholar in the whole school.  Now, sir, don\\'t make me out to\\nbe a liar--do me credit,--or, by the blood of the O\\'Gallaghers, I\\'ll\\nflog ye till you\\'re as thin as a herring.  What\\'s the Latin for a cocked\\nhat, as the Roman gentlemen wore with their _togeys_?\"\\n\\nWalter Puddock hesitated a few seconds, and then, without venturing a\\nword of remonstrance, let down his trousers.\\n\\n\"See now the guilty tief, he knows what\\'s coming.  Shame upon you,\\nWalter Puddock, to disgrace your preceptor so, and make him tell a lie\\nto young Master Keene.  Where\\'s Phil Mooney?  Come along, sir, and hoist\\nWalter Puddock: it\\'s no larning that I can drive into you, Phil, but\\nit\\'s sartain sure that by your manes I drive a little into the other\\nboys.\"\\n\\nWalter Puddock, as soon as he was on the back of Phil Mooney, received a\\ndozen cuts with the rod, well laid on.  He bore it without flinching,\\nalthough the tears rolled down his cheeks.\\n\\n\"There, Walter Puddock, I told you it would end in a blow-up; go to your\\ndictionary, you dirty blackguard, and do more credit to your education\\nand superior instruction from a certain person who shall be nameless.\"\\n\\nMr O\\'Gallagher laid the rod on one side, and then continued--\\n\\n\"Now, Master Keene, I\\'ve just shown you the three roads to larning, and\\nalso the three implements to persuade little boys to larn; if you don\\'t\\ntravel very fast by the three first, why you will be followed up very\\nsmartly by the three last--a nod\\'s as good as a wink to a blind horse,\\nany day; and one thing more, you little spalpeen, mind that there\\'s more\\nmustard to the sandwiches to-morrow, or else it will end in a blow-up.\\nNow you\\'ve got the whole theory of the art of tuition, Master Keene;\\nplease the pigs, we\\'ll commence with the practice to-morrow.\"\\n\\nMy worthy pedagogue did not address me any more during that day; the\\nschool broke up at five, and I made haste home, thinking over all that\\nhad passed in the school-room.\\n\\nMy granny and mother were both anxious to know what had passed; the\\nfirst hoped that I had been flogged, the second that I had not, but I\\nrefused to communicate.  I assumed a haughty, indifferent air, for I was\\nangry with my mother, and as for my grandmother, I hated her.  Aunt\\nMilly, however, when we were alone, did not question me in vain.  I told\\nher all that had passed; she bade me be of good heart, and that I should\\nnot be ill-treated if she could help it.\\n\\nI replied, that if I were ill-treated, I would have my revenge somehow\\nor another.  I then went down to the barracks, to the rooms of Captain\\nBridgeman, and told him what had occurred.  He advised me to laugh at\\nthe ruler, the ferrule, and the rod.  He pointed out to me the necessity\\nof my going to school and learning to read and write, at the same time\\nwas very indignant at the conduct of Mr O\\'Gallagher, and told me to\\nresist in every way any injustice or tyranny, and that I should be sure\\nof his support and assistance, provided that I did pay attention to my\\nstudies.\\n\\nFortified by the advice and protection of my two great friends, I made\\nup my mind that I would learn as fast as I could, but if treated ill,\\nthat I would die a martyr, rather than yield to oppression; at all\\nevents, I would, if possible, play Mr O\\'Gallagher a trick for every\\nflogging or punishment I received; and with this laudable resolution I\\nwas soon fast asleep, too fast even to dream.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER SIX.\\n\\nWhen my aunt Milly called me in the morning, that I might be up and have\\nmy breakfast in time for school, I felt as if two years had passed over\\nmy head during the last twenty-four hours.  I had never witnessed\\ntyranny until the day before, and my blood was heated with indignation:\\nI felt myself capable of anything and everything.\\n\\nMy anger was about as great towards my mother and grandmother for having\\nsent me to such a place, as it was against Mr O\\'Gallagher.  Instead of\\ngoing up and kissing my mother, I paid no attention to either her or my\\ngrandmother, much to the mortification of the former and surprise of the\\nlatter, who said, in a very cross manner, \"Where\\'s your manners, child?\\nwhy don\\'t you say good morning?\"\\n\\n\"Because I have not been long enough at school to learn manners,\\ngranny.\"\\n\\n\"Come and kiss me before you go, my child,\" said my mother.\\n\\n\"No, mother; you have sent me to school to be beat, and I never will\\nkiss you again.\"\\n\\n\"Naughty, good-for-nothing boy!\" exclaimed my granny; \"what a bad heart\\nyou must have.\"\\n\\n\"No, that he has not,\" cried my aunt Milly.  \"Sister should have\\ninquired what sort of a school it was before she sent him.\"\\n\\n\"I made every inquiry,\" replied my granny; \"he can\\'t play tricks there.\"\\n\\n\"Won\\'t I?\" cried I, \"but I will; and not only there but here.  I\\'ll be\\neven with you all; yes, I\\'ll be even with you, granny, if I die for it.\"\\n\\n\"Why, you audacious wretch, I\\'ve great a mind to--\"\\n\\n\"I dare say you have, but recollect I can bite; you\\'d better be quiet,\\ngranny, or, as the master says, `it will end in a blow-up.\\'\"\\n\\n\"Only hear the little wretch,\" said my granny, lifting up her hands; \"I\\nshall see you hanged yet, you ungrateful child.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'m not ungrateful,\" replied I, throwing my arms round Milly\\'s neck,\\nand kissing her with fervour; \"I can love those who love me.\"\\n\\n\"Then you don\\'t love me?\" said my mother, reproachfully.\\n\\n\"I did yesterday, but I don\\'t now; but it\\'s time for me to go, aunt; is\\nmy basket ready?  I don\\'t want father to take me to school, I can do\\nwithout him, and when I don\\'t choose to go any more, I won\\'t; recollect\\nthat, mother.\"  So saying, I seized my basket and quitted the room.\\nThere was a long consultation, I found, after my departure: my mother,\\nwhen my aunt had informed her of Mr O\\'Gallagher\\'s conduct, wished to\\nremove me instantly; my grandmother insisted upon it that there was not\\na word of truth in what I had said, and threatened that if I did not\\nremain at that very school, she would leave Chatham, and take my aunt\\nwith her.  As my mother could not part with aunt Milly, the consequence\\nwas, that my grandmother gained the day.\\n\\nI arrived in good time, and took my seat near my master.  I preferred\\ndoing this, as I had had a long conversation with Captain Bridgeman who\\ntold me that although Mr O\\'Gallagher had put the ruler down as\\npunishment Number 1, the ferrule Number 2, and the birch as Number 3,\\nand of course they were considered to be worse as the number rose, that\\nhe considered it to be the very contrary, as he had had them all well\\napplied when he was at school; he ordered me, therefore, never to hold\\nout my hand to the ferrule, by which refusal I should, of course, be\\nflogged; but he assured me that the birch, especially when it is given\\noften, was a mere nothing.  Now I considered that the surest way to\\navoid the ruler was to sit close to my master, who could then have no\\npretence for sending it at my head; the fact was I had determined to\\nsave the more noble portions of my body, and leave Mr O\\'Gallagher to do\\nwhat he pleased with the other: to do him justice, he lost no time.\\n\\n\"Come here, Mr Keene,\" said he, \"where\\'s your manners? why don\\'t you\\nsay good morning to your preceptor?  Can you read at all?\"\\n\\n\"No, sir.\"\\n\\n\"D\\'ye know your letters?\"\\n\\n\"Some of them--I think I do, sir.\"\\n\\n\"Some of them--I suppose about two out of six-and-twenty.  It\\'s\\nparticular attention that\\'s been paid to your education, I perceive;\\nyou\\'ve nothing to unlearn anyhow, that\\'s something.  Now, sir, do you\\nthink that a classical scholar and a gentleman born, like me, is to\\ndemane myself by hearing you puzzle at the alphabet?  You\\'re quite\\nmistaken, Mr Keene, you must gain your first elements second-hand; so\\nwhere\\'s Thimothy Ruddel?  You, Timothy Ruddel, you\\'ll just teach this\\nyoung Master Keene his whole alphabet, and take care, at the same time,\\nthat you know your own lessons, or it will end in a blow-up; and you,\\nMaster Keene, if you have not larnt your whole alphabet perfect by\\ndinner time, why you\\'ll have a small taste of Number 2, just as a hint\\nto what\\'s coming next.  Go along, you little ignorant blackguard; and\\nyou, Timothy Ruddel, look out for a taste of Number 3, if you don\\'t larn\\nhim and yourself all at once, and at the same time.\"\\n\\nI was very well pleased with this arrangement; I had resolved to learn,\\nand I was doubly stimulated to learn now, to save poor Timothy Ruddel\\nfrom an unjust punishment.\\n\\nIn the three hours I was quite perfect, and Timothy Ruddel, who was\\ncalled up before me, was also able to say his lesson without a blunder\\nvery much to the disappointment of Mr O\\'Gallagher, who observed, \"So\\nyou\\'ve slipped through my fingers, have you, this time, Master Timothy?\\nNever mind, I\\'ll have you yet; and, moreover, there\\'s Master Keene to go\\nthrough the fiery furnace.\"  Just before dinner time I was called up;\\nwith my memory of many of the letters, and the assistance I had received\\nfrom Timothy Ruddel, I felt very confident.\\n\\n\"What letter\\'s that, sir?\" said Mr O\\'Gallagher.\\n\\n\"A B C D E.\"\\n\\n\"You little blackguard, I\\'ll dodge you; you think to escape, you?\"\\n\\n\"V, X, P, O.\"\\n\\nMuch to Mr O\\'Gallagher\\'s surprise I said them all without one mistake.\\nInstead of commendation I received abuse.  \"By all the powers,\"\\nexclaimed my pedagogue, \"but everything seems to go wrong to-day; my\\nhand has been completely idle; this will never do; didn\\'t you tell me,\\nMr Keene, that you didn\\'t know your letters?\"\\n\\n\"I said I knew some of them, sir.\"\\n\\n\"If my memory is correct, Mr Keene, you told me that you knew two out\\nof twenty-six.\"\\n\\n\"No, sir, you said that.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s just as much as to tell me, your preceptor, a classical scholar,\\nand a Milesian gentleman to boot, that I lie, for which I intend to have\\nsatisfaction, Mr Keene, I assure you.  You\\'re guilty in two counts, as\\nthey say at the Old Bailey, where you\\'ll be called up to some of these\\ndays, as sure as you stand there; one count is in telling me a lie, in\\nsaying you did not know your alphabet, when it\\'s quite clear that you\\ndid; and, secondly, in giving me the lie, by stating that I said what\\nyou said.  You thought to escape me, but you\\'re mistaken, Mr Keene; so\\nnow, if you please, we will just have a taste of Number 2.  Hould out\\nyour hand, Mr Keene: d\\'ye hear me sir? hould out your hand.\"\\n\\nBut this I positively refused to do.  \"You won\\'t, won\\'t you?  Well,\\nthen, we must increase the punishment for our contempt of court, and at\\nonce commence with Number 3, which we intended to reserve till\\nto-morrow.  Come along, Phil Mooney, there\\'s fresh mate for you to\\ncarry, and come out Number 3, here\\'s fresh ground for you to travel\\nover.\"\\n\\nPhil Mooney and the birch soon made their appearance: I was hoisted by\\nthe one and scourged by the other.\\n\\nThe first taste of the birch is anything but agreeable; I could only\\ncompare it to the dropping of molten lead.  I tried all I could to\\nprevent crying out, but it was impossible, and at last I roared like a\\nmad bull; and I was as mad as a bull, and as dangerous.  Could I have\\npicked up any weapon at the moment that I was dropped from the shoulders\\nof Phil Mooney, it would have gone hard with Mr O\\'Gallagher.  My rage\\nwas greater than my agony.  I stood when I had been landed, my chest\\nheaving, my teeth set fast, and my apparel still in disorder.  The\\nschool was dismissed, and I was left alone with the savage pedagogue,\\nwho immediately took up my basket, and began to rummage the contents.\\n\\n\"Make yourself decent, Mr Keene, and don\\'t be shocking my modesty, and\\ntaking away my appetite.  Did you mention the mustard, as I desired you?\\nUpon my faith, but you\\'re a nice boy and do justice to the\\nrepresentations of your grandmother, and when you see her you may tell\\nher that I did not forget the promise she exacted from me.  You forgot\\nall about the mustard, you little blackguard.  If Phil Mooney was here I\\nwould give you another taste to freshen your memory for to-morrow;\\nhowever, to-morrow will do as well, if the mistake\\'s not corrected.\\nHere, take your victuals, and good appetite to you, you little monster\\nof iniquity.\"\\n\\nMr O\\'Gallagher tossed me some bread but this time reserved the cheese\\nfor his own eating.  I had adjusted my dress, and I therefore left the\\nschool-room.  I could not sit down without pain, so I leant against a\\npost: the bread remained in my hand untouched; had it been the greatest\\ndelicacy in the world I could not have tasted a morsel; I was giddy from\\nexcess of feeling, my thoughts were rapidly chasing each other when I\\nheard a voice close to me; I looked round, it was Walter Puddock, who\\nhad been flogged the day before.\\n\\n\"Never mind, Keene,\" said he, kindly; \"it hurts at first, but the more\\nyou get it the less you care for it; I don\\'t mind it a bit now; I cries,\\nbecause he goes on flogging till you do, and it\\'s no use having more\\nthan you can help.\"\\n\\n\"I didn\\'t deserve it,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"That\\'s not necessary; you\\'ll get it, as we all do, whether you deserve\\nit or not.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I\\'ll try to deserve it in future,\" replied I, clenching my fist;\\n\"I\\'ll be even with him.\"\\n\\n\"Why, what can you do?\"\\n\\n\"Wait a little, and you\\'ll see,\" said I, walking away, for an idea had\\ncome into my head which I wished to follow up.\\n\\nSoon afterwards the bell rang, and we returned to the schoolroom.  I was\\nput under the tuition of another boy, and took care to learn my lesson.\\nWhether it was that he was tired with the exercise, for he flogged and\\nferruled a dozen during that afternoon, or that he thought that my\\nmorning dose had been sufficient, I received no more punishment on that\\nday.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER SEVEN.\\n\\nAs soon as school was dismissed, I went straight to the rooms of Captain\\nBridgeman, and told him how I had been treated.  As soon as he heard it,\\nhe exclaimed, \"This is really too bad; I will go with you, and I will\\nconsult with your aunt Amelia.\"\\n\\nIt so happened that aunt Milly was alone in the shop when we arrived,\\nand after a detail of what had passed, she told Captain Bridgeman that\\nmy grandmother had put me to that school out of feelings of ill-will for\\nthe tricks I had played, and had threatened that if I were removed she\\nwould leave Chatham and take her away with her.  My mother required\\nassistance in the shop, and was afraid to affront my grandmother, who\\nwas a very dictatorial, positive old woman, and would certainly keep her\\nresolution; but that rather than I should be treated in such a barbarous\\nmanner she would insist upon my mother taking me away, or would herself\\nleave the place.\\n\\n\"It would never do for you to leave us, Miss Amelia,\" replied Captain\\nBridgeman, \"there are but few attractions in this place, and we cannot\\nspare you; the whole corps would go into deep mourning.\"\\n\\n\"I don\\'t want to leave the school,\" interrupted I; \"I would not leave it\\ntill I am revenged, for all the world.  Now, I\\'ll tell you what I want\\nto do--and do it I will, if he cuts me to pieces.  He eats my\\nsandwiches, and tells me if there\\'s not more mustard to-morrow, he\\'ll\\nflog me.  He shall have plenty of mustard, but he shall have something\\nelse.  What can I put into the sandwiches, so as to half kill him?\"\\n\\n\"Not a bad idea, my little Percival,\" said Captain Bridgeman; \"I\\'ll just\\nask the doctor how much calomel a man may take without a coroner\\'s\\ninquest being required.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, that will do nicely,\" said my aunt; \"I\\'ll take care he shall have\\nmustard enough not to perceive it.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I\\'ll go to the barracks and be back directly,\" said Captain\\nBridgeman.\\n\\n\"And I\\'m ready for the flogging as soon as the sandwiches are down his\\nthroat,\" replied I, laughing, \"I don\\'t care a fig for it.\"\\n\\nCaptain Bridgeman soon returned with forty grains of calomel, which he\\ndelivered into aunt Milly\\'s hands.  \"That is as much as we dare give the\\nstrongest man without running great danger; we\\'ll try the effect of that\\nupon him, and if he don\\'t improve, I think I shall go up to the school\\nmyself and threaten him.\"\\n\\n\"As for that,\" replied aunt Milly, \"I\\'m sure that sister, if she hears\\nwhat\\'s going on, as she cannot take Percival away, will order her\\nhusband, Ben, to go up and thrash him.\"\\n\\n\"Not a bad idea, Miss Amelia, we\\'ll try that if we find it necessary; at\\nall events, we\\'ll see who can persecute most.\"\\n\\n\"Granny has told him to treat me ill,\" said I, \"that\\'s very clear, from\\nwhat he said; never mind, I\\'ll make her sorry for it.\"\\n\\n\"Oh Percival! you must not do anything to granny,\" said aunt Milly,\\nlooking very archly; \"I must not hear anything of the kind.\"\\n\\nThe next morning I set off with a full conviction that I should be\\nflogged before night, and notwithstanding that, as full of joy as if I\\nwas going to the fair.\\n\\nThe morning passed as usual; I said my lesson, but not very well; I was\\nthinking so much of my anticipated revenge, that I could not pay\\nattention to my teacher, who was, as usual, one of the boys.\\n\\n\"Master Keene,\" said Mr O\\'Gallagher, \"we\\'ll let the account stand over\\ntill the evening, and then I\\'ll give you a receipt in full; I may have\\none or two lines to add to it before the sun goes down; you\\'ll not\\nescape me this time, anyhow.\"\\n\\nThe boys went out at the dinner hour, leaving me, as before, to wait for\\nmy basket, after the tyrant had helped himself.  I stood by him in\\nsilence while he was rummaging its contents.\\n\\n\"Now, Mr Keene, I\\'ll see if you\\'ve remembered my particular injunction\\nrelative to the mustard.\"\\n\\n\"I told my aunt to put more mustard, sir,\" replied I, humbly, \"it she\\nthat cuts the sandwiches.\"\\n\\n\"Well, then, if your aunt has not complied with your request, see if I\\ndon\\'t flay you alive, you little imp of abomination.\"\\n\\nThe sandwiches were pulled out of the paper and tasted.  \"Down on your\\nknees, Mr Keene, and thank all the blessed saints that your aunt has\\nsaved you from at least one-half of what I intended to administer to you\\nthis blessed afternoon, for she has doubled the mustard, you tief,\" said\\nMr O\\'Gallagher, speaking with his mouth as full as it could hold.  Down\\nwent sandwich after sandwich, until they had all disappeared.  Oh! what\\njoy was mine!  I could have tossed up my cap and leapt in the air.\\nHaving received the bread and cheese, for he permitted me to have the\\nlatter on this occasion I went out and enjoyed my meal, delighted with\\nMr O\\'Gallagher\\'s having fallen into the trap I had laid for him.\\n\\nThe bell summoned us in, and all went on as usual for the first two\\nhours, when I thought Mr O\\'Gallagher changed countenance and looked\\nvery pale.  He continued, however, to hear the lessons, until at last I\\nperceived him pass his hand up and down and across his stomach, as if he\\nhad had a twinge; a few minutes afterwards, he compressed his thick\\nlips, and then put his hands to his abdomen.\\n\\n\"Ah! he begins to feel it now,\" thought I; and sure enough he did; for\\nthe pain increased so rapidly that he lost all patience, and vented his\\nfeelings by beating with his ruler, on the heads of the whole class of\\nboys standing up before him, till one or two dropped down, stunned with\\nthe blows.  At last he dropped the ruler, and, pressing both hands to\\nhis stomach, he rolled himself backwards and forwards, and then twisted\\nand distorted his legs till he could bear the pain no longer; and he\\ngave vent to a tremendous Irish howl--grinning and grinding his teeth\\nfor a few seconds, and then howling again, writhing and twisting in\\nevident agony--while the perspiration ran off his forehead.\\n\\n\"Och! murder!  I\\'m poisoned sure.  Lord save my sinful soul!  Oh--oh--\\noh! eh--eh--eh! mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy, mercy!  Oh holy St. Patrick!\\nI\\'m kilt entirely:\"--and so subdued was he at last by the pain, that he\\nburst out into a flood of tears, crying and roaring like a child.\\n\\nAgain the paroxysms came on--\"Murder, murder, murder!\" shrieked the\\nwretch at the highest pitch of his voice, so that he was heard at some\\ndistance, and some of the neighbours came in to inquire what was the\\nmatter.\\n\\nMr O\\'Gallagher was now in a fainting state, and leaning against the\\ntable, he could merely say in a low voice, \"A doctor--quick--a doctor.\"\\n\\nThe neighbours perceiving how ill he was, led him out of the\\nschool-rooms into his own apartment, one going for a doctor, and the\\nothers telling the boys they might all go home, a notice of which they\\ngladly availed themselves.\\n\\nI need hardly say, that I made all the haste I could to communicate the\\nsuccessful result of my trick to Milly and Captain Bridgeman.  The\\nmedical man who was summoned, gave Mr O\\'Gallagher some very active\\nmedicine, which assisted to rid him of the calomel; of his having taken\\nwhich, of course, the medical man was ignorant.  The violence of the\\ndose was, however, so great, and left him in such a state, that Mr\\nO\\'Gallagher could not leave his room for three days, nor resume his seat\\nin the school until a week had elapsed, during which I remained at home\\nplotting still further mischief.\\n\\nMr O\\'Gallagher resumed his occupations, and I was again sent off to\\nschool.  When I entered the school-room I found him looking very pale\\nand cadaverous; as soon as he saw me his lips were drawn apart, and he\\nshowed his large white teeth, reminding me of the grinning of a hyena;\\nhe did not, however, say anything to me.  My studies were resumed; I\\nsaid my lesson perfectly, but was fully prepared for punishment.  I was,\\nhowever, agreeably disappointed; he did not punish either me or any of\\nthe other boys.\\n\\nI afterwards found out the reason was, that, although necessity\\ncompelled him to re-open his school as soon as he could, he was too weak\\nto undergo the fatigue of following up his favourite diversion.\\n\\nWhen the dinner-hour arrived, and the boys were dismissed, I waited\\npatiently to see what he would do with my basket, which stood beside\\nhim.  \"Take your basket, and eat your dinner, Master Keene,\" said he,\\nwalking out of the school-room into his own apartments.  I could not\\nhelp saying, \"Won\\'t you have the sandwiches, sir?\"\\n\\nHe turned round and gave me a look so penetrating and so diabolical,\\nthat I felt sure that he knew to whom he had been indebted for his late\\nsevere illness.\\n\\nFrom this day forward Mr O\\'G never interfered with the contents of my\\nbasket and I had my dinner all to myself.  The shock which had been\\ngiven to his constitution was so great, that for three or four months he\\nmay be said to have crawled to his school room, and I really began to\\nthink that the affair would turn out more serious than was intended; but\\ngradually he regained his strength, and as he recovered his vigour, so\\ndid he resume his severity.\\n\\nBut I was a great gainer during the three or four months of quiet which\\nreigned during Mr O\\'Gallagher\\'s convalescence.  Since I have been grown\\nup, I have often thought, and am indeed confirmed in my opinion, that we\\nlose rather than gain by being educated at too early an age.  Commence\\nwith one child at three years, and with another at seven years old, and\\nin ten years, the one whose brain was left fallow even till seven years\\nold, will be quite as far, if not further advanced, than the child whose\\nintellect was prematurely forced at the earlier age; this is a fact\\nwhich I have since seen proved in many instances, and it certainly was\\ncorroborated in mine.\\n\\nIn six months I could read and write very fairly, and had commenced\\narithmetic; true, I was stimulated on by the advice of Captain\\nBridgeman, the love I bore my aunt Milly, and the hatred which I had for\\nmy master, which made me resolve that I would not deserve punishment on\\nthat score.\\n\\nIt was in May that I administered the dose to Mr O\\'Gallagher; in\\nSeptember he was quite well again, and the ruler, the ferrule, and the\\nrod, were triumphantly at work.  It is useless to say how often I was\\npunished, for it was every day; always once, sometimes twice; I became\\ncompletely callous to it, nay, laughed at it, but my mind was ever at\\nwork upon some mischief, in the way of retaliation.\\n\\nI put little pancakes of cobblers\\' wax on Mr O\\'Gallagher\\'s throne, and\\nhe had the pleasure of finding himself stuck fast by the breeches when\\nhe rose up to punish.  I anointed the handle of the ferrule and rod with\\nbird-lime; put dead cats under the claret cases, which composed his seat\\nof authority, so that the smell would drive him distracted before he\\nfound it out.  I drew up with a squirt, all the ink which was in the\\ninkstands fixed in the writing-desks, so as not to be taken out of the\\nsockets, and made good the deficiency with water, which put him to no\\nlittle expense.\\n\\nI once made him almost frantic, by rubbing his handkerchief which always\\nlaid by his side, and with which he was accustomed to wipe his face\\nevery five minutes (for he was profuse in his perspiration), with what\\nis called cow-itch: not being aware of what was the cause, he wiped his\\nface more and more, until he was as red as a peony, and the itching\\nbecame intolerable.\\n\\nOn such occasions he never inquired who was the party, but called me and\\nPhil Mooney.  I, on the other hand, never said a word in way of\\nexpostulation.  I took my flogging, which was as severe as he could give\\nit, as a matter of course, quite satisfied with the exchange.\\n\\nAs Walter Puddock had told me, and, as I have no doubt, the Eton boys\\nwill confirm, after a certain quantity of flagellations, the skin\\nbecomes so hard as to make the punishment almost a matter of\\nindifference and so I found it.  So passed the time until the month of\\nNovember, when I was fully enabled to pay off my worthy pedagogue for\\nall that I was indebted to him.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER EIGHT.\\n\\nThe boys had been saving up all their money to purchase fireworks for\\nthe celebrated 5th of November--a day on which it was said that certain\\npersons, finding it impossible to reform the Lords and Commons, had\\ndetermined to get rid of them at once: why they have not been in similar\\ndanger every year since the first attempt was made, I know not; certain\\nit is, that it is the only reform measure that can ever be effectual.\\nGuy Fawkes and his confederates, whether Popish or Protestant, from the\\ndisregard of human life, certainly proved themselves the founders of a\\nparty, still existing, whose motto is, \"Measures and not Men.\"\\n\\nBut to proceed: Mr O\\'Gallagher had never before attempted to interfere\\nwith the vested rights of urchins on that day; being, however, in a most\\nparticular irascible humour, instead of a whole, he made it known that\\nthere would only be a half, holiday, and we were consequently all called\\nin for morning lessons instead of carrying about, as we had intended,\\nthe effigy of the only true reformer that ever existed in this country.\\n\\nThis made us all very sulky and discontented in the first place, and our\\nanxiety to get out of school was so great, that the lessons were not\\nvery perfect in the second.  The ferrule and rod were called out and\\nliberally administered; but what was our horror and dismay when Mr\\nO\\'Gallagher, about an hour before dinner, announced to us that all the\\nsquibs and crackers, with which our pockets were crammed, were to be\\ngiven up immediately; and that, as we had not said our lessons well,\\nthere would be no half-holiday, the whole school were in mute despair.\\n\\nOne by one were the boys summoned up to the throne of Mr O\\'Gallagher,\\nand their pockets searched by Phil Mooney, who emptied them of their\\npyrotechnical contents, all of which were deposited on the dais of Mr\\nO\\'Gallagher\\'s throne, which, I have before observed, was composed of two\\nempty claret cases turned upside down, surmounted by another, on which\\nMr O\\'Gallagher sat, all three covered with old green baize.\\n\\nBy the time that the whole school had been rifled, the heap of fireworks\\nwas very considerable, and Mr O\\'Gallagher, to prevent any of them being\\nrecovered by the boys, lifted up the claret case on which he sat, and\\nwhich was on the top of the other two, and desired Phil Mooney to put\\nthem all underneath it.  This was done; Mr O\\'Gallagher resumed his\\nseat, and the lessons continued till the dinner hour arrived, but, alas!\\nnot the half-holiday or the fireworks.\\n\\nThe boys went out; some mournful, some angry, some sulky, some\\nfrightened; a few, a very few, declaiming against such injustice.\\n\\nI was in a rage; my blood boiled; at last my invention came to my aid,\\nand, without considering the consequences, I determined how to act.\\n\\nAs it was an hour and a half before school would commence, I hastened\\nhome, and, having spent all my money, begged aunt Milly to give me some;\\nshe gave me a shilling, and with that I bought as much gunpowder as I\\ncould procure, more than a quarter of a pound.\\n\\nI then returned to the school, looked into the school-room, and found it\\nempty; I quickly raised up the claret case, under which the fireworks\\nhad been placed, put the powder under it, leaving only sufficient for a\\nvery small train, which would not be perceived in the green baize\\ncovering; having so done, I left the school-room immediately, and\\nrejoined my companions.  I had a piece of touch-wood, as all the boys\\nhad, to let off their fireworks with, and this I lighted and left in a\\ncorner until the bell should summons us into school.\\n\\nOh! how my heart beat when I heard the sound, so full was I of anxiety\\nlest my project should fail.\\n\\nOnce more we were all assembled.  Mr O\\'Gallagher surveying, with the\\nsmile of a demon, the unhappy and disappointed faces of the boys, was\\nagain perched upon his throne, the rod on one side, the ferrule on the\\nother, and the ruler, that dreaded truncheon of command, clenched in his\\nbroad fist.\\n\\nI had the touchwood lighted and concealed in my hand; gradually I moved\\ndownwards, until at last, unperceived by Mr O\\'Gallagher, I was behind\\nhim, and close to my train of gunpowder.  I gave one look to ascertain\\nif he had observed me; his eye was roving over the school for some\\ndelinquent to throw his ruler at; fearful that he might turn round to\\nme, I no longer hesitated, and the touchwood was applied to the train.\\n\\nIgnorant as I was of the force of gunpowder, it was with astonishment,\\nmingled with horror, that I beheld, in a second, the claret case rise up\\nas if it had wings, and Mr O\\'Gallagher thrown up to the ceiling\\nenveloped in a cloud of smoke, the crackers and squibs fizzing and\\nbanging, while the boys in the school uttered a yell of consternation\\nand fear as they rushed from from the explosion, and afterwards,\\ntumbling over one another, made their escape from the school-room.\\n\\nThe windows had all been blown out with a terrible crash, and the whole\\nschool-room was now covered by the smoke.  There I stood in silent\\ndismay at the mischief which I had done.  The squibs and crackers had\\nnot, however, all finished popping, before I heard the howling of Mr\\nO\\'Gallagher, who had fallen down upon the centre school-room table.\\n\\nI was still in the school-room, half-suffocated, yet not moving away\\nfrom where I stood, when the neighbours, who had been alarmed by the\\nexplosion and the cries of the boys, rushed in, and perceiving only me\\nand Mr O\\'Gallagher, who still howled, they caught hold of us both, and\\nbore us out in their arms.  It was high time, for the school-room was\\nnow on fire, and in a few minutes more the flames burst out of the\\nwindows, while volumes of smoke forced through the door and soon\\nafterwards the roof.\\n\\nThe engines were sent for, but before they could arrive, or water be\\nprocured, the whole tenement was so enveloped in flames that it could\\nnot be saved.  In an hour, the _locale_ of our misery was reduced to\\nashes.  They had put me on my legs as soon as we got clear of the\\nschool-room, to ascertain whether I was hurt, and finding that I was\\nnot, they left me.\\n\\nI never shall forget what my sensations were, when I beheld the flames\\nand volumes of smoke bursting out; the hurry, and bustle, and confusion\\noutside; the working of the engines, the troops marched up from the\\nbarracks, the crowd of people assembled, and the ceaseless mingling of\\ntongues from every quarter; and all this is my doing, thought I--mine--\\nall mine.\\n\\nI felt delighted that I had no partner or confederate; I could, at all\\nevents, keep my own secret.  I did, however, feel some anxiety as to Mr\\nO\\'Gallagher, for, much as I detested him, I certainly had no intention\\nto kill him; so after a time, I made inquiries, and found that he was\\nalive: and in no danger, although very much bruised and somewhat burnt.\\n\\nNo one could explain how the catastrophe occurred, further than that Mr\\nO\\'Gallagher had collected all the squibs and crackers from the boys, and\\nthat they had exploded somehow or another--most people said that it\\nserved him right.  My grandmother shook her head and said, \"Yes, yes,\\ngunpowder will go off, but--\" and she looked at me--\"it requires a match\\nto be put to it.\"  I looked up very innocently, but made no reply.\\n\\nMr O\\'Gallagher\\'s favourite expression, to wit, \"that it would end in a\\nblow-up,\" proved, as far as his school was concerned, literally true.\\nHe had not the means of procuring another suitable tenement in Chatham,\\nand as soon as he had recovered from the injuries he had received, he\\nquitted the town.\\n\\nIt was not until he had left, that I ventured to make known to Captain\\nBridgeman, and my aunt Milly, the trifling share I had in the\\ntransaction; and they, perceiving the prudence of keeping my secret,\\ndesired me on no account to let it be known to any one else.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER NINE.\\n\\nAs soon as it was ascertained that Mr O\\'Gallagher was gone, my\\ngrandmother insisted upon my being sent to another school, and on this\\noccasion my mother made the inquiries herself, and I was despatched to\\none much nearer home, and being treated well, not only played fewer\\ntricks, but advanced rapidly in my education; so rapidly indeed, that my\\ngrandmother began to think that I was not so bad a boy as I used to be.\\n\\nAs she treated me more kindly, I felt less inclined to teaze her\\nalthough the spirit of mischief was as undiminished as ever, and was\\nshown in various ways.\\n\\nI may as well here observe, that out of the many admirers of my aunt\\nMilly, there were only two who appeared to be at all constant in their\\nattention.  One was Lieutenant Flat, who was positively smitten, and\\nwould have laid his pay and person at her feet, had he received anything\\nlike encouragement; but my aunt disliked him in the first place, and,\\nmoreover, had a very strong feeling towards Captain Bridgeman.\\n\\nMr Flat was certainly a very fine-looking soldier, being tall, erect,\\nand well-made, but he was at the same time not over-brilliant; he was,\\nas an officer, the very sort of person my father Ben was as a private.\\n\\nBut the other party, Captain Bridgeman, did not come forward; he\\nappeared to be in doubt, and not at all able to make up his mind.\\n\\nThe fact was, that my mother being married to a private, made any match\\nwith the sister objectionable to the whole corps, as it would be\\nderogatory that one sister should be the wife of a private, and the\\nother of an officer.  Ben would have been able to say, \"My\\nbrother-in-law, the captain of my division,\" which would never have\\ndone; and this Captain Bridgeman felt, and therefore resisted, as well\\nas he could, the inroads which my aunt\\'s beauty and mirth had made into\\nhis heart.  My aunt was exactly a person to suit Captain Bridgeman as a\\nhelpmate, had it not been for this unfortunate alliance of my mother\\'s.\\n\\nLieutenant Flat was too stupid and indifferent to the opinion of the\\nother officers, to care anything about what they thought; he would have\\nmarried Milly long before, but my aunt, who had made up her mind to\\nmarry an officer, did not yet despair of obtaining the captain; and\\nalthough she would not positively dismiss Lieutenant Flat, she merely\\nkept him as a sort of reserve, to fall back upon when every other chance\\nwas gone.\\n\\nI should like, if I possibly could, to give the reader some idea of my\\nmother\\'s circulating-library and sort of universal commodity shop: it\\nwas a low-windowed building, one story high, but running a long way\\nback, where it was joined to a small parlour, in which we generally sat\\nduring the day, as it was convenient in case of company or customers,\\nthe little parlour having a glass door, which permitted us to look into\\nthe shop.\\n\\nIn the front windows, on one side, were all the varieties of tapers,\\nsealing-wax, inkstands, and every kind of stationery, backed by\\nchildren\\'s books, leather writing-cases, prints, caricatures, and\\nTonbridge ware.  In the other windows were ribbons, caps, gloves,\\nscarfs, needles, and other little articles in demand by ladies, and\\nwhich they required independent of their milliners.\\n\\nAt the entrance were sticks and canes; on the counter a case of gold and\\nmore moderate-priced trinkets.  On the shelves of the millinery side\\nwere boxes of gloves, ribbons, buttons, etcetera.  On the opposite side,\\nperfumes, cigars, toothbrushes, combs, scented soaps, and other\\nrequisites for the toilet.\\n\\nAbout ten feet on each side of the shop was occupied with the above\\narticles; the remainder of the shelves were reserved for the\\ncirculating-library.\\n\\nAt the back of the shop were some seats round a small table, on which\\nwas laid the newspaper of the day, and on each side of the parlour-door\\nwere hoops, bats, balls, traps, skittles, and a variety of toys for\\nchildren.\\n\\nMy mother usually attended to the millinery, and my aunt Milly to what\\nmight be termed the gentlemen\\'s side of the shop; the remainder of the\\ngoods and circulating-library were in the hands of both.\\n\\nThere were few hours of the day in which the chairs at the counter and\\nround the table were not taken possession of by some one or another,\\neither reading the paper or a book, or talking, to pass away the time.\\nIn fact, it was a sort of rendezvous, where all who met knew each other,\\nand where the idle of our own sex used to repair to get rid of their\\ntime.  Captain Bridgeman and Mr Flat were certainly the two most\\nconstantly to be found there, although few of the marine officers were a\\nday without paying us a visit.\\n\\nSuch was the _locale_; to describe the company will be more difficult,\\nbut I will attempt it.\\n\\nMy mother, remarkably nicely dressed, is busy opening a parcel of new\\nbooks just arrived.  My aunt Milly behind the counter, on the\\ngentlemen\\'s side, pretending to be working upon a piece of muslin about\\nfive inches square.  Mr Flat sitting near the table, fallen back in his\\nchair, apparently watching the flies on the ceiling.  Captain Bridgeman,\\na very good-looking man, very slight, but extremely active, is sitting\\nat the counter opposite to where my aunt is standing, a small black\\ncane, with a silver head to it, in his hand, and his gloves peculiarly\\nclean and well-fitting.  He has an eye as sharp as an eagle\\'s, a slight\\nhook to his nose, thin lips, and very white teeth; his countenance is as\\nfull of energy and fire as that of lieutenant Flat is heavy and\\nunmeaning.\\n\\n\"Miss Amelia, if I may take the liberty,\" said Captain Bridgeman,\\npointing with his cane to the bit of muslin she is employed upon; \"what\\nare you making? it\\'s too small for any part of a lady\\'s dress.\"\\n\\n\"It is quite large enough for a cuff, Captain Bridgeman.\"\\n\\n\"A cuff; then you are making a cuff, I presume?\"\\n\\n\"Indeed she is not, Captain Bridgeman,\" replies my mother; \"it is only\\nto keep herself out of mischief.  She spoils a bit like that every week.\\nAnd that\\'s why it is so small, Captain Bridgeman; it would be a pity to\\nspoil a larger piece.\"\\n\\n\"I really was not aware that such a mere trifle would keep you out of\\nmischief,\" said the captain.\\n\\n\"You know,\" replied Aunt Milly, \"that idleness is the root of all evil,\\nCaptain Bridgeman.\"\\n\\n\"Flat, do you hear that?\" says Captain Bridgeman.\\n\\n\"What?\" replies Flat.\\n\\n\"That idleness is the root of all evil; what an evil-disposed person you\\nmust be.\"\\n\\n\"I was thinking,\" replied Flat.\\n\\n\"I suspect it\\'s only lately you\\'ve taken to that.  Who or what were you\\nthinking about?\"\\n\\n\"Well, I believe I was thinking how long it would be before dinner was\\nready.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s very rude, Mr Flat; you might have said that you were thinking\\nabout me,\" replied my aunt.\\n\\n\"Well, so I was at first, and then I began to think of dinner-time.\"\\n\\n\"Don\\'t be offended, Miss Amelia; Flat pays you a great compliment in\\ndividing his attentions; but I really wish to know why ladies will spoil\\nmuslin in such a predetermined manner.  Will you explain that, Mrs\\nKeene?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, Captain Bridgeman: a piece of work is very valuable to a woman,\\nespecially when she finds herself in company with gentlemen like you.\\nIt saves her from looking down, or looking at you, when you are talking\\nnonsense; it prevents your reading in her eyes what is passing in her\\nmind, or discovering what effect your words may have upon her; it saves\\nmuch awkwardness, and very often a blush; sometimes a woman hardly knows\\nwhich way to look; sometimes she may look any way but the right.  Now a\\nbit of muslin with a needle is a remedy for all that, for she can look\\ndown at her work, and not look up till she thinks it advisable.\"\\n\\n\"I thank you for your explanation, madam; I shall always take it as a\\ngreat compliment if I see a lady very busy at work when I\\'m conversing,\\nwith her.\"\\n\\n\"But you may flatter yourself, Captain Bridgeman,\" replied my mother;\\n\"the attention to her work may arise from perfect indifference, or from\\npositive annoyance.  It saves the trouble of making an effort to be\\npolite.\"\\n\\n\"And pray, may I inquire, Miss Amelia, what feeling may cause your\\nparticular attention to your work at this present moment?\"\\n\\n\"Perhaps in either case to preserve my self-possession,\" replied Amelia;\\n\"or perhaps, Captain Bridgeman, I may prefer looking at a piece of\\nmuslin to looking at a marine officer.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s not very flattering,\" replied the captain; \"if you spoil the\\nmuslin, you\\'re determined not to spoil me.\"\\n\\n\"The muslin is of little value,\" said Amelia, softly, walking to the\\nother side of the shop, and turning over the books.\\n\\n\"Mr Flat,\" said my mother, \"your subscription to the library is out\\nlast month; I presume I can put your name down again?\"\\n\\n\"Well, I don\\'t know; I never read a book,\" replied Mr Flat, yawning.\\n\\n\"That\\'s not at all necessary, Mr Flat,\" said my mother; \"in most\\nbusinesses there are sleeping partners; besides, if you don\\'t read, you\\ncome here to talk, which is a greater enjoyment still, and luxuries must\\nbe paid for.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I\\'ll try another quarter,\" replied Mr Flat, \"and then--\"\\n\\n\"And then what?\" said my aunt Milly, smiling.\\n\\n\"Well, I don\\'t know,\" says Flat.  \"Is that clock of yours right, Mrs\\nKeene?\"\\n\\n\"It is; but I am fearful that your thoughts run faster than the clock,\\nMr Flat; you are thinking of the dress-bugle for dinner.\"\\n\\n\"No, I was not.\"\\n\\n\"Then you were thinking of yourself?\"\\n\\n\"No, I wasn\\'t, Mrs Keene,\" said Flat, rising, and walking out of the\\nshop.\\n\\n\"I\\'ll tell you,\" said he, turning round as he went out, \"what I was\\nthinking of, Mrs Keene; not of myself,--I was thinking of my bull pup.\"\\n\\nMy mother burst out a laughing as the lieutenant disappeared.  \"I was\\nnot far wrong when I said he was thinking of himself,\" said she, \"for a\\n_calf_ is a sort of _bull pup_.\"\\n\\nAt this sally Captain Bridgeman laughed, and danced about the shop; at\\nlast he said, \"Poor Flat!  Miss Amelia, he\\'s desperately in love with\\nyou.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s more than I am with him,\" said Amelia, calmly.\\n\\nHere two ladies came in.\\n\\nCaptain Bridgeman made a most polite bow.  \"I trust Mrs Handbell is\\nquite well and Miss Handbell--I hardly need ask the question with the\\ncharming colour you have?\"\\n\\n\"Captain Bridgeman, you appear to live in this library; I wonder Mrs\\nKeene don\\'t take you into partnership.\"\\n\\n\"If I were not honoured with the custom of Mrs Handbell and other\\nladies; I fear that my shop would have little attraction for gentlemen,\"\\nreplied my mother, with a courtesy.\\n\\n\"Mrs Keene is quite correct in her surmise, Miss Handbell,\" said\\nCaptain Bridgeman, \"now that I have seen you, I shall not think my\\nmorning thrown away.\"\\n\\n\"If report says true, Captain Bridgeman,\" replied Mrs Handbell, \"you\\nwould be quite as often here, even if no ladies were to be customers of\\nMrs Keene.  Mrs Keene, have you any of that narrow French ribbon\\nleft?\"\\n\\n\"I think I have, madam; it was off this piece, was it not?\"\\n\\n\"Yes; but I really don\\'t know exactly how much I require; perhaps you\\nwill measure it and allow me to return what is left?\"\\n\\n\"Certainly, madam; will you take it with you, or shall I send it?\"\\n\\n\"I wish for it directly; will you be very long in measuring it, for I\\nought to be home now?\"\\n\\n\"Perhaps you\\'ll have the kindness to measure what you take off yourself,\\nmadam,\" replied my mother, \"and then you need not wait.\"\\n\\n\"You put confidence in me, I observe, Mrs Keene,\" replied Mrs\\nHandbell; \"well, I will do you justice.\"\\n\\nMy mother smiled most graciously, put the piece of ribbon in paper, and\\nhanded it to Mrs Handbell, who, bowing to Captain Bridgeman, quitted\\nthe shop.\\n\\n\"I wonder whether you would trust me in that way?\" said Captain\\nBridgeman to my mother.\\n\\n\"I don\\'t think I should; Amelia says you will help yourself to cigars\\nand that she is sure you cheat when you count them.\"\\n\\n\"Does she really say that?  Well, I did think that if there was any one\\nwho would have upheld my character, it would have been Miss Amelia.\"\\n\\n\"Perhaps, Captain Bridgeman, she is getting tired of so doing.\"\\n\\n\"Or tired of me, Mrs Keene, which would be worse still.  Here comes a\\nfair young lady--Miss Evans, if I mistake not; I believe she is a good\\ncustomer to your library?\"\\n\\n\"She reads a great deal, and is therefore only a customer to the\\nlibrary.\"\\n\\n\"Ladies who are fond of reading are seldom fond of working.\"\\n\\n\"Good morning Miss Evans,\" said Captain Bridgeman; \"you come for more\\nfood for the mind, I presume?\"  (Miss Evans gave a bob, and turned to my\\nmother.)\\n\\n\"Have you anything new, Mrs Keene?  I have brought back the three\\nvolumes of Godolphin.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, miss, I have some books down to-day.\"\\n\\nWhile Miss Evans was selecting from the new books, enter Mr Jones, Mr\\nSmith, and Mr Claville, of the marine corps, for cigars.  Amelia comes\\nout to attend them--they purchase a few articles, and are talking very\\nloud, when three more ladies enter the shop, all for books.\\n\\nIt being now about three o\\'clock, the customers and loungers come in\\nfast.  Captain Bridgeman saunters away in company with his brother\\nofficers; other parties enter, who are succeeded by fresh claimants for\\nbooks or the other articles to be procured in the repository.\\n\\nThis demand continues till about five o\\'clock, when the library becomes\\nempty; I come home from school, my father slinks in from barracks, and\\nmy mother and sister return to the back parlour, where they find my\\ngrandmother, as usual, very busy with her knitting.\\n\\nSuch is a fair sample of what took place at our shop every succeeding\\nday.  My mother made few bad debts, and rapidly added to her savings.\\nMy aunt Milly still balancing between the certainty of Lieutenant Flat\\nand the chance of Captain Bridgeman, and I dividing my time and talents\\nbetween learning and contriving mischief.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TEN.\\n\\nAbout six months after I had blown up the school of Mr O\\'Gallagher, the\\ncompany to which my father Ben belonged was ordered afloat again, and\\nshortly afterwards sailed for the East Indies, in the Redoubtable, 74.\\nThat my mother was very much pleased at his departure, I do not scruple\\nto assert; but whether she ever analysed her feelings, I cannot pretend\\nto say; I rather think that all she wished was, that the chapter of\\naccidents would prevent Ben\\'s reappearance, as she was ashamed of him as\\na husband, and felt that he was an obstacle to her sister\\'s advancement.\\n\\nSo one fine day Ben wished us all good bye; my mother was very generous\\nto him, as she could well afford to be.  I rather think that Ben himself\\nwas not sorry to go, for, stupid as he was, he must have felt what a\\ncypher he had become, being treated, not only by my mother, but by\\neverybody else, even by me, as a sort of upper servant.\\n\\nIt so happened, that about a month after Ben\\'s departure, Captain Delmar\\nhad, through the interest of his uncle, Lord de Versely, been appointed\\nto a ship which was lying in the Medway, and he came down to Chatham to\\njoin her.  He had no idea that my mother was there, for he had lost\\nsight of her altogether, and had it not been for me, might very probably\\nhave left the town without having made the discovery.\\n\\nAmong other amusements, I had a great partiality for a certain bull pup,\\nmentioned by Lieutenant Flat in the former chapter, and which he had\\nmade me a present of; the pup was now grown up, and I had taught it many\\ntricks; but the one which afforded me most amusement (of course, at\\nother people\\'s expense) was, that I had made out of oakum a sham\\npigtail, about a foot and a half long, very strong and think, with an\\niron hook at the upper end of it.\\n\\nThe sham tail I could easily hook on to the collar of any one\\'s coat\\nfrom behind, without their perceiving it; and Bob had been instructed by\\nme, whenever I told him to fetch it (and not before), to jump up at the\\ntail wherever it might be, and hang on to it with all the tenacity of\\nthe race.\\n\\nAs it may be supposed, this was a great source of mirth in the barracks;\\nit was considered a good joke, and was much applauded by Captain\\nBridgeman; but it was not considered a good joke out of the barracks;\\nand many an old woman had I already frightened almost out of her senses,\\nby affixing the tail to any portion of the back part of her dress.\\n\\nIt so happened, that one afternoon, as I was cruising about with Bob at\\nmy heels, I perceived the newly-arrived Captain Delmar, in all the pomp\\nof pride of full uniform, parading down the street with a little middy\\nat his heels; and I thought to myself, \"Law! how I should like to hang\\nmy tail to his fine coat, if I only dared;\" the impulse had become so\\nstrong, that I actually had pulled up my pinafore and disengaged the\\ntail ready for any opportunity, but I was afraid that the middy would\\nsee me.\\n\\nCaptain Delmar had passed close to me, the middy at his heels was\\npassing, and I thought all chance was gone, when, suddenly, Captain\\nDelmar turned short round and addressed the little officer, asking him\\nwhether he had brought the order-book with him?  The middy touched his\\nhat, and said, \"No;\" upon which Captain Delmar began to inflict a most\\nserious lecture upon the lad for forgetting what he had forgotten\\nhimself, and I again passed by.\\n\\nThis was an opportunity I could not resist; while the captain and middy\\nwere so well employed giving and receiving I fixed my oakum tail to the\\ncollar of the Captain\\'s gold-laced coat, and then walked over to the\\nother side of the street with Bob at my heels.\\n\\nThe middy being duly admonished, Captain Delmar turned round again and\\nresumed his way; upon which I called Bob, who was quite as ready for the\\nfun as I was, and pointing to the captain, said, \"Fetch it, Bob.\"  My\\ncompanion cleared the street in three or four bounds, and in a few\\nseconds afterwards made a spring up the back of Captain Delmar, and\\nseizing the tail, hung by it with his teeth, shaking it with all his\\nmight as he hung in the air.\\n\\nCaptain Delmar was, to use a sailor\\'s term, completely taken aback;\\nindeed he was nearly capsized by the unexpected assault.  For a short\\ntime he could not discover what it was; at last, by turning his head\\nover his shoulder and putting his hand behind him, he discovered who his\\nassailant was.\\n\\nJust at that time, I called out \"Mad dog! mad dog!\" and Captain Delmar,\\nhearing those alarming words, became dreadfully frightened; his cocked\\nhat dropped from his head, and he took to his heels as fast as he could,\\nrunning down the street, with Bob clinging behind him.\\n\\nThe first open door he perceived was that of my mother\\'s library; he\\nburst in, nearly upsetting Captain Bridgeman, who was seated at the\\ncounter, talking to Aunt Milly, crying out \"Help! help!\"  As he turned\\nround, his sword became entangled between his legs, tripped him up, and\\nhe fell on the floor.  This unhooked the tail, and Bob galloped out of\\nthe shop, bearing his prize to me, who, with the little middy, remained\\nin the street convulsed with laughter.  Bob delivered up the tail, which\\nI again concealed under my pinafore, and then with a demure face\\nventured to walk towards my mother\\'s house, and, going in at the back\\ndoor, put Master Bob in the wash-house out of the way; the little middy\\nwho had picked up the captain\\'s hat, giving me a wink as I passed him,\\nas much as to say, I won\\'t inform against you.\\n\\nIn the meantime Captain Delmar had been assisted to his legs by Captain\\nBridgeman, who well knew who had played the trick, and who, as well as\\nAunt Milly, had great difficulty in controlling his mirth.\\n\\n\"Merciful heaven! what was it?  Was the animal mad?  Has it bitten me?\"\\nexclaimed Captain Delmar, falling back in his chair, in which he had\\nbeen seated by Captain Bridgeman.\\n\\n\"I really do not know,\" replied Captain Bridgeman; \"but you are not\\nhurt, sir, apparently, nor indeed is your coat torn.\"\\n\\n\"What dog--whose dog can it be?--it must be shot immediately--I shall\\ngive orders--I shall report the case to the admiral.  May I ask for a\\nglass of water?  Oh, Mr Dott! you\\'re there, sir; how came you to allow\\nthat dog to fasten himself on my back in that way?\"\\n\\n\"If you please,\" said the middy, presenting his cocked hat to the\\ncaptain, \"I did draw my dirk to kill him, but you ran away so fast that\\nI couldn\\'t catch you.\"\\n\\n\"Very well, sir, you may go down to the boat and wait for orders,\"\\nreplied the captain.\\n\\nAt this moment my mother, who had been dressing herself, made her first\\nappearance, coming out of the back parlour with a glass of water, which\\naunt Milly had gone in for.  Perceiving a gold-laced captain, she\\nadvanced all smiles and courtesies, until she looked in his face, and\\nthen she gave a scream, and dropped the tumbler on the floor, much to\\nthe surprise of Captain Bridgeman, and also of aunt Milly, who, not\\nhaving been at the Hall, was not acquainted with the person of Captain\\nDelmar.\\n\\nJust at this moment in came I, looking as demure as if, as the saying\\nis, \"butter would not melt in my mouth,\" and certainly as much\\nastonished as the rest at my mother\\'s embarrassment; but she soon\\nrecovered herself, and asked Captain Delmar if he would condescend to\\nrepose himself a little in the back parlour.  When my mother let the\\ntumbler fall, the captain had looked her full in the face and recognised\\nher, and, in a low voice, said, \"Excessively strange,--so very\\nunexpected!\"  He then rose up from the chair and followed my mother into\\nthe back room.\\n\\n\"Who can it be?\" said Aunt Milly to Captain Bridgeman, in a low tone.\\n\\n\"I suppose it must be the new captain appointed to the Calliope.  I read\\nhis name in the papers,--the Honourable Captain Delmar.\"\\n\\n\"It must be him,\" replied Milly; \"for my sister was brought up by his\\naunt, Mrs Delmar; no wonder she was surprised at meeting him so\\nsuddenly.  Percival, you naughty boy,\" continued Milly, shaking her\\nfinger at me, \"it was all your doing.\"\\n\\n\"Oh, Aunt Milly! you should have seen him run,\" replied I, laughing at\\nthe thought.\\n\\n\"I\\'d recommend you not to play with post captains,\" said Captain\\nBridgeman, \"or you may get worse than you give.  Mercy on us!\" exclaimed\\nhe, looking at me full in the face.\\n\\n\"What\\'s the matter?\" said aunt Milly.\\n\\nCaptain Bridgeman leant over the counter, and I heard him whisper, \"Did\\nyou ever see such a likeness as between the lad and Captain Delmar?\"\\n\\nMilly blushed a little, nodded her head, and smiled, as she turned away.\\nCaptain Bridgeman appeared to be afterwards in a brown study; he tapped\\nhis boot with his cane, and did not speak.\\n\\nAbout a quarter of an hour passed, during which Captain Delmar remained\\nwith my mother in the parlour, when she opened the door, and beckoned me\\nto come in.  I did so not without some degree of anxiety, for I was\\nafraid that I had been discovered: but this doubt was soon removed;\\nCaptain Delmar did me the honour to shake hands with me, and then patted\\nmy head saying, he hoped I was a good boy, which, being compelled to be\\nmy own trumpeter, I very modestly declared that I was.  My mother, who\\nwas standing up behind, lifted up her eyes at my barefaced assertion.\\nCaptain Delmar then shook hands with my mother, intimating his intention\\nof paying her another visit very soon, and again patting me on the head,\\nquitted the parlour, and went away through the shop.\\n\\nAs soon as Captain Delmar was gone, my mother turned round, and said,\\n\"You naughty, mischievous boy, to play such pranks.  I\\'ll have that dog\\nkilled, without you promise me never to do so again.\"\\n\\n\"Do what again, mother?\"\\n\\n\"None of your pretended innocence with me.  I\\'ve been told of the\\npigtail that Bob pulls at.  That\\'s all very well at the barracks with\\nthe marines, sir, but do you know _who_ it is that you have been playing\\nthat trick to?\"\\n\\n\"No mother, I don\\'t.  Who is he?\"\\n\\n\"Who is he, you undutiful child? why, he\\'s--he\\'s the Honourable Captain\\nDelmar.\"\\n\\n\"Well, what of that?\" replied I.  \"He\\'s a naval captain, ain\\'t he?\"\\n\\n\"Yes; but he\\'s the nephew of the lady who brought me up and educated me.\\nIt was he that made the match between me and our father: so if it had\\nnot been for him, child, you never would have been born.\"\\n\\n\"Oh that\\'s it,\" replied I.  \"Well, mother, if it had not been for me,\\nhe\\'d never have come into the shop, and found you.\"\\n\\n\"But, my child, we must be serious; you must be very respectful to\\nCaptain Delmar, and play no tricks with him; for you may see him very\\noften, and, perhaps, he will take a fancy to you; and if he does, he may\\ndo you a great deal of good, and bring you forward in the world; so\\npromise me.\"\\n\\n\"Well, mother, I\\'ll promise you I\\'ll leave him alone if you wish it.\\nLaw, mother, you should have seen how the middy laughed at him; it was\\nreal fun to make a gallant captain run in the way he did.\"\\n\\n\"Go along, you mischievous animal, and recollect your promise to me,\"\\nsaid my mother, as she went into the shop where she found that Captain\\nBridgeman, to whom she intended to explain how it was that she had\\ndropped the tumbler of water, had gone away.\\n\\nThere was a great deal of consultation between my grandmother and my\\nmother on that evening; my aunt and I were sent out to to take a walk,\\nthat we might not overhear what passed, and when we returned we found\\nthem still in close conversation.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER ELEVEN.\\n\\nThe Honourable Captain Delmar was now a frequent visitor to my mother,\\nand a good customer to the library.  He did, however, generally contrive\\nthat his visit should be paid late in the afternoon, just after the\\nmarine officers had retired to dress for dinner; for he was a very\\nhaughty personage, and did not think it proper for any officers of an\\ninferior grade to come \"between the wind and his nobility.\"\\n\\nI cannot say that I was partial to him; indeed, his pomposity, as I\\nconsidered it, was to me a source of ridicule and dislike.  He took more\\nnotice of me than he did of anybody else; but he appeared to consider\\nthat his condescending patronage was all that was necessary; whereas,\\nhad he occasionally given me a half-crown I should have cherished better\\nfeelings towards him: not that I wanted money, for my mother supplied me\\nvery liberally, considering my age: but although you may coax and\\nflatter a girl into loving you, you cannot a boy, who requires more\\nsubstantial proofs of your good-will.\\n\\nThere were a great many remarks not very flattering to my mother, made\\nbehind her back, as to her former intimacy with Captain Delmar; for,\\nsomehow or another, there always is somebody who knows something,\\nwherever doubts or surmises arise, and so it was in this case; but if\\npeople indulged in ill-natured remarks when she was not there, they did\\nnot in her presence; on the contrary, the friendship of so great a man\\nas the Honourable Captain Delmar appeared rather to make my mother a\\nperson of more consequence.\\n\\nShe was continually pointing out to me the propriety of securing the\\ngood will of this great personage, and the more she did so, the more I\\nfelt inclined to do the reverse; indeed, I should have broke out into\\nopen mutiny, if it had not been for Captain Bridgeman, who sided with my\\nmother, and when I went to him to propose playing another trick upon the\\nnoble captain, not only refused to aid me, but told me, if I ever\\nthought of such a thing, he would never allow me to come to his rooms\\nagain.\\n\\n\"Why, what good can he do to me?\" inquired I.\\n\\n\"He may advance you properly in life--who knows?--he may put you on the\\nquarter-deck, and get you promoted in the service.\"\\n\\n\"What, make a middy of me?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, and from a midshipman you may rise to be a post-captain, or\\nadmiral,--a much greater rank than I shall ever obtain,\" said Captain\\nBridgeman; \"so take my advice, and do as your mother wishes; be very\\ncivil and respectful to Captain Delmar, and he may be as good as a\\nfather to you.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s not saying much,\" replied I, thinking of my father Ben; \"I\\'d\\nrather have two mothers than two fathers.\"  And here the conversation\\nended.\\n\\nI had contracted a great alliance with Mr Dott, the midshipman, who\\nfollowed Captain Delmar about, just as Bob used to follow me, and\\ngenerally remained in the shop or outside with me, when his captain\\ncalled upon my mother.  He was a little wag, as full of mischief as\\nmyself, and even his awe of his captain, which, as a youngster in the\\nservice, was excessive, would not prevent him from occasionally breaking\\nout.  My mother took great notice of him, and when he could obtain leave\\n(which, indeed, she often asked for him), invited him to come to our\\nhouse, when he became my companion during his stay; we would sally out\\ntogether, and vie with each other in producing confusion and mirth at\\nother people\\'s expense; we became the abhorrence of every old\\nfruit-woman and beggar in the vicinity.\\n\\nCaptain Delmar heard occasionally of my pranks, and looked very majestic\\nand severe; but as I was not a middy, I cared little for his frowns.  At\\nlast an opportunity offered which I could not resist; and, not daring to\\nmake known my scheme either to Captain Bridgeman or Aunt Milly, I\\nconfided it to Tommy Dott, the little middy, who, regardless of the\\nconsequences, joined me in it heart and soul.\\n\\nThe theatre had been opened at Chatham, and had met with indifferent\\nsuccess.  I went there once with my aunt Milly, and twice with Mr Dott;\\nI, therefore, knew my _locale_ well.  It appeared that one of the female\\nperformers, whose benefit was shortly to take place, was very anxious to\\nobtain the patronage of Captain Delmar, and, with the usual tact of\\nwomen, had applied to my mother in the most obsequious manner,\\nrequesting her to espouse her cause with the gallant captain.\\n\\nMy mother, pleased with the idea of becoming, as it were, a patroness\\nunder the rose, did so effectually exert her influence over the captain,\\nthat, in a day or two afterwards, play-bills were posted all over the\\ntown, announcing that the play of _The Stranger_, with the farce of\\n_Raising the Wind_, would be performed on Friday evening, for the\\nbenefit of Miss Mortimer under the patronage of the Honourable Captain\\nDelmar, and the officers of his Majesty\\'s ship Calliope.  Of course the\\ngrateful young lady sent my mother some tickets of admission, and two of\\nthem I reserved for Tommy Dott and myself.\\n\\nCaptain Delmar had made a large party of ladies, and of course all the\\nofficers of the ship attended: the house was as full as it could hold.\\nMy mother and aunt were there in a retired part of the boxes; Tommy Dott\\nand I entered the theatre with them, and afterwards had gone up to what\\nis, at the theatres at seaports, usually denominated the slips, that is,\\nthe sides of the theatre on the same range as the gallery.  There was\\nCaptain Delmar with all his ladies and all his officers, occupying\\nnearly the whole of the side of the dress circle below us, we having\\ntaken our position above him, so that we might not be observed.\\n\\nThe performance commenced.  Miss Mortimer, as _Mrs Haller_, was very\\neffective; and in the last scene was compelling the eyes of the company\\nto water, when we thought we would produce a still greater effect.\\n\\nWe had purchased a pound of the finest Scotch snuff, which we had\\nenclosed in two pasteboard cases, similar in form to those of squibs,\\nonly about six times the size, and holding half a pound of snuff each.\\nOur object was, in doing this, that, by jerking it all out with a heave,\\nwe might at once throw it right into the centre of the theatre above, so\\nthat in its descent it might be fairly distributed among all parties.\\n\\nThere was no one in the slips with us, except midshipmen, and a\\ndescription of people who would consider it a good joke, and never would\\npeach if they perceived we were the culprits.\\n\\nAt a signal between us, just as _Mrs Haller_ was giving a paper to her\\nhusband did we give our shower of snuff to the audience, jerking it\\nright across the theatre.  In a few minutes the effect was prodigious;\\nCaptain Delmar\\'s party being right beneath us, probably received a\\ngreater share, for they commenced sneezing fast, then the boxes on the\\nother side, the pit followed, and at last _Mr and Mrs Haller_ and the\\n_Stranger_ were taken with such a fit of sneezing that they could no\\nlonger talk to each other.\\n\\nThe children were brought out to their parents to effect their\\nreconciliation, but they did nothing but sneeze, poor things; and at\\nlast the uproar was tremendous, and the curtain was dropped, not to loud\\nplaudits, but to loud sneezings from every part of the theatre.\\n\\nNever was there anything so ludicrous; the manager sent officers up to\\ndiscover the offenders but no one could tell who had played the trick;\\nhe then came before the curtain to make a speech upon the occasion, but,\\nhaving sneezed seven or eight times, he was obliged to retire with his\\nhandkerchief to his nose; and the audience, finding it impossible to\\ncheck the titillation of the olfactory nerves, abandoned the theatre as\\nfast as they could, leaving the farce of _Raising the Wind_ to be\\nperformed to empty beaches.\\n\\nI hardly need say, that as soon as we had thrown the snuff, Mr Dott and\\nI had gone down and taken our places very demurely in the box by the\\nside of my mother, and appeared just as astonished, and indeed added as\\nmuch as possible to the company of sneezers.\\n\\nCaptain Delmar was very furious at this want of respect of certain\\nparties unknown, and had we been discovered, whatever might have been my\\nfate, it would have gone hard with Tommy Dott; but we kept our own\\ncounsel, and escaped.\\n\\nThat I was suspected by Aunt Milly and Captain Bridgeman is certain, and\\nmy aunt taxed me with it, but I would not confess; my mother also had\\nher suspicions, but as Captain Delmar had none, that was of no\\nconsequence.\\n\\nThe success of this trick was a great temptation to try another or two\\nupon the noble captain.  He was, however saved by the simple fact of\\nH.M. ship Calliope being reported manned and ready for sea; orders were\\nsent down for his going round to Portsmouth to await the commands of the\\nLords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and Captain Delmar came to pay his\\nfarewell visit.\\n\\nThe report from the schoolmaster had been very favourable and Captain\\nDelmar then asked me, for the first time, if I would like to be a\\nsailor.  As Captain Bridgeman had advised me not to reject any good\\noffer on the part of the honourable captain, I answered in the\\naffirmative; whereupon the captain replied, that if I paid attention to\\nmy learning, in a year\\'s time he would take me with him on board of his\\nfrigate.\\n\\nHe then patted my head, forgot to give me half a crown, and, shaking\\nhands with my mother and aunt, quitted the house, followed by Tommy\\nDott, who, as he went away, turned and laughed his adieu.\\n\\nI have not mentioned my grandmother lately.  The fact is, that when\\nCaptain Delmar made his appearance, for some cause or another, which I\\ncould not comprehend, she declared her intention of going away and\\npaying a visit to her old acquaintances at the Hall.  She did so.  As I\\nafterwards found out from what I overheard, she had a very great\\naversion to the noble captain: but the cause of her aversion was never\\ncommunicated to me.  Soon after the sailing of the Calliope, she again\\nmade her appearance, took her old seat in the easy-chair, and resumed\\nher eternal knitting as before.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWELVE.\\n\\nAnother year of my existence passed rapidly away; I was nearly thirteen\\nyears old, a sturdy bold boy, well fitted for the naval profession,\\nwhich I now considered decided upon, and began to be impatient to leave\\nschool, and wondered that we heard nothing of Captain Delmar, when news\\nwas received from another quarter.\\n\\nOne morning Captain Bridgeman came much earlier than usual, and with a\\nvery grave face put on especially for the occasion.  I had not set off\\nfor school, and ran up to him; but he checked me, and said, \"I must see\\nyour mother directly, I have very important news for her.\"\\n\\nI went in to tell my mother, who requested Captain Bridgeman to come\\ninto the parlour, and not being aware of the nature of the\\ncommunication, ordered Aunt Milly and me into the shop; we waited for\\nsome minutes, and then Captain Bridgeman made his appearance.\\n\\n\"What is the matter?\" said Milly.\\n\\n\"Read this newspaper,\" said he; \"there is a despatch from India, it will\\ntell you all about it, and you can show it to your sister, when she is\\nmore composed.\"\\n\\nCurious to know what the matter could be, I quitted the shop, and went\\ninto the parlour, where I saw my mother with her face buried in the sofa\\npillow, and apparently in great distress.\\n\\n\"What\\'s the matter, mother?\" said I.\\n\\n\"Oh! my child, my child!\" replied my mother, wringing her hands, \"you\\nare an orphan, and I am a lonely widow.\"\\n\\n\"How\\'s that?\" said I.\\n\\n\"How\\'s that?\" said my grandmother, \"why, are you such a fool, as not to\\nunderstand that your father is dead?\"\\n\\n\"Father\\'s dead, is he?\" replied I, \"I\\'ll go and tell Aunt Milly;\" and\\naway I went out of the parlour to Milly, whom I found reading the\\nnewspaper.\\n\\n\"Aunt,\" said I, \"father\\'s dead, only to think!  I wonder how he died!\"\\n\\n\"He was killed in action, dear,\" said my aunt; \"look here, here is the\\naccount, and the list of killed and wounded.  D\\'ye see your father\\'s\\nname--Benjamin Keene, marine?\"\\n\\n\"Let me read all about it, Aunt Milly,\" replied I, taking the paper from\\nher; and I was soon very busy with the account of the action.\\n\\nMy readers must not suppose that I had no feeling, because I showed none\\nat my father\\'s death; if they call to mind the humble position in which\\nI had always seen my father, who dared not even intrude upon the\\npresence of those with whom my mother and I were on familiar terms, and\\nthat he was ordered about just like a servant by my mother, who set me\\nno example of fear or love for him, they will easily imagine that I felt\\nless for his death than I should have for that of Captain Bridgeman, or\\nmany others with whom I was on intimate terms.\\n\\nWhat did puzzle me was, that my mother should show so much feeling on\\nthe occasion.  I did not know the world then, and that decency required\\na certain display of grief.  Aunt Milly appeared to be very unconcerned\\nabout it, although, occasionally, she was in deep thought.  I put down\\nthe paper as soon as I had read the despatch, and said to her, \"Well, I\\nsuppose I must go to school now, aunt?\"\\n\\n\"Oh no, dear,\" replied she, \"you can\\'t go to school for a few days now--\\nit wouldn\\'t be proper; you must remain at home and wait till you have\\nput on mourning.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'m glad of that, at all events,\" replied I; \"I wonder where Captain\\nDelmar is, and why he don\\'t send for me; I begin to hate school.\"\\n\\n\"I dare say it won\\'t be long before you hear from him, dear,\" replied my\\naunt; \"stay here and mind the shop, while I go in to your mother.\"\\n\\nIf the truth was told, I am afraid that the death of Ben was a source of\\ncongratulation to all parties who were then in the parlour.  As for me,\\nI was very glad to have a few days\\' holiday, being perfectly indifferent\\nas to whether he was dead or alive.\\n\\nWhen I went in I found them in consultation as to the mourning: my\\nmother did not, in the first place, wish to make any a parade about a\\nhusband of whom she was ashamed; in the second, she did not like widow\\'s\\nweeds, and the unbecoming cap.  So it was decided, as Ben had been dead\\nsix months, and if they had known it before they would have been in\\nmourning for him all that time, that half-mourning was all that was\\nrequisite for them; and that, as for me, there was no reason for my\\ngoing into mourning at all.\\n\\nThree days after the intelligence, my mother re-appeared in the shop;\\nthe reason why she did not appear before was, that her dress was not\\nready--she looked very pretty indeed in half-mourning, so did my Aunt\\nMilly; and the attentions of the marine corps, especially Captain\\nBridgeman and Lieutenant Flat, were more unremitting than ever.\\n\\nIt appeared that, as the death of Ben had removed the great difficulty\\nto my aunt\\'s being married to an officer, my grandmother had resolved to\\nascertain the intentions of Captain Bridgeman, and if she found that he\\ncried off, to persuade Milly to consent to become Mrs Flat.  Whether\\nshe consulted my mother or my aunt on this occasion, I cannot positively\\nsay, but I rather think not.\\n\\nMy mother and my aunt were walking out one evening, when Captain\\nBridgeman came in, and my grandmother, who remained in the shop whenever\\nmy mother and Milly went out together, which was very seldom, requested\\nhim to walk into the back parlour, desiring me to remain in the shop,\\nand let her know if she was wanted.\\n\\nNow when they went into the parlour, the door was left ajar, and, as I\\nremained at the back part of the shop, I could not help over-hearing\\nevery word which was said; for my grandmother being very deaf, as most\\ndeaf people do, talked quite as loud as Captain Bridgeman was compelled\\nto do, to make her hear him.\\n\\n\"I wish, Captain Bridgeman, as a friend, to ask your advice relative to\\nmy daughter Amelia,\" said the old lady.  \"Please to take a chair.\"\\n\\n\"If there is any opinion that I can offer on the subject, madam, I shall\\nbe most happy to give it,\" replied the captain, sitting down as\\nrequested.\\n\\n\"You see, my daughter Amelia has been well brought up, and carefully\\neducated, as was, indeed, my daughter, Arabella, through the kindness of\\nmy old patron, Mrs Delmar, the aunt of the Honourable Captain Delmar,\\nwhom you have often met here, and who is heir to the title of de\\nVersely; that is to say, his eldest brother has no children.  I have\\nbeen nearly fifty years in the family as a confidential, Captain\\nBridgeman; the old lord was very fond of my husband, who was his\\nsteward, but he died, poor man, a long while ago; I am sure it would\\nhave broken his heart, if, in his lifetime, my daughter Arabella had\\nmade the foolish marriage which she did with a private marine--however,\\nwhat\\'s done can\\'t be helped, as the saying is--that\\'s all over now.\"\\n\\n\"It was certainly a great pity that Mrs Keene should have been so\\nfoolish,\" replied Captain Bridgeman, \"but, as you say, that is all over\\nnow.\"\\n\\n\"Yes; God\\'s will be done, Captain Bridgeman; now you see, sir, that this\\nmarriage of Bella\\'s has done no good to the prospects of her sister\\nAmelia, who, nevertheless, is a good and pretty girl though I say it,\\nwho am her mother; and moreover, she will bring a pretty penny to her\\nhusband whoever he may be; for you see, Captain Bridgeman, my husband\\nwas not idle during the time that he was in the family of the Delmars,\\nand as her sister is so well to do, why little Amelia will come into a\\ngreater share than she otherwise would--that is, if she marries well,\\nand according to the wishes of her mother.\"\\n\\nAt this interesting part of the conversation Captain Bridgeman leant\\nmore earnestly towards my grandmother.\\n\\n\"A pretty penny, madam, you said; I never heard the expression before;\\nwhat may a pretty penny mean?\"\\n\\n\"It means, first and last, 4,000 pounds, Captain Bridgeman; part down,\\nand the other when I die.\"\\n\\n\"Indeed,\" replied Captain Bridgeman; \"I certainly never thought that\\nMiss Amelia would ever have any fortune; indeed, she\\'s too pretty and\\naccomplished to require any.\"\\n\\n\"Now, sir,\" continued my grandmother, \"the point on which I wish to\\nconsult you is this: you know that Lieutenant Flat is very often here,\\nand for a long while has been very attentive to my daughter; he has, I\\nbelieve, almost as much as proposed--that is, in his sort of way; but my\\ndaughter does not seem to care for him.  Now, Captain Bridgeman, Mr\\nFlat may not be very clever, but I believe him to be a very worthy young\\nman; still one must be cautious, and what I wish to know before I\\ninterfere and persuade my daughter to marry him is, whether you think\\nthat Mr Flat is of a disposition which would make the marriage state a\\nhappy one; for you see, Captain Bridgeman, love before marriage is very\\napt to fly away, but love that comes after marriage will last out your\\nlife.\"\\n\\n\"Well, madam,\" replied the captain, \"I will be candid with you; I do not\\nthink that a clever girl like Miss Amelia is likely to be happy as the\\nwife of my good friend Mr Flat--still there is nothing against his\\ncharacter, madam; I believe him harmless--very harmless.\"\\n\\n\"He\\'s a very fine-looking young man, Captain Bridgeman.\"\\n\\n\"Yes; nothing to be found fault with in his appearance.\"\\n\\n\"Very good-natured.\"\\n\\n\"Yes; he\\'s not very quick in temper, or anything else; he\\'s what we call\\na slow-coach.\"\\n\\n\"I hear he\\'s a very correct officer, Captain Bridgeman.\"\\n\\n\"Yes; I am not aware that he has ever been under an arrest.\"\\n\\n\"Well, we cannot expect everything in this world; he is handsome,\\ngood-tempered, and a good officer--I cannot see why Amelia does not like\\nhim, particularly as her affections are not otherwise engaged.  I am\\nsatisfied with the answer you have given, Captain Bridgeman, and now I\\nshall point out to Amelia that I expect she will make up her mind to\\naccept Mr Flat.\"\\n\\nHere Captain Bridgeman hesitated.\\n\\n\"Indeed, madam, if her affections are not otherwise engaged--I say--are\\nnot engaged, madam, I do not think she could do better.  Would, you like\\nme to sound Miss Amelia on the subject?\"\\n\\n\"Really, Captain Bridgeman, it is very kind of you; you may, perhaps,\\npersuade her to listen to your friend Mr Flat.\"\\n\\n\"I will, at all events, ascertain her real sentiments, madam,\" said the\\ncaptain, rising; \"and, if you please, I will say farewell for the\\npresent.\"\\n\\nAs my grandmother anticipated, the scale, which had been so long\\nbalanced by Captain Bridgeman, was weighed down in favour of marriage by\\nthe death of my father Ben, and the unexpected fortune of 4,000 pounds.\\n\\nThe next day the captain proposed and was accepted, and six weeks from\\nthat date my aunt Milly became his wife.\\n\\nThe wedding was very gay: some people did sneer at the match, but where\\nwas there ever a match without a sneer?  There are always and everywhere\\npeople to be found who will envy the happiness of others.  Some talked\\nabout the private marine; this attack was met with the 4,000 pounds (or\\nrather 8,000 pounds per annum, for rumour, as usual, had doubled the\\nsum); others talked of the shop as _infra dig_; the set-off against\\nwhich was, the education and beauty of the bride.  One or two subs\\'\\nwives declared that they would not visit Mrs Bridgeman; but when the\\ncolonel and his lady called to congratulate the new-married couple, and\\ninvited a large party in their own house to meet them, then then subs\\'\\nwives left their cards as soon as they could.\\n\\nIn a few weeks all was right again: my mother would not give up her\\nshop--it was too lucrative; but she was on more intimate terms with her\\ncustomers; and when people found that, although her sister was a\\ncaptain\\'s lady, my mother had too much sense to be ashamed of her\\nposition; why they liked her the better.  Indeed, as she was still very\\nhandsome, one or two of the marine officers, now that she was a widow,\\npaid her very assiduous court; but my mother had no intention of\\nentering again into the holy state--she preferred STATE _in quo_.  She\\nhad no one to care for but me, and for me she continued her shop and\\nlibrary, although, I believe, she could have retired upon a comfortable\\nindependence, had she chosen so to do.\\n\\nMy mother, whatever she might have been when a girl, was now a\\nstrong-minded, clever woman.  It must have been a painful thing for her\\nto have made up her mind to allow me to go to sea; I was her only child,\\nher only care; I believe she loved me dearly, although she was not so\\nlavish of her caresses as my aunt Milly; but she perceived that it would\\nbe for my advantage that I should insure the patronage and protection of\\nCaptain Delmar, and she sacrificed self to my interest.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THIRTEEN.\\n\\nAbout a month after my aunt\\'s marriage, a letter was received from\\nCaptain Delmar, who had arrived at Spithead, requesting my mother to\\nsend me to Portsmouth as soon as she could, and not go to the trouble or\\nexpense of fitting me out, as he would take that upon himself.\\n\\nThis was but short notice to give a fond mother, but there was no help\\nfor it; she returned an answer, that in three days from the date of the\\nletter I should be there.\\n\\nI was immediately summoned from school that she might see as much of me\\nas possible before I went; and although she did not attempt to detain\\nme, I perceived, very often, the tears run down her cheeks.\\n\\nMy grandmother thought proper to make me very long speeches every three\\nor four hours, the substance of which may be comprehended in very few\\nwords--to wit, that I had been a very bad boy, and that I was little\\nbetter now; that I had been spoiled by over-indulgence, and that it was\\nlucky my aunt Milly was not so much with me; that on board a man-of-war\\nI dare not play tricks, and that I would find it very different from\\nbeing at home with my mother; that Captain Delmar was a very great man,\\nand that I must be very respectful to him; that some day I should thank\\nher very much for her being so kind to me; that she hoped I would behave\\nwell, and that if I did not, she hoped that I would get a good beating.\\n\\nSuch was the burden of her song, till at last I got very tired of it,\\nand on the third evening I broke away from her, saying, \"Law, granny how\\nyou do twaddle!\" upon which she called me a good-for-nothing young\\nblackguard, and felt positively sure that I should be hanged.  The\\nconsequence was, that granny and I did not part good friends; and I\\nsincerely hoped that when I had come back again, I should not find her\\nabove ground.\\n\\nThe next morning I bade farewell to my dear Aunt Milly and Captain\\nBridgeman, received a very ungracious salute from granny, who appeared\\nto think, as she kissed me, that her lips were touching something\\npoisonous, and set off with my mother in the coach to Portsmouth.\\n\\nWe arrived safe at Portsmouth, and my mother immediately took lodgings\\non the Common Hard at Portsea.  The next day, having dressed herself\\nwith great care, with a very thick veil on her bonnet, my mother walked\\nwith me to the George Hotel, where Captain Delmar had taken up his\\nquarters.\\n\\nOn my mother sending up her card, we were immediately ushered upstairs,\\nand on entering the room found the Honourable Captain Delmar sitting\\ndown in full uniform--his sword, and hat, and numerous papers, lying on\\nthe table before him.  On one side of the table stood a lieutenant, hat\\nin hand; on the other, the captain\\'s clerk, with papers for him to sign.\\nMy friend Tommy Dott was standing at the window, chasing a blue-bottle\\nfly, for want of something better to do; and the steward was waiting for\\norders behind the captain\\'s chair.\\n\\nMy mother, who had pulled down her veil, so that her face was not\\nvisible, made a slight courtesy to Captain Delmar, who rose up and\\nadvanced to receive her very graciously, requesting that she would be\\nseated for a minute or two, till he had time to speak to her.\\n\\nI have thought since, that my honourable captain had a mind to impress\\nupon my mother the state and dignity of a captain in his Majesty\\'s\\nservice, when in commission.  He took no notice whatever of me.  Tommy\\nDott gave me a wink of his eye from the window, and I returned the\\ncompliment by putting my tongue into my cheek; but the other parties\\nwere too much occupied with the captain to perceive our friendly\\nrecognition.  Captain Delmar continued to give various orders, and after\\na time the officers attending were dismissed.\\n\\nAs soon as we were alone, my mother was addressed in, I thought, rather\\na pompous way, and very much in contrast with his previous politeness\\nbefore others.  Captain Delmar informed her that he should take me\\nimmediately under his protection, pay all my expenses, and, if I behaved\\nwell, advance me in the service.\\n\\nAt this announcement, my mother expressed a great deal of gratitude,\\nand, shedding a few tears, said, that the boy would in future look up to\\nhim as a parent.  To this speech Captain Delmar made no reply; but,\\nchanging the conversation, told her that he expected to sail in about\\nthree or four days, and that no time must be lost in fitting me out;\\nthat, all things considered, he thought it advisable that she should\\nreturn at once to Chatham, and leave the boy with him as she could not\\nknow what was requisite for me, and would therefore be of no use.\\n\\nAt the idea of parting with me, my mother cried bitterly.  Captain\\nDelmar did then rise off his chair, and taking my mother by the hand\\nspeak to her a few words of consolation.  My mother removed her\\nhandkerchief from her eyes and sighed deeply, saying to Captain Delmar,\\nwith an appealing look, \"Oh!  Captain Delmar, remember that for you I\\nhave indeed made great sacrifices; do not forget them, when you look at\\nthat boy, who is very dear to me.\"\\n\\n\"I will do him justice,\" replied the captain, somewhat affected, \"but I\\nmust insist upon inviolable secrecy on your part; you must promise me\\nthat under any circumstances--\"\\n\\n\"I have obeyed you for thirteen years,\" replied my mother; \"I am not\\nlikely to forget my promise now; it is hard to part with him, but I\\nleave him in the hands of--\"\\n\\n\"You forget the boy is there,\" interrupted Captain Delmar; \"take him\\naway now; to-morrow morning I will send my coxswain for him, and you\\nmust go back to Chatham.\"\\n\\n\"God bless you, sir,\" replied my mother, weeping, as Captain Delmar\\nshook her hand, and then we left the room.  As we were walking back to\\nour lodging, I inquired of my mother--\"What\\'s the secret between you and\\nCaptain Delmar, mother?\"\\n\\n\"The secret, child!  Oh, something which took place at the time I was\\nliving with his aunt, and which he does not wish to have known; so ask\\nme no more questions about it.\"\\n\\nAfter our return, my mother gave me a great deal of advice.  She told me\\nthat, as I had lost my father Ben, I must now look upon Captain Delmar\\nas a father to me; that Ben had been a faithful servant to the captain,\\nand that she had been the same to Mrs Delmar, his aunt; and that was\\nthe reason why Captain Delmar was interested about me, and had promised\\nto do so much for me; begging me to treat him with great respect and\\nnever venture to play him any tricks, or otherwise he would be highly\\noffended, and send me home again; and then I should never rise to be an\\nofficer in his Majesty\\'s service.\\n\\nI cannot say the advice received the attention it deserved, for I felt\\nmore inclined to play tricks to my honourable captain than any person I\\never met with; however, I appeared to consent, and, in return begged my\\nmother to take care of my dog Bob, which she promised to do.\\n\\nMy mother cried a great deal during the night; the next morning she gave\\nme five guineas as pocket-money, recommending me to be careful of it,\\nand telling me I must look to Captain Delmar for my future supply.  She\\ntied up the little linen I had brought with me in a handkerchief, and\\nshortly after the coxswain knocked at the door, and came upstairs to\\nclaim me for his Majesty\\'s service.\\n\\n\"I\\'m come for the youngster, if you please, marm,\" said the coxswain, a\\nfine, tall seaman, remarkably clean and neat in his dress.\\n\\nMy mother put her arms round me, and burst into tears.\\n\\n\"I beg your pardon, marm,\" said the coxswain, after standing silent\\nabout a minute, \"but could not you _do the piping_ after the youngster\\'s\\ngone?  If I stay here long I shall be blowed up by the skipper, as sure\\nas my name\\'s Bob Cross.\"\\n\\n\"I will detain you but a few seconds longer,\" replied my mother; \"I may\\nnever see him again.\"\\n\\n\"Well, that\\'s a fact; my poor mother never did me,\" replied the\\ncoxswain.\\n\\nThis observation did not raise my mother\\'s spirits.  Another pause\\nensued, during which I was bedewed with her tears, when the coxswain\\napproached again--\\n\\n\"I ax your pardon, marm; but if you know anything of Captain Delmar, you\\nmust know he\\'s not a man to be played with, and you would not wish to\\nget me into trouble.  It\\'s a hard thing to part with a child, I\\'m told,\\nbut it wouldn\\'t help me if I said anything about your tears.  If the\\ncaptain were to go to the boat, and find me not there, he\\'d just say,\\n`What were my orders, sir?\\' and after that, you know, marm, there is not\\na word for me to say.\"\\n\\n\"Take him, then, my good man,\" replied my mother, pressing me\\nconvulsively to her heart--\"take him; Heaven bless you, my dear child.\"\\n\\n\"Thanky, marm; that\\'s kind of you,\" replied the coxswain.  \"Come, my\\nlittle fellow, we\\'ll soon make a man of you.\"\\n\\nI once more pressed my lips to my poor mother\\'s, and she resigned me to\\nthe coxswain, at the same time taking some silver off the table and\\nputting it into his hand.\\n\\n\"Thanky, marm; that\\'s kinder still, to think of another when you\\'re in\\ndistress yourself; I shan\\'t forget it.  I\\'ll look after the lad a bit\\nfor you, as sure as my name\\'s Bob Cross.\"\\n\\nMy mother sank down on the sofa, with her handkerchief to her eyes.\\n\\nBob Cross caught up the bundle, and led me away.  I was very melancholy,\\nfor I loved my mother, and could not bear to see her so distressed, and\\nfor some time we walked on without speaking.\\n\\nThe coxswain first broke the silence:--\"What\\'s your name, my little\\nTrojan?\" said he.\\n\\n\"Percival Keene.\"\\n\\n\"Well I\\'m blessed if I didn\\'t think that you were one of the Delmar\\nbreed, by the cut of your jib; howsomever, it\\'s a wise child that knows\\nits own father.\"\\n\\n\"Father\\'s dead,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Dead!  Well, fathers do die sometimes; you must get on how you can\\nwithout one.  I don\\'t think fathers are of much use, for, you see,\\nmothers take care of you till you\\'re old enough to go to sea.  My father\\ndid nothing for me, except to help mother to lick me, when I was\\nobstropolous.\"\\n\\nThe reader, from what he has already been informed about Ben, the\\nmarine, may easily conceive that I was very much of Bob Cross\\'s opinion.\\n\\n\"I suppose you don\\'t know anybody on board--do you?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, I know Tommy Dott--I knew him when the ship was at Chatham.\"\\n\\n\"Oh!  Mr Tommy Dott; I dare say you\\'re just like him, for you look full\\nof mischief.  He\\'s a very nice young man for a small party, as the\\nsaying is; there is more devil in his little carcase than in two\\nwomen\\'s, and that\\'s not a trifle; you\\'ll hunt in couples, I dare say,\\nand get well flogged at the same gun, if you don\\'t take care.  Now, here\\nwe are, and I must report my arrival with you under convoy.\"\\n\\nBob Cross sent a waiter for the captain\\'s steward, who went up to\\nCaptain Delmar.  I was ordered to go upstairs, and again found myself in\\nthe presence of the noble captain, and a very stout elderly man, with a\\nflaxen wig.\\n\\n\"This is the lad,\" said Captain Delmar, when I came into the room and\\nwalked up to him; \"you know exactly what he requires; oblige me by\\nseeing him properly fitted out and the bill sent in to me.\"\\n\\n\"Your orders shall be strictly obeyed, Captain Delmar,\" said the old\\ngentleman, with a profound bow.\\n\\n\"You had better not order too many things, as he is growing fast; it\\nwill be easy to make good any deficiencies as they may be required.\"\\n\\n\"Your orders shall be most strictly obeyed, Captain Delmar,\" replied the\\nold gentleman, with another bow.\\n\\n\"I hardly know what to do with him for to-day and to-morrow, until his\\nuniforms are made,\" continued the captain: \"I suppose he must go on\\nboard.\"\\n\\n\"If you have no objection, Captain Delmar,\" said the old gentleman, with\\nanother low bow, \"I am sure that Mrs Culpepper will be most proud to\\ntake charge of any _protege_ of yours; we have a spare bed, and the\\nyoung gentleman can remain with us until he is ready to embark in the\\nuniform of his rank.\"\\n\\n\"Be it so, Mr Culpepper; let your wife take care of him until all is\\ncomplete, and his chest is ready.  You\\'ll oblige me by arranging about\\nhis mess.\"\\n\\n\"Your wishes shall be most strictly attended to, Captain Delmar,\"\\nreplied Mr Culpepper, with another profound inclination, which made me\\nfeel very much inclined to laugh.\\n\\n\"If you have no further orders, Captain Delmar, I will now take the\\nyoung gentleman with me.\"\\n\\n\"Nothing more, Mr Culpepper--good morning,\" replied Captain Delmar, who\\nneither said how d\\'ye do to me when I came in, or good bye when I went\\naway in company with Mr Culpepper.  I had yet to learn what a thing of\\nno consequence was a \"sucking Nelson.\"\\n\\nI followed Mr Culpepper down stairs, who desired me to remain with the\\ncoxswain, who was standing under the archway, while he spoke to the\\ncaptain\\'s steward.\\n\\n\"Well,\" said Bob Cross, \"what\\'s the ticket, youngster,--are you to go\\nabroad with me?\"\\n\\n\"No,\" said I; \"I am to stay on shore with that old chap, who does\\nnothing but bob his head up and down.  Who is he?\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s our nipcheese.\"\\n\\n\"Nipcheese!\"\\n\\n\"Yes; nipcheese means purser of the ship--you\\'ll find all that out\\nby-and-by; you\\'ve got lots to larn, and, by way of a hint, make him your\\nfriend if you can, for he earwigs the captain in fine style.\"\\n\\nPerceiving that I did not understand him, Bob Cross continued: \"I mean\\nthat our captain\\'s very fond of the officers paying him great respect,\\nand he likes all that bowing and scraping; he don\\'t like officers or men\\nto touch their hats, but to take them right off their heads when they\\nspeak to him.  You see, he\\'s a sprig of nobility, as they call it, and\\nwhat\\'s more he\\'s also a post-captain, and thinks no small beer of\\nhimself; so don\\'t forget what I say--here comes the purser.\"\\n\\nMr Culpepper now came out, and, taking my hand, led me away to his own\\nhouse, which was at Southsea.  He did not speak a word during the walk,\\nbut appeared to be in deep cogitation: at last we arrived at his door.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER FOURTEEN.\\n\\nWhy is it that I detain the reader with Mr Culpepper and his family?  I\\ndon\\'t know, but I certainly have an inclination to linger over every\\nlittle detail of events which occurred upon my first plunging into the\\nsea of life, just as naked boys on the New River side stand shivering a\\nwhile, before they can make up their minds to dash into the unnatural\\nelement; for men are not ducks, although they do show some affinity to\\ngeese by their venturing upon the treacherous fluid.\\n\\nThe door was opened, and I found myself in the presence of Mrs\\nCulpepper and her daughter,--the heiress, as I afterwards discovered, to\\nall Mr Culpepper\\'s savings, which were asserted to be something\\nconsiderable after thirty years\\' employment as purser of various vessels\\nbelonging to his Majesty.\\n\\nMrs Culpepper was in person enormous--she looked like a feather-bed\\nstanding on end; her cheeks were as large as a dinner-plate, eyes almost\\nas imperceptible as a mole\\'s, nose just visible, mouth like a round O.\\nIt was said that she was once a great Devonshire beauty.  Time, who has\\nbeen denominated _Edax rerum_, certainly had as yet left her untouched,\\nreserving her for a _bonne bouche_ on some future occasion.\\n\\nShe sat in a very large arm-chair--indeed, no common-sized chair could\\nhave received her capacious person.  She did not get up when I entered;\\nindeed, as I discovered, she made but two attempts to stand during the\\ntwenty-four hours; one was to come out of her bedroom, which was on the\\nsame floor as the parlour, and the other to go in again.\\n\\nMiss Culpepper was somewhat of her mother\\'s build.  She might have been\\ntwenty years old, and was, for a girl of her age, exuberantly fat; yet\\nas her skin and complexion were not coarse, many thought her handsome;\\nbut she promised to be as large as her mother, and certainly was not at\\nall suited for a wife to a subaltern of a marching regiment.\\n\\n\"Who have we here?\" said Mrs Culpepper to her husband, in a sort of low\\ncroak; for she was so smothered with fat that she could not get her\\nvoice out.\\n\\n\"Well, I hardly know,\" replied the gentleman, wiping his forehead; \"but\\nI\\'ve my own opinion.\"\\n\\n\"Mercy on me, how very like!\" exclaimed Miss Culpepper, looking at me,\\nand then at her father.  \"Would not you like to go into the garden,\\nlittle boy?\" continued she: \"there, through the passage, out of the\\ndoor,--you can\\'t miss it.\"\\n\\nAs this was almost a command, I did not refuse to go; but as soon as I\\nwas in the garden, which was a small patch of ground behind the house,\\nas the window to the parlour was open, and my curiosity was excited by\\ntheir evidently wishing to say something which they did not wish me to\\nhear, I stopped under the window and listened.\\n\\n\"The very picture of him,\" continued the young lady.\\n\\n\"Yes, yes, very like indeed,\" croaked the old one.\\n\\n\"All I know is,\" said Mr Culpepper, \"Captain Delmar has desired me to\\nfit him out, and that he pays all the expenses.\"\\n\\n\"Well, that\\'s another proof,\" said the young lady; \"he wouldn\\'t pay for\\nother people\\'s children.\"\\n\\n\"He was brought down here by a very respectable-looking, I may say\\ninteresting, and rather pretty woman,--I should think about thirty.\"\\n\\n\"Then she must have been handsome when this boy was born,\" replied the\\nyoung lady: \"I consider that another proof.  Where is she?\"\\n\\n\"Went away this morning by the day-coach, leaving the boy with the\\ncaptain, who sent his coxswain for him.\"\\n\\n\"There\\'s mystery about that,\" rejoined the daughter, \"and therefore I\\nconsider it another proof.\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" said Mr Culpepper, \"and a strong one too.  Captain Delmar is so\\nhigh and mighty, that he would not have it thought that he could ever\\ncondescend to have an intrigue with one beneath him in rank and station,\\nand he has sent her away on that account, depend upon it.\"\\n\\n\"Just so; and if that boy is not a son of Captain Delmar, I\\'m not a\\nwoman.\"\\n\\n\"I am of that opinion,\" replied the father, \"and therefore I offered to\\ntake charge of him, as the captain did not know what to do with him till\\nhis uniform was ready.\"\\n\\n\"Well,\" replied Miss Culpepper, \"I\\'ll soon find out more.  I\\'ll pump\\neverything that he knows out of him before he leaves us; I know how to\\nput that and that together.\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" croaked the fat mother; \"Medea knows how to put that and that\\ntogether, as well as any one.\"\\n\\n\"You must be very civil and very kind to him,\" said Mr Culpepper; \"for\\ndepend upon it, the very circumstance of the captain\\'s being compelled\\nto keep the boy at a distance will make him feel more fond of him.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'ve no patience with the men in that respect,\" observed the young\\nlady: \"how nobility can so demean themselves I can\\'t think; no wonder\\nthey are ashamed of what they have done, and will not acknowledge their\\nown offspring.\"\\n\\n\"No, indeed,\" croaked the old lady.\\n\\n\"If a woman has the misfortune to yield to her inclinations, they don\\'t\\nlet her off so easily,\" exclaimed Miss Medea.\\n\\n\"No, indeed,\" croaked the mamma again.\\n\\n\"Men make the laws and break them,\" continued Miss Culpepper.  \"Mere\\nbrute strength, even in the most civilised society.  If all women had\\nonly the spirit that I have, there would be a little alteration, and\\nmore justice.\"\\n\\n\"I can\\'t pretend to argue with you, Medea,\" replied Mr Culpepper; \"I\\ntake the world as I find it, and make the best of it.  I must go now,--\\nmy steward is waiting for me at the victualling office.  Just brush my\\nhat a little, Medea, the wind has raised the nap, and then I\\'ll be off.\"\\n\\nI walked very softly from the window; a new light had burst upon me.\\nYoung as I was, I also could put that and that together.  I called to\\nmind the conduct of my mother towards her husband Ben; the dislike of my\\ngrandmother to Captain Delmar; the occasional conversations I had\\noverheard; the question of my mother checked before it was finished--\"If\\nI knew who it was that I had been playing the trick to;\" the visits my\\nmother received from Captain Delmar, who was so haughty and distant to\\neverybody; his promise to provide for me, and my mother\\'s injunctions to\\nme to be obedient and look up to him as a father, and the remarks of the\\ncoxswain, Bob Cross,--\"If I were not of the Delmar breed:\" all this,\\nadded to what I had just overheard, satisfied me that they were not\\nwrong in their conjectures, and that I really was the son of the\\nhonourable captain.\\n\\nMy mother had gone; I would have given worlds to have gained this\\ninformation before, that I might have questioned her, and obtained the\\ntruth from her; but that was now impossible, and I felt convinced that\\nwriting was of no use.  I recollected the conversation between her and\\nthe Captain, in which she promised to keep the secret, and the answer\\nshe gave me when I questioned her; nothing, then, but my tears and\\nentreaties could have any effect, and those, I knew, were powerful over\\nher; neither would it be of any use to ask Aunt Milly, for she would not\\ntell her sister\\'s secrets, so I resolved to say nothing about it for the\\npresent; and I did not forget that Mr Culpepper had said that Captain\\nDelmar would be annoyed if it was supposed that I was his son; I\\nresolved, therefore, that I would not let him imagine that I knew\\nanything about it, or had any idea of it.\\n\\nI remained more than an hour in deep thought, and it was strange what a\\ntumult there was in my young heart at this discovery.  I hardly\\ncomprehended the nature of my position, yet I felt pleased on the whole;\\nI felt as if I were of more importance; nay, that I was more capable of\\nthinking and acting than I was twenty-four hours before.\\n\\nMy reveries were, however, disturbed by Miss Medea, who came to the\\nback-door and asked me if I was not tired of walking, and if I would not\\nlike to come in.\\n\\n\"Are you not hungry, Master Keene?  Would you like to have a nice piece\\nof cake and a glass of currant wine before dinner?  We shall not dine\\ntill three o\\'clock.\"\\n\\n\"If you please,\" replied I: for I would not refuse the bribe, although I\\nhad a perfect knowledge why it was offered.\\n\\nMiss Medea brought the cake and wine.  As soon as I had despatched them,\\nwhich did not take very long, she commenced her pumping, as I had\\nanticipated, and which I was determined to thwart, merely out of\\nopposition.\\n\\n\"You were sorry to leave your mamma, weren\\'t you, Master Keene?\"\\n\\n\"Yes; very sorry, miss.\"\\n\\n\"Where\\'s your papa, dearest?  He\\'s a very pretty boy, mamma, ain\\'t he?\"\\ncontinued the young lady, putting her fingers through my chestnut curls.\\n\\n\"Yes; handsome boy,\" croaked the old lady.\\n\\n\"Papa\\'s dead.\"\\n\\n\"Dead!  I thought so,\" observed Miss Medea, winking at her mother.\\n\\n\"Did you ever see your papa, dearest?\"\\n\\n\"Oh yes; he went to sea about eighteen months ago, and he was killed in\\naction.\"\\n\\nAfter this came on a series of questions and cross-questions; I replied\\nto her so as to make it appear that Ben was my father, and nobody else,\\nalthough I had then a very different opinion.  The fact was, I was\\ndetermined that I would not be pumped, and I puzzled them, for I stated\\nthat my aunt Milly was married to Captain Bridgeman, of the marines; and\\nnot till then did Miss Medea ask me what my father was.  My reply was\\nthat he had also been in the marines, and they consequently put him down\\nas a marine officer, as well as Captain Bridgeman.\\n\\nThis added so much to the respectability of my family, that they were\\nquite mystified, and found that it was not quite so easy to put that and\\nthat together as they had thought.\\n\\nAs soon as they were tired of questioning, they asked me if I would not\\nlike to take another turn in the garden, to which I consented; and,\\nplacing myself under the window as before, I heard Miss Medea say to her\\nmother--\\n\\n\"Father\\'s always finding out some mare\\'s nest or another; and because\\nthere is some likeness to the captain, he has, in his great wit, made an\\nimportant discovery.  It\\'s quite evident that he\\'s wrong, as he\\ngenerally is.  It\\'s not very likely that Captain Delmar should have had\\nan intrigue with the wife of a marine officer, and her sister married\\nalso into the corps.  The widow has brought him down herself, it is\\ntrue, but that proves nothing; who else was to bring him down, if it was\\nnot his mother? and the very circumstance of her going away so soon\\nproves that she felt it improper that she should remain; and, in my\\nopinion, that she is a modest, interesting young woman, in whom Captain\\nDelmar has taken an interest.  I wish father would not come here with\\nhis nonsensical ideas, telling us to make much of the boy.\"\\n\\n\"Very true, Medea,\" replied the mother; \"you might have saved that cake\\nand wine.\"\\n\\nThinks I to myself, you have not pumped me, and I never felt more\\ndelighted than at having outwitted them.  I thought it, however, prudent\\nto walk away from the window.\\n\\nShortly afterwards, Mr Culpepper returned, accompanied by one of the\\nnumerous Portsmouth fitting-out tailors.  I was summoned; the tailor\\npresented a list of what he declared to be absolutely necessary for the\\noutfit of a gentleman.\\n\\nMr Culpepper struck out two-thirds of the articles, and desired the\\nremainder to be ready on the Friday morning, it being then Wednesday.\\nThe tailor promised faithfully, and Mr Culpepper also promised most\\nfaithfully, that if the articles were not ready, they would be left on\\nhis hands.  As soon as the tailor had gone, Miss Medea asked me if I\\nwould not like to take another run in the garden.  I knew that she\\nwished to speak to her father, and therefore had a pleasure in\\ndisappointing her.  I therefore replied, that I had been there nearly\\nthe whole day, and did not wish to go out any more.\\n\\n\"Never mind whether you wish it or not; I wish you to go,\" replied Miss\\nMedea, tartly.\\n\\n\"Medea, how can you be so rude?\" cried Mr Culpepper; \"surely Mr Keene\\nmay do as he pleases.  I\\'m surprised at you, Medea.\"\\n\\n\"And I\\'m surprised at you, papa, finding out a mystery when there is\\nnone,\" replied Miss Medea, very cross.  \"All you said this morning, and\\nall your surmises, have turned out to be all moonshine.  Yes, you may\\nlook, papa; I tell you--all moonshine.\"\\n\\n\"Why, Medea, what nonsense you are talking,\" replied Mr Culpepper.\\n\\n\"Medea\\'s right,\" croaked Mrs Culpepper; \"all moonshine.\"\\n\\n\"So you need not be so very particular, papa, I can tell you,\" rejoined\\nMiss Medea, who then whispered in her father\\'s ear, loud enough for me\\nto hear, \"No such thing, nothing but a regular marine.\"\\n\\n\"Pooh, nonsense,\" replied the purser, in a low voice; \"the boy has been\\ntaught to say it--he\\'s too clever for you, Medea.\"\\n\\nAt this very true remark of her father\\'s, Miss Medea swelled into a\\ntowering passion, her whole face, neck, and shoulders--for she wore a\\nlow gown in the morning--turning to a fiery scarlet.  I never saw such a\\nfury as she appeared to be.  She rushed by me so roughly, that I was\\nthrown back a couple of paces, and then she bounced out of the room.\\n\\n\"Medea knows how to put that and that together, Mr Culpepper,\" croaked\\nout Mrs Culpepper.\\n\\n\"Medea\\'s wise in her own conceit, and you\\'re a regular old fool,\"\\nrejoined Mr Culpepper, with asperity; \"one too knowing and the other\\nnot half knowing enough.  Master Keene, I hope you are hungry, for we\\nhave a very nice dinner.  Do you like ducks and green peas?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir, very much,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Were you born at Chatham, Master Keene?\"\\n\\n\"No, sir, I was born at the Hall, near Southampton.  My mother was\\nbrought up by old Mrs Delmar, the captain\\'s aunt.\"\\n\\nI gave this intelligence on purpose; as I knew it would puzzle Miss\\nMedea, who had just returned from the kitchen.\\n\\nMr Culpepper nodded his head triumphantly to his daughter and wife, who\\nboth appeared dumb-founded at this new light thrown upon the affair.\\n\\nMiss Medea paused a moment and then said to me,--\"I wish to ask you one\\nquestion, Master Keene.\"\\n\\n\"I will not answer any more of your questions, miss,\" replied I; \"You\\nhave been questioning me all the morning, and just now, you were so rude\\nas nearly to push me down.  If you want to know anything more, ask\\nCaptain Delmar; or, if you wish it, I will ask Captain Delmar whether I\\nam to answer you, and if he says I am, I will, but not without.\"\\n\\nThis was a decided blow on my part; mother and Medea both looked\\nfrightened, and Mr Culpepper was more alarmed than either of the\\nfemales.  It proved to them that I knew what they were inquiring for,\\nwhich was to them also proof that I also knew who I was; and further, my\\nreference to Captain Delmar satisfied them that I felt sure of his\\nsupport, and they knew that he would be very much irritated if I told\\nhim on what score they had been pumping me.\\n\\n\"You are very right, Master Keene,\" said Mr Culpepper, turning very\\nred, \"to refuse to answer any questions you don\\'t like; and, Medea, I\\'m\\nsurprised at your behaviour; I insist upon it you do not annoy Master\\nKeene with any more of your impertinent curiosity.\"\\n\\n\"No, no,\" croaked the old lady; \"hold your tongue, Medea, hold your\\ntongue.\"\\n\\nMiss Medea, who looked as if she could tear my eyes out if she dared,\\nswallowed down her rage as well as she could.  She was mortified at\\nfinding she had made a mistake, annoyed at my answering her so boldly,\\nand frightened at her father\\'s anger; for the old gentleman was very apt\\nto vent it in the _argumentum ad feminam_, and box her ears soundly.\\n\\nFortunately dinner was served just at this moment, and this gave a turn\\nto the conversation, and also to their thoughts.  Mr Culpepper was all\\nattention, and Miss Medea, gradually recovering her temper, also became\\naffable and condescending.\\n\\nThe evening passed away very agreeably; but I went to bed early, as I\\nwished to be left to my own reflections, and it was not till daylight\\nthat I could compose my troubled mind so as to fall asleep.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER FIFTEEN.\\n\\nAlthough the aversion which I had taken to the whole Culpepper family\\nwas so great, that I could have done anything to annoy them, my mind was\\nnow so fully occupied with the information which I had collected\\nrelative to my supposed birth and parentage, that I could not think of\\nmischief.\\n\\nI walked on the common or in the little garden during the whole of the\\nfollowing day, plunged in deep thought, and at night, when I went to\\nbed, I remained awake till the dawn.  During these last two days I had\\nthought and reflected more than I had perhaps done from the hour of my\\nbirth.\\n\\nThat I was better off than I should have been if I had been the son of a\\nprivate in the marines, I felt convinced; but still I had a feeling that\\nI was in a position in which I might be subjected to much insult, and\\nthat, unless I was acknowledged by my aristocratic parent, my connection\\nwith his family would be of no use to me;--and Captain Delmar, how was I\\nto behave to him?  I did not like him much, that was certain, nor did\\nthis new light which had burst forth make me feel any more love for him\\nthan I did before.  Still my mother\\'s words at Chatham rung in my ears,\\n\"Do you know who it is that you have been?\" etcetera.  I felt sure that\\nhe was my father, and I felt a sort of duty towards him; perhaps an\\nincrease of respect.\\n\\nThese were anxious thoughts for a boy not fourteen; and the Culpeppers\\nremarked, that I had not only looked very pale, but had actually grown\\nthin in the face during my short stay.\\n\\nAs I was very quiet and reserved after the first day, they were very\\nglad when my clothes were brought home, and I was reported ready to\\nembark; so was I, for I wanted to go on board and see my friend Tommy\\nDott, with whom I intended, if the subject was brought up, to consult as\\nto my proceedings, or perhaps I thought it would be better to consult\\nBob Cross, the captain\\'s coxswain; I was not sure that I should not\\nadvise with them both.\\n\\nI had made up my mind how to behave to my mother.  I knew that she would\\nnever acknowledge the truth, after what had passed between the captain\\nand her when I was present; but I was resolved that I would let her know\\nthat I was in the secret; and I thought that the reply to me would be a\\nguide as to the correctness of the fact, which, with all the hastiness\\nof boyhood, I considered as incontrovertible, although I had not the\\nleast positive proof.\\n\\nThe day that I was to go on board, I requested Miss Culpepper to give me\\na sheet of paper, that I might write to my mother; she supplied me very\\nreadily, saying, \"You had better let me see if you make any mistake in\\nyour spelling before the letter goes; your mamma will be so pleased if\\nyou write your letter properly.\"  She then went down into the kitchen to\\ngive some orders.\\n\\nAs I had not the slightest intention that she should read what I wrote,\\nand resolved to have it in the post before she came up again, I was very\\nconcise in my epistle, which was as follows:--\\n\\n  \"Dear Mother:--I have found it all out--I am the son of Captain\\n  Delmar, and everyone here knows what you have kept a secret from me.\\n  I go on board to-day.\\n\\n  \"Yours truly, P. KEENE.\"\\n\\nThis was very short, and, it must be admitted, direct to the point.  I\\ncould not perhaps have written one which was so calculated to give my\\nmother uneasiness.\\n\\nAs soon as it was finished, I folded it up, and lighted a taper to seal\\nit.  Old Mrs Culpepper, who was in the room, croaked out, \"No, no; you\\nmust show it to Medea.\"  But I paid no attention to her, and having\\nsealed my letter, put on my hat, and walked out to the post-office.  I\\ndropped it into the box, and, on returning, found Mr Culpepper coming\\nhome, accompanied by Bob Cross, the captain\\'s coxswain, and two of the\\nboat\\'s crew.\\n\\nAs I presumed, they were sent for me; I joined them immediately, and was\\nkindly greeted by Bob Cross, who said:--\\n\\n\"Well, Mr Keene, are you all ready for shipping?  We\\'ve come for your\\ntraps.\"\\n\\n\"All ready,\" replied I, \"and very glad to go, for I\\'m tired of staying\\non shore doing nothing.\"\\n\\nWe were soon at the house; the seamen carried away my chest and bedding,\\nwhile Bob Cross remained a little while, that I might pay my farewell to\\nthe ladies.\\n\\nThe ceremony was not attended with much regret on either side.  Miss\\nCulpepper could not help asking me why I did not show her my letter, and\\nI replied, that there were secrets in it, which answer did not at all\\nadd to her good temper; our adieus were, therefore, anything but\\naffectionate, and before the men with my effects were a hundred yards in\\nadvance, Bob Cross and I were at their heels.\\n\\n\"Well, Master Keene,\" said Bob, as we wended our way across South Sea\\nCommon, \"how do you like the purser\\'s ladies?\"\\n\\n\"Not at all,\" replied I; \"they have done nothing but try to pump me the\\nwhole time I have been there; but they did not make much of it.\"\\n\\n\"Women will be curious, Master Keene--pray what did they try to pump\\nabout?\"\\n\\nI hardly knew how to reply, and I hesitated.  I felt a strong\\ninclination towards Bob Cross, and I had before reflected whether I\\nshould make him my confidant; still, I was undecided and made no reply,\\nwhen Bob Cross answered for me:--\\n\\n\"Look ye, child--for although you\\'re going on the quarter-deck, and I am\\nbefore the mast, you are a child compared to me--I can tell you what\\nthey tried to pump about, as well as you can tell me, if you choose.\\nAccording to my thinking, there\\'s no lad on board the frigate that will\\nrequire good advice as you will; and I tell you candidly, you will have\\nyour cards to play.  Bob Cross is no fool, and can see as far through a\\nfog as most chaps; I like you for yourself as far as I see of you, and I\\nhave not forgotten your mother\\'s kindness to me, when she had her own\\nmisery to occupy her thoughts; not that I wanted the money--it wasn\\'t\\nthe money, but the way and the circumstances under which it was given.\\nI told you I\\'d look after you a bit--a bit means a great deal with me--\\nand so I will, if you choose that I shall; if not, I shall touch my hat\\nto you, as my officer, which won\\'t help you very much.  So, now you have\\nto settle, my lad, whether you will have me as your friend, or not.\"\\n\\nThe appeal quite decided me.  \"Bob Cross,\" replied I.  \"I do wish to\\nmake you my friend; I thought of it before, but I did not know whether\\nto go to you or to Tommy Dott.\"\\n\\n\"Tommy Dott!  Well, Master Keene, that\\'s not very flattering, to put me\\nin one scale, and Tommy Dott in the other; I\\'m not surprised at its\\nweighing down in my favour.  If you wish to get into mischief you can\\'t\\napply to a better hand than Tommy Dott; but Tommy Dott is not half so\\nfit to advise you, as you are, I expect, to advise him; so make him your\\nplaymate and companion, if you please, but as to his advice, it\\'s not\\nworth asking.  However, as you have given me the preference, I will now\\ntell you that the Culpepper people have been trying to find out who is\\nyour father.  Ain\\'t I right?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, you are,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Well, then, this is no time to talk about such things; we shall be down\\nto the boat in another minute, so we\\'ll say no more at present; only\\nrecollect, when you are on board, if they talk about appointing a man to\\ntake charge of your hammock, say that Bob Cross, the captain\\'s coxswain,\\nis, you understand, to be the person; say that and no more.  I will tell\\nyou why by-and-by, when we have time to talk together and if any of your\\nmessmates say anything to you on the same point which the Culpeppers\\nhave been working at, make no reply and hold yourself very stiff.  Now,\\nhere we are at the sally port, so there\\'s an end to our palaver for the\\npresent.\"\\n\\nMy chest and bedding were already in the boat, and as soon as Cross and\\nI had stepped in he ordered the bowman to shove off; in half an hour we\\narrived alongside the frigate, which lay at Spithead, bright with new\\npaint, and with her pennant proudly flying to the breeze.\\n\\n\"You\\'d better follow me, sir, and mind you touch your hat when the\\nofficers speak to you,\" said Bob Cross, ascending the accommodation\\nladder.  I did so, and found myself on the quarter deck, in the presence\\nof the first lieutenant and several of the officers.\\n\\n\"Well, Cross,\" said the first lieutenant.\\n\\n\"I\\'ve brought a young gentleman on board to join the ship.  Captain\\nDelmar has, I believe, given his orders about him.\"\\n\\n\"Mr Keene, I presume?\" said the first lieutenant, eyeing me from head\\nto foot.\\n\\n\"Yes, sir,\" replied I, touching my hat.\\n\\n\"How long have you been at Portsmouth?\"\\n\\n\"Three days, sir; I have been staying at Mr Culpepper\\'s.\"\\n\\n\"Well, did you fall in love with Miss Culpepper?\"\\n\\n\"No, sir,\" replied I; \"I hate her.\"\\n\\nAt this answer the first lieutenant and the officers near him burst out\\na-laughing.\\n\\n\"Well, youngster, you must dine with us in the gun-room to-day; and\\nwhere\\'s Mr Dott?\"\\n\\n\"Here, sir,\" said Tommy Dott, coming from the other side of the\\nquarter-deck.\\n\\n\"Mr Dott, take this young gentleman down below, and show him the\\nmidshipmen\\'s berth.  Let me see, who is to take care of his hammock?\"\\n\\n\"I believe that Bob Cross is to take care of it, sir,\" said I.\\n\\n\"The captain\\'s coxswain--humph.  Well, that\\'s settled at all events;\\nvery good--we shall have the pleasure of your company to dinner, Mr\\nKeene.  Why, Mr Dott and you look as if you knew each other.\"\\n\\n\"Don\\'t we, Tommy?\" said I to the midshipman, grinning.\\n\\n\"I suspect that there is a pair of you,\" said the first lieutenant,\\nturning aft and walking away; after which Tommy and I went down the\\ncompanion ladder as fast as we could, and in a few seconds afterwards\\nwere sitting together on the same chest, in most intimate conversation.\\n\\nMy extreme resemblance to our honourable captain was not unobserved by\\nthe officers who were on the quarter-deck at the time of my making my\\nappearance; and, as I afterwards heard from Bob Cross, he was sent for\\nby the surgeon, on some pretence or another, to obtain any information\\nrelative to me.  What were Bob Cross\\'s reasons for answering as he did I\\ncould not at that time comprehend, but he explained them to me\\nafterwards.\\n\\n\"Who brought him down, Cross?\" said the surgeon, carelessly.\\n\\n\"His own mother, sir; he has no father, sir, I hear.\"\\n\\n\"Did you see her?  What sort of a person was she?\"\\n\\n\"Well, sir,\" replied Bob Cross, \"I\\'ve seen many ladies of quality, but\\nsuch a real lady I don\\'t think I ever set my eyes upon before; and such\\na beauty--I\\'d marry to-morrow if I could take in tow a craft like her.\"\\n\\n\"How did they come down to Portsmouth?\"\\n\\n\"Why, sir, she came down to Portsmouth in a coach and four; but she\\nwalked to the George Hotel, as if she was nobody.\"\\n\\nThis was not a fib on the part of the coxswain, for we came down by the\\nPortsmouth coach; it did, however, deceive the surgeon, as was intended.\\n\\n\"Did you see anything of her, Cross?\"\\n\\n\"Not when she was with the captain, sir, but at her own lodgings I did;\\nsuch a generous lady I never met with.\"\\n\\nA few more questions were put, all of which were replied to in much the\\nsame strain by the coxswain, so as to make out my mother to be a very\\nimportant and mysterious personage.  It is true that Tommy Dott could\\nhave contradicted all this; but, in the first place, it was not very\\nlikely that there would be any communication upon the point between him\\nand the officers; and in the next I cautioned him to say nothing about\\nwhat he knew, which, as he was strongly attached to me, he strictly\\ncomplied with: so Bob Cross completely mystified the surgeon, who, of\\ncourse, made his report to his messmates.\\n\\nMr Culpepper\\'s report certainly differed somewhat from that of Bob\\nCross.  There was my statement of my aunt being married to a marine\\nofficer--but it was my statement; there was also my statement of my\\nmother residing with Captain Delmar\\'s aunt; altogether there was doubt\\nand mystery; and it ended in my mother being supposed to be a much\\ngreater person than she really was--everything tending to prove her a\\nlady of rank being willingly received, and all counter-statements looked\\nupon as apocryphal and false.\\n\\nBut whoever my mother might be, on one point every one agreed, which\\nwas, that I was the son of the Honourable Captain Delmar, and on this\\npoint I was equally convinced myself.  I waited with some anxiety for my\\nmother\\'s reply to my letter, which arrived two days after I had joined\\nthe frigate.  It was as follows:--\\n\\n  \"My dear Percival:--\\n\\n  \"You little know the pain and astonishment which I felt upon receipt\\n  of your very unkind and insulting letter; surely you could not have\\n  reflected at the time you wrote it, but must have penned it in a\\n  moment of irritation arising from some ungenerous remark which has\\n  been made in your hearing.\\n\\n  \"Alas, my dear child, you will find, now that you have commenced your\\n  career in life, that there are too many whose only pleasure is to\\n  inflict pain upon their fellow-creatures.  I only can imagine that\\n  some remark has been made in your presence, arising from there being a\\n  similarity of features between you and the Honourable Captain Delmar;\\n  that there is so has been before observed by others.  Indeed your\\n  uncle and aunt Bridgeman were both struck with the resemblance, when\\n  Captain Delmar arrived at Chatham; but this proves nothing, my dear\\n  child--people are very often alike, who have never seen each other, or\\n  heard each other mentioned, till they have by accident been thrown\\n  together so as to be compared.\\n\\n  \"It may certainly be, as your father was in the service of Captain\\n  Delmar, and constantly attended upon him, and indeed I may add as I\\n  was occasionally seeing him, that the impression of his countenance\\n  might be constantly in our memory, and--but you don\\'t understand such\\n  questions, and therefore I will say no more, except that you will\\n  immediately dismiss from your thoughts any such idea.\\n\\n  \"You forget, my dearest boy, that you are insulting me by supposing\\n  any such thing, and that your mother\\'s honour is called in question; I\\n  am sure you never thought of that when you wrote those hasty and\\n  inconsiderate lines.  I must add, my dear boy, that knowing Captain\\n  Delmar, and how proud and sensitive he is, if it should ever come to\\n  his knowledge that you had suspected or asserted what you have, his\\n  favour and protection would be lost to you for ever: at present he is\\n  doing a kind and charitable action in bringing forward the son of a\\n  faithful servant; but if he imagined for a moment that you were\\n  considered related to him he would cast you off for ever, and all your\\n  prospects in life would be ruined.\\n\\n  \"Even allowing it possible that you were what you so madly stated\\n  yourself in your letter to be, I am convinced he would do so.  If such\\n  a report came to his ears, he would immediately disavow you, and leave\\n  you to find your own way in the world.\\n\\n  \"You see, therefore, my dear boy, how injurious to you in every way\\n  such a ridiculous surmise must prove, and I trust that, not only for\\n  your own sake, but for your mother\\'s character, you will, so far from\\n  giving credence, indignantly disavow what must be a source of mischief\\n  and annoyance to all parties.\\n\\n  \"Captain Bridgeman desires me to say, that he is of my opinion, so is\\n  your aunt Milly: as for your grandmother, of course, I dare not show\\n  her your letter.  Write to me, my dear boy, and tell me how this\\n  unfortunate mistake happened, and believe me to be your affectionate\\n  mother, ARABELLA KEENE.\"\\n\\nI read this letter over ten times before I came to any conclusion; at\\nlast I said to myself, there is not in any one part of it any positive\\ndenial of the fact, and resolved some future day, when I had had some\\nconversation with Bob Cross, to show it to him, and ask his opinion.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER SIXTEEN.\\n\\nThe next morning, at daylight, the blue Peter was hoisted at the\\nforemast, and the gun fired as a signal for sailing; all was bustle--\\nhoisting in, clearing boats of stock, and clearing the ship of women and\\nstrangers.\\n\\nAt ten o\\'clock Captain Delmar made his appearance, the hands were piped\\nup anchor, and in half an hour we were standing out for St. Helen\\'s.\\nBefore night it blew very fresh, and we went rolling down the Channel\\nbefore an easterly wind.  I went to my hammock very sick, and did not\\nrecover for several days, during which nobody asked for me, or any\\nquestions about me, except Bob Cross and Tommy Dott.\\n\\nAs soon as I was well enough, I made my appearance on deck, and was\\nordered by the first lieutenant to do my duty under the signal\\nmidshipman: this was day duty, and not very irksome; I learnt the flags,\\nand how to use a spy-glass.\\n\\nWe were charged with despatches for the fleet, then off Cadiz, and on\\nthe tenth day we fell in with it, remained a week in company, and then\\nwere ordered to Gibraltar and Malta.  From Malta we went home again with\\ndespatches, having been out three months.\\n\\nDuring this short and pleasant run, I certainly did not learn much of my\\nprofession, but I did learn a little of the ways of the world.  First,\\nas to Captain Delmar, his conduct to me was anything but satisfactory;\\nhe never inquired for me during the time that I was unwell, and took no\\nnotice of me on my reappearance.\\n\\nThe officers and young gentlemen, as midshipmen are called, were asked\\nto dine in the cabin in rotation, and I did in consequence dine two or\\nthree times in the cabin; but it appeared to me, as if the captain\\npurposely took no notice of me, although he generally did say a word or\\ntwo to the others; moreover as the signal mids were up in the morning\\nwatch, he would occasionally send to invite one of the others to\\nbreakfast with him, but he never paid me that compliment.\\n\\nThis annoyed me, and I spoke of it to Bob Cross, with whom I had had\\nsome long conversations.  I had told him all I knew relative to myself,\\nwhat my suspicions were, and I had shown him my mother\\'s reply.  His\\nopinion on the subject may be given in what follows:--\\n\\n\"You see, Master Keene, you are in an awkward position; the captain is a\\nvery proud man, and too proud to acknowledge that you are any way\\nrelated to him.  It\\'s my opinion, from what you have told me, and from\\nother reasons, particularly from your likeness to the captain, that your\\nsuspicions are correct; but, what then?  Your mother is sworn to\\nsecrecy--that\\'s clear; and the captain won\\'t own you--that\\'s also very\\nclear.  I had some talk with the captain\\'s steward on the subject when I\\nwas taking a glass of grog with him the other night in this berth.  It\\nwas he that brought up the subject, not me, and he said, that the\\ncaptain not asking you to breakfast, and avoiding you, as it were, was\\nanother proof that you belonged to him; and the wishing to hide the\\nsecret only makes him behave as he does.  You have a difficult game to\\nplay, Master Keene; but you are a clever lad, and you ask advice--mind\\nyou follow it, or it\\'s little use asking it.  You must always be very\\nrespectful to Captain Delmar, and keep yourself at as great a distance\\nfrom him as he does from you.\"\\n\\n\"That I\\'m sure I will,\" replied I, \"for I dislike him very much.\"\\n\\n\"No, you must not do that, but you must bend to circumstances; by-and-by\\nthings will go on better; but mind you keep on good terms with the\\nofficers, and never be saucy, or they may say to you what may not be\\npleasant; recollect this, and things will go on better, as I said\\nbefore.  If Captain Delmar protects you with his interest, you will be a\\ncaptain over the heads of many who are now your superiors on board of\\nthis frigate.  One thing be careful of, which is, to keep your own\\ncounsel, and don\\'t be persuaded in a moment of confidence to trust\\nanything to Tommy Dott, or any other midshipman; and if any one hints at\\nwhat you suppose, deny it immediately; nay, if necessary, fight for it--\\nthat will be the way to please the captain, for you will be of his side\\nthen, and not against him.\"\\n\\nThat this advice of Bob Cross was the best that could be given to one in\\nmy position there could not be a doubt; and that I did resolve to follow\\nit, is most certain.  I generally passed away a portion of my leisure\\nhours in Bob\\'s company, and became warmly attached to him; and certainly\\nmy time was not thrown away, for I learnt a great deal from him.\\n\\nOne evening, as I was leaning against one of the guns on the main deck,\\nwaiting for Cross to come out of the cabin, I was amused with the\\nfollowing conversation between a boatswain\\'s mate and a fore-top man.  I\\nshall give it verbatim.  They were talking of one that was dead; and\\nafter the boatswain\\'s mate had said--\\n\\n\"Well, he\\'s in heaven, poor fellow.\"\\n\\nAfter a pause, the fore-top man said--\\n\\n\"I wonder, Bill, whether I shall ever go to heaven?\"\\n\\n\"Why not?\" replied the boatswain\\'s mate.\\n\\n\"Why, the parson says it\\'s good works; now, I certainly have been a\\npretty many times in action, and I have killed plenty of Frenchmen in my\\ntime.\"\\n\\n\"Well, that\\'s sufficient, I should think; I hold my hopes upon just the\\nsame claims.  I\\'ve cut down fifty Frenchmen in my life, and if that\\nain\\'t good works, I don\\'t know what is.\"\\n\\n\"I suppose Nelson\\'s in heaven?\"\\n\\n\"Of course; if so be he wishes to be there, I should like to know who\\nwould keep him out, if he was determined on it; no, no; depend upon it\\nhe walked _slap_ in.\"\\n\\nOn our return to Portsmouth, the captain went up to the Admiralty with\\nthe despatches, the frigate remaining at Spithead, ready to sail at a\\nmoment\\'s notice.\\n\\nI was now quite accustomed to the ship and officers; the conviction I\\nhad of my peculiar position, together with the advice of Bob Cross, had\\nvery much subdued my spirit; perhaps the respect created by discipline,\\nand the example of others, which produced in me a degree of awe of the\\ncaptain and the lieutenants, assisted a little--certain it is, that I\\ngained the goodwill of my messmates, and had not been in any scrape\\nduring the whole cruise.\\n\\nThe first lieutenant was a stern, but not unkind man; he would blow you\\nup, as we termed it, when he scolded for half an hour without ceasing.\\nI never knew a man with such a flow of words; but if permitted to go on\\nwithout interruption, he was content, without proceeding to further\\npunishment.  Any want of respect, however, was peculiarly offensive to\\nhim, and any attempt to excuse yourself was immediately cut short with,\\n\"No reply, sir.\"\\n\\nThe second day after our return to Spithead, I was sent on shore in the\\ncutter to bring off a youngster who was to join the ship; he had never\\nbeen to sea before; his name was Green, and he was as green as a\\ngooseberry.  I took a dislike to him the moment that I saw him, because\\nhe had a hooked nose and very small ferrety eyes.  As we were pulling on\\nboard he asked me a great many questions of all kinds, particularly\\nabout the captain and officers, and to amuse myself and the boat\\'s crew,\\nwho were on the full titter, I exercised my peculiar genius for\\ninvention.\\n\\nAt last, after I had given a character of the first lieutenant, which\\nmade him appear a sort of marine ogre, he asked how it was I got on with\\nhim:--\\n\\n\"O, very well,\" replied I; \"but I\\'m a freemason, and so is he, and he\\'s\\nnever severe with a brother mason.\"\\n\\n\"But how did he know you were a mason?\"\\n\\n\"I made the sign to him the very first time that he began to scold me,\\nand he left off almost immediately; that is, when I made the second\\nsign; he did not when I made the first.\"\\n\\n\"I should like to know these signs.  Won\\'t you tell them to me?\"\\n\\n\"Tell them to you! oh no, that won\\'t do,\" replied I.  \"I don\\'t know you.\\nHere we are on board--in bow,--rowed of all, men.  Now, Mr Green, I\\'ll\\nshow you the way up.\"\\n\\nMr Green was presented, and ushered into the service much in the same\\nway as I was; but he had not forgotten what I said to him relative to\\nthe first lieutenant; and it so happened that, on the third day he\\nwitnessed a jobation, delivered by the first lieutenant to one of the\\nmidshipmen, who, venturing to reply, was ordered to the mast-head for\\nthe remainder of the day; added to which, a few minutes afterwards, the\\nfirst lieutenant ordered two men to be put both legs in irons.  Mr\\nGreen trembled as he saw the men led away by the master-at-arms, and he\\ncame to me:\\n\\n\"I do wish, Keene, you would tell me those signs,\" said he; \"can\\'t you\\nbe persuaded to part with them?  I\\'ll give you any thing that I have\\nwhich you may like.\"\\n\\n\"Well,\" said I, \"I should like to have that long spy-glass of yours, for\\nit\\'s a very good one; and, as signal-midshipman, will be useful to me.\"\\n\\n\"I will give it you with all my heart,\" replied he, \"if you will tell me\\nthe signs.\"\\n\\n\"Well, then, come down below, give me the glass, and I will tell them to\\nyou.\"\\n\\nMr Green and I went down to the berth, and I received the spy-glass as\\na present in due form.  I then led him to my chest in the steerage, and\\nin a low, confidential tone, told him as follows:--\\n\\n\"You see, Green, you must be very particular about making those signs,\\nfor if you make a mistake, you will be worse off than if you never made\\nthem at all, for the first lieutenant will suppose that you are trying\\nto persuade him that you are a mason, when you are not.  Now, observe,\\nyou must not attempt to make the first sign until he has scolded you\\nwell; then, at any pause, you must make it; thus, you see, you must put\\nyour thumb to the tip of your nose, and extend your hand straight out\\nfrom it, with all the fingers separated, as wide as you can.  Now, do it\\nas I did it.  Stop--wait a little, till that marine passes.  Yes, that\\nis it.  Well, that is considered the first proof of your being a mason,\\nbut it requires a second.  The first lieutenant will, I tell you\\nfrankly, be or rather pretend to be, in a terrible rage, and will\\ncontinue to rail at you; you must, therefore, wait a little till he\\npauses; and then, you observe, put up your thumb to your nose, with the\\nfingers of your hands spread out as before, and then add to it your\\nother hand, by joining your other thumb to the little finger of the hand\\nalready up, and stretch your other hand and fingers out like the first.\\nThen you will see the effects of the second sign.  Do you think you can\\nrecollect all this? for, as I said before, you must make no mistake.\"\\n\\nGreen put his hands up as I told him, and after three or four essays\\ndeclared himself perfect, and I left him.\\n\\nIt was about three days afterwards that Mr Green upset a kid of dirty\\nwater upon the lower deck which had been dry holystoned, and the mate of\\nthe lower deck, when the first lieutenant went his round, reported the\\ncircumstance to exculpate himself.  Mr Green was consequently summoned\\non the quarter-deck; and the first lieutenant, who was very angry,\\ncommenced, as usual, a volley of abuse on the unfortunate youngster.\\n\\nGreen, recollecting my instructions, waited till the first lieutenant\\nhad paused, and then made the first freemason sign, looking up very\\nboldly at the first lieutenant, who actually drew back with astonishment\\nat this contemptuous conduct, hitherto unwitnessed on board of a\\nman-at-war.\\n\\n\"What! sir,\" cried the first lieutenant.  \"Why, sir, are you mad?--you,\\njust come into the service, treating me in this manner!  I can tell you,\\nsir, that you will not be three days longer in the service--no, sir, not\\nthree days; for either you leave the service or I do.  Of all the\\nimpudence, of all the insolence, of all the contempt I have heard of,\\nthis beats all--and from such a little animal as you.  Consider yourself\\nas under an arrest, sir, till the captain comes on board, and your\\nconduct is reported; go down below, sir, immediately.\"\\n\\nThe lieutenant paused, and now Green gave him sign the second, as a\\nreply, thinking that they would then come to a right understanding--but\\nto his astonishment, the first lieutenant was more curious than ever;\\nand calling the sergeant of marines, ordered him to take Mr Green down,\\nand put him in irons, under the half-deck.\\n\\nPoor Green was handed down, all astonishment, at the want of success of\\nhis mason\\'s signs.  I, who stood abaft, was delighted at the success of\\nmy joke, while the first lieutenant walked hastily up and down the deck,\\nas much astonished as enraged at such insulting and insolent conduct\\nfrom a lad who had not been a week in the service.\\n\\nAfter a time the first lieutenant went down below, when Bob Cross, who\\nwas on deck, and who had perceived my delight at the scene, which was to\\nhim and all others so inexplicable, came up to me and said:--\\n\\n\"Master Keene, I\\'m sure, by your looks, you knew something about this.\\nThat foolish lad never had dared do so, if he knew what it was he had\\ndone.  Now, don\\'t look so demure, but tell me how it is.\"\\n\\nI walked aft with Bob Cross, and confided my secret to him; he laughed\\nheartily, and said:--\\n\\n\"Well, Tommy Dott did say that you were up to any thing, and so I think\\nyou are; but you see this is a very serious affair for poor Green, and,\\nlike the fable of the frogs, what is sport to you is death to others.\\nThe poor lad will be turned out of the service, and lose his chance of\\nbeing a post captain; so you must allow me to explain the matter so that\\nit gets to the ears of the first lieutenant as soon as possible.\"\\n\\n\"Well,\" replied I, \"do as you like, Bob; if any one\\'s to be turned out\\nof the service for such nonsense, it ought to be me, and not Green, poor\\nsnob.\"\\n\\n\"No fear of your being turned out; the first lieutenant won\\'t like you\\nthe worse, and the other officers will like you better especially as I\\nshall say that it is by your wish that I explain all to get Mr Green\\nout of the scrape.  I\\'ll go to the surgeon and tell him--but, Master\\nKeene, don\\'t you call such matters _nonsense_, or you\\'ll find yourself\\nmistaken one of these days.  I never saw such disrespect on a\\nquarter-deck in all my life--worse than mutiny a thousand times.\"  Here\\nBob Cross burst out into a fit of laughter, as he recalled Green\\'s\\nextended fingers to his memory, and then he turned away and went down\\nbelow to speak to the surgeon.\\n\\nAs soon as Cross had quitted the deck, I could not restrain my curiosity\\nas to the situation of my friend Green; I therefore went down the ladder\\nto the half-deck, and there, on the starboard side between the guns, I\\nperceived the poor fellow, with his legs in irons, his hands firmly\\nclasped together, looking so woeful and woe-begone, every now and then\\nraising his eyes up to the beam of the upper deck, as if he would appeal\\nto heaven, that I scarcely could refrain from laughing.  I went up to\\nhim and said:--\\n\\n\"Why, Green, how is all this?--what has happened?\"\\n\\n\"Happened?\" said the poor fellow; \"happened? see what has happened; here\\nI am.\"\\n\\n\"Did you make the freemason\\'s signs?\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Didn\\'t I?  Yes--I did: Oh, what will become of me?\"\\n\\n\"You could not have made them right; you must have forgotten them.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'m sure I made them as you told me; I\\'m quite sure of that.\"\\n\\n\"Then perhaps I did not recollect them exactly myself: however, be of\\ngood heart; I will have the whole matter explained to the first\\nlieutenant.\"\\n\\n\"Pray do; only get me out of this.  I don\\'t want the glass back.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'ll have it done directly,\" replied I.\\n\\nAs I went away, Bob Cross came up, and said I was wanted by the first\\nlieutenant in the gun-room.  \"Don\\'t be afraid,\" said he: \"they\\'ve been\\nlaughing at it already, and the first lieutenant is it a capital humour;\\nstill he\\'ll serve you out well; you must expect that.\"\\n\\n\"Shall I make him the sign, Cross?\" replied I, laughing.\\n\\n\"No, no; you\\'ve gone far enough, and too far already; mind what I say to\\nyou.\"\\n\\nI went down into the gun-room, when a tittering ceased as the sentry\\nopened the door, and I walked in.\\n\\n\"Did you want me, sir?\" said I to the first lieutenant, touching my hat,\\nand looking very demure.\\n\\n\"So, Mr Keene, I understand it was you who have been practising upon\\nMr Green, and teaching him insult and disrespect to his superior\\nofficers on the quarter-deck.  Well, sir?\"\\n\\nI made no reply, but appeared very penitent.\\n\\n\"Because a boy has just come to sea, and is ignorant of his profession,\\nit appears to be a custom--which I shall take care shall not be followed\\nup--to play him all manner of tricks, and tell him all manner of\\nfalsehoods.  Now, sir, what have you to say for yourself?\"\\n\\n\"Mr Green and I have both just come to sea, sir, and the midshipmen all\\nplay us so many tricks,\" replied I, humbly, \"that I hardly know whether\\nwhat I do is right or wrong.\"\\n\\n\"But, sir, it was you who played this trick to Mr Green.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir, I told him so for fun, but I didn\\'t think he was such a fool\\nas to believe me.  I only said that you were a freemason, and that\\nfreemasons were kind to each other, and that you gave one another signs\\nto know one another by; I heard you say you were a freemason, sir, when\\nI dined in the gun-room.\"\\n\\n\"Well, sir, I did say so; but that is no reason for your teaching him to\\nbe impudent.\"\\n\\n\"He asked me for the signs, sir, and I didn\\'t know them exactly; so I\\ngave him the signs that Mr Dott and I always make between us.\"\\n\\n\"Mr Dott and you--a pretty pair, as I said before.  I\\'ve a great mind\\nto put you in Mr Green\\'s place--at all events, I shall report your\\nconduct when the captain comes from London.  There, sir, you may go.\"\\n\\nI put on a penitent face as I went out wiping my eyes with the back of\\nmy hands.  After I went out, I waited a few seconds at the gun-room\\ndoor, and then the officers, supposing that I was out of hearing, gave\\nvent to their mirth, the first lieutenant laughing the loudest.\\n\\n\"Cross is right,\" thought I, as I went up the ladder; a minute\\nafterwards, Mr Green was set free, and, after a severe reprimand, was\\nallowed to return to his duty.\\n\\n\"You are well out of that trick, my hearty,\" said Bob Cross; \"the first\\nlieutenant won\\'t say a word to the captain, never fear; but don\\'t try it\\nagain.\"\\n\\nBut an event occurred a few hours afterwards which might have been\\nattended with more serious consequences.  The ship was, during the day,\\nsurrounded by shore boats of all descriptions, containing Jews, sailors\\'\\nwives, and many other parties, who wished to have admittance on board.\\nIt was almost dusk, the tide was running strong flood, and the wind was\\nvery fresh, so that there was a good deal of sea.  All the boats had\\nbeen ordered to keep off by the first lieutenant, but they still\\nlingered, in hope of getting on board.\\n\\nI was looking over the stern, and perceived that the boat belonging to\\nthe bumboat woman, who was on board of the ship, was lying with her\\npainter fast to the stern ladder; the waterman was in her, as well as\\none of the sailors\\' wives, who had left her own wherry in hopes of\\ngetting on board when the waterman went alongside to take in the\\narticles not sold, when the bumboat woman left the ship, which would be\\nin a few minutes, as it was nearly gun-fire for sunset.  The waterman,\\nwho thought it time to haul alongside, and wished to communicate with\\nhis employer on board, was climbing up by the stern ladder.\\n\\n\"That\\'s against orders, you know,\" cried I to the man.\\n\\n\"Yes, sir; but it is so rough, that the boat would be swamped if it were\\nto remain alongside long, and I hope you won\\'t order me down again;\\nthere\\'s some nice cakes in the boat, sir, just under the stern sheets,\\nif you would like to have them, and think it worth while to go down for\\nthem.\"\\n\\nThis was a bribe, and I replied, \"No, I don\\'t want your cakes, but you\\nmay come up.\"\\n\\nThe man thanked me, and walked forward as soon as he had gained the\\ndeck.  On second thoughts, I determined that I would have the cakes; so\\nI descended by the stern ladder, and desiring the woman who was left in\\nthe boat to haul upon the rope, contrived to get into the boat.\\n\\n\"What is it you want, my dear?\" said the woman.\\n\\n\"I come for some of those cakes under the stern sheets,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Well, I\\'ll soon rummage them out,\" said she, \"and I hope you will let\\nme slip on board when the boat is alongside.  Mind, sir, how you step,\\nyou\\'ll smash all the pipes.  Give me your hand.  I\\'m an old sailor.\"\\n\\n\"I should not think so,\" replied I, looking at her.  I could hardly make\\nout her face, but her form was small, and, if an old sailor, she\\ncertainly was a very young woman.\\n\\nWe had a good many articles to remove before we could get at the cakes,\\nwhich were under the stern sheets; and the boat rocked and tossed so\\nviolently with the sea which was running, that we were both on our knees\\nfor some little while before we obtained the basket: when we did, to our\\nsurprise, we found that the boat\\'s painter, somehow or another, had\\nloosened, and that during our search we had drifted nearly one hundred\\nyards from the ship.\\n\\n\"Mercy on me!--why, we are adrift,\" exclaimed the woman.  \"What shall we\\ndo?  It\\'s no use hailing, they\\'ll never hear us; look well round for any\\nboat you may see.\"\\n\\n\"It is getting so dark that we shall not see far,\" replied I, not much\\nliking our position.  \"Where shall we go to?\"\\n\\n\"Go to!--clean out to St. Helen\\'s, if the boat does not fill before we\\nget there; and further than that too, if I mistake not, with this gale\\nof wind.  We may as well say our prayers, youngster, I can tell you.\"\\n\\n\"Can\\'t we make sail upon her?\" replied I.  \"Can\\'t we try and pull on\\nshore somewhere?  Had we not better do that, and say our prayers\\nafterwards?\"\\n\\n\"Well said, my little bantam,\" replied the woman: \"you would have made a\\ngood officer if you had been spared; but the fact is, boy, that we can\\ndo nothing with the oars in this heavy sea; and as for the sail, how can\\nyou and I step the mast, rolling and tossing about in this way?  If the\\nmast were stepped, and the sail set, I think I could manage to steer, if\\nthe weather was smoother, but not in this bubble and this gale; it\\nrequires older hands than either you or I.\"\\n\\n\"Well, then, what must we do?\"\\n\\n\"Why, we must sit still and trust to our luck, bale out the boat, and\\nkeep her from swamping as long as we can, and between times we may cry,\\nor we may pray, or we may eat the cakes and red herrings, or the soft\\nbread and other articles in the boat.\"\\n\\n\"Let\\'s bale the boat out first,\" said I, \"for she\\'s half full of water;\\nthen we\\'ll have something to eat, for I feel hungry and cold already,\\nand then we may as well say our prayers.\"\\n\\n\"Well, and I tell you what, we\\'ll have something to drink, too, for I\\nhave a drop for Jem, if I could have got on board.  I promised it to\\nhim, poor fellow, but it\\'s no use keeping it now, for I expect we\\'ll\\nboth be in Davy\\'s locker before morning.\"\\n\\nThe woman took out from where it was secreted in her dress, a bladder\\ncontaining spirits; she opened the mouth of it, and poured out a portion\\ninto one of the milk-cans; having drunk herself, she handed it to me,\\nbut not feeling inclined, and being averse to spirits, I rejected it,\\n\"Not just now,\" said I, \"by-and-by perhaps.\"\\n\\nDuring the time of this conversation we were swept by a strong tide and\\nstrong wind right out of the anchorage at Spithead; the sea was very\\nhigh, and dashed into the boat, so that I was continually baling to keep\\nit free; the night was as dark as pitch; we could see nothing except the\\nlights of the vessels which we had left far away from us, and they were\\nnow but as little twinkles as we rose upon the waves.  The wind roared,\\nand there was every appearance of a heavy gale.\\n\\n\"Little hopes of our weathering this storm,\" said the woman; \"we shall\\nsoon be swamped if we do not put her before the wind.  I\\'ll see if I\\ncannot find the lines.\"\\n\\nShe did so after a time, and by means of a rudder put the boat before\\nthe wind; the boat then took in much less water, but ran at a swift rate\\nthrough the heavy sea.\\n\\n\"There, we shall do better now; out to sea we go, that\\'s clear,\" said\\nthe woman; \"and before daylight we shall be in the Channel, if we do not\\nfill and go down; and then, the Lord have mercy upon us, that\\'s all!\\nWon\\'t you take a drop?\" continued she, pouring out some spirits into the\\ncan.\\n\\nAs I felt very cold, I did not this time refuse.  I drank a small\\nquantity of the spirits; the woman took off the remainder, which, with\\nwhat she had previously drunk, began to have an effect upon her.\\n\\n\"That\\'s right, my little Trojan,\" said she, and she commenced singing.\\n\"A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull altogether; in spite of wind and\\nweather, boys, in spite of wind and weather.  Poor Jem,\" continued she,\\n\"he\\'ll be disappointed; he made sure of being glorious to-night, and I\\nmade sure to sleep by his side--now he\\'ll be quite sober--and I\\'ll be\\nfood for fishes; it\\'s a cold bed that I shall turn into before morning,\\nthat\\'s certain.  Hand me the cakes, boy, if you can fumble them out; the\\nmore we fill ourselves, the less room for salt water.  Well, then, wind\\nand waves are great bullies; they fly slap back in a fright when they\\nbang against a great ship; but when they get hold of a little boat like\\nthis, how they leap and topple in, as if they made sure of us [here a\\nwave dashed into the boat].  Yes, that\\'s your sort.  Come along, swamp a\\nlittle boat you washy cowards, it\\'s only a woman and a boy.  Poor Jim,\\nhe\\'ll miss me something, but he\\'ll miss the liquor more; who cares?\\nLet\\'s have another drop.\"\\n\\n\"Give me the lines, then,\" said I, as I perceived she was letting them\\ngo, \"or we shall be broadside to the waves again.\"\\n\\nI took the rudder lines from her, and steered the boat, while she again\\nresorted to the bladder of spirits.\\n\\n\"Take another sip,\" said she, after she had filled the milk-can; \"it\\nwon\\'t harm you.\"\\n\\nI thought the same, for I was wet through, and the wind, as it howled,\\npierced me to the bones; I took a small quantity as before, and then\\ncontinued to keep the boat before the wind.  The sea was increasing very\\nmuch and although no sailor, I felt fully convinced that the boat could\\nnot live much longer.\\n\\nIn the meantime the woman was becoming intoxicated very fast.  I knew\\nthe consequence of this, and requested her to bale out the boat: she did\\nso, and sang a mournful sort of song as she baled, but the howling of\\nthe wind prevented me from distinguishing the words.\\n\\nI cannot well analyse my feelings at this time--they were confused; but\\nthis I know, self-preservation and hope were the most predominant.  I\\nthought of my mother, of my aunt, of Captain Bridgeman, Captain Delmar,\\nand Bob Cross; but my thoughts were as rapid as the gale which bore us\\nalong, and I was too much employed in steering the boat, and preventing\\nthe seas from filling it, to have a moment to collect my ideas.\\n\\nAgain the woman applied to the bladder of spirits, and offered some to\\nme; I refused.  I had had enough, and by this time she had had too much,\\nand after an attempt to bale she dropped down in the stern sheets,\\nsmashing pipes and everything beneath her, and spoke no more.\\n\\nWe had now been more than four hours adrift; the wind was as strong as\\never, and, I thought, the sea much higher; but I kept the boat steady\\nbefore the wind, and by degrees, as I became more accustomed to steer,\\nshe did not take in so much water; still the boat appeared to be sinking\\ndeeper down, and after a time I considered it necessary to bale her out.\\nI did so with my hat, for I found it was half full of water; and then I\\nexecrated the woman for having intoxicated herself, so as to be useless\\nin such an emergency.\\n\\nI succeeded in clearing the boat of the major portion of the water,\\nwhich was no easy task, as the boat, having remained broadside to the\\nwind, had taken in the sea continually as I baled it out.  I then once\\nmore resumed the helm, and put the boat before the wind, and thus did I\\ncontinue for two hours more, when the rain came down in torrents, and\\nthe storm was wilder than ever, but a Portsmouth wherry is one of the\\nbest boats ever built, and so it proved in this instance.  Still I was\\nnow in a situation most trying for a lad between fourteen and fifteen;\\nmy teeth chattered with the cold, and I was drenched through and\\nthrough; the darkness was opaque, and I could see nothing but the white\\nfoam of the waves, which curled and broke close to the gunwale of the\\nboat.\\n\\nAt one moment I despaired, and looked for immediate death; but my\\nbuoyant spirit raised me up again, and I hoped.  It would be daylight in\\na few hours, and oh! how I looked and longed for daylight.  I knew I\\nmust keep the boat before the wind; I did so, but the seas were worse\\nthan ever; they now continually broke into the boat, for the tide had\\nturned, which had increased the swell.\\n\\nAgain I left the helm and bailed out; I was cold and faint, and I felt\\nrecovered with the exertion; I also tried to rouse the woman, but it was\\nuseless.  I felt for her bladder of liquor, and found it in her bosom,\\nmore than half empty.  I drank more freely, and my spirits and my\\ncourage revived.  After that, I ate, and steered the boat, awaiting the\\ncoming daylight.\\n\\nIt came at last slowly--so slowly; but it did come, and I felt almost\\nhappy.  There is such a horror in darkness when added to danger; I felt\\nas if I could have worshipped the sun as it rose slowly, and with a\\nwatery appearance, above the horizon.  I looked around me: there was\\nsomething like land astern of us, such as I had seen pointed out as land\\nby Bob Cross, when off the coast of Portugal; and so it was--it was the\\nIsle of Wight: for the wind had changed when the rain came down, and I\\nhad altered the course of the boat so that for the last four hours I had\\nbeen steering for the coast of France.\\n\\nBut, although I was cold and shivering, and worn out with watching, and\\ntired with holding the lines by which the wherry was steered, I felt\\nalmost happy at the return of day.  I looked down upon my companion in\\nthe boat; she lay sound asleep, with her head upon the basket of tobacco\\npipes, her bonnet wet and dripping, with its faded ribbons hanging in\\nthe water which washed to and fro at the bottom of the boat, as it\\nrolled and rocked to the motion of the waves; her hair had fallen over\\nher face, so as almost to conceal her features; I thought that she had\\ndied during the night, so silent and so breathless did she lie.  The\\nwaves were not so rough now as they had been, for the flood tide had\\nagain made; and as the beams of the morning sun glanced on the water,\\nthe same billows which appeared so dreadful in the darkness appeared to\\ndance merrily.\\n\\nI felt hungry; I took up a red herring from one of the baskets, and tore\\nit to pieces with my teeth.  I looked around me in every quarter to see\\nif there was any vessel in sight, but there was nothing to be seen but\\nnow and then a screaming sea-gull.  I tried to rouse my companion by\\nkicking her with my foot; I did not succeed in waking her up, but she\\nturned round on her back, and, her hair falling from her face,\\ndiscovered the features of a young and pretty person, apparently not\\nmore than nineteen or twenty years old; her figure was slight and well\\nformed.\\n\\nYoung as I was, I thought it a pity that such a nice-looking person--for\\nshe still was so, although in a state of disorder, and very dirty--\\nshould be so debased by intoxication; and as I looked at the bladder,\\nstill half full of spirits I seized it with an intention to throw it\\noverboard, when I paused at the recollection that it had probably saved\\nmy life during the night, and might yet be required.\\n\\nI did not like to alter the course of the boat, although I perceived\\nthat we were running fast from the land; for although the sea had gone\\ndown considerably, there was still too much for the boat to be put\\nbroadside to it.  I cannot say that I was unhappy; I found my situation\\nso very much improved to what it was during the darkness of the night.\\nThe sun shone bright, and I felt its warmth.  I had no idea of being\\nlost--death did not enter my thoughts.  There was plenty to eat, and\\nsome vessel would certainly pick us up.  Nevertheless, I said my\\nprayers, more devoutly than I usually did.\\n\\nAbout noon, as near as I could guess, the tide changed again, and as the\\nwind had lulled very much, there was little or no swell.  I thought\\nthat, now that the motion was not so great, we might possibly ship the\\nforemast and make some little sail upon the boat; and I tried again more\\nearnestly to rouse up my companion; after a few not very polite\\nattempts, I succeeded in ascertaining that she was alive.\\n\\n\"Be quiet, Jim,\" said she, with her eyes still closed; \"it\\'s not five\\nbells yet.\"\\n\\nAnother kick or two, and she turned herself round and stared wildly.\\n\\n\"Jim,\" said she, rubbing her eyes, and then she looked about her, and at\\nonce she appeared to remember what had passed; she shrieked, and covered\\nher face up with her hands.\\n\\n\"I thought it was a dream, and was going to tell Jim all about it, at\\nbreakfast,\" said she, sorrowfully, \"but it\\'s all true--true as gospel.\\nWhat will become of me?  We are lost, lost, lost!\"\\n\\n\"We are not lost, but we should have been lost this night if I had been\\nas drunk as you have been,\" replied I; \"I\\'ve had work enough to keep the\\nboat above water, I can tell you.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s truth,\" replied she, rising up and taking a seat upon the thwart\\nof the boat.  \"God, forgive me, poor wretch that I am: what will Jim\\nthink, and what will he say, when he sees my best bonnet in such a\\npickle?\"\\n\\n\"Are you quite sure that you\\'ll ever see Jim again, or that you\\'ll ever\\nwant your best bonnet?\" replied I.\\n\\n\"That\\'s true.  If one\\'s body is to be tossed about by green waves, it\\'s\\nlittle matter whether there\\'s a bonnet or shawl on.  Where are we, do\\nyou know?\"\\n\\n\"I can just see the land out there,\" replied I, pointing astern.  \"The\\nsea is smooth; I think we could ship the foremast, and get sail upon\\nher.\"\\n\\nThe young woman stood up in the boat.\\n\\n\"Yes,\" said she, \"I\\'m pretty steady; I think we could.  Last night in\\nthe dark and the tossing sea I could do nothing, but now I can.  What a\\nblessing is daylight to cowards like me--I am only afraid in the dark.\\nWe must put some sail upon the boat, or nobody will see us.  What did\\nyou do with the bladder of liquor?\"\\n\\n\"Threw it overboard,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Had you courage to do that?--and watching through the the night so wet\\nand cold.  Well you did right--I could not have done it.  Oh! that\\nliquor--that liquor; I wish there wasn\\'t such a thing in the world, but\\nit\\'s too late now.  When I first married James Pearson, and the garland\\nwas hung to the main-stay of the frigate, nobody could persuade me to\\ntouch it, not even James himself, whom I loved so much.  Instead of\\nquarrelling with me for not drinking it, as he used to do, he now\\nquarrels with me for drinking the most.  If you\\'ll come forward, sir,\\nand help me, we\\'ll soon get up the foremast.  This is it, you see, with\\nthe jib passed round it.  Jim often says that I\\'d make a capital sailor,\\nif I\\'d only enter in man\\'s clothes--but as I tell him, I should be put\\nup at the gangway, for not being sober, before I\\'d been on board a\\nweek.\"\\n\\nWe contrived to ship the mast, and set the jib and foresail.  As soon as\\nthe sheets were hauled aft, my companion took the steering lines,\\nsaying, \"I know how to manage her well enough, now it\\'s daylight, and\\nI\\'m quite sober.  You must be very tired, sir; so sit down on the\\nthwart, or lie down if you please, and take a nap; all\\'s safe enough\\nnow--see, we lie up well for the land;\" and such was the case, for she\\nhad brought the boat to the wind, and we skimmed over the waves at the\\nrate of three or four miles an hour.  I had no inclination to sleep; I\\nbaled the boat out thoroughly, and put the baskets and boxes into some\\nkind of order.  I then sat down on the thwarts, first looking round for\\na vessel in sight; but seeing none, I entered into conversation with my\\ncompanion.\\n\\n\"What is your name?\" said I.\\n\\n\"Peggy Pearson; I have my marriage lines to show: they can throw nothing\\nin my face, except that I\\'m fond of liquor, God forgive me.\"\\n\\n\"And what makes you so fond of it now, since you say that, when you were\\nmarried, you did not care for it?\"\\n\\n\"You may well say that: it all came of _sipping_.  James would have me\\non his knee, and would insist on my taking a sip; and to please him I\\ndid, although it made me almost sick at first, and then after a while I\\ndid not mind it; and then, you see, when I was waiting at the sallyport\\nwith the other women, the wind blowing fresh, and the spray wetting us\\nas we stood on the shingle with our arms wrapped up in our aprons,\\nlooking out for a boat from the ship to come on shore, they would have a\\nquartern, and make me take a drop; and so it went on.  Then James made\\nme bring him liquor on board, and I drank some with him; but what\\nfinished me was, that I heard something about James when he was at\\nPlymouth, which made me jealous, and then for the first time I got\\ntipsy.  After that, it was all over with me; but, as I said before, it\\nbegan with sipping--worse luck, but it\\'s done now.  Tell me what has\\npassed during the night.  Has the weather been very bad?\"\\n\\nI told her what had occurred, and how I had kicked her to wake her up.\\n\\n\"Well, I deserved more than kicking, and you\\'re a fine, brave fellow;\\nand if we get on board the Calliope again--and I trust to God we shall--\\nI\\'ll take care to blow the trumpet for you as you deserve.\"\\n\\n\"I don\\'t want any one to blow the trumpet for me,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Don\\'t you be proud; a good word from me may be of use to you and it\\'s\\nwhat you deserve.  The ship\\'s company will think highly of you, I can\\ntell you.  A good name is of no small value--a captain has found out\\nthat before now; you\\'re only a lad, but you\\'re a regular trump, and the\\nseamen shall all know it, and the officers too.\"\\n\\n\"We must get on board the ship first,\" replied I, \"and we are a long way\\nfrom it just now.\"\\n\\n\"We\\'re all right, and I have no fear.  If we don\\'t see a vessel we shall\\nfetch the land somewhere before to-morrow morning, and it don\\'t look as\\nif there would be any more bad weather.  I wonder if they have sent\\nanything out to look after us?\"\\n\\n\"What\\'s that?\" said I, pointing astern, \"it\\'s a sail of some kind.\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" said Peggy, \"so it is; it\\'s a square-rigged vessel coming up the\\nChannel--we had better get on the other tack, and steer for her.\"\\n\\nWe wore the boat round and ran in the direction of the vessel; in three\\nhours we were close to her; I hailed her as she came down upon us but no\\none appeared to hear us or see us, for she had lower studding-sails set,\\nand there was no one forward.  We hailed again, and the vessel was now\\nwithin twenty yards, and we were right across her bows; a man came\\nforward, and cried out, \"Starboard your helm,\" but not in sufficient\\ntime to prevent the vessel from striking the wherry, and to stave her\\nquarter in; we dropped alongside as the wherry filled with water, and we\\nwere hauled in by the seamen over the gunwale, just as she turned over\\nand floated away astern.\\n\\n\"Touch and go, my lad,\" said one of the seamen who had hauled me on\\nboard.\\n\\n\"Why don\\'t you keep a better look out?\" said Peggy Pearson, shaking her\\npetticoats, which were wet up to the knees.  \"Paint eyes in the bows of\\nyour brig, if you haven\\'t any yourself.  Now you\\'ve lost a boatful of\\nred-herrings, eggs, and soft tommy--no bad things after a long cruise;\\nwe meant to have paid our passage with them--now you must take us for\\nnothing.\"\\n\\nThe master of the vessel, who was on deck, observed that I was in the\\nuniform of an officer.  He asked me how it was we were found in such a\\nsituation?  I narrated what had passed in few words.  He said that he\\nwas from Cadiz bound to London, and that he would put us on shore at any\\nplace up the river I would like, but that he could not lose the chance\\nof the fair wind to land me anywhere else.\\n\\nI was too thankful to be landed anywhere; and telling him that I should\\nbe very glad if he could put me on shore at Sheerness, which was the\\nnearest place to Chatham, I asked leave to turn into one of the cabin\\nbed-places, and was soon fast asleep.\\n\\nI may as well here observe, that I had been seen by the sentry abaft to\\ngo down by the stern ladder into the boat, and when the waterman came\\nback shortly afterwards to haul his boat up, and perceived that it had\\ngone adrift, there was much alarm on my account.  It was too dark to\\nsend a boat after us that night, but the next morning the case was\\nreported to the admiral of the port, who directed a cutter to get under\\nweigh and look for us.\\n\\nThe cutter had kept close in shore for the first day, and it was on the\\nmorning after I was picked up by the brig, that, in standing more out,\\nshe had fallen in with the wherry, bottom up.  This satisfied them that\\nwe had perished in the rough night, and it was so reported to the\\nport-admiral and to Captain Delmar, who had just come down from London.\\n\\nI slept soundly till the next morning, when I found that the wind had\\nfallen and that it was nearly calm.  Peggy Pearson was on deck; she had\\nwashed herself and smoothed out with an iron the ribbons of her bonnet,\\nand was really a very handsome young woman.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene,\" said she, \"I didn\\'t know your name before you told it to\\nthe skipper here; you\\'re in a pretty scrape.  I don\\'t know what Jim\\nPearson will say when you go back, running away with his wife as you\\nhave done.  Don\\'t you think I had better go back first, and smooth\\nthings over.\"\\n\\n\"Oh! you laugh now,\" replied I; \"but you didn\\'t laugh the night we went\\nadrift.\"\\n\\n\"Because it was no laughing matter.  I owe my life to you, and if I had\\nbeen adrift by myself, I should never have put my foot on shore again.\\nDo you know,\" said she to me, very solemnly, \"I\\'ve made a vow--yes, a\\nvow to Heaven, that I\\'ll leave off drinking; and I only hope I may have\\nstrength given me to keep it.\"\\n\\n\"Can you keep it?\" said I.\\n\\n\"I think I can; for when I reflect that I might have gone to my account\\nin that state, I really feel a horror of liquor.  If James would only\\ngive it up, I\\'m sure I could.  I swear that I never will bring him any\\nmore on board--that\\'s settled.  He may scold me, he may beat me (I don\\'t\\nthink he would do that, for he never has yet); but let him do what he\\npleases, I never will; and if he keeps sober because he hasn\\'t the means\\nof getting tipsy, I am sure that I shall keep my vow.  You don\\'t know\\nhow I hate myself; and although I\\'m merry, it\\'s only to prevent my\\nsitting down and crying like a child at my folly and wickedness in\\nyielding to temptation.\"\\n\\n\"I little thought to hear this from you.  When I was with you in the\\nboat, I thought you a very different person.\"\\n\\n\"A woman who drinks, Mr Keene, is lost to everything.  I\\'ve often\\nthought of it, after I\\'ve become sober again.  Five years ago I was the\\nbest girl in the school.  I was the monitor and wore a medal for good\\nconduct.  I thought that I should be so happy with James; I loved him\\nso, and do so still.  I knew that he was fond of liquor, but I never\\nthought that he would make me drink.  I thought then that I should cure\\nhim, and with the help of God I will now; not only him, but myself too.\"\\n\\nAnd I will here state that Peggy Pearson, whose only fault was the\\npassion she had imbibed for drinking, did keep her vow; the difficulty\\nof which few can understand who have not been intemperate themselves;\\nand she not only continued sober herself, but by degrees broke her\\nhusband of his similar propensity to liquor.\\n\\nIt was not till the evening of the fourth that we arrived at the Nore.\\nI had four pounds in my pocket at the time that I went adrift, which was\\nmore than sufficient, even if I had not intended to go and see my\\nmother.  A wherry came alongside, and Peggy Pearson and I stepped into\\nit, after I had thanked the captain, and given a sovereign to the seamen\\nto drink my health.\\n\\nAs soon as we landed at Sheerness I gave another of my sovereigns to\\nPeggy, and left her to find her way back to Portsmouth, while I walked\\nup to Chatham to my mother\\'s house.\\n\\nIt was past eight o\\'clock and quite dark when I arrived; the shop was\\nclosed, and the shutters up at the front door; so I went round to the\\nback to obtain admittance.  The door was not fast, and I walked into the\\nlittle parlour without meeting with anybody.  I heard somebody upstairs,\\nand I thought I heard sobbing; it then struck me that my supposed loss\\nmight have been communicated to my mother.  There was a light on the\\nparlour table, and I perceived an open letter lying near to it.  I\\nlooked at it; it was the handwriting of Captain Delmar.  The candle\\nrequired snuffing; I raised the letter to the light that I might read\\nit, and read as follows:--\\n\\n  \"MY DEAR ARABELLA:--\\n\\n  \"You must prepare yourself for very melancholy tidings, and it is most\\n  painful to me to be compelled to be the party who communicates them.\\n  A dreadful accident has occurred, and indeed I feel most sincerely for\\n  you.  On the night of the 10th, Percival was in a boat which broke\\n  adrift from the ship in a gale of wind; it was dark, and the fact not\\n  known until too late to render any assistance.\\n\\n  \"The next day a cutter was despatched by the admiral to look for the\\n  boat, which must have been driven out to sea; there was a woman in the\\n  boat as well as _our_ poor boy.  Alas!  I regret to say that the boat\\n  was found bottom up, and there is no doubt but that _our_ dear child\\n  has perished.\\n\\n  \"You will believe me when I say that I deeply lament his loss; not\\n  only on your account, but because I had become most partial to him for\\n  his many good qualities, and often have I regretted that his peculiar\\n  position prevented me from showing him openly that regard which, as\\n  _his father_, I really felt for him.\\n\\n  \"I know that I can say nothing that will alleviate your sufferings,\\n  and yet I fain would, for you have been so true, and anxious to please\\n  me in every point since our first acquaintance and intimacy, that\\n  there is nothing that you do not deserve at my hands.\\n\\n  \"Comfort yourself, dear Arabella, as well as you can with the\\n  reflection that it has been the will of Heaven, to whose decrees we\\n  must submit with resignation.  I am deeply suffering myself; for, had\\n  he lived, I swear to you that I intended to do much more for him than\\n  ever I had promised you.  He would have made a good and gallant sailor\\n  had it pleased Heaven to spare him, and you would have been proud of\\n  him; but it has been decided otherwise, and we must bow in obedience\\n  to His will.  God bless you, and support you in your afflictions, and\\n  believe me still,\\n\\n  \"Yours, most sincerely and faithfully,\\n\\n  \"PERCIVAL DELMAR.\"\\n\\n\"Then it is so,\" thought I; \"here I have it under his own hand.\"  I\\nimmediately folded up the letter, and put it into my bosom.  \"You and I\\nnever part, that is certain,\" murmured I.  I had almost lost my breath\\nfrom emotion, and I sat down to recover myself.  After a minute or two I\\npulled the letter out and read it over again.  \"And he is my father, and\\nhe loves me, but dare not show it, and he intended to do more for me\\nthan even he had promised my mother.\"\\n\\nI folded up the letter, kissed it fervently, and replaced it in my\\nbosom.  \"Now,\" thought I, \"what shall I do?  This letter will be\\nrequired of me by my mother, but never shall she get it; not tears, nor\\nthreats, nor entreaties shall ever induce me to part with it.  What\\nshall I do?  Nobody has seen me--nobody knows that I have been here.  I\\nwill go directly and join my ship; yes, that will be my best plan.\"\\n\\nI was so occupied with my own reverie, that I did not perceive a\\nfootstep on the stairs, until the party was so far down that I could not\\nretreat.  I thought to hide myself.  I knew by the list shoes that it\\nmust be my grandmother.  A moment of reflection.  I blew out the light\\non the table, and put myself in an attitude: one arm raised aloft, the\\nother extended from my body, and with my mouth wide open and my eyes\\nfixed, I awaited her approach.  She came in--saw me--uttered a fearful\\nshriek, and fell senseless on the floor; the candle in her hand was\\nextinguished in the fall: I stepped over her body; and darting out into\\nthe back-yard, gained the door, and was in the street in a minute.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER SEVENTEEN.\\n\\nI was soon in the high road, and clear of the town of Chatham.  As my\\nobject was that it should not be supposed that I had been there, I made\\nall the haste I could to increase my distance; I therefore walked on in\\nthe direction of Gravesend, where I arrived about ten o\\'clock.  A return\\nchaise offered to take me to Greenwich for a few shillings, and before\\nmorning dawned I had gained the metropolis.\\n\\nI lost no time in inquiring when the coaches started for Portsmouth, and\\nfound that I was in plenty of time, as one set off at nine o\\'clock.\\n\\nMuch as I wished to see London, my curiosity gave way to what I\\nconsidered the necessity of my immediate return to the frigate.  At\\nseven o\\'clock in the evening I arrived at Portsmouth; I hastened down,\\njumped into a wherry, and was on board of the frigate again by eight.\\n\\nIt may be imagined that my sudden and unexpected appearance caused no\\nlittle surprise.  Indeed, the first lieutenant considered it right to\\nsend the gig on shore at that late hour to apprise the captain of my\\nreturn, and Bob Cross had just time to give me a wring of the hand\\nbefore he jumped into the boat, and went away to make the report.\\n\\nI gave a history of my adventures to the officers, leaving them,\\nhowever, to suppose that I had never been to Chatham, but had gone up to\\nLondon in the merchant vessel.\\n\\nPearson, the boatswain\\'s mate, came to make inquiries about his wife;\\nand, soon after, Bob Cross came on board with the captain\\'s orders, that\\nI should go on shore to him in the gig on the following morning.\\n\\nI wished very much to consult Bob Cross previous to my seeing the\\ncaptain.  I told him so, and he agreed to meet me on the gangway about\\nten o\\'clock, as by that time the officers would be almost all in bed,\\nand there would be less chance of interruption.\\n\\nIt was a fine, clear night, and as soon as we found ourselves alone I\\nnarrated to him, in a low voice, all that had taken place, and gave him\\nthe contents of the letter which I had taken possession of.  I then\\nasked him what he thought I ought to do, now that I was certain of being\\nthe son of the captain.\\n\\n\"Why, Master Keene, you have done it very cleverly, that\\'s the truth;\\nand that letter, which is as good as a certificate from Captain Delmar,\\nmust be taken great care of.  I hardly know where it ought to be put,\\nbut I think the best thing will be for me to sew it in a seal-skin pouch\\nthat I have, and then you can wear it round your neck, and next your\\nskin; for, as you say, you and that must never part company.  But,\\nMaster Keene, you must be silent as death about it.  You have told me,\\nand I hope I may be trusted, but trust nobody else.  As to saying or\\nhinting anything to the captain, you mustn\\'t think of it; you must go on\\nas before, as if you knew nothing, for if he thought you had the letter\\nin your possession he would forget you were his son, and perhaps hate\\nyou.  He never would have been induced to acknowledge you under his own\\nhand as his son had he not thought that you were dead and gone, as\\neverybody else did; so behave just as respectful and distant as before.\\nIt\\'s only in some great emergency that that letter will do you any good,\\nand you must reserve it in case of need.  If your mother is suspicious,\\nwhy, you must blind her.  Your granny will swear that it was your ghost;\\nyour mother may think otherwise, but cannot prove it; she dare not tell\\nthe captain that she suspects you have the letter, and it will all blow\\nover after a cruise or two.\"\\n\\nI agreed to follow the advice of Bob Cross, as I saw it was good, and we\\nparted for the night.\\n\\nThe next morning I went on shore to the captain, who received me, very\\nstiffly, with, \"Mr Keene, you have had a narrow escape.  How did you\\nget back?\"\\n\\nI replied, that the vessel which picked me up was bound to London and\\nthat I had taken the coach down.\\n\\n\"Well, I never had an idea that we should have seen you again and I have\\nwritten to your mother, acquainting her with your loss.\"\\n\\n\"Have you, sir?\" replied I; \"it will make her very unhappy.\"\\n\\n\"Of course it will; but I shall write by this post, stating that you\\nhave been so fortunately preserved.\"\\n\\n\"Thanky, sir,\" replied I; \"have you any further orders, sir?\"\\n\\n\"No, Mr Keene; you may go on board and return to your duty.\"\\n\\nI made my bow, and quitted the room; went down below, and found Bob\\nCross waiting for me.\\n\\n\"Well?\" said he, as we walked away.\\n\\n\"Stiff as ever,\" replied I: \"told me to go on board and \\'tend to my\\nduty.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I knew it would be so,\" replied Bob; \"it\\'s hard to say what stuff\\nthem great nobs are made of.  Never mind that; you\\'ve your own game to\\nplay, and your own secret to keep.\"\\n\\n\"His secret,\" replied I, biting my lips, \"to keep or to tell, as may\\nhappen.\"\\n\\n\"Don\\'t let your vexation get the better of you, Master Keene; you\\'ve the\\nbest of it, if you only keep your temper; let him play his cards, and\\nyou play yours.  As you know his cards and he don\\'t know yours, you must\\nwin the game in the end--that is, if you are commonly prudent.\"\\n\\n\"You are right, Cross,\" replied I; \"but you forget that I am but a boy.\"\\n\\n\"You are but a boy, Master Keene, but you\\'ve no fool\\'s head on your\\nshoulders.\"\\n\\n\"I hope not,\" replied I; \"but here we are at the boat.\"\\n\\n\"Yes; and, as I live, here\\'s Peggy Pearson.  Well, Peggy, how did you\\nlike your cruise with Master Keene?\"\\n\\n\"If I ever go on another, I hope he will be my companion.  Master Keene,\\nwill you allow me to go on board with you to see my husband?\"\\n\\n\"Oh, yes, Peggy,\" replied Cross; \"the first lieutenant would not refuse\\nyou after what has happened, nor Captain Delmar either, stiff as he is:\\nfor, although he never shows it, he don\\'t want feeling.  Jim will be\\nglad to see you, Peggy; you haven\\'t an idea how he took on, when he\\nheard of your loss.  He borrowed a pocket-handkerchief from the corporal\\nof marines.\"\\n\\n\"I suspect he\\'d rather borrow a bottle of rum from the purser,\" replied\\nPeggy.\\n\\n\"Recollect, Peggy,\" said I, holding up my finger.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene, I do recollect; I pledge you my word that I have not tasted\\na drop of spirits since we parted--and that with a sovereign in my\\npocket.\"\\n\\n\"Well, only keep to it--that\\'s all.\"\\n\\n\"I will, indeed, Mr Keene; and, what\\'s more, I shall love you as long\\nas I live.\"\\n\\nWe pulled on board in the gig, and Peggy was soon in the arms of her\\nhusband.  As Pearson embraced her at the gangway--for he could not help\\nit--the first lieutenant very kindly said, \"Pearson, I shan\\'t want you\\non deck till after dinner: you may go below with your wife.\"\\n\\n\"Now, may God bless you, for a cross-looking, kind-hearted gentleman,\"\\nsaid Peggy to the first lieutenant.\\n\\nPeggy was as good as her word to me; she gave such an account of my\\ncourage and presence of mind, of her fears and at last of her getting\\ntipsy--of my remaining at the helm and managing the boat all night by\\nmyself, that I obtained great reputation among the ship\\'s company, and\\nit was all reported to the officers, and worked its way until it came\\nfrom the first lieutenant to the captain, and from the captain to the\\nport admiral.  This is certain, that Peggy Pearson did do me a good\\nservice, for I was no longer looked upon as a mere youngster, who had\\njust come to sea, and who had not been tried.\\n\\n\"Well, sir,\" said Bob Cross, a day or two afterwards, \"it seems, by\\nPeggy Pearson\\'s report, that you\\'re not frightened at a trifle.\"\\n\\n\"Peg Pearson\\'s report won\\'t do me much good.\"\\n\\n\"You ought to know better, Master Keene, than to say that; a mouse may\\nhelp a lion, as the fable says.\"\\n\\n\"Where did you learn all your fables, Cross?\"\\n\\n\"I\\'ll tell you; there\\'s a nice little girl that used to sit on my knee\\nand read her fables to me, and I listened to her because I loved her.\"\\n\\n\"And does she do so now?\"\\n\\n\"Oh, no; she\\'s too big for that--she\\'d blush up to the temples; but\\nnever mind the girl or the fables.  I told you that Peggy had reported\\nyour conduct, as we say in the service.  Now do you know, that this very\\nday I heard the first lieutenant speaking of it to the captain, and\\nyou\\'ve no idea how proud the captain looked, although he pretended to\\ncare nothing about it; I watched him, and he looked as much as to say,\\n`that\\'s my boy.\\'\"\\n\\n\"Well, if that pleases him, I\\'ll make him prouder yet of me, if I have\\nthe opportunity,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"That you will, Master Keene, if I\\'m any judge of fizonomy; and that\\'s\\nthe way to go to a parent\\'s heart: make him feel proud of you.\"\\n\\nI did not forget this, as the reader will eventually discover.\\n\\nI had written to my mother, giving her a long account of my adventures,\\nbut not saying a word of my having been at Chatham.  I made her suppose,\\nas I did the captain, that I had been carried up to London.  My letter\\nreached her the day after the one announcing my safety, written to her\\nby Captain Delmar.\\n\\nShe answered me by return of post, thanking Heaven for my preservation,\\nand stating how great had been her anguish and misery at my supposed\\nloss.  In the latter part of the letter was this paragraph:--\\n\\n  \"Strange to say, on the night of the 16th, when I was on my bed in\\n  tears, having but just received the news of your loss, your\\n  grandmother went downstairs, and declares that she saw you or your\\n  ghost in the little back parlour.  At all events, I found her\\n  insensible on the floor, so that she must have seen something.  She\\n  might have been frightened at nothing; and yet I know not what to\\n  think, for there are circumstances which almost make _me_ believe that\\n  somebody was in the house.  I presume you can prove an _alibi_.\"\\n\\nThat my mother had been suspicious, perhaps more than suspicious, from\\nthe disappearance of the letter, I was convinced.  When I replied to\\nher, I said:--\\n\\n  \"My _alibi_ is easily proved by applying to the master and seamen of\\n  the vessel on board of which I was.  Old granny must have been\\n  frightened at her own shadow: the idea of my coming to your house, and\\n  having left it without seeing you is rather too absurd; granny must\\n  have invented the story, because she hates me, and thought to make you\\n  do the same.\"\\n\\nWhatever my mother may have thought, she did not again mention the\\nsubject.  I had, however, a few days afterwards, a letter from my aunt\\nMilly, in which she laughingly told the same story of granny swearing\\nthat she had seen me or my ghost.  \"At first we thought it was your\\nghost, but since a letter from Captain Delmar to your mother has been\\nmissing, it is now imagined that you have been here, and have taken\\npossession of it.  You will tell me, my dearest Percival, I\\'m sure, if\\nyou did play this trick to granny, or not; you know you may trust me\\nwith any of your tricks.\"\\n\\nBut I was not in this instance to be wheedled by my aunt.  I wrote in\\nreturn, saying how much I was amazed at my grandmother telling such\\nfibs, and proved to her most satisfactorily that I was in London at the\\ntime they supposed I might have been at Chatham.\\n\\nThat my aunt had been requested by my mother to try to find out the\\ntruth, I was well convinced: but I felt my secret of too much importance\\nto trust either of them and from that time the subject was never\\nmentioned; and I believe it was at last surmised that the letter might\\nhave been destroyed accidentally or purposely by the maid-servant, and\\nthat my grandmother had been frightened at nothing at all--an opinion\\nmore supported, as the maid, who had taken advantage of my mother\\'s\\nretiring to her room, and had been out gossiping, declared that she had\\nnot left the premises three minutes, and not a soul could have come in.\\nMoreover, it was so unlikely that I could have been in Chatham without\\nbeing recognised by somebody.\\n\\nMy grandmother shook her head, and said nothing during all this\\ncanvassing of the question; but my aunt Milly declared that I never\\nwould have been at Chatham without coming to see her.  And it was her\\nopinion that the servant girl had read the letter when left on the\\ntable, and had taken it out to show to her associates; and somebody who\\nwished to have a hold upon my mother by the possession of the letter had\\nretained it.\\n\\nI think my mother came to that opinion at last, and it was the source of\\nmuch uneasiness to her.  She dared not say a word to Captain Delmar, and\\nevery day expected to have an offer made of returning the letter, upon a\\ncertain sum being paid down.  But the offer was never made, as the\\nletter had been sewed up by Bob Cross in the piece of seal-skin, and was\\nworn round my neck with a ribbon, with as much care as if it had been a\\nsupposed bit of the wood of the true cross, possessed by some old female\\nCatholic devotee.\\n\\nBut long before all these discussions were over, H.M. ship Calliope had\\nbeen ordered to sail, and was steering down the Channel before a smart\\nbreeze.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER EIGHTEEN.\\n\\nAlthough I have so much to say as to oblige me to pass over without\\nnotice the majority of my companions, I think I ought to dedicate one\\nchapter to a more particular description of those with whom I was now\\nprincipally in contact on board of the Calliope.\\n\\nI have already spoken much of the Honourable Captain Delmar, but I must\\ndescribe him more particularly.  When young, he must have been a very\\nhandsome man; even now, although nearly fifty years of age, and his hair\\nand whiskers a little mixed with grey, he was a fine-looking personage,\\nof florid complexion, large blue eyes, nose and mouth very perfect: in\\nheight he was full six feet; and he walked so erect that he looked even\\ntaller.\\n\\nThere was precision, I may say dignity, in all his motions.  If he\\nturned to you, it was slowly and deliberately; there was nothing like\\nrapidity in his movement.  On the most trifling occasions, he wrapped\\nhimself up in etiquette with all the consequence of a Spanish Hidalgo;\\nand showed in almost every action and every word that he never forgot\\nhis superiority of birth.\\n\\nNo one, except myself, perhaps, would ever have thought of taking a\\nliberty with him; for although there was a pomposity about him, at the\\nsame time it was the pomposity of a high-bred gentleman, who respected\\nhimself, and expected every one to do the same.\\n\\nThat sometimes a little mirth was occasioned by his extreme precision is\\ntrue; but it was whispered, not boldly indulged in.  As to his qualities\\nas an officer and seaman, I shall only say, that they were considered\\nmore than respectable.  Long habit of command had given him a fair\\nknowledge of the duties in the first instance, and he never condescended\\n(indeed, it would have been contrary to his character) to let the\\nofficers or seamen know whether he did or did not know anything about\\nthe second.\\n\\nAs to his moral character, I can only say, that it was very difficult to\\nascertain it.  That he would never do that which was in the slightest\\ndegree derogatory to the character of a gentleman was most certain: but\\nhe was so wrapped up in exclusiveness, that it was almost impossible to\\nestimate his feelings.  Occasionally, I may say very rarely, he might\\nexpress them; but if he did, it was but for a moment, and he was again\\nreserved as before.\\n\\nThat he was selfish is true; but who is not? and those in high rank are\\nstill more so than others, not so much by nature, but because their self\\nis encouraged by those around them.  You could easily offend his pride\\nbut he was above being flattered in a gross way.  I really believe that\\nthe person in the ship for whom he had the least respect was the\\nobsequious Mr Culpepper.  Such was the Honourable Captain Delmar.\\n\\nMr Hippesley, the first lieutenant, was a broad-shouldered,\\nungainly-looking personage.  He had more the appearance of a master in\\nthe service than a first lieutenant.  He was a thorough seaman; and\\nreally, for a first lieutenant, a very good-natured man.  All that was\\nrequisite, was to allow his momentary anger to have free escape by the\\nsafety-valve of his mouth: if you did not, an explosion was sure to be\\nthe result.\\n\\nHe was, as we use the term at sea, a regular ship husband--that is to\\nsay, he seldom put his foot on shore; and if he did, he always appeared\\nanxious to get on board again.  He was on good terms, but not familiar,\\nwith his messmates, and very respectful to the captain.  There was no\\nother officer in the service who would have suited Captain Delmar so\\nwell as Mr Hippesley, who, although he might occasionally grumble at\\nnot being promoted, appeared on the whole to be very indifferent about\\nthe matter.\\n\\nThe men were partial to him, as they always are to one who, whatever may\\nbe his peculiarities, is consistent.  Nothing is more unpleasant to men\\nthan to sail under a person whom, to use their own expression, \"they\\nnever knew where to find.\"\\n\\nThe second and third lieutenants, Mr Percival and Mr Weymss, were\\nyoung men of good family, and were admitted to a very slight degree of\\nfamiliarity with Captain Delmar: they were of gentlemanly manners, both\\ngood seamen, and kind to their inferiors.\\n\\nMr Culpepper, the purser, was my abomination--a nasty, earwigging,\\nflattering, bowing old rogue.  The master, Mr Smith, was a very quiet\\nman, plain and unoffending, but perfectly master of, and always\\nattentive to, his duty.\\n\\nThe marine officer, Mr Tusk, was a nonentity put into a red jacket.\\nThe surgeon was a tall, and very finicking sort of gentleman as to\\ndress; but well informed, friendly in disposition, and perfectly\\nacquainted with his profession.\\n\\nMy messmates were most of them young men of good birth, with the\\nexception of Tommy Dott, who was the son of a warrant officer, and Mr\\nGreen, whose father was a boot-maker in London.  I shall not, however,\\nwaste my reader\\'s time upon them; they will appear when required.  I\\nshall, therefore, now proceed with my narrative.\\n\\nIt is usually the custom for the midshipmen to take up provisions and\\nspirits beyond their allowance, and pay the purser an extra sum for the\\nsame; but this Mr Culpepper would not permit--indeed, he was the most\\nstingy and disagreeable old fellow that I ever met with in the service.\\nWe never had dinner or grog enough, or even lights sufficient for our\\nwants.\\n\\nWe complained to the first lieutenant, but he was not inclined to assist\\nus: he said we had our allowance, and it was all we could demand; that\\ntoo much grog was bad for us, and as for candles, they only made us sit\\nup late when we ought to be in bed: he was, moreover, very strict about\\nthe lights being put out.  This, however, was the occasion of war to the\\nknife between the midshipmen and Mr Culpepper.\\n\\nBut it was of no avail; he would seldom trust his own steward or the\\nmate of the main deck; whenever he could, he superintended the serving\\nout of all provisions and mixing of the grog: no wonder that he was said\\nto be a rich man.  The only party to whom he was civil was Mr\\nHippesley, the first lieutenant, and the captain; both of whom had the\\npower of annoying him, and reducing his profits.\\n\\nTo the captain he was all humility; every expense that he required was,\\nwith his proffered bow, cheerfully submitted to; but he gained on the\\nwhole by this apparent liberality, as the captain was rather inclined to\\nprotect him in all other points of service, except those connected with\\nhis own comforts and luxuries; and many a good job did Mr Culpepper get\\ndone for him, by humbly requesting and obsequiously bowing.\\n\\nWe had been at sea for about a week, and were running down towards the\\nisland of Madeira, which we expected to reach the next morning.  Our\\ndestination was a secret, as our captain sailed with sealed orders, to\\nbe opened when off that island.\\n\\nThe weather was very fine and warm, and the wind had fallen, when at\\nsundown high land was reported from the mast-head, at about forty miles\\ndistant.  I was, as on the former cruise, signal midshipman, and did day\\nduty--that is, I went down with the sun, and kept no night watch.\\n\\nI had been cogitating how I could play some trick to Mr Culpepper: the\\nmidshipmen had often proposed that we should do so, but I had made up my\\nmind that, whenever I did, I would make no confidant.  Tommy Dott often\\nsuggested an idea, but I invariably refused, as a secret is only a\\nsecret when it is known to one person: for that reason I never consulted\\nBob Cross, because I knew that he would have persuaded me not to do so;\\nbut after anything was happily executed, I then used to confide in him.\\n\\nI observed before that Mr Culpepper wore a flaxen wig, and I felt sure,\\nfrom his penuriousness, that he was not likely to have more than one on\\nboard.  I, therefore, fixed upon his wig as the object of my vengeance,\\nand having made up my mind on the night that we made the island of\\nMadeira, I determined to put my project in execution.\\n\\nFor convenience, the first lieutenant had a small ladder which went down\\nthrough the skylight of the gun-room so that they could descend direct,\\ninstead of going round by the after-hatchway, and entering by the\\ngun-room doors, where the sentry was placed.\\n\\nI went to my hammock and slept till the middle watch was called; I then\\ngot up and dressed myself without being perceived.\\n\\nAs soon as the lieutenant of the middle watch had been called by the\\nmate, who lighted his candle and left him to dress himself, I came up by\\nthe after-ladder, and, watching an opportunity when the sentry at the\\ncaptain\\'s cabin door had walked forward, I softly descended by the\\nskylight ladder into the gun-room.\\n\\nThe light in the cabin of the lieutenant, who was dressing, was quite\\nsufficient, and the heat of the weather was so great, that all the\\nofficers slept with their cabin doors fastened back, for ventilation; I\\nhad, therefore, no difficulty in putting my hand on the purser\\'s wig,\\nwith which I escaped unperceived, and immediately turned in again to my\\nhammock, to consider what I should do with my prize.\\n\\nShould I throw it overboard; should I stuff it down the pump-well, or\\nslip it into the ship\\'s coppers, that it might re-appear when the\\npea-soup was baled out or dinner; or should I put it into the manger\\nforward, where the pigs were?\\n\\nIn the meantime, while I was considering the matter, the midshipman of\\nthe first watch came down and turned in, and all was again quiet, except\\nan occasional nasal melody from some heavy sleeper.\\n\\nAt last, quite undecided, I peeped through the clews of my hammock to\\nsee what the sentry at the gun-room door was about, and found that he\\nhad sat down on a chest, and was fast asleep.  I knew immediately that\\nthe man was in my power, and I did not fear him; and then it was that\\nthe idea came into my head, that I would singe the purser\\'s wig.  I went\\nsoftly to the sentry\\'s light, took it from the hook, and went down with\\nit into the cockpit, as being the best place for carrying on my\\noperations.  The wig was very greasy, and every curl, as I held it in\\nthe candle, flared up, and burned beautifully to within a quarter of an\\ninch of the caul.\\n\\nIt was soon done, and I replaced the sentry\\'s light; and finding that\\nthe gun-room door was a-jar, I went in softly, and replaced the wig\\nwhere I had taken it from, repassed the sentry, who was still fast\\nasleep, and regained my hammock, intending to undress myself in it; but\\nI had quite forgotten one thing (I was soon reminded of it)--I heard the\\nvoice of the officer of the watch I calling out to the sentry at the\\ncabin door--\\n\\n\"Sentry, what\\'s that smell of burning?\"\\n\\n\"I don\\'t know, sir,\" replied the sentry; \"I was just thinking of going\\nforward for the ship\\'s corporal.\"\\n\\nThe smell, which had gradually ascended from the cockpit, now spread\\nfrom deck to deck, and became stronger and stronger.  The gun-room-door\\nsentry jumped up at the voice of the lieutenant, and called out that\\nthere was a very strong smell in the cockpit.  The lieutenant and mate\\nof the watch came down, and it was immediately supposed that the\\nspirit-room had caught fire, for the smell was really very powerful.\\n\\nThe first lieutenant, who had wakened up at the voices, was out in a\\nminute; he put his head over the cockpit, and ordering the officer of\\nthe watch to call the drummer, and beat to quarters, ran up to inform\\nthe captain.\\n\\nThe drummer was out in a moment, and, seizing his drum, which hung up by\\nthe mainmast, ran up in his shirt and beat the tattoo.\\n\\nThe whole ship\\'s company rose up at the sound, which they knew was the\\nsignal for something important; and the beat of the drum was followed up\\nby the shrill piping of the boatswain\\'s mates at each hatchway.\\n\\nAt that moment, some frightened man belonging to the watch cried out\\nthat the ship was on fire, and the lower decks were immediately a scene\\nof bustle and confusion.\\n\\nPerhaps there is nothing more awful than the alarm of fire at sea; the\\nfeeling that there is no escape--the only choice being by which element,\\nfire or water, you choose to perish.  But if it is awful in daylight,\\nhow much more so is it to be summoned up to await such peril when you\\nhave been sleeping in fancied bounty.\\n\\nThe captain had hurried on his clothes, and stood on the quarter-deck.\\nHe was apparently calm and collected; but, as usual, the first\\nlieutenant carried on the duty, and well he did it.\\n\\n\"Where\\'s the gunner?  Mr Hutt, bring up the keys from my cabin, and\\nhave all ready for clearing the magazines if required.  Firemen, get\\nyour buckets to bear; carpenters, rig the pumps.  Silence there, fore\\nand aft.\"\\n\\nBut the confusion became very great, and there evidently was a panic.\\nThe captain then interposed, calling out to the boatswain and his mates\\nto send every man aft on the quarter-deck.\\n\\nThis order was obeyed; the men came thronging like a flock of sheep,\\nhuddling together and breathless.\\n\\n\"Silence there, my men,\" cried Captain Delmar--\"silence.  I say; is this\\nthe conduct of men-of-war\\'s-men?  Every man of you sit down on deck--\\npass the word there for every man to sit down.\"\\n\\nThe order was mechanically obeyed, and as soon as the ship\\'s company\\nwere all seated, the captain said--\\n\\n\"I tell you what, my lads, I\\'m ashamed of you: the way to put out a fire\\nis to be cool and calm, obeying orders and keeping silence.  Now collect\\nyourselves, all of you, for until you are all quiet and cool, you will\\nsit where you are.\"\\n\\nAfter a pause of a few seconds--\\n\\n\"Now, my men, are you more steady?  Recollect, be cool, and keep\\nsilence.  Carpenter, are the pumps rigged?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir,\" replied the carpenter.\\n\\n\"Now, firemen, go for your buckets; let nobody else move.  Silence--not\\na word: three foremast guns main-deck, to your quarters.  Silence and\\nquiet, if you please.  Now, are you all steady?--then, to your quarters,\\nmy men, and wait for orders.\"\\n\\nIt was astonishing how collected the ship\\'s company became by the\\njudicious conduct of the captain, who now continued to command.  When\\nthe men had gone down to their stations, he directed the two junior\\nlieutenants to go and examine where the fire was, and to be careful not\\nto lift the hatches if they discovered that it was in the spirit-room.\\n\\nI had been on the quarter-deck some time, and, being aware of the cause,\\nof course was not at all alarmed: and I had exerted myself very\\nassiduously in keeping the men cool and quiet, shoving the men down who\\nwere unwilling to sit down on the deck, and even using them very\\nroughly; showing a great deal more _sang froid_ than any other of the\\nofficers, which of course was not to be wondered at.\\n\\nMr Culpepper, who was most terribly alarmed, had come up on deck, and\\nstood trembling close to the side of the captain and first lieutenant;\\nhe had pulled on his wig without discovering that it had been burnt, and\\nas I passed him, the burnt smell was very strong indeed; so thought the\\ncaptain and the first lieutenant, who were waiting the return of the\\nofficers.\\n\\n\"I smell the fire very strong just now,\" said the captain to the first\\nlieutenant.\\n\\n\"Yes, sir, every now and then it is very strong,\" replied the first\\nlieutenant.\\n\\nThe purser\\'s wig was just between them,--no wonder that they smelt it.\\nAfter two or three minutes the officers came up, and reported that they\\ncould discover no fire, and that there was very little smell of fire\\ndown below.\\n\\n\"And yet I smell it now,\" said Captain Delmar.\\n\\n\"So do I, sir,\" said the second lieutenant; \"and it really smells\\nstronger on deck than it does down below.\"\\n\\n\"It\\'s very odd; let them continue the search.\"\\n\\nThe search was continued; the first lieutenant now going down, and after\\na time they said that the strongest smell was from the purser\\'s cabin.\\n\\n\"Mr Culpepper, they say the smell is in your cabin,\" said Captain\\nDelmar; \"go down, if you please; they may want to open your lockers.\"\\n\\nMr Culpepper, who still trembled like an aspen, went down the ladder,\\nand I followed him; but in descending the second ladder his foot\\nslipped, and he fell down the hatchway to the lower deck.\\n\\nI hastened down after him; he was stunned, and I thought this a good\\nopportunity to pull off his wig, which I did very dexterously, and\\nconcealed it.  He was taken into the gun-room, and the surgeon called,\\nwhile I walked up on deck, and quietly dropped the wig overboard at the\\ngangway.\\n\\nMy reason for doing this was, that having no idea that my trick would\\nhave created so much confusion, and have turned up the officers and men\\nas it did, I thought that the purser\\'s wig would, the next morning,\\naccount for the smell of fire, and an investigation take place, which,\\nalthough it might not lead to discovery, would certainly lead to\\nsuspicion; so the wig was now floating away, and with the wig went away\\nall evidence.\\n\\nAfter a search of nearly half an hour, nothing was discovered; the\\ndrummer was ordered to beat the retreat, and all was quiet again.\\n\\nI went to bed quite satisfied with the events of the night, and slept\\nthe sleep of innocence--at least I slept just as soundly.\\n\\nThis mysterious affair ever remained a mystery: the only loss was the\\npurser\\'s wig, but that was nothing, as Mr Culpepper acknowledged that\\nhe did not know himself what he was about, and, for all he knew to the\\ncontrary, he might have thrown it overboard.\\n\\nMy conduct on this occasion again gained me great credit.  It had been\\nremarked by the captain and officers, and I rose in estimation.  How I\\nmight have behaved had I really supposed that the ship was on fire, is\\nquite another affair--I presume not quite so fearlessly.  As it was, I\\nwas resolved to take all the credit given to me and for that reason it\\nwas not till a long while afterwards, that I hinted the secret even to\\nBob Cross.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER NINETEEN.\\n\\nThe next morning, when we arrived at Funchal, we found that our orders\\nwere for the West Indies: we stayed one day to take in wine and then\\nhove up the anchor, and went on to our destination.  We soon got into\\nthe trades, and run them fast down till we arrived at Carlisle Bay,\\nBarbadoes, where we found the admiral and delivered our despatches.  We\\nwere ordered to water and complete as soon as possible, as we were to be\\nsent on a cruise.\\n\\nTommy Dott, my quondam ally, was in disgrace.  He had several times\\nduring the cruise proposed that I should join him in several plots of\\nmischief, but I refused, as I did not consider them quite safe.\\n\\n\"You are not the keen fellow I thought you were,\" said he; \"you are up\\nto nothing now; there\\'s no fun in you, as there used to be.\"\\n\\nHe was mistaken; there was fun in me, but there was also prudence, and\\nfrom what I had latterly seen of Tommy Dott, I did not think he was to\\nbe trusted.\\n\\nThe day after we anchored at Carlisle Bay, Tommy came to me and said,\\n\"Old Culpepper serves out plums and suet this afternoon; I heard him\\ntell steward.  Now, I think we may manage to get some--I never saw\\nbetter plums on board of a ship.\"\\n\\n\"Well,\" said I, \"I like raisins as well as you do, Tommy--but what is\\nyour plan?\"\\n\\n\"Why, I\\'ve got my squirt: and old Culpepper never lights more than one\\nof his purser\\'s dips (small candles) in the steward\\'s room.  I\\'ll get\\ndown in the cockpit in the dark, and squirt at the candle--the water\\nwill put it out, and he\\'ll send the steward for another light, and then\\nI\\'ll try and get some.\"\\n\\nIt was not a bad plan, but still I refused to join in it, as it was only\\nthe work of one person, and not two.  I pointed that out to him and he\\nagreed with me, saying that he would do it himself.\\n\\nWhen Mr Culpepper went down into the steward\\'s room, Tommy\\nreconnoitred, and then came into the berth and filled his squirt.\\n\\nAlthough I would not join him, I thought I might as well see what was\\ngoing on and therefore descended the cockpit ladder soon after Tommy,\\nkeeping out of the way in the foremost part of the cockpit, where it was\\nquite dark.\\n\\nTommy directed his squirt very dexterously, hit the lighted wick of the\\nsolitary candle, which fizzed, sputtered, and finally gave up the ghost.\\n\\n\"Bless me!\" said Mr Culpepper, \"what can that be?\"\\n\\n\"A leak from the seams above I suppose,\" said the steward:\\n\\n\"I will go to the gallery for another light.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, yes, be quick,\" said Mr Culpepper, who remained in the steward\\'s\\nroom in the dark, until the return of the steward.\\n\\nTommy Dott then slipped in softly, and commenced filling all his pockets\\nwith the raisins; he had nearly taken in his full cargo, when, somehow\\nor another, Mr Culpepper stepped forward from where he stood, and he\\ntouched Tommy, whom he immediately seized crying out, \"Thieves!\\nthieves!--call the sentry!--sentry, come here.\"\\n\\nThe sentry of the gun-room door went down the ladder as Mr Culpepper\\ndragged out Tommy, holding him fast by both hands.\\n\\n\"Take him, sentry--take him in charge.  Call the master-at-arms--little\\nthief.  Mr Dott!  Hah--well, we\\'ll see.\"\\n\\nThe consequence was, that Mr Tommy Dott was handed from the sentry to\\nthe master-at-arms, and taken up on the quarterdeck, followed by Mr\\nCulpepper and his steward.\\n\\nThere was no defence or excuse to be made: the pockets of his jacket and\\nof his trowsers were stuffed with raisins; and at the bottom of his\\npocket, when they were emptied by the master-at-arms, was found the\\nsquirt.\\n\\nAs soon as the hue and cry was over, and all the parties were on the\\nquarter-deck, as the coast was clear, I thought I might as well take\\nadvantage of it; and therefore I came out from my hiding-place, went\\ninto the steward\\'s room, filled my handkerchief with raisins, and\\nescaped to the berth unperceived; so that while Tommy Dott was\\ndisgorging on the quarter-deck, I was gorging below.\\n\\nMr Dott was reported to the captain for this heinous offence; and, in\\nconsequence, was ordered below under arrest, his place in the captain\\'s\\ngig being filled up by me; so that in every point of view Tommy\\nsuffered, and I reaped the harvest.  What pleased me most was, that,\\nbeing midshipman of the captain\\'s boat, I was of course continually in\\nthe company of the coxswain, Bob Cross.\\n\\nBut I must not delay at present, as I have to record a very serious\\nadventure which occurred, and by which I, for a long while, was\\nseparated from my companions and shipmates.\\n\\nIn ten days we sailed in search of a pirate vessel, which was reported\\nto have committed many dreadful excesses, and had become the terror of\\nthe mercantile navy.  Our orders were to proceed northward, and to\\ncruise off the Virgin Islands, near which she was said to have been last\\nseen.\\n\\nAbout three weeks after we had left Carlisle Bay, the look-out man\\nreported two strange sail from the mast-head.  I was sent up, as signal\\nmid, to examine them, and found that they were both schooners, hove to\\nclose together; one of them very rakish in their appearance.  All sail\\nin chase was made immediately, and we came up within three miles of\\nthem, when one, evidently the pirate we were in search of, made sail,\\nwhile the other remained hove to.\\n\\nAs we passed the vessel hove to, which we took it for granted was a\\nmerchantman, which the pirate had been plundering, the captain ordered\\none of the cutters to be lowered down with a midshipman and boat\\'s crew\\nto take possession of her.  The men were all in the boat, but the\\nmidshipman had gone down for his spy-glass, or something else, and as it\\nwas merely with a view of ascertaining what the vessel was, and the\\nchief object was to overtake the pirate vessel, to prevent the delay\\nwhich was caused by the other midshipman not being ready, Mr Hippesley\\nordered me to go into the boat instead of him, and, as soon as I was on\\nboard of the schooner, to make sail and follow the frigate.\\n\\nThe captain did say, \"He is too young, Mr Hippesley; is he not?\"\\n\\n\"I\\'d sooner trust him than many older, sir,\" was the reply of the first\\nlieutenant.  \"Jump in, Mr Keene.\"  I did so, with my telescope in my\\nhand.  \"Lower away, my lads--unhook, and sheer off;\" and away went the\\nfrigate in pursuit of the pirate vessel, leaving me in the boat, to go\\non board of the schooner.\\n\\nWe were soon alongside, and found that there was not a soul on board of\\nthe vessel; what had become of the crew, whether they had been murdered,\\nor not, it was impossible to say, but there were a few drops of blood on\\nthe deck.\\n\\nThe vessel was an American, bound to one of the islands, with shingle\\nand fir planks; not only was her hold full, but the fir planks were\\npiled up on each side of the deck, between the masts, to the height of\\nfive or six feet.  The pirate had, apparently, been taking some of the\\nplanks on board for her own use.\\n\\nWe dropped the boat astern, let draw the foresheet, and made sail after\\nthe frigate, which was now more than a mile from us, and leaving us very\\nfast.\\n\\nThe schooner was so over-loaded that she sailed very badly, and before\\nthe evening closed in, we could just perceive the top-gallant sails of\\nthe Calliope above the horizon: but this we thought little of, as we\\nknew that as soon as she had captured the pirate she would run back\\nagain, and take us out.\\n\\nThere were some hams and other articles on board, for the pirates had\\nnot taken everything, although the lockers had been all broken open, and\\nthe articles were strewed about in every direction in the cabin and on\\nthe deck.\\n\\nJust before dark, we took the bearings of the frigate, and stood the\\nsame course as she was doing, and then we sat down to a plentiful meal\\nto which we did justice.  I then divided the boat\\'s crew into watches,\\nwent down into the cabin, and threw myself on the standing bed-place, of\\nwhich there was but one, with all my clothes on; the men who had not the\\nwatch went down, and turned in in the cuddy forward, where the seamen\\nusually sleep.\\n\\nIt was not till past midnight that I could obtain any sleep; the heat\\nwas excessive, and I was teased by the cockroaches, which appeared to\\nswarm in the cabin to an incredible degree, and were constantly running\\nover my face and body.  I little thought then why they swarmed.  I\\nrecollect that I dreamt of murder, and tossing men overboard; and then\\nof the vessel being on fire and after that, I felt very cool and\\ncomfortable, and I dreamed no more; I thought that I heard a voice\\ncalling my name: it appeared that I did hear it in my sleep, but I slept\\non.\\n\\nAt last I turned round, and felt a splashing as of water, and some water\\ncoming into my mouth: I awoke.  All was dark and quiet; I put my hand\\nout, and I put it into the water--where was I--was I overboard?  I\\njumped up in my fright; I found that was still on the standing\\nbed-place, but the water was above the mattress.\\n\\nI immediately comprehended that the vessel was sinking, and I called\\nout, but there was no reply.\\n\\nI turned out of the bed-place, and found myself up to my neck in water,\\nwith my feet on the cabin-deck.  Half swimming, and half floundering, I\\ngained the ladder, and went up the hatchway.\\n\\nIt was still quite dark, and I could not perceive nor hear anybody.  I\\ncalled out but there was no reply.  I then was certain that the men had\\nleft the vessel when they round her sinking, and had left me to sink\\nwith her.  I may as well here observe, that when the men had found the\\nwater rising upon them forward they had rushed on deck in a panic,\\ntelling the man at the wheel that the vessel was sinking, and had\\nimmediately hauled up the boat to save their lives; but they did\\nrecollect me, and the coxswain of the boat had come down in the cabin by\\nthe ladder, and called me: but the cabin was full of water, and he,\\nreceiving no answer, considered that I was drowned, and returned on\\ndeck.\\n\\nThe boat had then shoved off, and I was left to my fate; still I hoped\\nthat such was not the case, and I hallooed again and again, but in vain,\\nand I thought it was all over with me.  It was a dreadful position to be\\nin.  I said my prayers and prepared to die, and yet I thought it was\\nhard to die at fifteen years old.\\n\\nAlthough I do not consider that my prayers were of much efficacy, for\\nthere was but little resignation in them, praying had one good effect--\\nit composed me, and I began to think whether there was any chance of\\nbeing saved.\\n\\nYes, there were plenty of planks on the deck, and if it were daylight I\\ncould tie them together and make a raft, which would bear me up.  How I\\nlonged for daylight, for I was afraid that the vessel would sink before\\nI could see to do what was requisite.  The wind had become much fresher\\nduring the night, and the waves now dashed against the sides of the\\nwater-logged vessel.\\n\\nAs I watched for daylight, I began to reflect how this could have\\nhappened; and it occurred to me that the pirates had scuttled the bottom\\nof the vessel to sink her; and in this conjecture I was right.\\n\\nAt last a faint light appeared in the east, which soon broke into broad\\nday, and I lost no time in setting about my work.\\n\\nBefore I began, however, I thought it advisable to ascertain how much\\nmore water there was in the vessel since I had quitted the cabin which\\nit appeared to me must have been about two hours.  I therefore went down\\nin the cabin to measure it.  I know how high it was when I waded through\\nit.  I found, to my surprise, and, I may say, to my joy, that it was not\\nhigher than it was before.\\n\\nI thought that perhaps I might be mistaken, so I marked the height of\\nthe water at the cabin ladder, and I sat down on deck to watch it; it\\nappeared to me not to rise any higher.\\n\\nThis made me reflect, and it then struck me that, as the vessel was\\nladen with timber, she would not probably sink any lower, so I deferred\\nmy work till I had ascertained the fact.\\n\\nThree hours did I watch, and found that the water did not rise higher,\\nand I was satisfied; but the wind increased, and the vessel\\'s sails,\\ninstead of flapping to the wind as she drove without any one at the\\nhelm, were now bellied out, and the vessel careened to leeward.\\n\\nI was afraid that she would turn over; and finding an axe on the deck, I\\nmounted the rigging with it, and commenced cutting away the lacing of\\nthe sails from the mast.  I then lowered the gaffs, and cleared away the\\ncanvass in the same way, so that the sails fell on the deck.  This was a\\nwork of at least one hour; but when the canvass was off, the vessel was\\nsteady.\\n\\nIt was well that I had taken this precaution; for very soon afterwards\\nthe wind was much fresher, and the weather appeared very threatening;\\nthe sea also rose considerably.  I was very tired, and sat down for some\\ntime on the deck abaft.\\n\\nIt then occurred to me that the weight of the planks upon the deck must\\nnot only keep the vessel deeper in the water, but make her more\\ntop-heavy, and I determined to throw them overboard; but first I looked\\nfor something to eat, and found plenty of victuals in the iron pot in\\nwhich the men had cooked their supper the night before.\\n\\nAs soon as I had obtained from the cask lashed on the deck a drink of\\nwater, to wash down the cold fried ham which I had eaten, I set work to\\nthrow overboard the planks on deck.\\n\\nWhen I had thrown over a portion from one side I went to the other, and\\nthrew over as many more, that I might, as much as possible, keep the\\nvessel on an even keel.\\n\\nThis job occupied me the whole of the day; and when I had completed my\\ntask I examined the height of the water at the cabin ladder, and found\\nthat the vessel had risen more than six inches.  This was a source of\\ngreat comfort to me, and what pleased me more was, that the wind had\\ngone down again, and the water was much smoother.\\n\\nI made a supper off some raw ham, for the fire had been extinguished,\\nand committing myself to the protection of Heaven, lay down as the sun\\nset, and from the fatigue of the day was soon in a sound sleep.\\n\\nI awoke about the middle of the night.  The stars shone brightly, and\\nthere was but a slight ripple on the water.\\n\\nI thought of my mother, of my aunt Milly, of Captain Delmar, and I felt\\nfor the seal-skin pouch which was fastened round my neck.  It was all\\nsafe.\\n\\nI calculated chances, and I made up my mind that I should be picked up\\nby some vessel or another before long.\\n\\nI said to myself--\"Why, I am better off now than I was when in the\\nwherry, with Peggy Pearson; I was saved then, why should I not be now?\"\\n\\nI felt no desponding, and lay down, and was soon fast asleep.\\n\\nIt was broad daylight when I awoke; I took my spy-glass, and looking\\nround the horizon, discovered a vessel several miles off, standing\\ntowards me.  This gave me fresh spirits.\\n\\nI made a raw breakfast, and drank plenty of water as before.  The wind,\\nwhich was very light, increased a little.  The vessel came nearer, and I\\nmade her out to be a schooner.  In two hours she was close to me, and I\\nwaved my hat, and hallooed as loud as I could.\\n\\nThe schooner was full of men, and steered close to me--she was a\\nbeautiful craft, and, although the wind was so light, glided very fast\\nthrough the water, and I could not help thinking that she was the pirate\\nvessel which the frigate had been in chase of.\\n\\nIt appeared as if they intended to pass me, and I hallooed, \"Schooner,\\nahoy!  Why don\\'t you send a boat on board?\"\\n\\nI must say, that when the idea struck me that she was a pirate vessel,\\nmy heart almost failed me.\\n\\nShortly afterwards the schooner rounded to and lowered a boat, which\\npulled to the vessel.  The boat\\'s crew were all negroes.\\n\\nOne of them said, \"Jump in, you white boy; next jump he take be into the\\nshark\\'s mouth,\" continued the man, grinning, as he addressed himself to\\nthe others in the boat.\\n\\nI got into the boat, and they rowed on board the schooner.  I did then\\nthink that I was done for; for what mercy could I expect, being a king\\'s\\nofficer, from pirates, which the words of the negro convinced me they\\nwere?\\n\\nAs soon as I was alongside of the schooner, they ordered me to go up the\\nside, which I did, with my spy-glass in my hand.  I leaped from the\\ngunwale down on the deck, and found myself on board of an armed vessel,\\nwith a crew wholly composed of blacks.\\n\\nI was rudely seized by two of them, who led me aft to where a negro\\nstood apart from the rest.  A more fierce, severe, determined-looking\\ncountenance, I never beheld.  He was gigantic in stature and limbed like\\nthe Farnesian Hercules.\\n\\n\"Well, boy, who are you?\" said he, \"and how came you on board of that\\nvessel?\"\\n\\nI told him in very few words.\\n\\n\"Then you belong to that frigate that chased us the day before\\nyesterday?\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"What is her name?\"\\n\\n\"The Calliope.\"\\n\\n\"She sails well,\" said he.\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied I; \"she is the fastest sailer on this station.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s all the information I want of you, boy: now you may go.\"\\n\\n\"Go where?\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Go where?--go overboard, to be sure,\" replied he, with a grin.\\n\\nMy heart died within me; but I mustered courage enough to say, \"Much\\nobliged to you, sir; but I\\'d rather stay where I am, if it\\'s all the\\nsame to you.\"\\n\\nThe other negroes laughed at this reply, and I felt a little confidence;\\nat all events, their good-humour gave me courage, and I felt that being\\nbold was my only chance.\\n\\nThe negro captain looked at me for a time, as if considering, and at\\nlast said to the men, \"Overboard with him.\"\\n\\n\"Good-bye, sir, you\\'re very kind,\" said I; \"but this is a capital\\nspy-glass, and I leave it to you as a legacy.\"  And I went up to him and\\noffered him my spy-glass.  Merciful Heaven! bow my heart beat against my\\nribs when I did this!\\n\\nThe negro captain took the glass, and looked through it.\\n\\n\"It is a good glass,\" said he, as he removed it from his eyes.  It was\\npoor Green\\'s spy-glass, which he had given me for showing him the\\nmason\\'s signs.\\n\\n\"Well, white boy, I accept your present; and now, good bye.\"\\n\\n\"Good-bye, sir.  Do me one kindness in return,\" said I, very gravely,\\nfor I felt my hour was come.\\n\\n\"And what is that?\" replied the negro.\\n\\n\"Tie a shot to my heels, that I may sink quickly; it won\\'t take them\\nlong.\"\\n\\n\"You don\\'t ask me to spare your life, then?\" replied the negro.\\n\\n\"He de very first white dat not ask it,\" said one of the negroes.\\n\\n\"Dat really for true,\" said another.\\n\\n\"Yes, by gum,\" replied a third.\\n\\nOh, how I wished to know what to say at that moment!  The observations\\nof the negroes made me imagine that I had better not _ask_ for it and\\nyet how I clung to life!  It was an awful moment--I felt as if I had\\nlived a year in a few minutes.  For a second or two I felt faint and\\ngiddy--I drew a long breath and revived.\\n\\n\"You don\\'t answer me, boy,\" said the negro captain.\\n\\n\"Why should I ask when I feel certain to be refused?  If you will give\\nme my life, I will thank you: I don\\'t particularly wish to die, I can\\nassure you.\"\\n\\n\"I have taken an oath never to spare a white man.  For once I am sorry\\nthat I cannot break my oath.\"\\n\\n\"If that is all, I am a boy, and not a man,\" replied I.  \"Keep me till I\\ngrow bigger.\"\\n\\n\"By golly, captain, that very well said.  Keep him, captain,\" said one\\nof the negroes.\\n\\n\"Yes, captain,\" replied another; \"keep him to tend your cabin.  Proper\\nyou have white slave boy.\"\\n\\nThe negro captain for some time made no reply; he appeared to be in deep\\nthought.  At last he said--\\n\\n\"Boy, you have saved your life: you may thank yourself and not me.\\nProssa, let him be taken below; give him a frock and trousers and throw\\nthat infernal dress overboard, or I may change my resolution.\"\\n\\nThe negro who was addressed, and who wore a sort of uniform as an\\nofficer--which he was, being second mate--led me below,--nothing loth, I\\ncan assure my readers.\\n\\nWhen I was between decks.  I sat down upon a chest, my head swam, and I\\nfainted.  The shock had been too powerful for a lad of my age.  They\\nbrought water, and recovered me.  When I revived, I felt that I might\\nhave lost in their good opinion by thus knowing my weakness; and I had\\nsufficient presence of mind to ask for something to eat.  This deceived\\nthem; they said to one another that I must have been on board that\\nvessel for two days without food, and of course I did not deny it.\\n\\nThey brought me some meat and some grog.  I ate and drank a little.\\nThey then took off my uniform, and put on me a check frock and white\\ntrousers; after which, I said I wished to lie down a little, and they\\nleft me to sleep on the chest where I had been seated.\\n\\nI pretended to sleep, although I could not; and I found out by their\\nconversation that I gained the goodwill not only of the crew, but of the\\ncaptain, by my behaviour.\\n\\nI considered that I had gained my life, at least for the present; but\\nwhat security could I have in such company?\\n\\nAfter an hour or two I felt quite recovered, and I thought it advisable\\nto go on deck.  I did so, and went right aft to the negro captain, and\\nstood before him.\\n\\n\"Well, boy,\" said he, \"why do you come to me?\"\\n\\n\"You gave me my life; you\\'re the greatest friend I have here, so I come\\nto you.  Can I do anything?\"\\n\\n\"Yes; you may assist in the cabin, if your white blood does not curdle\\nat the idea of attending on a black man.\"\\n\\n\"Not at all.  I will do anything for them who are kind to me, as you\\nhave been.\"\\n\\n\"And think it no disgrace?\"\\n\\n\"Not the least.  Is it a disgrace to be grateful?\"\\n\\nThe reader will observe how particularly judicious my replies were,\\nalthough but fifteen years old.  My dangerous position had called forth\\nthe reflection and caution of manhood.\\n\\n\"Go down into the cabin; you may amuse yourself till I come.\"\\n\\nI obeyed this order.  The cabin was fitted up equal to most yachts, with\\nSpanish mahogany and gold mouldings; a beaufet full of silver (there was\\nno glass) occupied nearly one-half of it; even the plates and dishes\\nwere of the same material.  Silver candelabras hung down from the middle\\nof the beams; a variety of swords, pistols, and other weapons were fixed\\nup against the bulkhead; a small bookcase, chiefly of Spanish books,\\noccupied the after-bulkhead, and the portraits of several white females\\nfilled up the intervals; a large table in the centre, a stand full of\\ncharts, half a dozen boxes of cigars, and two most luxurious sofas,\\ncompleted the furniture.\\n\\nA door from the starboard side led, I presumed, to the stateroom, where\\nthe captain slept; but I did not venture to open it.\\n\\nI surveyed all this magnificence, wondering who this personage could be;\\nand more still, how it was that the whole of the crew were, as well as\\nthe captain, of the negro race.\\n\\nWe had heard that the pirate we were in search of was a well-known\\ncharacter--a Spaniard--who went by the name of Chico, and that his crew\\nconsisted of Americans, English, and Spaniards.  That this was the\\nvessel, I knew, from the conversation of the men when I was below for\\nthey called her the Stella.\\n\\nNow, it appeared that the vessel had changed masters; the crew were\\nchiefly Spanish negroes, or other negroes who spoke Spanish, but some of\\nthem spoke English, and a few words of Spanish; these, I presumed, were\\nAmerican or English runaways.  But the captain--his language was as\\ncorrect as my own; Spanish he spoke fluently, for I heard him giving\\norders in that language while I was in the cabin; neither was he\\nflat-nosed, like the majority.  Had he been white, his features would\\nhave been considered regular, although there was a fierceness about them\\nat times which was terrible to look at.\\n\\n\"Well,\" thought I, \"if I live and do well, I shall know more about it;\\nyes, if I live, I wish I was on the quarterdeck of the Calliope, even as\\nTommy was with his pockets stuffed full of the purser\\'s raisins, and\\nlooking like a fool and a rogue at the same time.\"\\n\\nI had been down in the cabin about half an hour, when the negro captain\\nmade his appearance.\\n\\n\"Well,\" said he, \"I suppose you would as soon see the devil as me--eh,\\nboy?\"\\n\\n\"No: indeed,\" replied I, laughing--for I had quite recovered my\\nconfidence--\"for you were about to send me to the devil, and I feel most\\nhappy that I still remain with you.\"\\n\\n\"You\\'re exactly the cut of boy I like,\" replied he, smiling.  \"How I\\nwish that you were black!--I detest your colour.\"\\n\\n\"I have no objection to black my face, if you wish it,\" replied I: \"it\\'s\\nall the same to me what colour I am.\"\\n\\n\"How old are you?\"\\n\\n\"I was fifteen a few months back.\"\\n\\n\"How long have you been to sea?\"\\n\\n\"About eighteen months.\"\\n\\nHe then asked me a great many more questions, about the captain, the\\nofficers, the ship, and myself; to all of which I answered in a guarded\\nway.\\n\\nA negro brought down his supper; it was hot, and very savoury; without\\nany order on his part, I immediately attended upon him during his meal.\\nHe told the negro not to wait and conversed with me during the time that\\nhe was eating: at last, he told me how he had doubled the frigate during\\nthe night.  I then remarked that we had been informed that the vessel\\nwas called the Stella, that the captain\\'s name was Chico, and the crew\\nwere composed of white men of different nations.\\n\\n\"A month or two ago, it was the case,\" replied the captain.  \"Now I have\\ndone, and you may clear away,\" continued he, rising from his chair and\\nthrowing himself down on one of the sofas.  \"Stop; you are hungry, I\\ndon\\'t doubt; you can sit down and eat your supper, and remove the things\\nafterwards.\"\\n\\nI did as he told me: it was the first time in my life I had supped off\\nmassive plate--but I was in strange company; however, it did not spoil\\nmy appetite, and I did not forget to drink a goblet of wine by way of\\nwashing down my repast.\\n\\n\"Thank you, sir,\" said I, rising, and then performing my office of\\nattendant.\\n\\nAt his order, I rang the bell for the negro, who assisted me in clearing\\naway, and then went out with the remains of the supper.\\n\\n\"Am I to stay or go?\" said I, respectfully.\\n\\n\"You may go now.  Find the man who came in just now--Jose he is called;\\ntell him to give you something to sleep upon.\"\\n\\n\"Good-night, sir,\" said I.\\n\\n\"Good-night, boy.\"\\n\\nAs I went forward looking for the negro servant, I was accosted more\\nthan once very kindly by the negro seamen.  At last I went up on the\\nforecastle, and they asked me to tell them how I was left on board the\\nschooner.  I did so to those who spoke English, and one of them, who\\ncould speak both languages, translated into Spanish for the benefit of\\nthe others.\\n\\n\"You be first white he hab spared, I tell you,\" said the American negro,\\nwho had translated into Spanish what I had told them, after the other\\nhad left me with him.\\n\\n\"The captain says he wishes I were black,\" said I to the negro; \"I wish\\nI was, too, while I am on board of this vessel--my colour makes him\\nangry, I see that.  Could not I be stained black?\"\\n\\n\"Well, I do think it will be a very safe thing for you, if it could be;\\nfor you have not seen him sometimes in his moods; and if to-morrow\\nmorning he was chased and hard pressed by the frigate, you would stand a\\npoor chance, suppose his eyes light upon you.  I can\\'t tink what make\\nhim to let you off, only but cause you give him de spy-glass in dat hold\\nway.  I tink I know a chap on board who understand dat--I go see--you\\nwait here till I come back.\"\\n\\nThe negro left me, and in a few minutes returned, with a sort of\\nhalf-Indian, half-negro-looking cut of fellow, with whom he conversed in\\nSpanish.\\n\\n\"He say he know how to make brown like himself but not dark same as me.\\nSuppose you wish he do it to-night--begin now?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, I do wish it,\" replied I; and so I did sincerely, for I felt that\\nit might be the saving of my life; and I had a great aversion to be torn\\nto pieces by the sharks which followed the vessel, that being anything\\nbut an agreeable mode of going out of the world.\\n\\nThe American black remained with me, and we conversed for about half an\\nhour, by which time we were joined by the Spanish Main negro, who\\nbrought up with him some decoction or another, boiling hot.  They\\nstripped me and rubbed me all over with a bit of sponge, not only the\\nface and hands, but every part of my body and then I was left standing\\nquite naked to dry; the crew had gathered round us, and were very merry\\nat the idea of changing my colour.\\n\\nAs soon as the warm air had dried me, the application was created; and\\nwhen I was again dry, the American told me to put on my clothes, and\\nthat he would call me early to have two more applications of the stuff,\\nand that then I should be quite dark enough.\\n\\nI asked for Jose, and told him what the captain had said; he gave me a\\nbundle of matting for a bed, and I was soon fast asleep.  About three\\no\\'clock in the morning I was called up, and the staining repeated twice,\\nand I then lay down again.\\n\\nWhen the hands were turned up at five bells (for everything was very\\nregular on board), Jose brought me a glass to look at myself, and I was\\nquite satisfied that my colour would no longer annoy the captain.  I was\\nnot as black as a negro, but I was as dark as a mulatto.\\n\\nI asked the Spanish negro, through Jose, who could speak both languages,\\nwhether I might wash myself?  He replied, all day long if I pleased;\\nthat I should not get the colour off; it would wear off in time, and the\\nstuff must be applied once a month, and that would be sufficient.\\n\\nI went to the forecastle, and washed myself; the negro crew were much\\namused, and said that I now was a \"bel muchaco\"--a handsome boy.  I dare\\nsay they thought so--at all events, they appeared to be very friendly\\nwith me, and my staining myself gave them great satisfaction.  I was\\nsitting with Jose between decks when the cabin bell rang.\\n\\n\"You go,\" said he, showing his white teeth as he grinned; \"I go after,\\nsee what captain tink.\"\\n\\nI went into the cabin, and knocked at the state-room door.\\n\\n\"Come in,\" said the captain.\\n\\nI went in, and met him face to face.\\n\\n\"What!\" said he, looking earnestly at me--\"yet it must be--it is you, is\\nit not?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir,\" replied I, \"it is me.  I\\'ve turned dark to please you, and I\\nhope it does please you.\"\\n\\n\"It does, boy, I can look at you now, and forget that you are white.  I\\ncan.  I feel that I can love you now--you\\'ve got rid of your only fault\\nin my eyes, and I\\'m not sorry.  I\\'m only glad that I did not--\"\\n\\n\"Give me to the sharks,\" said I, finishing his sentence.\\n\\n\"Exactly so; say no more about it.\"\\n\\nI immediately turned the conversation, by asking him what he required;\\nand I attended him while dressing.  From that time he became very\\nfriendly towards me, constantly conversing with me.  I did my duty as\\nhis servant for more than a fortnight, during which time we became very\\nintimate, and (I may as well confess it) I grew very fond of my new\\nmaster, and thought less about the ship and my shipmates.  We were going\\ninto a port, I knew, but what port I did not know.\\n\\nI often had conversations with Jose and the American black, and gained a\\ngreat deal of information from them; but I could not discover much of\\nthe history of the captain.  On that point they refused to be\\ncommunicative; occasionally hints were given, and then, as if\\nrecollecting themselves, they stopped speaking.\\n\\nIt was about three weeks before we made the land of Cuba, and as soon as\\nwe did so, the schooner was hove to till night, when sail was again\\nmade, and before ten o\\'clock we saw the lights of the Havannah.  When\\nabout three miles off we again hove to, and about midnight we perceived\\nunder the land the white sails of a schooner, which was standing out.\\nSail was made, and we ran down to her, and before she was aware that we\\nwere an enemy, she was laid by the board and in the possession of our\\ncrew.  The people belonging to the vessel were handed up, and she was\\nexamined.  She proved to be a vessel fitted out for the slave trade,\\nwith the manacles, etcetera, on board of her, and was just sailing for\\nthe coast.\\n\\nI was on the deck when the white men, belonging to the slaver, were\\nbrought on board, and never shall I forget the rage and fury of the\\ncaptain.\\n\\nAll sail was made upon both schooners, standing right off from the land,\\nand at daylight we had left it a long way astern.\\n\\nJose said to me, \"You better not go to captain dis day.  Keep out of his\\nway--perhaps he recollect dat you white.\"\\n\\nFrom what I had seen the night before, I thought this good advice; and I\\nnot only did not go into the cabin, but I did not show myself on deck.\\n\\nAbout eight o\\'clock in the morning I heard the boat lowered down and\\norders given to scuttle the vessel, as soon as she had been well\\nsearched.  This was done, and the boat returned, having found several\\nthousand dollars on board of her, which they handed upon deck.\\n\\nI remained below: I heard the angry voice of the negro captain--the\\npleadings and beggings for mercy of the prisoners--busy preparations\\nmaking on deck; and several men came down and handed up buckets of sand;\\nan iron grating was handed up.  The countenances of the negroes who were\\nthus employed appeared inflamed, as if their wrath was excited; now and\\nthen they laughed at each other, and looked more like demons than men.\\nThat some dreadful punishment was about to be inflicted I was certain\\nand I remained crouched behind the foremast on the lower-deck.\\n\\nAt last the men were all on deck again, and I was left alone; and then I\\nheard more noise, begging for mercy, weeping and wailing, and\\noccasionally a few words from the mouth of the negro captain; then rose\\nshrieks and screams, and appeals to Heaven, and a strong smell, which I\\ncould not comprehend, came down the hatchways.\\n\\nThe shrieks grew fainter, and at last ceased, and something was thrown\\noverboard.  Then the same tragedy, whatever it was, was acted over\\nagain--more attempts to obtain mercy--more shrieks--again the same\\noverpowering smell.  What could it be?  I would have given much to know,\\nbut something told me that I must remain where I was.  Ten times was\\nthis repeated, and then, as evening came on, there was a bustle on deck,\\nand after a time the crew descended the hatchways.\\n\\nI caught the eye of the American, with whom I was intimate, and as he\\npassed me, I beckoned to him.  He came to me.\\n\\n\"What has been done?\" said I in a whisper.\\n\\n\"Captain punish slave traders,\" replied he; \"always punish them so.\"\\n\\n\"Why, what did he do to them?\"\\n\\n\"Do?--roast \\'em alive.  Dis third slave vessel he take, and he always\\nserve \\'em so.  Serve \\'em right; captain very savage; no go to him till\\nmorrow morning--you keep close.\"  So saying, the American negro left me.\\n\\nAs I afterwards found out, the long boat on the booms had been cleared\\nout, the sand laid at the bottom to prevent the fire from burning the\\nboat, the captain and crew of the slave vessel laid on one after the\\nother upon the iron grating, and burnt alive.  This accounted for the\\nhorrible smell that had come down the hatchways.\\n\\nIt may be considered strange that I really did not feel so much horror\\nas perhaps I ought to have done.  Had this dreadful punishment been\\ninflicted upon any _other_ persons than slave dealers, and _by_ any\\nother parties than negroes, I should not have been able to look at the\\ncaptain without abhorrence expressed in my countenance; but I know well\\nthe horrors of the slave trade from conversation I had had with Bob\\nCross; and I had imbibed such a hatred against the parties who had\\ncarried it on, that it appeared to me to be an act of retaliation almost\\nallied to justice.  Had the negro captain only warred against slave\\ndealers, I do not think I should have cared about remaining in the\\nvessel; but he had told me and fully proved to me, that he detested all\\nwhite men, and had never spared them except in my own instance.\\n\\nI must acknowledge that I felt very much like going into the lion\\'s den,\\nwhen the next morning, on his ringing the cabin bell, I presented myself\\nto the captain; but so far from being in an ill-humour, he was very kind\\nto me.\\n\\nAfter breakfast, as I was going out, he said to me, \"You must have a\\nname: I shall call you Cato--recollect that; and now I have a question\\nto ask you--What is that which you carry round your neck on a ribbon?\"\\n\\n\"A letter, sir,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"A letter! and why do you carry a letter?\"\\n\\n\"Because it is of the greatest importance to me.\"\\n\\n\"Indeed!  Now, Cato, sit down on the other sofa, and let me know your\\nhistory.\"\\n\\nI felt that I could not do better than to make this man at once my\\nconfidant.  He might take a strong interest in me, and it was not likely\\nto go farther.  I therefore told him everything connected with my birth\\nand parentage, what my suspicions had been, and how the letter had\\nconfirmed them.  I unsewed the seal-skin, and gave him the letter to\\nread--without being aware that he could read: he took it and read it\\naloud.\\n\\n\"Yes,\" said he, \"that\\'s proof under his own hand; and now, Cato, never\\nbe afraid of me, for, however I may wreak my vengeance upon others, I\\nswear _by my colour_ that I never will hurt you, or permit others to do\\nso.  I am a tiger--I know it; but you have often seen a little spaniel\\ncaressed by the tiger, whose fangs are turned against every other living\\nthing.  You are quite safe.\"\\n\\n\"I feel I am, since you say so,\" replied I; \"and since I am to be your\\npet, I shall take liberties, and ask you, in return, to tell me your\\nhistory.\"\\n\\n\"I am glad that you have asked it, as I wish you to know it.  I will\\nbegin at once--\\n\\n\"I was born in America, in the state of Pennsylvania, of free parents.\\nMy father was a sail-maker, and was worth money; bet a free black in\\nAmerica is even worse treated and more despised than a slave.  I had two\\nbrothers, who went to school with me.\\n\\n\"My father intended to bring me up for the Church.  You look astonished;\\nbut in the States we have clergymen of our colour, as well as white\\nones; looked down upon and despised, I grant, although they do teach the\\nWord of God; but I was very unfit for that profession, as you may\\nsuppose.  I was very proud and haughty; I felt that I was as good as a\\nwhite man, and I very often got into scrapes from my resenting injuries.\\n\\n\"However, my education went on successfully, much more so than that of\\nmy brothers, who could not learn.  I could, and learnt rapidly but I\\nlearnt to hate and detest white men, and more especially Americans; I\\nbrooded over the injuries of people of colour, as we were called, and\\nall my father\\'s advice and entreaty could not persuade me to keep my\\nthoughts to myself.  As I grew up to manhood, I spoke boldly, and more\\nthan once nearly lost my life for so doing; for most Americans think no\\nmore of taking the life of one like me than of a dog in the street.\\nMore than one knife has been directed to my heart, and more than once\\nwas I then up before the judge, and sentenced to imprisonment for no\\nfault; my evidence, and the evidence of those of my colour, not being\\npermitted to be received in a court of justice.  Any white villain had\\nonly to swear falsely--and there is no want of that class in America--\\nand there was no appeal.  At last I was sentenced to be whipped; then my\\nblood boiled, and I vowed a vengeance which I have fearfully adhered\\nto.\"\\n\\n\"I do not wonder at that,\" said I; \"I would have done the same.\"\\n\\n\"The man who had sworn falsely against me in this last instance had come\\nup from the South; I obtained what money I could from my father, and\\nwent away in pursuit of him.  I found him--dogged him, and one evening I\\naccosted him, and plunged my bowie-knife into his heart.  I fled that\\nState, and crossed the Mississippi.\\n\\n\"I had not been long in Arkansas before a man--a cotton-grower, who\\nowned about a hundred and fifty slaves--inquired who I was, and whether\\nI had a pass; I replied that I was a free man, born in Pennsylvania, and\\nwas there on my own affairs.  The next day I was taken up, brought\\nbefore the magistrate, and this scoundrel swore that I was his slave,\\nand had absconded from him ten years before.\\n\\n\"My defence--the proof which I offered to bring, was not listened to.  I\\nwas made over to him, and the rascal grinned as the constables brought\\nme away with him.  His plantation was at the Red River.  It was\\ndifficult to escape and indeed, almost useless to attempt it: but the\\nfact was, that I did not wish to do so; I remained to have my revenge.\\nI tried to make the other slaves rise against him, but they were too\\ncowed; they even informed against me, and I was tied down, and flogged\\nby the drivers until the flesh fell from my shoulders.\\n\\n\"As soon as I recovered, I determined to do--or die.  I heard that there\\nwere some pirate vessels in the Barataria lagoons on the other side of\\nNew Orleans; I resolved to join the crews, but first to have my revenge.\\nI did so: I set fire to the plantation house--struck the scoundrel who\\nhad made me a slave senseless as he attempted to escape, and threw his\\nbody into the flames; I then made the door fast, and fled.  I was met by\\none of the overseers, who was armed, and who would have stopped me: I\\nbeat his brains out with his own musket, and then gained the woods.  You\\nsee that I am powerful; you hardly know how much so.  After several\\ndays\\' travelling, I arrived at the lagoons.  I found this very vessel at\\nanchor.  I offered myself, and they accepted me immediately.\\n\\n\"There were several of my colour on board--runaway slaves--and all good\\ndetermined men.  These were the people I required, for they understood\\nme.  Even on board of a pirate vessel, the same contempt was shown\\ntowards us--still considered as inferior beings.  All the heavy work all\\nthe dirty work, was for the negro race; and we often worked like slaves,\\nwhile the captain and the rest of the crew caroused.  I was three years\\non board of this vessel.  Our rendezvous where we are going to now, is a\\nsmall land-locked bay on the island of Cuba.  No vessel in it can be\\nseen from seaward, and there is but one narrow pass by which it\\ncommunicates with the interior, and it is far from any habitation.  A\\nbetter retreat for a pirate vessel could not well be found.  We used\\nvery often to go in to refit, and take in provisions and water; for in a\\ncave there, we keep the provisions which we take from other vessels.\\n\\n\"In a desperate fight which we had with an English man-of-war brig, we\\nlost nearly forty of our men.  The captain, Chico, as he was called, was\\nobliged to fill up with black men, until he could procure others.  The\\nconsequence was, that with the ten before on board, there were fifty\\nblacks to seventy whites.  It was then that I made up my mind that I\\nwould retaliate for all that my race had suffered.  I was sure of the\\nten with whom I had sailed so long; I sounded the others, and found them\\nall willing.\\n\\n\"We sailed from the Mexican Gulf, and made for the Rendezvous Bay, in\\nCuba.  As soon as we arrived, of course, as with all pirate vessels, the\\nfirst day was dedicated to revelling and intoxication--that is, by the\\nwhite portion of the crew.  We negroes were employed in getting the\\ncasks ashore for water.  That very night, when they all lay asleep and\\ndrunk, we put every soul of them to death, and the Stella belonged to me\\nand my brave black who chose me for their captain, and swore by their\\nwrongs eternal enmity to the European race.\\n\\n\"As you may suppose, I was short-manned; but we soon found plenty of\\nmen, and have now as fine a crew as ever trod a deck.\"\\n\\n\"How long is it since you took possession of the vessel?\"\\n\\n\"About eight or nine months, during which time I have spared none except\\nyou.  The usual death is drowning; but if I fall in with a slaver,\\nthen--you know what took place yesterday.\"\\n\\nI was silent for a time.  \"I do not wonder,\" said I, at last, \"at your\\nhatred of the whites, especially of the Americans.  As for your wreaking\\nyour vengeance upon those employed in the slave trade, dreadful as it\\nis, I scarcely pity them; but in your general warfare against the\\nwhites, recollect that you may murder those who are your friends, and\\nwho have done all they can to put an end to slavery.  Even in America,\\nthere are many who are opposed to it.\"\\n\\n\"It is impossible to make a distinction,\" replied the negro.\\n\\n\"What is your name?\" said I, musing.\\n\\n\"Why do you ask?  You may as well know; I wish it to be known: it is\\nJames Vincent.\"\\n\\n\"But tell me, if you were to meet with a very superior force, what would\\nyou do?\"\\n\\n\"Run if I could; if not, fight.\"\\n\\n\"But you might be captured, and then--\"\\n\\n\"Never, boy; never.\"\\n\\n\"Well,\" said I, \"as you have begun by sparing me, I hope you will spare\\nothers now.\"\\n\\n\"I don\\'t know why I spared you.  Had you shown any fear of death I\\nshould not have done so; but I felt that you would not care about it.  I\\nbelieve it was that.\"\\n\\nAbout ten days after, we made the east end of the island of Cuba, and\\nran into the Bay of Rendezvous, as it was named by the pirate.  It was\\nvery small, but completely land-locked, and the land so high on every\\nside that the masts of the vessel could not be seen from the seaward.\\nThe bay on the land side was met by a deep, narrow ravine, between\\nmountains which were almost perpendicular, the ravine itself being\\naccessible from the main land by only one narrow path known to the\\npirates, and which they seldom made use of, except when a spy was sent\\nto the Havannah to ascertain what vessels were about to sail.\\n\\nOn the high land which shut in the bay from the sea, the pirates had a\\nman constantly on the look-out, to report any vessel which might be in\\nthe offing, and Vincent himself passed much of his time there, as the\\nbreeze was fresh and the air cool to what it was down in the land-locked\\nbay.  I was, for the same reason, very fond of being on the look-out\\nhill, and generally followed up the captain when he went out there.  He\\ncertainly now showed a strong affection for me, and I liked him better\\nthan I ever thought I could have done.  He was constantly telling me of\\nthe treatment he and the other poor blacks had received in America, and\\nI could not help feeling my blood boil, and a conviction that, had I\\nbeen so treated, I should probably have been equally under the influence\\nof revenge.  It is the world, and the treatment we receive from it,\\nwhich makes us chiefly what we are.\\n\\nOne day the captain told me he was going that evening to obtain\\ninformation, as the spy he had sent had returned unsuccessful, and that\\nhe should be absent for three or four days.\\n\\nAlthough I was not discontented with my position, still, as the reader\\nmay well suppose, I had a strong wish to be out of it as soon as\\npossible, and I had determined to escape if I could; it immediately\\noccurred to me, that his absence would give me the opportunity.\\n\\nI replied with a laugh, \"Had you not better take me with you?\"\\n\\n\"Very likely, indeed, you would be so very useful; I shall have quite\\nenough to do to take care of myself; besides, you might betray me,\"\\nadded he, with a fierce and penetrating look.\\n\\n\"Thank you, for your good opinion,\" replied I, indignantly.  \"So you\\nthink, because you have saved my life, that I would take yours.  I am\\nnot yet such a rascal, whatever I may become by keeping bad company.\"\\n\\n\"Well, well,\" replied the negro captain, \"I believe I am wrong, so don\\'t\\nget into a passion; but, at all events, you must see that it is\\nimpossible I can take you with me.\"\\n\\n\"If you don\\'t choose, I can\\'t help it,\" said I; \"but I don\\'t like\\nremaining here without you; I shall run away if I can, so I give you\\nfair warning.\"\\n\\n\"You won\\'t find that quite so easy,\" replied he, laughing; \"and I\\nrecommend you not to attempt it.\"\\n\\nHere the conversation dropped.  About midnight the captain commenced his\\nascent of the ravine, and I resolved that I would not lose the\\nopportunity, if it offered, of following him.  I watched him as long as\\nI could see him, that I might know the direction of the secret path, and\\nthen I joined the crew, who were lying down by the tents which they had\\npitched on the shore.  Shortly afterwards, the Spanish Indian, who had\\ncoloured me, passed by me, and, as I intended to make the attempt before\\nit was quite dark, I thought that I would remove any suspicion, and I\\ntherefore requested him to stain me again.  This he consented to do, and\\nin half an hour I was again naked among the negroes and undergoing the\\noperation.  Having received the two applications, as before, I then\\nquitted them.\\n\\nAs soon as it was quite dark, I armed myself with a pair of pistols, and\\ncrawled underneath the back of the captain\\'s tent, in which I always\\nslept, and, without being perceived, gained the narrow path in the\\nbrushwood by which the captain had left.\\n\\nI continued in the path for some time, by feeling the brushwood on\\neither side; but before I had crawled half way up the ravine, I found\\nthat the brushwood had not been cut away any farther and I was at a loss\\nhow to proceed.  All traces were gone, and all I had to do was to climb\\nup to the summit, and to take my chance of finding any egress.  I toiled\\non with difficulty, sometimes stopped by a rock which would take me\\nminutes to climb over at others, holding on by the brushwood for my\\nlife.  By twelve o\\'clock I had gained more than two-thirds of the\\nascent, and then the moon rose, and assisted me with her light.  I must\\nsay, that when I looked up and saw the rocks towering above me, and\\noverhanging my path, I felt that escape was nearly impossible: however,\\nI recommenced my labour, and gained some ground, when, as I was clinging\\nto the side of a rock by a small shrub, it gave way, and I rolled and\\nfell down many feet, between that rock and another opposite to it.\\n\\nI was not much hurt, and I regained my legs.  Looking up and about me, I\\nfound that I was in a narrow passage, between the rocks, leading both up\\nand down--in fact, I had tumbled into the secret path that I had been in\\nsearch of.  Delighted with this discovery, I now set off with great\\nspirit, and in half an hour found myself on the other side of the lull\\nwhich formed the ravine, and looking down upon an expanse of country in\\nthe interior.  Being very tired, I sat down, that I might recover my\\nstrength before I continued my journey.\\n\\n\"I am free at last,\" thought I, and my memory wandered back to my mother\\nmy ship, and my captain--old Culpepper, Tommy Dott, and Bob Cross.  \"I\\nshall see them all,\" I thought, \"and what a story I shall have to tell.\"\\nAs soon as I had rested myself and recovered my breath, I thought I\\nmight as well start.\\n\\nI had not proceeded more than a hundred yards before I thought heard a\\nnoise, as if some one was approaching.  I listened--I felt sure that\\nsuch was the case, and I also heard the deep baying of a hound.  The\\nnoise increased rapidly--it was that of one forcing his way through the\\nbrushwood, which covered the side of the hill.\\n\\nIn a minute afterwards I perceived a man coming up the hill at a swift\\npace, directly towards me.  As he approached I could almost swear that\\nit was Vincent, the negro captain; but when within ten yards of me, I\\nperceived, him turn round and flourish his sabre in the air, while, at\\nthe same time, three large bloodhounds sprang at him.  One fell by the\\nblow of his sabre, but the other two flew at his throat, and fastened on\\nhim, tearing him to the around, and holding him in spite of all his\\nstruggling and his immense strength.\\n\\nI recollected my pistols: I cocked them, ran up, and putting one to the\\nhead of the nearest dog, blew out its brains.  I was equally successful\\nwith the other--they both lay dead by his side, and Vincent was\\nreleased.  He started up.\\n\\n\"It is me, Cato,\" said I.\\n\\n\"Cato!\" replied he; \"but there is not a moment to be lost.  I understand\\nit all.\"\\n\\nHe seized me by the arm, and dragged me with him to the narrow entrance\\nof the pass, and as soon as we came in he rolled three large rocks,\\nwhich had evidently been used for such purpose before, so as completely\\nto block up the entrance.\\n\\n\"There,\" said he, leaning back quite exhausted; \"be quiet, Cato.  We are\\nsafe now; they will be on the top of the hill directly.\"\\n\\nWe remained where we were about ten minutes, when we heard voices not\\nvery far from us.  They were the pursuers of the negro captain who were\\nevidently baffled.  After a time the sounds receded from us, and we\\nheard them no more.  Vincent then spoke:--\\n\\n\"You were escaping, Cato.\"\\n\\n\"I had escaped,\" replied I: \"I told you that I would.\"\\n\\n\"Strange that you should have discovered the path; did any one betray it\\nto you?\"\\n\\n\"No one,\" replied I: and I then told him how I had fallen into it.\\n\\n\"Well you have returned all obligations, and more than ever you owed\\nme,\" said he: \"you have saved my life this time, and that when all\\nchance was over.\"\\n\\n\"Then,\" replied I, \"although I shall be very sorry to part with you,\\ngive me that liberty which I had gained, and which I lost in defending\\nyou from the dogs.\"\\n\\n\"I would have let you go then, Cato,\" replied he, \"but your life would\\nhave been sacrificed.  My pursuers would have hurried you to prison\\nbefore you could have explained who you were.  You forget your colour is\\nchanged; they were not seeking me, but a runaway slave, and the\\nbloodhounds came upon my track.  Those white men show no mercy; they\\nhave more pleasure in seeing a runaway slave torn to pieces by those\\ndogs than in recovering possession of him.  It is a sort of fox-chase to\\nthem,\" continued he, grating his teeth after he had said so.  \"Cato, I\\nwill give you your liberty, if you wish it, and I know you do wish it,\\nas soon as I can with any prudence; that I promise you, and you know\\nthat I will keep my word.\"\\n\\n\"I am quite satisfied,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"And do you promise me that you will not attempt to escape a second\\ntime?\"\\n\\n\"I promise you that I will not,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Enough,\" said Vincent.  \"Now let us go down the hill, for I am very\\nmuch torn by those infernal brutes, and must have the wounds washed and\\nattended to.\"\\n\\nWe descended the hill, in silence, and in a quarter of an hour had\\ngained the tent.  Vincent was severely bitten and torn: as soon as his\\nwounds had been dressed he lay down on his mat, and I did the same.\\n\\nIt was some days before Vincent recovered from the severe injuries which\\nhe had received from the bloodhounds; and he did not appear to be\\ninclined to run any more risks of that sort.  Although he said little, I\\ncould perceive that he was brooding over future vengeance and he was now\\nnearly the whole of the day with his glass on the look-out hill.\\n\\nOne morning a schooner hove in sight, steering from the Havannah to the\\nsouthward and eastward, either for the islands of the Spanish Main.  The\\nStella had for many days been ready for instant sailing, and having\\nwatched her till near sunset, Vincent sent down orders for every soul to\\nbe on board, and the anchor hove up.  Just as it was dark we towed out\\nof the bay, and made all sail.\\n\\nAt daylight the schooner was but a few miles ahead of us and not being a\\nfast sailer, in little more than an flour we were alongside of her.  She\\nproved to be bound to the island of Curacao, being the property of an\\nold Dutch gentleman, who was on board with his daughter, a little girl\\nabout seven years old.  The crew consisted chiefly of negroes, slaves to\\nthe owner; the master of the vessel and the mate being, with the\\nexception of the old gentleman and the little girl, the only white\\npeople on board.\\n\\nAs usual, the crew were brought on board by the pirates, who reported to\\nthe captain that the vessel was in ballast, and of no value.  As the\\ncrew of the Stella were already more than requisite, Vincent did not\\nrequire the negroes; he told them that they might go on board the\\nschooner again, and take her into any port they pleased; with the white\\npeople, however it was another affair.\\n\\nI had remained below, not wishing to witness a scene of butchery; but I\\nwas induced to look up the ladder, in consequence of Jose telling me\\nthat there was a little white girl come on board.  At the time that I\\ndid so, Vincent had just done speaking with the negroes belonging to the\\ncaptured vessel; they had fallen back, and there was then standing\\nbefore Vincent, the master and mate of the vessel, the old Dutch\\ngentleman, and the little girl.\\n\\nA more interesting child I never had seen, and my heart bled at the idea\\nof her being sacrificed.  I could not help hoping that Vincent would\\nhave a similar feeling, but I was mistaken.  The master and mate were\\npointed at, and immediately seized by negroes and tossed over into the\\nsea.  The old gentleman bowed his head over the beautiful child, and she\\nknelt to him, as if for his blessing before she died.  At that very\\nmoment Vincent gave the sign--I could remain quiet to longer--I sprang\\non the deck.\\n\\n\"Stop!\" cried I to the men who were about to seize the old\\ngentleman--\"stop!\"  The negroes did fall back at my voice.\\n\\n\"What is this?\" cried Vincent.\\n\\n\"Captain Vincent,\" cried I, \"do you call yourself a man, to war with\\nchildren and old grey-headed men?  You must not, shall not, touch these\\ntwo.  You have wreaked your vengeance upon the white men; be content--\\nlet these go.\"\\n\\n\"Cato,\" replied Vincent, fiercely, \"it is well that it is you that have\\ndared to snatch the prey from the fangs of the wild beast.  Had it been\\nanother, this pistol should have sent a ball whizzing through his brain;\\nas it is, go down below immediately.\"\\n\\n\"I do not fear your pistol, Captain Vincent, nor will I go below; that\\nvery pistol, in my hand, saved you from the fangs of the blood-hound.  I\\ntell you, therefore, that you must not destroy that innocent child--if\\nyou love me, you must not; for I will hate, detest, and scorn you ever\\nafterwards.  I entreat you--I implore you to let them go: they are not\\nfit objects for your vengeance; and if you destroy them, I tell you, you\\nare a coward.\"\\n\\n\"What!\" roared the tiger, \"a coward!\" and, no longer able to contain\\nhimself he levelled his pistol at me and drew the trigger.  It missed\\nfire; Vincent looked very confused--he tossed the pistol on deck, folded\\nhis arms and turned his face away.\\n\\nThere was a dead silence.  The negro crew looked first at me and then at\\nthe captain, as if awaiting orders, and uncertain of the issue.  The\\nDutch gentleman seemed to be so lost in surprise, as to almost forget\\nhis impending fate; while the little girl clung to him and stared at me\\nwith her deep blue eyes.  It was what on the theatres they would call a\\ntableau.\\n\\nI followed up my advantage.  Stepping forward, and placing myself before\\nthe old man and the child, I first broke the silence.\\n\\n\"Captain Vincent,\" said I, \"you did once promise me that you would never\\ninjure me or attempt my life; that promise you have broken.  Since that,\\nyou have made me another promise--you may recollect it--which was, that\\nyou would allow me to leave you on the first favourable opportunity;\\nthere cannot be any opportunity more favourable than the present.  The\\nnegroes whom you are to send back to the schooner do not know how to\\nnavigate her.  I request, therefore, to know whether you intend to keep\\nthis second promise, or to break it as you have the first?  I ask my\\nliberty.\"\\n\\n\"If I broke my promise just now, it was your fault,\" replied Vincent,\\ncoolly.  \"I am sorry for it, and I can say no more; I intended to keep\\nit, and, to prove so, I now keep my second--you may go.\"\\n\\n\"I thank you for that.  I only wish that, now I leave you, I could leave\\nyou with feelings of good-will and not of--I must say it--of horror and\\ndisgust.  Captain Vincent, once more let me beg, as a last favour, that\\nyou will spare these poor people.\"\\n\\n\"Since you are so particularly interested about this useless old man and\\nstill more useless child,\" replied Vincent, sarcastically, \"I will now\\nmake a proposal to you.  You have your liberty.  Do you choose to give\\nit up and remain here, provided I let them go away in the schooner?\\nCome now--take your choice; for I swear by my colour, that if you go\\naway in the schooner, the moment you shove off, they shall go over the\\ngunwale.\"\\n\\n\"My choice is then made,\" replied I; for I knew that when he swore by\\nhis colour he was in earnest: \"release them, and I will remain here.\"  I\\nlittle knew what I was to undergo in consequence of this decision.\\n\\n\"Be it so,\" said Vincent: then turning to one of the mates, \"let them go\\nback with the negroes; hoist the boat up when she returns, and sail for\\nthe Rendezvous.\"  So saying, he went down into the cabin.\\n\\n\"You are saved,\" said I, going up to the old Dutch gentleman; \"lose no\\ntime; get into the boat as fast as possible, and make sail on your\\nvessel as soon as you get on board.  Good bye, little girl,\" said I,\\ntaking her hand.\\n\\n\"I thank you,\" replied the gentleman in good English--\"I cannot say how\\nmuch; I am so surprised at what I have seen but recollect the name of\\nVanderwelt, of Curacao; and if ever we meet again, you will find me\\ngrateful.\"\\n\\n\"I will; but ask no more questions now--into the boat--quick,\" said I,\\nshaking his proffered hand.  They were handed down into the boat by the\\nnegroes.\\n\\nI remained on deck until they were put on board; the boat returned, was\\nhoisted up, the schooner made sail again, and then I went down into the\\ncabin.  I found the negro captain stretched upon the sofa, his face\\ncovered up with both his hands; he remained in the same position, taking\\nno notice of my coming down.  Although my confidence in him was\\ndestroyed after his snapping the pistol at me, yet when I reflected how\\nI had bearded him in his rage, I did make some excuse for him; moreover,\\nI knew that it was my interest to be on the best terms with him, and, if\\npossible, make him forget what had passed, for I felt that his proud\\nspirit would make it difficult for him to forgive himself for having\\nbeen induced by his passion to break an oath which he had sworn to by\\nhis colour; I therefore, after a little reflection, went up to him and\\nsaid--\\n\\n\"I am sorry that I made you so angry, Captain Vincent; you must forgive\\nme, but I thought that deed beneath you, and I could not bear to have a\\nbad opinion of you.\"\\n\\n\"Do you mean to assert that you have not a bad opinion of me now?\"\\nreplied he, fixing his eyes upon me.\\n\\n\"No, certainly not; you have released those I pleaded for, and I am very\\ngrateful to you for having done so.\"\\n\\n\"You have made me do what I never did before,\" replied he, raising\\nhimself and sitting with his feet on the deck.\\n\\n\"I know I have; I have made you spare those of my colour.\"\\n\\n\"I did not mean that; you have irritated me so as to make me break my\\noath.\"\\n\\n\"That was my own doing--my fault rather than yours.  I had no right to\\nspeak as I did; but I was in a great rage, and that is the truth.  I do\\nbelieve that, if I had had a pistol in my hand, I should have fired it\\nat you; so we may cry quits on that score.\"\\n\\n\"I am angry with myself--the more so, that I little imagined that you\\nwould have remained with me after my breaking my oath.  Either you must\\nhave felt great interest about those people, or you must have great\\nconfidence in me, a confidence winch I have proved that I do not\\ndeserve.\"\\n\\n\"That you did forget yourself, I grant; but I have that confidence that\\nit will be a warning to you, and you will not forget yourself again; I\\ntherefore remain with you with perfect confidence, feeling I am quite\\nsafe, until you think proper to give me my liberty.\"\\n\\n\"You will wish to leave me then?\"\\n\\n\"I have relations and friends--a profession to follow.  What can I gain\\nby remaining here, except your friendship?  I never will be a pirate,\\nyou may be assured, I wish from my heart that you were not one.\"\\n\\n\"And who should be pirates if the blacks are not?\" replied Vincent.\\n\"Have they not the curse of Cain?  Are they not branded?  Ought not\\ntheir hands to be against every one but their own race?  What is the\\nArab but the pirate of the desert--the sea of sand?  Black is the colour\\nfor pirates.  Even the white pirates feel the truth of this, or why do\\nthey hoist the _black_ flag?\"\\n\\n\"At all events, it\\'s a profession that seldom ends well.\"\\n\\n\"And what matter does that make?  We can die but once--I care not how\\nsoon.  I have not found life so very sweet as to care for it, I assure\\nyou.  Cato, there is but one thing sweet in existence--one feeling that\\nnever clogs and never tires, and that is revenge.\"\\n\\n\"Are not love and friendship sweet?  I certainly know nothing about the\\nfirst.\"\\n\\n\"I know no more than you do of it.  They say friendship is the more\\nlasting; and as a proof of how lasting that is I snapped my pistol at\\nyou, and, had it not missed fire, should have killed the only one for\\nwhom I ever felt friendship in this world.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s a bad habit you have of carrying your pistols at all times; they\\nare too handy, and give no time or reflection.  Only suppose, now, you\\nhad blown out my brains, you would have been very sorry.\"\\n\\n\"Cato, I have many lives on my hands, and hope to have many more before\\nI die.  I never have repented one act of my life--a murder, as you may\\ncall it--and I never shall.  But I tell you frankly, that had I\\ndestroyed you in my passion I should have been a miserable man.  I know\\nit; I feel it.\"\\n\\n\"Let\\'s say no more about it: that I\\'m just as glad as you are that you\\ndid not kill me, I assure you most positively.  Here\\'s Jose coming with\\nthe dinner.\"\\n\\nHere ended our conversation, which I have given just to show the\\npeculiar disposition of this extraordinary man, with whom I had become\\ndomesticated.  Verily and truly was I, as he said, \"like a little dog in\\nthe cage of a tiger,\" and, from familiarity: just as bold as dogs become\\nunder such peculiar circumstances.\\n\\nBefore morning we were again at anchor in the Rendezvous Bay, and the\\ntents were pitched as before.  We remained there for more than a\\nfortnight, during which my intimacy with the captain was even greater\\nthan before.  He appeared to endeavour to do all in his power to restore\\nmy confidence in him, and he succeeded.  Still, I must say, that I began\\nto be weary of this sort of life.  My dreams were ever of murder and\\nbloodshed; and more than once I felt inclined to make my escape: but I\\nhad promised, and the remembrance of my promise prevented me.\\n\\nOne afternoon the man on the look-out made the usual signal for a vessel\\nin sight.  Vincent went up immediately, and I followed him.  It was a\\nschooner, very long, with very taut, raking masts.  Vincent examined her\\nfor some time, and then gave me the glass, and asked me what I thought\\nof her.  I replied, that I thought she was a man-of-war schooner.\\n\\n\"You are right,\" said he, \"I know her well; it is the Arrow, and she has\\ncome out to cruise for me.  This is the third time that she has been\\nsent after me.  Once we exchanged a few broadsides, but another\\nman-of-war hove in sight, and I was compelled to leave her.  She shall\\nnot accuse me of running from her, now that she is alone, and by\\nto-morrow morning I will give her the opportunity of making the report\\nof my capture if she can; but if I capture her, you may guess the rest.\"\\n\\nWe remained till nearly sunset watching the motions of the schooner.\\nVincent then went down the hill to give orders for sailing, leaving me\\nwith the glass.  I again directed it to the schooner, and perceived that\\nshe was making signals.\\n\\nThen she is not alone, thought I; and Vincent may not capture her quite\\nso easily as he expects.  I looked in vain for the other vessel; I could\\nnot see her; I therefore concluded that she must be somewhere under the\\nland, and hidden by it from my sight.\\n\\nThe signals were repeated till dusk when I went down the hill, and found\\nthat all was bustle and activity, Vincent superintending himself the\\npreparations for sailing.  I did not interrupt him to tell him that I\\nhad perceived the schooner making signals.  I had an idea, somehow or\\nanother, that I should regain my liberty, and was as anxious as Vincent\\nthat the Stella should be under weigh.\\n\\nBefore ten o\\'clock everything was ready.  Vincent had told his men that\\nthe English man-of-war schooner was outside, and that he intended to\\nfight her; the men appeared delighted at the proposal, and as resolute\\nand determined as men should be.\\n\\nAs soon as the Stella was clear of the bay, everything was got ready for\\naction, and I must say that nothing could be more rapid or more quiet\\nthan their movements.  We stood out until we had gained an offing of\\nfive miles, and then made a reach along the shore towards the Havannah.\\n\\nAs soon as the Stella had laid her head towards the Havannah, Vincent\\ncame down below.  I had latterly slept on one of the cabin sofas, but\\nhad this night remained with my clothes on, for I was not sure that we\\nmight not be in action before the morning.\\n\\nThe Arrow had gained the knowledge that our Rendezvous Bay was somewhere\\nabout the east end of the island, and had cruised accordingly, but could\\nnot discover it.\\n\\nVincent threw himself on the other sofa, and I pretended to asleep; as I\\ndid not wish to enter into conversation with him was too much occupied\\nwith my own thoughts, and felt that there would be nothing in common\\nbetween us at such a moment.  He was very soon asleep, and he talked in\\nhis sleep.  He was evidently in action, and gave his orders, every now\\nand then speaking a few words aloud, and then it appeared as if he had\\ntaken the English schooner, and that he was fulfilling his vows of\\nretaliation.  I shuddered as I heard the half-broken menaces--the\\nexulting laugh which occasionally burst from his lips.  I arose and\\nwatched him as he slept; his hands were continually in motion, and his\\nfists clenched, and he smiled.  Merciful Heaven! what a tale of savage\\ncruelty that smile foretold if he were successful!  I knelt down and\\nprayed that he might be foiled in his endeavours.  As I rose I heard a\\nnoise and talking on deck, and one of the mates came down in the cabin.\\n\\n\"How does she bear?\" cried Vincent, starting up from his couch, as if he\\ninstinctively knew what was to be told.\\n\\n\"Two points on the weather bow, captain,\" replied the negro.  \"I think\\nshe has her foresheet to windward.\"\\n\\n\"What\\'s the time?\"\\n\\n\"One bell in the morning watch; it will be daylight in an hour.\"\\n\\n\"Very good.  How far is she off?\"\\n\\n\"About four miles.\"\\n\\n\"Pipe to quarters; I will be up directly.\"\\n\\nVincent took down his sword and buckled on his belt; then his pistols,\\nwhich after having examined the primings, he fixed in his girdle.  I\\nstill remained as if asleep, and as he was going out of the cabin, he\\nturned to me.  \"He sleeps, poor boy; well, why should I wake him?--the\\nguns will rouse him up soon enough.\"  So saying, he went on deck.\\n\\nI considered what I should do.  To be on deck was hardly safe for me as\\na white person; and, indeed, what business had I there?  Why should I\\nexpose myself to the shot of my countrymen, or run the risk of losing my\\nlife from the rage of the negroes?  I therefore resolved on remaining\\nwhere I was--at all events, for the present.\\n\\nThe negroes now came into the cabin, for the after-magazine was under\\nthe forepart of it.  The hatch was taken up, the screens let down, and\\nall was dark.  I had nothing to do but to catch now and then the\\ncommands given by the negro captain, and draw my inference as to what\\nwas taking place.\\n\\nAlthough for the first half-hour I gained little information, after that\\ntime had elapsed I knew what was going on.  I heard a voice hailing us\\nfrom another vessel, and the reply of the Stella was a broadside.  There\\ncould be no mistake in that.  The Stella was then put about, and the\\nother broadside given without a return from her opponent.  At last it\\ncame, and as the shot whizzed over or tore up the planking of the\\ngunwales, I certainly did feel very strangely.  I had never been in\\naction before, and the sensation was, I confess, that of alarm; but it\\nwas so mingled with curiosity as to what was going on, that it was\\nimpossible to say what my feelings were.  I longed to be on deck, and\\ncertainly would have been, if I had thought that I was safe with the\\npirate crew: that alone prevented me; I remained, therefore, in a most\\nunpleasant state of ignorance and suspense.\\n\\nThe broadsides were now exchanged rapidly and the wounded, brought down\\nbetween decks every minute, told me that the action was severe.  The\\norders of the negro captain were occasionally heard--they were cool and\\ndetermined.  Every minute some fresh manoeuvre was executed, and the\\nguns still worked as if there was nothing else to attend to.  At last,\\nthe daylight came down the hatchway, and I left the cabin and walked\\nforward between decks; I found the deck strewed with wounded and dying\\nmen, calling for water.  I was glad to be able to do something which I\\ncould consistently do, and I brought water from the cask and gave it to\\nthem, one after another, as fast as I could; I think there were at least\\nthirty men lying about the lower deck, some in pools of their own blood,\\nand sinking fast, for there was no surgeon on board of the Stella.\\n\\nSome more wounded men were brought down, and a conversation took place\\nbetween one of the mates of the schooner, who was hurt, and the men who\\nbrought down the wounded, and listening to them, I found that at\\ndaylight they had discovered that an English frigate was under all sail,\\nbeating up to them, and about five miles to leeward; that in\\nconsequence, the Stella was now carrying on a running fight with the\\nschooner (who was to windward of her), and trying to escape.  This\\naccounted for the signals which I had perceived that the English\\nschooner was making the evening before.  My anxiety at this intelligence\\nwas naturally much increased.  The Stella was trying to escape, and her\\nsailing powers were so remarkable, that I was afraid she would succeed.\\n\\nThe action was still continued between the two schooners, but now the\\nshot no longer hit the Stella, nor were there any more wounded men\\nbrought down; it was evident that the two vessels were now firing at\\neach other\\'s masts and rigging, the one to prevent, and the other to\\neffect her escape, by dismantling her antagonist.  I felt as if I could\\nhave given my left hand to have gone on deck.  I waited half an hour\\nmore, and then, curiosity conquering my fear, I crept gradually up the\\nfore ladder.  The men were working the guns to windward, the lee-side of\\nthe deck was clear, and I stepped forward, and got into the head, where\\nI could see both to windward and to leeward.  To leeward I perceived the\\nfrigate about four miles distant with every stretch of canvass that she\\ncould set on a wind; I knew her directly to be the Calliope, my own\\nship, and my heart beat quick at the chance of being once more on board\\nof her.\\n\\nTo windward, as the smoke occasionally cleared away, I saw the Arrow\\nschooner close hauled on the same tack as the Stella, and distant about\\na mile, every ten seconds the smoke from her guns booming along the\\nwater\\'s surface, and the shot whizzing through our rigging; she had not\\nsuffered much from our fire: her sails were full of shot-holes, it is\\ntrue, but her spars were not injured.  I then turned my eyes upon the\\nmasts and rigging of the Stella: apparently, the damage done was about\\nequal to that received by the Arrow; our sails were torn, but our spars\\nwere unscathed.\\n\\nThe water was smooth, although the breeze was fresh, and both schooners\\nwere running at the rate of six or seven miles an hour; but the Stella\\nhad evidently the advantage of sailing, and fore-reached upon her\\nopponent.  I perceived that everything depended upon a lucky hit and\\nhaving satisfied myself with what I had seen, I hastened down below.\\n\\nFor more than half an hour the firing continued without advantage on\\neither side, when a yell was given by the negro crew, and I heard them\\ncry on the deck that the Arrow\\'s foretop-mast was shot away.  I heard\\nthe voice of Vincent cheering his men, and telling them to be steady in\\ntheir aim.  My heart sunk at the intelligence, and I sat down on a\\nchest.\\n\\nThe firing now slackened, for the Stella had shot ahead of the English\\nschooner, and the negroes on deck were laughing and in high good-humour.\\nFor a few minutes the firing ceased altogether, and I took it for\\ngranted that the Stella had left her pursuers far behind; when of a\\nsudden, a whole broadside of guns were poured into us, and there was a\\nterrible crashing and confusion on the deck.\\n\\nI ran up the ladder to see what had happened.  It appeared that as the\\nStella was crossing the bows of the Arrow, the latter had, as a last\\nchance thrown up in the wind, and discharged her whole broadside into\\nus: two shots had struck our mainmast, which had fallen by the board.  I\\nperceived at once that the Stella\\'s chance was over--nothing could save\\nher; she might resist the schooner but could not escape the frigate.\\n\\nI ran down below, and went into the cabin; I was afraid that the negroes\\nmight perceive the joy in my countenance.  I heard the angry voice of\\nthe negro captain--I heard him stamping with rage, and I thanked God\\nthat I was not by his side.  The wreck of the mast was soon cleared\\naway; I heard him address his negroes, point out to them that it was\\nbetter to die like men at the guns, than swing at the yard-arm like\\ndogs.  Some of them came down and took on deck a quarter-cask of\\nspirits, which was plentifully supplied to all.\\n\\nThe English schooner had borne down upon us, and the action now\\ncommenced at pistol-shot.  Never shall I forget what took place for\\nnearly three-quarters of an hour; the negroes, most of them intoxicated,\\nfought with rage and fury indescribable--their shouts--their screams--\\ntheir cursing and blasphemy, mingled with the loud report of the guns,\\nthe crashing of the spars and bulwarks, the occasional cry of the\\nwounded, and the powerful voice of Vincent.  It was terrific between\\ndecks; the smoke was so thick, that those who came down for the powder\\ncould not see, but felt their way to the screen.  Every two seconds, I\\nheard the men come aft, toss off the can of liquor, and throw it on the\\ndeck, hen they went to resume their labour at their guns.\\n\\nAt the end of the time I have mentioned, the shot flew from to leeward,\\nas well as from to windward: the frigate had got within range, and was\\npouring in her broadside; still the firing and the shouting on the deck\\nof the Stella continued, but the voices were fewer; and as the firing of\\nthe frigate became more severe, they became fainter and fainter; and at\\nlast but an occasional gun was fired from our decks.\\n\\nI became so uneasy, that I could remain where I was no longer; I went\\nforward on the lower deck again, and tumbling over the wounded and the\\ndead, I crept up the fore-ladder.  I looked over the coamings of the\\nhatchway; the decks were clear of smoke, for not a gun was being fired.\\nMerciful Heaven! what a scene of slaughter!  Many of the guns were\\ndismantled, and the decks were strewed with the splinters and plankings\\nof the gunwale, broken spars, and negroes lying dead, or drunk, in all\\ndirections--some cut and torn to pieces, others whole, but mixed up with\\nthe fragments of other bodies: such a scene of blood I have never since\\nwitnessed.  Out of the whole crew, I do not think there were twenty men\\nleft unhurt, and these were leaning or lying down, exhausted with\\nfatigue or overcome with liquor, on various parts of the deck.\\n\\nThe fighting was over; there was not one man at his gun--and of those\\nwho remained still alive, one or two fell, while I was looking up from\\nthe shot, which continued every minute to pierce the bulwarks.  Where\\nwas Vincent?  I dare not go aft to see.  I dare not venture to meet his\\neye.  I dived down below again, and I returned aft to the cabin; there\\nwas no more demand for powder; not a soul was to be seen abaft.\\nSuddenly the after-hatchway grating was thrown off; I heard some one\\ndescend; I knew it was the hurried tread of the negro captain.  It was\\nso dark, and the cabin so full of smoke, that, coming from the light, he\\ndid not perceive me, although I could distinguish him.  He was evidently\\nbadly wounded, and tottered in his walk: he came into the cabin, put his\\nhand to his girdle, and felt for his pistol, and then he commenced\\npulling down the screen, which was between him and the magazine.  His\\nintentions were evident; which were to blow up the vessel.\\n\\nI felt that I had not a moment to lose.  I dashed past him, ran up the\\nladder, sprung aft to the taffrail, and dashed over the stern into the\\nsea.  I was still beneath the surface, having not yet risen from my\\nplunge, when I heard and felt the explosion--felt it, indeed, so\\npowerfully, that it almost took away my senses; so great was the shock,\\neven when I was under the water, that I was almost insensible.  I have a\\nfaint recollection of being drawn down by the vortex of the sinking\\nvessel, and scrambling my way to the surface of the water, amidst\\nfragments of timbers and whirling bodies.  When I recovered myself, I\\nfound that I was clinging to a portion of the wreck, in a sort of patch,\\nas it were, upon the deep blue water, dark as ink, and strewed with\\nsplintered fragments.\\n\\nThere I remained some minutes, during which time I gained my\\nrecollection: I looked around and perceived the Arrow schooner, lying\\nabout one hundred yards off, totally dismantled, and my own frigate\\nabout a quarter of a mile to leeward, as bright and as fresh as if she\\nhad just been refitted.  I observed a signal, made by the Calliope to\\nthe schooner, which was answered.  I looked in vain towards the\\nschooner, expecting her to lower down a boat.  The fact was, that the\\nCalliope had made the signal for her to do so, and the schooner had\\nreplied that she had no boat that could swim.  I then perceived that the\\nfrigate had lowered down a boat which was pulling towards me, and I\\nconsidered myself as safe.\\n\\nIn a few minutes, during which I had quite recovered myself, the boat\\npulled into the mass of floating fragments, and then the sailors ceased\\nrowing to look about them.  They perceived and pulled towards me--\\nhoisted me in over the gunwale, and laid me at the bottom of the boat.\\nI scrambled on my feet, and would have gone _aft_, when the midshipman\\nof the boat said to the men, \"Pass that cursed young pirate forward--\\ndon\\'t let him come aft here.\"\\n\\n\"Oh, oh, Mr Lascelles,\" thinks I--\"so you don\\'t know me; you shall know\\nme by-and-by.\"  I quite forgot that I was stained black, till one of the\\nmen who seized me by the collar to pass me forward, said, \"Hand along\\nthe nigger.  He\\'s a young one for the gallows, any how.\"\\n\\nThey handed me forward, and I did not choose to say who I was.  My love\\nof fun returned the moment that I was again with my shipmates.  After\\nlooking well round and ascertaining that I was the only one left alive,\\nthey pulled back to the frigate; and the midshipman went up to report.\\nI was handed up the side and remained at the break of the gangway, while\\nthe captain and first lieutenant were talking with Mr Lascelles: during\\nwhich Mr Tommy Dott came up to me, and, putting his finger to his left\\near, gave a cluck with his tongue, as much as to say, \"You\\'ll be hanged,\\nmy good fellow.\"\\n\\nI could not help giving the first mason\\'s sign which I taught to Mr\\nGreen in return for Tommy\\'s communication; to wit, putting my thumb to\\nmy nose, and extending my finger out towards him; at which Tommy Dott\\nexpressed much indignation, and called me a precious impudent varmin.\\nThe men who were near us laughed, and said that I was game at all\\nevents.  No one knew me; for not only was my face well stained, but I\\nwas covered from head to foot with a solution of salt water and\\ngunpowder, which made me still more indistinguishable.\\n\\nI had remained at the gangway about two minutes, when the first\\nlieutenant said, \"Bring the prisoner here.\"\\n\\nI immediately went aft; and as soon as I was standing before Captain\\nDelmar and the first lieutenant--(and behind were all the officers,\\nanxious to hear what I had to disclose)--I put my hand to my head,\\nhaving no hat, as may be supposed, and said, \"_Come on board, sir_,\"\\nreporting myself, as is usually the custom of officers when they return\\nfrom leave or duty.\\n\\n\"Good Heavens! that voice!--why, who are you?\" cried Captain Delmar,\\nstarting back a pace.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene, sir,\" replied I, again putting my hand to my head.\\n\\nBob Cross, who was, with many of the seamen, close to me, quite\\nforgetting etiquette, ran up and caught me round the waist, looking me\\nfull in the face: \"It is him, sir--it is him!  Huzzah! huzzah!\" and all\\nthe seamen joined in the huzzahs, which were, however, mingled with a\\ngreat deal of laughter.\\n\\n\"Merciful Heaven! and so you have been blown up in that vessel,\" said\\nthe first lieutenant, coming to me, with great kindness.  \"Are you much\\nburnt?  Why, he\\'s quite black--where\\'s the surgeon?\"\\n\\n\"Aren\\'t hurt at all, sir,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Let him be taken down and examined,\" said the captain with some\\nemotion; \"if not hurt, let him come into the cabin to me.\"\\n\\nThe captain went down the ladder, and then I shook hands with Tommy Dott\\nand all the other officers and midshipmen; and I will say that my\\nre-appearance appeared to give unusual satisfaction.  I went down into\\nthe gun-room and was stripped.  They were much surprised to find that I\\nwas not hurt, and even more when they discovered that I was black all\\nover, and that washing would not restore my colour.\\n\\n\"Why, Keene,\" said the first lieutenant, \"how is it that you have\\nchanged your colour?\"\\n\\n\"Oh, sir, I\\'ve been playing the nigger for these last three months.  It\\nis a long story, but I will go with you to the captain, and I will tell\\nit there.\"\\n\\nAs soon as I had put on my uniform, I went up with Mr Hippesley to the\\ncabin, and having, at the captain\\'s request, taken a chair, I entered\\ninto a full explanation, which lasted more than an hour.\\n\\nAs soon as I had finished, Mr Hippesley who had plenty to do on deck,\\nbut who could not leave until he had heard my story, quitted the cabin,\\nand I found myself alone with the captain.\\n\\n\"I must say that I gave you up for lost,\" said Captain Delmar; \"the\\nboat\\'s crew were picked up the next morning, and reported that you were\\ndrowned in the cabin of the vessel.  Scoundrels, to desert you in that\\nway.\"\\n\\n\"I do not think they were to blame, sir; the water being so high in the\\ncabin, and my not answering to their call.\"\\n\\n\"But did they call you?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir; I heard them call when I was half asleep, and I did not\\nanswer.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I am glad to hear you say so; but so convinced have we been of\\nyour loss, that I have written to your mother on the subject.  Strange,\\nthis is the second time that she has been distressed in this way.  You\\nappear to have a charmed life, Mr Keene.\"\\n\\n\"I hope I shall long live to do credit to your protection, sir,\" replied\\nI.\\n\\n\"I hope so too, Mr Keene,\" replied the captain, very kindly; \"I\\nsincerely hope so too.  In all this business you have conducted yourself\\nvery manfully.  It does you great credit, and your mother ought to be\\nproud of you.\"\\n\\n\"Thanky, sir,\" replied I, for I was overjoyed at such language from\\nCaptain Delmar, and I thought to myself, if he says my mother ought be\\nproud of me, he feels so himself.\\n\\n\"Of course, you cannot do duty under such a masquerade as you are at\\npresent,\" continued the captain, who referred to my stained skin.  \"I\\npresume it will wear off by-and-by.  You will dine with me to-day; now\\nyou may go to your messmates.\"\\n\\nI left the cabin, bowing very respectfully, and pleased with what had\\noccurred.  I hastened to join my messmates, not, however, until I had\\nshaken hands with Bob Cross, who appeared as delighted to see me as if\\nhe was my father.\\n\\nI leave the reader to imagine the sort of levee which I held both on the\\nquarter-deck and below.  Mr Hippesley could not get any of the officers\\nto mind their duty.  I certainly was for two or three days the greatest\\npersonage in the ship.  After that, I had time to tell the whole of my\\nhistory quietly to Bob Cross.\\n\\nBob Cross, when he had heard me without interruption, said, \"Well,\\nMaster Keene, there\\'s no telling what a man\\'s born to till after he\\'s\\ndead, and then it\\'s all known: but it does appear to me that you are\\nborn to something out of the common.  Here you are, not sixteen, not\\nonly playing a man\\'s part, but playing it manfully.  You have been put\\nin most difficult situations, and always have fallen upon your feet in\\nthe end.  You appear to have an old head upon very young shoulders; at\\none moment to be a scampish boy full of mischief, and at another a\\nresolute, cool, and clever man.  Sarcumstances, they say, make men, and\\nso it appears in you; but it does seem strange for one and the same lad\\nto be stealing the purser\\'s plums at one moment, and twisting a devil of\\na nigger pirate round his finger the very next; and then you have had\\nsuch escapes--twice reported dead at head-quarters, and twice come to\\nlife again.  Now Master Keene, I\\'ve very good news to tell you: you\\ndon\\'t know how high you stand with the captain and officers: there\\'s a\\nfeeling of envy against a lad who goes ahead (as well as a man) which\\nblinds people to his real merits; but when he is supposed to be dead and\\ngone, and no longer in the way of others, then every one tells the real\\ntruth; and I do assure you that not only the officers, but the captain\\nhimself, grieved most sorely at your loss.  I saw the captain\\'s eyes\\nwink more than once when speaking of you, and the first lieutenant was\\nalways telling the other mids that he had not one worth his salt, now\\nthat you were gone.  And now that you have come back and gained so much\\ncredit for what has passed, I do really think that the captain is proud\\nof you.  I overheard a little conversation between the captain and first\\nlieutenant the day you came on board, after you had been in the cabin\\ntelling your adventures, and all that I can say is, that the game is in\\nyour own hands, if you only play your cards well, and never let Captain\\nDelmar have the least idea that you know that you have such claims upon\\nhim.\"\\n\\n\"That I certainly will not,\" replied I, \"as it might check his feeling\\ntowards me.\"\\n\\n\"Exactly: I\\'ve often thought about you, and now that I like you so much,\\nI watch the captain for your sake, and listen particularly to what he\\nsays after dinner especially, when I\\'ve the opportunity; for you see,\\nwhen gentlemen drink wine, they speak more freely as to what they really\\nthink, just as we foremast-men do when we get our grog on board.  The\\ngreatest misfortune which could happen to you in your position would be,\\nthe captain marrying and having children on the right side of the\\nblanket as they call it.  Now I\\'ve often heard the captain express a\\ndislike to matrimony, and laugh at people\\'s getting married, which has\\npleased me very much for your sake, Master Percival.  You see, a man\\ndon\\'t think much of marrying after forty, and the captain must be fifty,\\nif not more.\"\\n\\n\"Yes: but if his brother dies--and he is a very infirm man--the captain\\nwill then be Viscount de Versely, and inherit very large estates, and\\nthen he will marry to have an heir to the title and estates even if\\nthere is no love in the case.\"\\n\\n\"So he may,\" replied Cross--\"there\\'s no saying; but still, even if he\\ndoes, it ain\\'t certain that he has a family; chickens must not be\\ncounted before they are hatched.  All you have to pray for then is, that\\nthe brother may prove as tough as our old admirals, whose senses get\\ntired of staying any longer in their bodies, and leave them long before\\ntheir hulks are worn out.\"\\n\\n\"Why do admirals live so long?\"\\n\\n\"Well, I suppose it is for the same reason that salt meat keeps so much\\nlonger than fresh; they have been forty or fifty years with the salt\\nspray washing in their faces and wetting their jackets, and so in time,\\nd\\'ye see, they become as it were pickled with brine.  Talking about\\nthat, how long will it be before you get that tanning off you?\"\\n\\n\"I don\\'t know; but as the captain says I\\'m to do no duty while it lasts,\\nI hope it won\\'t wear off too soon.\"\\n\\n\"Spoken like a midshipman: now take my advice, although not ordered to\\nyour duty, come up on deck and take your spy-glass.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'ve lost it, unfortunately.  That was a good glass, for it saved my\\nlife.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, it turned out as good for you as a Freemason\\'s sign, which is more\\nthan Mr Green can say.  I don\\'t think he\\'ll ever make a sailor--he\\'d\\nbetter bear up for clerk, and then he might do very well for a purser\\nby-and-by.  There\\'s eight bells, Master Keene, so I think we had better\\nsay good night.\"\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWENTY.\\n\\nThe Arrow schooner had suffered very severely in the contest, having\\nlost her commanding officer and thirteen men killed and wounded: indeed,\\nhad not the Calliope been at hand, it was the general opinion that the\\nStella would have overpowered her, notwithstanding that the latter had\\nlost her mainmast, for the Arrow was completely dismantled, and would\\nnot have been able to have made sail.\\n\\nThe Calliope sent her carpenters and best seamen on board to repair her\\ndamages, and the next day we stood away for Port Royal, Jamaica, to\\nannounce the destruction of the pirate vessel.\\n\\nIn the morning Captain Delmar sent for me.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene, as you cannot do duty for the present, and as I do not wish\\nyou to be idle, I think you had better pay a little attention to\\nnavigation.  You send in your day\\'s work, I perceive, but I suppose you\\nhave never regularly gone through a course of study.\"\\n\\n\"No, sir,\" replied I; \"I fudge my day\\'s work, and I should be very glad\\nto learn navigation properly.\"\\n\\n\"So I presume.  Well, then, I have spoken with Mr Smith, the master,\\nwho has promised me to give you the necessary instruction.  You will\\ncommence to-morrow; you can sit at the table in the fore-cabin, where\\nyou will have nothing to distract your attention.  You may go now.\"\\n\\nI bowed and left the cabin, and meeting Bob Cross on the main deck, I\\ntold him what the captain had said.\\n\\n\"I\\'m glad of it, Master Keene; it shows that the captain does now take a\\nstrong interest in you.  He has never taken any trouble of that kind\\nwith any midshipman before.  It will be of great service to you, so pay\\nattention; it will please the captain if the master gives a good report\\nof you.  Who knows but you may be sent away in a prize, and I sent with\\nyou to take care of you?  Wouldn\\'t that be a capital spree?\"\\n\\nThe next day I commenced accordingly, under the tuition of the master,\\nand as I had not Tommy Dott to play with, I gave satisfaction, and\\ncontinued to do so until our arrival at Port Royal, when the captain\\nwent up to the admiral\\'s, stating all the particulars of the action,\\nand, by way of sequel, my adventures on board of the pirate vessel.  The\\nadmiral was so much interested that he requested Captain Delmar to bring\\nme on shore to dine with me the next day.\\n\\nI was still very black; but that made me, I presume more interesting.  I\\ntold my story over again, and it afforded great amusement to the\\ncompany; particularly to the ladies; and I have reason to believe that\\nmany compliments were paid me behind my back, by the admiral and\\nofficers who dined there; at all events, Captain Delmar was much\\npleased.\\n\\nMy strange history soon got wind.  The governor heard of it, and asked\\nCaptain Delmar about it.  The consequence was, that I received another\\ninvitation from the governor, and Captain Delmar again informed me that\\nI might tell my own story, which I did, modestly as before.  I say\\nmodestly, for I never was a boaster at any time; and I really believe\\nthat I thought much less of the circumstances than those did to whom I\\nnarrated them.  I had at that time but one wish, which was to find\\nfavour in the sight of Captain Delmar.  I felt that all my prospects in\\nlife depended upon that; and aware of his disposition, and the deference\\nthat he expected, humility had become, as it were, habitual.\\n\\nDuring the time that we remained at Port Royal I continued my studies in\\nthe cabin and as the captain remained almost altogether on shore, I\\nfound the run of the cabin very pleasant; but as I had no inclination to\\nstudy the whole of the day, I was not sorry that Tommy Dott was very\\noften my companion in the cabin, an entrance to which, as he could not\\npass the sentry at the door, he obtained by climbing down the mizen\\nchains, and creeping into the port windows.  As soon as the captain\\'s\\nboat was seen coming off Tommy was out again by the port as quick as a\\nmonkey, and I was very studiously poring over right-angled triangles.  I\\nrose, of course, as the captain entered the cabin.  \"Sit down, Mr\\nKeene,\" he would say--\"sit down; the master has reported favourably of\\nyou, and I am glad to hear of it.\"\\n\\nOne morning, when, as usual, Tommy Dott had come through the port, we\\nwere so busily employed with a caricature which we were making of old\\nCulpepper, that the captain\\'s boat came alongside without our being\\naware of it, and the captain\\'s voice speaking to the first lieutenant as\\nhe was descending the after-ladder was the first intimation we received\\nof his being on board.\\n\\nIt was impossible for Tommy Dott to escape without being seen as he\\nclimbed out.  The table which was in the centre of the cabin was covered\\nwith a blue cloth, large enough for the table when all the additional\\nleaves were put to it, and in its present reduced size the cloth fell\\ndown to the deck; I pointed it out to Tommy, as the sentry\\'s hand upon\\nthe handle of the door announced the immediate entrance of the captain,\\nand he darted underneath the table, that he might escape detection\\nintending as soon as the captain went into the after-cabin to make his\\nretreat by the cabin-door or windows.  The captain entered, and I rose,\\nas usual, from my chair.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene,\" said he, \"I have occasion to speak to the first lieutenant\\non important private business; oblige me by leaving the cabin till that\\nis done.  You may as well tell Mr Hippesley that I wish to see him.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir,\" replied I making a bow, and leaving the cabin.  I felt very\\nmuch alarmed lest Tommy should be discovered in his hiding-place; and\\nafter the captain had stated that he had particular business with the\\nfirst lieutenant, it was my duty, knowing that Mr Dott was there, to\\nhave said so.  I hardly knew what to do, or how to act.  After all, it\\nwas no great crime as it stood.  Tommy Dott had come into the cabin\\nwithout leave, and had concealed himself; but if I was to allow Tommy to\\nremain there and listen to important and particular business, evidently\\nof a secret nature, I should forfeit the good opinion and confidence of\\nthe captain: nevertheless, I was very unwilling to betray him; I was\\ndreadfully puzzled, and when I went to the first lieutenant he perceived\\nmy confusion.\\n\\n\"Why, what is the matter with you, Mr Keene?--you look quite\\nfrightened,\" said he.\\n\\n\"Well, sir, I am,\" replied I; \"and I think it my duty to tell you why I\\nam so.\"\\n\\nI then informed him that Tommy Dott was under the cabin-table, and\\nwould, of course, hear the secret communications of the captain.\\n\\n\"You have done very right, Mr Keene, and I know how unpleasant it is to\\nyou to inform against your messmate; but at present there is no harm\\ndone.\"\\n\\nHe then laughed, and said, \"However, Mr Dott shall never know that you\\nhave said anything about it, and I will frighten him out of the cabin\\nfor the future.\"\\n\\nHe then went down the ladder, and into the fore-cabin.  I expected that\\nhe would have discovered Tommy as if by accident, but such was not the\\ncase.  The captain had just gone into the after-cabin, and Mr Hippesley\\nimmediately followed him, and shutting the door, informed him of Mr\\nDott\\'s position, and why I had made it known.  The captain could not\\nhelp laughing, as, after all, it was no great offence.\\n\\nHe then gave the necessary information to the first lieutenant, and they\\nboth walked into the fore-cabin; the first lieutenant saying, \"If you\\nplease, then, Captain Delmar, I will send a boat immediately with the\\nletter.\"\\n\\n\"Certainly,\" replied the captain, sitting down, and who evidently was\\ninclined to join in the joke with Mr Hippesley.  \"Sentry, send the\\nofficer on deck to man the jolly-boat, and tell Mr Dott to come here\\nimmediately.\"\\n\\nI was on deck when the sentry put his head up the ladder and gave the\\norder, and I immediately perceived the plan of the first lieutenant and\\nthe state of alarm in which Tommy Dott must have been put.\\n\\nThe jolly-boat was manned, and Mr Dott called for in every quarter of\\nthe ship, but he did not make his appearance.  After a delay of several\\nminutes, the officer on deck went down into the cabin, reporting that\\nthe jolly-boat had been manned some time but that Mr Dott was not to be\\nfound.\\n\\n\"Not to be found!\" replied the captain; \"why, he can\\'t have fallen\\noverboard.\"\\n\\n\"Not he, sir,\" replied the first lieutenant; \"he has gone to sleep\\nsomewhere: either in the tops or the fore-topmast staysail netting.\"\\n\\n\"He appears to be a very troublesome boy,\" replied the captain.\\n\\n\"Very useless, indeed, sir,\" replied the first lieutenant.  \"Sentry,\\nhave they found Mr Dott?\"\\n\\n\"No, sir; quarter-masters have been everywhere.  He\\'s not in the ship.\"\\n\\n\"Very odd!\" observed the captain.\\n\\n\"Oh! he\\'ll turn up soon, sir; but really, Captain Delmar, if you were to\\ngive him two or three dozen at the cabin gun, it would bring him to his\\nsenses.\"\\n\\n\"That I most certainly will do,\" replied Captain Delmar; \"and I\\nauthorise you to do it, Mr Hippesley, as soon as he makes his\\nappearance; it will be of some service to him; but I hope no accident\\nhas happened to him.\"\\n\\n\"I have no fear of that, sir,\" replied the first lieutenant: \"if the\\npurser\\'s steward\\'s room had been open to-day, I should have sent to see\\nif he was not locked up in another attempt to steal raisins, but that\\nhas not been the case.  By-the-by, the spirit-room was open this\\nmorning, and he may have been down there, and may have had the hatches\\nput over him.\"\\n\\n\"Well, we must send another midshipman; call Mr Keene,\" said Captain\\nDelmar.\\n\\nThe sentry called me, and I made my appearance.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene, you\\'ll go on shore to the dockyard in the jolly-boat: give\\nthat letter to the master attendant, and wait for an answer.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Have you seen anything of Mr Dott?\" said the first lieutenant; \"you\\nare constantly together.\"\\n\\n\"I saw him just before Captain Delmar came on board, sir, but I have not\\nseen him since.\"\\n\\n\"Well, well, we will settle accounts with the young gentleman as soon as\\nhe turns up,\" replied the captain: \"you may go, Mr Keene.\"\\n\\nI perceived that the captain and first lieutenant both smiled as I left\\nthe cabin.  It appeared that soon after they left it and the captain\\nwent on shore; but Tommy was so frightened that he remained in his\\nhiding-place, as he made sure he would be flogged if he made his\\nappearance, and he resolved to remain where he was until my return, that\\nhe might consult me.\\n\\nAs soon as I had reported myself, and given the answer to the first\\nlieutenant, I hastened to the cabin, and then poor Tommy crawled from\\nunder the table; the tears were still wet on his cheeks.\\n\\n\"I shall be flogged, Keene, as sure as I stand here.  Tell me, what can\\nI do--what can I say?\"\\n\\n\"Tell the truth; that\\'s the best way,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Tell the captain that I was hid under the table! that would never do.\"\\n\\n\"Depend upon it, it\\'s the best plan,\" replied I; \"and it is the only\\nadvice I can give you: you may be flogged if you tell the truth, but you\\nare _sure_ to be flogged if you tell a lie.  It will only add to your\\noffence.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I\\'ve been thinking about it--I\\'m sure that Mr Hippesley will\\nflog me if he catches me to-day or to-morrow; but if I remain hid for a\\nday or two, they will really think that I have fallen overboard, and\\nthen they will say, `poor Tommy Dott,\\' and perhaps be so glad when I do\\nmake my appearance, that they will forgive me.\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied I, delighted at the idea; \"I\\'m sure they will, if you do\\ntell the truth when you appear again.\"\\n\\n\"Then, that is what I\\'ll do.  The first lieutenant said that I might be\\nin the spirit-room.  Where shall I go to?\"\\n\\n\"Why,\" said I, \"you must remain under the table till dark, and then you\\nmay easily slip down into the coal-hole, where it is so dark that they\\nnever will see you, even if they go down for coals.  It is the only\\nplace I know of; stay there all to-morrow and next day, and come up in\\nthe evening; or the next morning perhaps will be better.\"\\n\\n\"Well, it\\'s a very good place,\" replied Tommy; \"anything better than\\nbeing flogged; but will you bring me something to eat and drink?\"\\n\\n\"Depend upon me, Tommy,\" replied I; \"I\\'ll contrive to bring you\\nsomething every night.\"\\n\\n\"Well, then, I\\'ll do that,\" replied he.\\n\\n\"Yes; and tell the truth when you come out,\" said I.\\n\\n\"Yes, upon my honour I will;\" and so saying, Tommy, hearing a noise,\\nagain dived under the cabin table.\\n\\nSoon afterwards I went out of the cabin.  The first lieutenant beckoned\\nme to him, and asked me where Mr Dott was, and I told him what had been\\narranged between us.  He laughed very much, and said--\\n\\n\"Well, if Master Tommy punishes himself by two days\\' confinement in the\\ncoal-hole, and tells the truth when he comes out, I think I may promise\\nhe will get off his flogging; but don\\'t you say that I have spoken to\\nyou about it, and let him do as he proposes.\"\\n\\nWhen it was dark, I supplied Tommy with provisions, and he gained the\\ncoal-hole without being discovered.\\n\\nThe next day the speculations at his disappearance were general, and it\\nwas now believed that poor Tommy had fallen overboard, and, as the\\nsharks are thick enough in Port Royal, that he was safely stowed away in\\none of their maws.  I will say that the whole of the ship\\'s company were\\nvery sorry for him, with the exception of Mr Culpepper, who observed\\nthat no good ever came of a boy who stole raisins.\\n\\n\"So you think, that because a lad steals a few of your confounded\\nplums,\" observed the second lieutenant, \"he deserves to be eaten by the\\nsharks.  If I were Tommy Dott, I would haunt you if I could.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'m not afraid of dead men,\" replied Mr Culpepper; \"they are quiet\\nenough.\"\\n\\n\"Perhaps so; but recollect, you make them chew tobacco, and therefore\\nthey ought to rise up in judgment against you, if they do against any\\none.\"\\n\\nAs this conversation passed on the quarter-deck, it put an idea in my\\nhead.  That night I went to Tommy, whom I found terribly tired of\\nsitting on the coals.  I brought him a bottle of mixed grog, and some\\nboiled beef and biscuit.  I consoled him by telling him that every one\\nwas sorry at his disappearance, and that I was convinced that he would\\nnot be punished if he told the truth.\\n\\nTommy was for leaving the coal-hole immediately, but I pointed out to\\nhim that the captain had not been on board that a and that it was\\nnecessary that the captain should believe that he had fallen overboard\\nas well as the officers, or his compassion would not be roused.  Tommy\\nsaw the propriety of this, and consented to remain another day.  I then\\ntold him what Mr Culpepper had said, and I added, \"Now, Tommy, if Mr\\nCulpepper should see you by any chance, pretend to be your ghost.\"\\n\\n\"That I will,\" replied Tommy, \"if I get six dozen for it.\"  I then left\\nhim.\\n\\nOn my return on deck, I saw Bob Cross; he was on shore during the major\\nportion of the day, attending upon the captain, and as I was no longer\\nin the captain\\'s gig, I saw but little of him.\\n\\n\"Well, Mr Keene,\" said he, \"I think you have quite recovered your\\ncolour by this time, and I hope to see you in the gig again.\"\\n\\n\"I do not think I shall yet awhile--I have not yet learnt navigation\\nenough; but the master says he will be done with me in a fortnight, if I\\ngo on as well as I do now.\"\\n\\n\"Yes; I heard him tell the captain that you were very quick, and would\\nbe a good navigator but I can\\'t get over the loss of poor Tommy Dott; he\\nwas a little scampish, that\\'s sartin, but still he was a merry,\\nkind-hearted boy--too good for the sharks, at all events.  You must feel\\nhis loss, Mr Keene, for you were always together.\"\\n\\n\"No, I don\\'t, Bob,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Well, I\\'m sorry to hear you say that, Mr Keene; I thought you had a\\nkinder heart.\"\\n\\n\"So I have, Bob; but I\\'ll tell you a secret, known only to the first\\nlieutenant and me; and that is, Tommy\\'s in the coal-hole, very dirty,\\nbut quite safe.\"\\n\\nBob Cross burst into a fit of laughing, which lasted some time.\\n\\n\"Well, Mr Keene, you have really taken a weight off my mind; now tell\\nme all about it.  You know I\\'m safe.\"\\n\\nI then told Bob what had happened, and of Tommy\\'s intention to make his\\nappearance on the following evening or the next morning.\\n\\n\"Well,\" said Bob, \"you\\'re mischief itself, Master Keene, and that\\'s a\\nfact; however, it\\'s all right this time, and you have the captain and\\nfirst lieutenant as your confidants and partners in the joke.  You did\\nperfectly right and I\\'m sure the captain and first lieutenant must be\\npleased with you; but recollect, Master Keene, keep your distance as\\nbefore; don\\'t presume.\"\\n\\n\"Never fear, Bob,\" replied I: \"but now I have told you that, I want you\\nto assist me.\"  I then repeated the conversation of Mr Culpepper with\\nthe second lieutenant.\\n\\n\"Now,\" continued I; \"you see, Cross, I can\\'t do anything myself; Mr\\nCulpepper hates me, and would suspect me; but if we could only frighten\\nhim: you might, for he would not think you were playing him a trick.\"\\n\\n\"I see,\" replied Bob; \"it will be a good thing for Tommy Dott, and a\\nnice wind-up of this affair.  Let me alone.  When I come on board\\nto-morrow evening I\\'ll manage it if I can.\"\\n\\nAfter a little more conversation, we separated for the night.\\n\\nThe next morning the captain came on board.  He remained on deck with\\nthe first lieutenant for some minutes, during which of course, he was\\nmade acquainted with Tommy Dott\\'s position.  When he came down into the\\ncabin, I moved from my seat, as respectful and serious as before; and\\nwhen ordered to sit down again, resumed my studies with great apparent\\ndiligence.  He did not say a word to me about Tommy Dott; and as he was\\ngoing out of the cabin, Mr Culpepper was announced by the sentry.\\n\\n\"If you please, Captain Delmar,\" said Mr Culpepper, with his usual\\nprofound bow, \"what are we to do with the effects of Mr Dott, who has\\nfallen overboard?  By the regulations of the service, they should be\\nsold before the mast.  And I also wish to know whether he is to be\\ncontinued to be victualled, or whether it is your pleasure that he is\\ndischarged as dead?\"\\n\\nThe captain smiled, and turned his face towards me; but I continued with\\nmy eyes down on my book.\\n\\n\"Perhaps we had better wait till to-morrow, Mr Culpepper,\" replied the\\ncaptain, \"and then you may sell his effects, and put DD to his name,\\npoor fellow.\"  And having made this reply, the captain went out of his\\ncabin.  Mr Culpepper followed; and shortly afterwards the captain went\\non shore again.\\n\\nBefore dusk, the captain\\'s gig, as usual, returned on board, and I was\\nat the gangway to meet Bob Cross; the boat was hoisted up, and then Bob\\ncame to me.\\n\\n\"I must first go down and see Mr Dott, that I may be able to swear to\\nthe fact.\"  Bob did so, and then returned on deck.  Mr Culpepper was\\nabaft, walking by himself, when Bob went up and accosted him.\\n\\n\"If you please, sir,\" said Bob, touching his hat, \"did the captain say\\nanything to you about coals, for I expect we shall not stay here much\\nlonger?\"\\n\\n\"No,\" replied Mr Culpepper.\\n\\n\"Then he must have forgot it, I suppose sir.\"\\n\\n\"Well, there\\'s plenty of coals,\" replied Mr Culpepper.\\n\\n\"Well, sir, I don\\'t know; but I think I heard the cook\\'s mate say as how\\nthey were getting rather low.\"\\n\\n\"Getting rather low! then there must have been great waste,\" exclaimed\\nMr C, who was very careful of his expenses.\\n\\n\"I don\\'t know how far it may be so; but I think it might be as well to\\nknow how matters stand; and if so be there\\'s plenty, why I can tell\\nCaptain Delmar when I go on shore to-morrow.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'ll see; I\\'ll go down myself to-night,\" replied Mr Culpepper.  \"The\\nmidshipmen are allowed a stove to themselves--very unusual--and they are\\ncooking all day.\"\\n\\n\"Talking about midshipmen, sir,\" replied Cross, \"you may think it\\'s very\\nodd but as I stand here--and you know, Mr Culpepper, I am not easily\\nscared--I saw that young Tommy Dott, or his ghost, this very evening.\"\\n\\nIt was now quite dark; and Mr Culpepper stared at the coxswain, and\\nthen replied, \"Pooh, nonsense!\"\\n\\n\"It\\'s no nonsense, I do assure you.  I saw him with these eyes, sure as\\nI stand here.\"\\n\\n\"Where?\" exclaimed Mr C.\\n\\n\"Right forward, sir.  I only mention it to you, but don\\'t say a word\\nabout it, for I should only be laughed at; but I do assure you that I\\nwould kiss the Bible to it, if it was required.  I never did before\\nbelieve in anything of that sort, that\\'s sartain; but it\\'s no use\\ntalking about it, sir.  I think I had better get a lantern, and get over\\nthis coal business at once.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, yes,\" replied Mr Culpepper; \"but you won\\'t know how much coals\\nthere are: I must go myself and see.\"\\n\\nBob Cross was soon ready with the lantern, and went forward with Mr\\nCulpepper.  The hammocks had been piped down, and they were obliged to\\nbend double under them to get along the lower deck.  I followed\\nunperceived.\\n\\nThe descent into the coal-hole was by battens, and not very easy for an\\nold man like Mr C But Cross went down first, holding the light for the\\npurser to follow, which he did very slowly, and with great caution.  As\\nsoon as they both stood on the coals below, the purser took the light to\\nmake his survey.\\n\\n\"Why, there\\'s plenty of coals for three months, coxswain,\" said he.  \"I\\nthought there was; you see they are nearly up to the beams abaft.\"\\n\\n\"Look! sir--look!\" exclaimed Cross, starting back; \"what\\'s that?\"\\n\\n\"Where?\" exclaimed Mr C, alarmed.\\n\\n\"There, sir--there he is: I told you so.\"\\n\\nThe purser\\'s eyes were directed to where Bob pointed, and then he beheld\\nTommy Dott standing immovable, with his arms extended, as if denouncing\\nhim--his eyes staring, and his mouth wide open.\\n\\n\"Mercy!--murder!\" cried the purser, dropping the lantern, which went out\\nand left them in the dark; and he tumbled down on the coals.\\n\\nBob Cross stepped over him, and hastened up to the lower deck, followed\\nby Tommy Dott, who first, by way of revenge, jumped several times upon\\nthe purser\\'s face and body before he climbed up.\\n\\nThe cry of the purser had given the alarm.  The master-at-arms hastened\\nforward with his lantern just as Tommy had made his appearance above the\\ncoamings.  Seeing Tommy as black as a sweep, he too was frightened; the\\nmen had put their heads out of their hammocks and some of them had seen\\nTommy.\\n\\nBob Cross, as he crawled aft, cried out, \"Tommy Dott\\'s ghost!\"  I had\\npretended to be terrified out of my wits as I ran aft, and all was\\nconfusion on the lower deck.  The first lieutenant had come out of the\\nwardroom, and seeing me, he inquired what was the matter.  I replied\\nthat Mr Culpepper had gone down into the coal-hole, and had seen Mr\\nDott\\'s ghost.  He laughed heartily, and went back.\\n\\nTommy had in the mean time made his appearance in the mids\\' berth, at\\nwhich they had all rushed from him in dismay, just as I entered; when I\\ncaught him by the hand saying, \"Tommy, my boy, how are you?\"  They then\\nperceived that it was Tommy himself, and order was restored.\\n\\nMr Culpepper was hoisted up out of the coal-hole; Master Tommy having\\njumped upon his face, he looked a very miserable object, as he was well\\nblackened, as well as much bruised from the soles of Tommy\\'s shoes, and\\nhis nose had bled profusely.  He was very incoherent for some time; but\\nthe doctor gave him an opiate, and put him to bed.\\n\\nThe next morning the whole affair was explained on the quarterdeck,\\nMaster Tommy well reprimanded, and desired to return to his duty.  The\\ncaptain was very much amused at the winding up of this affair, as it was\\na capital story to tell at the governor\\'s.  Tommy never had an idea that\\nI had blown upon him, nor did Mr Culpepper imagine that their meeting\\nwas premeditated.\\n\\nI had now completed the usual course of navigation under the master, and\\nhad no longer any cause for remaining in the cabin; I therefore returned\\nto my berth; but as I had taken a liking to navigation, I now was\\nemployed daily in working sights and rating the chronometer.\\n\\nWe remained three weeks longer in Port Royal, and then were ordered out\\non a cruise, on the South American coast.  There we continued for nearly\\nsix months without anything occurring worth relating, except our having\\ncaptured four good prizes.  We were returning to Jamaica, when we fell\\nin with a schooner, which gave us the intelligence of the capture of the\\nisland of Curacao by four English frigates.\\n\\nAs we were near to the island and short of water, Captain Delmar\\nresolved to touch at it, and remained two or three days.\\n\\nThe reader will perhaps recollect that the old Dutch gentleman, whose\\nlife I had saved in the pirate vessel, had stated that his name was\\nVanderwelt, and that he lived at Curacao.  The next evening we entered\\nthe harbour, and it was astonishing to every one how so strong a place\\ncould have been taken by so small a force.  The commodore, who had\\nplenty of work on hand, requested, or rather ordered, our captain to\\nremain with him for ten days or a fortnight, to assist him.\\n\\nOn the third day after our arrival I obtained leave to go on shore, as I\\nwished to find out the old Dutch gentleman.  As I was again in the\\ncaptain\\'s gig, I had very often landed, but had not had an opportunity\\nof making inquiries, as I could not leave my boat and boat\\'s crew.\\n\\nThis afternoon I landed in the gig, and went up through the gate into\\nthe town, but I could not find anyone who spoke English.  At last, by\\nasking for the house of Mynheer Vanderwelt, it was pointed out to me,\\nand I went up to the door; it was a very large house, with a verandah\\nall round it, painted bright green and while alternately.  There were\\nseveral slaves sitting down at the entrance, and I asked for Mynheer\\nVanderwelt; they stared at me, and wondered what I wanted, but as I was\\nin midshipman\\'s uniform, they were of course very civil, and one of them\\nbeckoned me to follow him, which I did, and was introduced to the old\\ngentleman, who was sitting in a cane arm-chair with his pipe in his\\nmouth, and fanned by two slave girls, about twelve years old.\\n\\nAs he had spoken to me in English on board of the pirate, I immediately\\nwent up to him, and said, \"How do you do, sir?\"\\n\\n\"I am very well, sir,\" replied he, taking the pipe out of his mouth.\\n\"What do you want? do you come from the English commodore?  What is his\\npleasure?\"\\n\\n\"No, sir,\" replied I; \"I do not come from the commodore; but I came up\\nto see you.\"\\n\\n\"Oh, that is all,\" replied the old gentleman, putting his pipe in his\\nmouth again, and resuming his smoking.  I felt rather nettled at his\\ntreatment, and then said--\\n\\n\"Don\\'t you know me, sir?\"\\n\\n\"No, sir,\" replied he, \"I have not that honour.  I have never seen you\\nin my life before, and I do not know you.\"\\n\\nMy blood was up at this cool declaration.\\n\\n\"Then I wish you a good morning, sir,\" replied I; and turning on my\\nheel, I was strutting out with all the dignity of an offended\\nmidshipman, when I was met face to face by the little girl, his\\ndaughter.  She stared at me very much, and I passed her in sovereign\\ncontempt; she followed me timidly, and looked into my face, then panting\\nfor breath, seized me by the arm.  I turned to her at being stopped in\\nthis manner, and was about to shake her off with anything but\\npoliteness, when she screamed out, and in a moment had sprung up, and\\nwas hanging with both arms round my neck.\\n\\n\"Fader, fader,\" she cried out as I struggled to disengage myself.\\n\\nThe old gentleman came out at the summons.\\n\\n\"Stop him! fader; don\\'t let him go away,\" cried she in Dutch; \"it is he!\\nit is he!\"\\n\\n\"Who, my child?\" asked the old gentleman.\\n\\n\"The pirate-boy,\" replied the little girl, bursting into a paroxysm of\\ntears, on my shoulders.\\n\\n\"Mein Gott! it cannot be; he was _black_, my child; yet,\" continued the\\nold gentleman, looking at me, \"he is like him.  Tell me, sir, are you\\nour preserver?\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied I, \"I was; but that is of little consequence now.  Will\\nyou oblige me by removing this young lady?\" continued I, for I was\\nhighly offended.\\n\\n\"Sir, I ask your pardon,\" replied the old gentleman; \"but I am not to\\nblame.  How could I recognise you in a white person when you were so\\ndark-coloured at our meeting on board of that vessel?  I am not to\\nblame; indeed I am not, my dear young friend.  I would have given ten\\nthousand rix dollars to have met you, that I might prove my gratitude\\nfor your noble defence of us, and our preservation at such a risk.\\nCome, sir, you must forgive the mistake of an old man, who was certainly\\nnot inclined to be civil to an officer who belonged to the squadron, who\\nhad within these few days so humiliated us by their astonishing bravery\\nand success.  Let my little girl, whose life you saved, persuade you, if\\nI cannot.\"\\n\\nIn the mean time the little girl had dropped from my shoulder, and was\\non the floor, embracing my knees, and still sobbing.  I felt convinced\\nthat what the old gentleman said was true, and that he had not\\nrecognised me.  I had forgotten that I had been stained dark at the time\\nthat I had met them on board of the Stella.\\n\\nI therefore held out my hand to the old gentleman, and raising the\\nlittle girl, we all three went in together to where we had found the old\\ngentleman on my first introduction to him.\\n\\n\"If you knew how delighted I am to see you, and be able to express my\\nthanks,\" said Mynheer Vanderwelt, \"and poor Minnie too.  How often have\\nwe talked over that dreadful day, and wondered if ever we should see you\\nagain.  I assure you, on my honour, that now I no longer regret the\\ncapture of the island.\"\\n\\nMinnie stood by me during the time her father was speaking, her large\\nblue eyes beaming through the tears with which they brimmed; and as I\\nturned to her, our eyes met, and she smiled.  I drew her towards me.\\nShe appeared as if she only required some encouragement, for she\\nimmediately kissed me several times on the cheek nearest to her, every\\nnow and then saying a word or two in Dutch to her father, which I could\\nnot understand.\\n\\nI hardly need say, that after this, intimacy was soon brought about.  If\\nI thought that at first I had been treated with ingratitude, ample\\namends was made afterwards.\\n\\nThe old gentleman said during the evening, \"Good heaven! if my\\ndaughter\\'s eyes had not been sharper than mine; if you had gone away,\\nthinking that I did not choose to recognise you--had I found it out\\nafterwards, it would have broken my heart, and poor Minnie\\'s too.  Oh!\\nI am grateful--very grateful to God that it was not so.\"\\n\\nThat I passed a very pleasant evening the reader may imagine.  The\\nhousehold who had been told who I was, appeared to almost worship me.\\nThe old gentleman asked me a hundred questions as to my parentage,\\netcetera, about Captain Delmar and the service, and begged of me to\\nremain with him altogether while the frigate was in port.  I told him\\nthat was impossible, but that I would come as often as I could obtain\\nleave.  At nine o\\'clock I bade them good night, and was escorted to the\\nboat by six of the slaves carrying lanterns.\\n\\nCaptain Delmar, as well as all the other captains of the frigates, had\\ntaken up his quarters on shore for the harbour was so narrow and\\nlandlocked, that the heat on board was excessive.  I found that the next\\nday old Mr Vanderwelt had paid his respects to Captain Delmar, giving\\nhim an account of what had occurred on board of the pirate much more\\nflattering to me than what I had stated myself.  The steward was present\\nat the time, and he had told Bob Cross, who communicated it to me.\\nMynheer Vanderwelt had also begged as a favour that I might be permitted\\nto stay on shore with him during the time that the frigate was in\\nharbour, but to this Captain Delmar had not consented, promising,\\nhowever, that I should have occasional leave when the service would\\npermit of it.\\n\\nThe reader may recollect that the island of Curacao had been surrendered\\nto the English in 1800, and restored to the Dutch in 1802.  During that\\ninterval several English merchants had settled there and remained after\\nthe restoration, and now at the second capture we found them still on\\nthe island.  From these we received the information that Mr Vanderwelt\\nwas the richest man on the island, and that the Dutch government was\\nindebted to him in very large sums; that he had long retired from\\nbusiness, although he had large property in the Havannah, which he\\nreceived with his wife, who had been a Spanish lady, and that it was his\\nintention to have gone back to Holland by the first man-of-war which\\nshould have arrived.\\n\\nWe remained three weeks at Curacao, during which time the first\\nlieutenant gave me leave to go on shore almost every evening after the\\ncaptain had dismissed his gig, and to remain at Mr Vanderwelt\\'s till\\nhalf-past eight the following morning, when I joined my boat, and\\nattended on the captain.  By this plan my duty was not interfered with,\\nand I had many pleasant meetings with my new friends, and became, as may\\nbe imagined, very intimate with little Minnie.\\n\\nI may as well describe her.  She was about ten years old, tall for her\\nage; she was very fair, with deep blue eyes, and very dark hair; her\\ncountenance was very animated and expressive, and she promised to be a\\nvery handsome woman.  Her father doted upon her, for he had no other\\nchild; he had married late in life, and his wife had died a few days\\nafter Minnie was born.  She was very affectionate in disposition, and\\nvery sweet-tempered; up to the present she had received but little\\neducation, and that was one principal reason for Mr Vanderwelt\\'s\\nwishing to return to Holland.  I soon became as one of the family, and\\ncertainly was treated as such.\\n\\nMinnie was very curious to know what it was that I carried about my neck\\nin the seal-skin pouch, but I never could tell either her or her father\\nwhat it really was.  Mr Vanderwelt very often asked me if I liked being\\nat sea, and I invariably replied in the affirmative.\\n\\nAt last the frigate was to sail, and I had but one more evening to pass\\nwith them.  Mr Vanderwelt appeared very grave, and little Minnie would\\nevery now and then during the evening burst into tears at the idea of\\nour separation.\\n\\nAt last the hour of parting arrived--it was very painful.  I promised to\\nwrite to them, and Mr Vanderwelt told me that his house was always\\nready to receive me, and begged that if I wanted anything I would let\\nhim know.\\n\\nI cried, myself, when I left the house--the first time that I ever\\ncried, I believe, on such an occasion.  The next morning we were again\\nunder weigh, to rejoin the admiral at Jamaica.\\n\\nBob Cross had told me that he wished to have a little talk with me in\\nthe first watch, and I met him on the gangway, our usual rendezvous.\\n\\n\"Master Keene, I have some news for you, which I gained from the steward\\nlast night.  I will say, that his ears are always open; not that I think\\nhe is generally what is called an eavesdropper but he likes you, and\\nwhen you are concerned, he does care to find out what is going on.  Now\\nyou see, sir, that Dutch gentleman whom you saved from the nigger pirate\\ncame to call on Captain Delmar yesterday morning, and, after some\\npalaver, he told the captain that he wished you to remain with him\\naltogether, and leave his majesty\\'s service; and he begged the captain\\nto allow you to be discharged, and then he would be a father to you, as\\nyou had no father.  There was a great deal more which the steward could\\nnot make out, but it was all to that effect.  Well, the captain said\\nthat it was very true that you had lost your father but that he\\nconsidered you as _his own_ son, and could not part with you on any\\naccount; and he stated that you were so promising an officer, that it be\\nvery wrong that you should leave the service, and that it must not be\\nthought of.  The old gentleman said a great deal, and tried very hard to\\npersuade the captain, but it was of no use.  The captain said he would\\nnever let you go till you were a post-captain and commanded a fine\\nfrigate, and then you would of course be your own master, and act as you\\nplease.\"\\n\\n\"I am very glad to hear all this, Bob, I can assure you.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir, it is very good news: but, Master Keene, I only hope, knowing\\nCaptain Delmar as you do, that you will act towards him as if you had\\nnever heard it.\"\\n\\n\"I will, depend upon it, Cross.  As for leaving the service, that I\\nwould not have done even if Captain Delmar had agreed to it.  I\\'m an\\nEnglishman, and I don\\'t want to be under Dutch protection.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s right, sir--that\\'s right--just as I wished you to feel.  How\\ntime flies away.  Why, Master Keene, you have been afloat nearly three\\nyears.\"\\n\\n\"Within a month, Bob.\"\\n\\n\"And you\\'re growing such a tall fellow, they won\\'t keep you much longer\\nin the captain\\'s gig, I expect: I shall be sorry for that.  So Master\\nTommy Dott is in another scrape.\"\\n\\n\"How?--I heard nothing of it.\"\\n\\n\"No, because it\\'s only within this half-hour that he\\'s got in it.\"\\n\\n\"Tell me.\"\\n\\n\"Why, sir, Mr Culpepper had fallen fast asleep on the gunroom table,\\nunder the skylight, which, as you know, is always open, and his head had\\nfallen back, and his mouth was wide open: there was no other officer in\\nthe gun-room except Mr Culpepper: and Tommy Dott, who perceived him,\\nasked Timothy Jenkins, the maintop-man, to give him a quid of tobacco;\\nwell, Jenkins takes it out of his cheek, red-hot, as you may suppose,\\nand hands it to Master Tommy, who takes his perpendicular very\\naccurately, and drops the quid into the purser\\'s open mouth.\\n\\n\"Mr Culpepper was almost choked, but after a terrible coughing, the\\nquid comes up again; notwithstanding, he turns as sick as a dog, and is\\nobliged to run to the basin in his cabin.  Well, sir, as soon as he\\ncomes out again, he goes up under the half deck, and inquires of the\\nsentry who it was that did it; and the sentry, who is that sulky fellow,\\nMartin, instead of knowing nothing about it, says directly, it was\\nMaster Tommy; and now there\\'s a formal complaint made by Mr Culpepper\\non the quarter-deck, and Master Tommy will get it as sure as a gun.\"\\n\\n\"He don\\'t know how to play a trick,\" replied I; \"he is always found out\\nand punished: the great point is, not to be discovered--that\\'s the real\\npleasure in playing a trick.\"\\n\\n\"Well, you certainly do manage well, Master Keene; but I think it\\'s\\nalmost time you left them off now, you\\'re getting an oldster.  Why, you\\nmust be seventeen, sir?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, Bob, not very far from it.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I suppose I must say Mister Keene for the future.\"\\n\\n\"You may call be what you like, Bob; you have been a good friend to me.\"\\n\\n\"Well, sir, I only hope that Captain Delmar will make you a\\npost-captain, as he says, and that you\\'ll get a fine frigate, and I\\'ll\\nbe your coxswain; but that\\'s a long way to look to, and we shan\\'t have\\nany more councils of war on the gangway then.\"\\n\\n\"No; but we may in the cabin, Cross.\"\\n\\n\"A large sail on the starboard bow,\" cried the look-out man forward.\\n\\n\"A large sail on the starboard bow,\" reported the mate of the watch.\\n\\nMy glass was on the capstern, and I ran for it, and went forward to\\nexamine the vessel, although my duty as signal midshipman was ended at\\nsunset.\\n\\n\"What do you make of it, Mr Keene?\" said the officer of the watch.\\n\\n\"I think she is a man-of-war; but it is so dark, that I cannot make her\\nout very clearly.\"\\n\\n\"Is she standing this way?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir, under top-sails and top-gallant-sails, I think.\"\\n\\nThe officer of the watch went down to report to the captain, who had not\\nyet turned into his cot.  Captain Delmar had been informed that a Dutch\\nfrigate was expected at the island, but not until the following month;\\nstill we had no reason to suppose that there were any of our frigates\\ndown in these latitudes, except those lying in the harbour at Curacao.\\nThe wind was light, about a three knot breeze, and there being no moon\\ntill after twelve o\\'clock, it was very difficult to make out what she\\nwas.  Some said she was a two-decked vessel.  The captain went down to\\nlook at his private signals for the night, and before he came up I was\\nall ready with the lanterns.\\n\\n\"Two lights over one in a triangle; be quick, Mr Keene.\"\\n\\n\"Aye, aye, sir,\" replied I.\\n\\nThe lights were soon hoisted at the peak, but as they could not well be\\nseen by the other vessel, as we were standing towards her, we went about\\nand hove to across her hawse.  For a quarter of an hour she continued to\\nstand towards us without noticing the signals; at last the captain said,\\n\"They must be all asleep on board of the vessel.\"\\n\\n\"No, Captain Delmar,\" replied I, keeping my telescope on the vessel,\\n\"they are not all asleep, for I saw lights on the main-deck through the\\nbow-ports.  I see them again now.\"\\n\\n\"So do I,\" said the first lieutenant.\\n\\n\"Then we\\'ll beat to quarters, Mr Hippesley,\" rejoined the captain.\\n\\nThe men were summoned to quarters, and hammocks piped up and stowed in a\\nvery short time, the guns cast loose, and every man at his post (but the\\nports not opened), waiting the coming down of the stranger, now about a\\nmile distant, when suddenly she rounded to the wind on the same tack\\nthat we were, and set her royals and flying-jib.\\n\\n\"She does not answer our signals,\" observed the captain: \"I suspect by\\nthat and her present manoeuvre she must be an enemy.\"\\n\\n\"I have no doubt of it, sir,\" observed the first lieutenant; \"an English\\nfrigate would not behave in that way.\"\\n\\n\"Open the ports and get up the fighting lanterns, then,\" said the\\ncaptain; for, up to the present, we had been careful not to show any\\nlights.\\n\\nIt was now plain to see that her men were at their quarters and that she\\nwas prepared for action.  When everything was ready on deck, the royals\\nand flying-jib were set, and we gave chase.  The strange vessel was\\nabout three-quarters of a mile on our weather-beam; in half an hour we\\nhad gained upon her considerably, and our sailing was so superior that\\nwe were satisfied, should she prove an enemy, that in an hour more we\\nshould be engaged.\\n\\nOf course, we might have engaged her at the distance we were from her,\\nbut you cannot be too careful in a night action, and ought never to\\nengage without first hailing the vessel to make sure that she is an\\nenemy, as circumstances may, and have occurred by which an English\\nvessel may not be able to answer the private signal, and, of course, a\\nvessel belonging to a neutral power would be in the same position.\\n\\nThe incertitude which existed as to whether the strange vessel was an\\nenemy or not created great excitement.  My duty, as signal midshipman,\\nplaced me abaft on the quarter-deck, and Bob Cross, who was really a\\nquarter-master, although doing duty as captain\\'s coxswain, was at the\\nwheel.\\n\\nAt last we had brought the chase well on our weather quarter, and when\\nwe tacked we found that we lay well up, she being about a point on our\\nlee bow.  Another half-hour brought us within two cables\\' length of her,\\nwhen we kept away, so as to pass her to leeward, close enough to have\\nthrown a biscuit on board.  The stranger still remaining on the opposite\\ntack, Captain Delmar then hailed from the gangway--\\n\\n\"Ship, a-hoy!\"\\n\\nThere was a death-like silence on board of both vessels, and his voice\\npierced sonorously through the night wind.\\n\\n\"Ah! yaw!\" was the reply.\\n\\n\"What ship is that?\" continued Captain Delmar.\\n\\nDuring this time every man was at his gun; the captains, with the\\nlanyards of the locks in their hands, ready to pour in a broadside.\\n\\nThe reply from the other vessel was--\"Vat chip is dat?\"\\n\\n\"His Britannic Majesty\\'s ship Calliope,\" replied Captain Delmar; and\\nthen he repeated--\"What ship is that?  Let every man lie down at his\\nquarters,\" said Captain Delmar.  The order was hardly obeyed, when the\\nstranger frigate poured in her broadside, and as we were then very\\nclose, with great execution to our hull and rigging: but as the men had\\nbeen lying down, very few of them were hurt.\\n\\nAs soon as the crash was over, Captain Delmar cried out--\"Up, men, and\\nfire, as I round to under her stern.\"\\n\\nIn a few seconds we had passed through the volumes of smoke, and luffed\\nup under her stern: we poured in our whole broadside.\\n\\n\"Let her go off again--flatten in there forward.  Reedy about,\" was the\\nnext order given.\\n\\nWe ran away from her about three cables\\' length, until we had sufficient\\nway to tack, and then we went about and stood towards her, steering for\\nher weather quarter, as if we were going to engage her to windward.\\n\\n\"Over to the larboard guns, my lads.  Hands by, after bracings and\\nhowlings, Mr Hippesley.\"\\n\\n\"Aye, aye, sir, all ready.\"\\n\\nAs soon as we were near enough, the after-yards were shivered, the jib\\nsheet to windward, and the helm put up.  The Calliope worked\\nbeautifully; she paid sharp off, and we again passed under her stern,\\nand gave another raking broadside; very unexpected on the part of the\\nDutchman, who presumed that we were going to engage him to windward, and\\nhad his men all ready at his larboard guns in consequence.\\n\\nThe Dutch captain was evidently much annoyed: he stood at the taffrail,\\nand, much to our amusement, cried out, in bad English, \"You coward--not\\nfight fair.\"\\n\\nAs we shot ahead of her, to leeward, she gave us a portion of her\\nstarboard broadside: but the men, having been over at the guns on the\\nother side, were not quick enough, and they did us no injury; whereas,\\nher mizzen-mast fell over the side a few minutes after we passed her.\\n\\nShe then raid off, and so did we, so that she might not rake us, and\\nbroadsides were exchanged on equal terms; but before we had exchanged\\nthese broadsides, both ships running with the wind on the quarter, we\\nfound that our superiority in sailing free was so great, that we shot\\nahead of him out of his fire, and we were enabled to luff up and rake\\nhim again.\\n\\nThe last raking broadside brought down his main-topmast and then she was\\nall our own, as Bob Cross said; as she could not round to with no after\\nsail, and we could from our superiority in sailing, take our position as\\nwe pleased, which we did, constantly keeping ahead of him, and raking\\nhim, broadside after broadside, and receiving but one broadside in\\nreturn, until his foremast went by the board, and he had nothing but his\\nmain-mast standing.\\n\\nThis bettered his condition on the whole; as, although hardly manageable\\nwith so little wind, he had more power over his vessel, as far as\\nrounding to the wind, which he did, and the action continued; but our\\nfighting under sail gave us great advantage, and although an occasional\\nshot would come in, and we had to carry some men into the cockpit, for\\none shot we received, we certainly returned ten.  The action had\\ncontinued about an hour, when, by the continual cannonading, the light\\nwind was beaten down, and it fell dead calm.  This put us again upon a\\nmore equal footing, as the Calliope had not steerage way.\\n\\nWe were then about a quarter of a mile apart, lying head and stern; but\\nboth ships had fallen off during the calm, so that only the quarter guns\\nof each could be brought to bear.  The major portion of the ship\\'s\\ncompany being, therefore, not able to use their guns, were employed in\\nrepairing the damages we had received, which were very considerable,\\nespecially in the sails and rigging.\\n\\nI was standing by Bob Cross, who was looking out for cats\\' paws, as we\\ncall slight breaths of wind, when he said in a low voice:--\\n\\n\"Master Keene, I never had an idea that the captain could handle his\\nship so well: he really knows what he\\'s about as well as any man in the\\nservice.\"\\n\\n\"I thought so, too,\" replied I.  \"Whew! there\\'s a nasty shot,\" cried I,\\nas one came in and upset half a dozen of the marines, who were hauling\\nupon the mizzen-topsail sheet, which had just been spliced.\\n\\n\"Yes, sir, that chap is made of good stuff, depend upon it--all the\\nDutchmen are: if they could only keep their hands out of their breeches\\npockets, they would be rummer customers than they are now; as it is,\\nthey are not to be played with; and, depend upon it, we\\'re a long way\\noff having him yet: we must pray for wind to come up and he must pray\\nfor the calm to continue.\"\\n\\n\"Where\\'s Mr Keene?\" said the captain, who was on the other side of the\\ndeck.\\n\\n\"Here, sir,\" said I, running up and touching my hat.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene, go down quietly and ascertain how many men we have hurt: the\\ndoctor will be able to tell you pretty nearly.\"\\n\\n\"Aye, aye, sir,\" replied I, and I dived down below; just as I did so, a\\nshot came in and cut away the lower rail of the copper stanchions which\\nwere round the hatchway, about a foot beyond my hat: had I not gone down\\nso quickly, it would have taken my head off.\\n\\nI went down into the gun-room, for the doctor preferred being there to\\nthe cockpit, as there was so much more room to operate, and I gave him\\nthe captain\\'s message.\\n\\nHe was very busy taking off a poor fellow\\'s leg.  It was a horrible\\nsight and made me sick and faint.  As soon us the bone had been sawed\\noff, he said--\\n\\n\"You will find all the wounded I have dressed in the steerage; those\\nthey have brought me down dead are in the cockpit.  There have been five\\namputations already the master is badly wounded, and Mr Williams the\\nmate, is killed: those whom I have not been able to attend to yet, are\\nhere in the gun-room.  You must ascertain what the captain wishes to\\nknow yourself, Mr Keene.  I cannot, leave a leg with the arteries not\\ntaken up, to count heads.  Mr Rivers, the tenaculum--ease the\\ntourniquet, now.\"\\n\\nAs I felt what the doctor said to be true, I got a lantern and commenced\\nmy examinations.  I found fourteen wounded men waiting the doctor\\'s care\\nin the gun-room, which was almost a pool of blood.  In the steerage\\nthere were nine who had been dressed, and four in their hammocks, who\\nhad undergone amputation of the arm or leg.  I then went down into the\\ncockpit, where I counted eleven of our best men lying dead.  Having\\nobtained the information required, I was proceeding up the cockpit\\nladder, when I turned towards the purser\\'s steward\\'s room, and saw Mr\\nCulpepper, the purser, on his knees before a lantern; he looked very\\npale--he turned round and saw me.\\n\\n\"What\\'s the matter?\" cried he.\\n\\n\"Nothing, sir; only the captain wishes to know how many men are killed\\nand wounded.\"\\n\\n\"Tell him I do not know: surely he does not want me on deck?\"\\n\\n\"He wants to know how many men are hurt, sir,\" replied I, for I\\nperceived that he thought that the message was sent to him.\\n\\n\"Mercy on me!  Stop a minute, Mr Keene, and I\\'ll send up word by you.\"\\n\\n\"I can\\'t stop, sir,\" replied I, going up the ladder.\\n\\nMr Culpepper would have called me back, but I preferred leaving him in\\nhis error, as I wished to see which he most dreaded, the captain\\'s\\ndispleasure or the shot of the enemy.\\n\\nI returned on deck and made my report.  The captain looked very grave,\\nbut made no reply.\\n\\nI found that the two frigates were now lying stern to stern, and firing\\noccasional guns, which raked fore and aft.  Except the men who worked\\nthe guns aft, our people were lying down at their quarters, by the order\\nof the captain.\\n\\n\"If we only had but a capful of wind,\" said the captain to the first\\nlieutenant, \"but I see no appearance of it.\"\\n\\nI touched my hat and said, \"The moon will rise in about ten minutes,\\nsir, and she often brings the wind up with her.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s true, Mr Keene, but it\\'s not always the case.  I only hope she\\nwill; if not, I fear we shall lose more of our men.\"\\n\\nThe firing continued, and our main-mast had received so many shots, that\\nwe were obliged to hold it for its support.  While so employed, the moon\\nrose, and the two vessels had now a good view of each other.  I directed\\nmy glass to the horizon under the moon, and was delighted to perceive a\\nblack line, which promised wind; I reported it to the master, and the\\npromise was kept good, for in a quarter of an hour our sails flapped,\\nand then gradually filled.\\n\\n\"She has steerage way, sir,\" reported Bob Cross.\\n\\n\"Thank Heaven for that,\" replied Captain Delmar.  \"Jump up, men.  Brace\\nround the yards, Mr Hippesley.\"\\n\\n\"The enemy\\'s main yard is cut in two in the slings, sir,\" reported I,\\nafter I had my glass upon her.\\n\\n\"Then her last hope is gone,\" replied Mr Hippesley.  \"Haul over the\\nstarboard jib-sheet forward--let her come to, quartermaster.  Larboard\\nguns, my lads.\"\\n\\n\"Now, my men,\" cried Captain Delmar, \"make short work of her.\"\\n\\nThis injunction was obeyed.  We had now a good sight of the enemy, and\\nbrought our whole broadside to bear upon her stern; and after a quarter\\nof an hour more firing I perceived that her ensign was no longer on the\\nstaff, where it had been hoisted after the fall of the mizenmast;\\nneither had she for the last five minutes given us a gun in return.\\n\\n\"She has struck, sir, I think,\" said I to Captain Delmar; \"her ensign is\\ndown.\"\\n\\n\"Pass the word `Cease firing,\\' Mr Hippesley; but let the guns be all\\nreloaded in case of accidents.  Have we a boat that can swim?  Examine\\nthe cutters, Mr Keene.\"\\n\\nI found the cutter on the larboard quarter, with her bottom out: she\\ncould not swim, that was clear.  The starboard one was in better\\ncondition.\\n\\n\"The starboard cutter will float, sir; her gunwale is all torn away, but\\nthere are rollocks enough to pull.\"\\n\\n\"Let her be cleared away and lowered down, Mr Hippesley.  Send for the\\nsecond lieutenant.\"\\n\\n\"I believe he\\'s not on deck sir,\" replied the first lieutenant.\\n\\n\"Not much hurt, I hope?\"\\n\\n\"A splinter, I was told, sir.\"\\n\\n\"Where\\'s Mr Weymss, the third lieutenant?  Mr Weymss, jump into the\\nboat, and take possession of the prize: take as many men as you can;\\nand, Mr Keene, with Mr Weymss, and as soon as you have gained the\\nnecessary information, come back with the boat and two hands.\"\\n\\nI followed the third lieutenant info the boat, and we pulled on board of\\nour antagonist.  A junior officer received us on the deck, and presented\\nhis sword.  His left arm was bound up, and he was very pale from loss of\\nblood.  He spoke pretty good English; and we found that we had captured\\nthe Dort, Dutch frigate, of thirty-eight guns, bound to Curacao, with a\\ndetachment of troops for the garrison, and a considerable quantity of\\nammunition and specie on board for the use of the colony.\\n\\nWe inquired whether the captain was much hurt, as he did not appear on\\ndeck.\\n\\n\"He is dead, gentlemen,\" replied the young officer: \"he was my father.\\nOur loss has been very great.  I am only a cadet, yet I am commanding\\nofficer.\"\\n\\nA tear rolled down his cheek as he said that the captain was his father,\\nand I felt for him.  Shortly afterwards he staggered to a carronade\\nslide, and dropped down on it, and very soon was in a state of\\ninsensibility.\\n\\nThe carnage had been dreadful, and the bulwarks of the vessel had been\\nshattered to pieces.  The scene was almost as had as the Stella\\'s decks\\nbefore she was blown up by the negro captain.  Several of the guns were\\ndismounted and two of them had burst.  I had only time to go round the\\ngun-deck, and then I ordered two hands into the boat, that I might make\\nmy report to Captain Delmar.\\n\\nI asked the third lieutenant to allow me to take on board the young\\nofficer, who still remained lifeless on the carronade slide, and, as it\\nwas proper for me to bring back with me the commanding officer, he\\nconsented.  We lowered him with a rope into the boat, and then I\\nreturned on board of the Calliope, and went up to the captain to make my\\nreport, and present him with the sword of the officer commanding the\\nprize.\\n\\nJust as I was commencing my story, Mr Culpepper came up without his\\nwig, and in a state of great disorder, with a piece of dirty paper in\\nhis hand.  He trembled very much from the effects of his alarm, but made\\na very profound bow, and said to Captain Delmar--\\n\\n\"Here is the state of killed and wounded, Captain Delmar, as far as I\\nhave been able to collect them.  I could not possibly get them\\nascertained before, although I have been an hour or two employed--ever\\nsince Mr Keene came down.\"\\n\\nThe captain, who did not like the interruption, replied very haughtily,\\n\"Mr Culpepper, it\\'s the duty of the surgeon to send in the report of\\nkilled and wounded.  You had better go down below, get your dress in a\\nlittle better order.  Now, Mr Keene.\"\\n\\nOld Culpepper slunk away as I proceeded to give the information, and the\\ncaptain now asked the carpenter if the pinnace was sufficiently\\nrepaired.\\n\\n\"In a few minutes, sir,\" was the reply.\\n\\n\"Mr Hippesley, you must, then, send forty hands on board the prize to\\nrepair her damages, as far as we can.  Mr Weymss must remain on board.\"\\n\\nIn the meantime the young officer had been taken down below to the\\nsurgeon, who had now some leisure to attend to him.  He was soon\\nrestored, and the surgeon expressed his opinion that it would be\\npossible to save his arm.  I went down to see him, and I gave him my\\nhammock to sleep in for the present, and as soon as he was comfortably\\narranged under the half-deck I returned to the quarter-deck, and made\\nmyself as useful as I could, for we had plenty to do on board of our own\\nfrigate, knotting and splicing, having only made temporary repairs.\\n\\nIt was now dawn of day, and very soon afterwards broad daylight.  The\\nmen were ordered aft with the buckets, and the decks, which were smeared\\nand black with powder and the blood of the wounded, were washed down.\\nThat we were all very tired I hardly need say, but it was not yet time\\nfor repose; the magazines had been secured and the fires lighted.\\n\\nAnother boat, with the carpenter and assistant-surgeon, had been sent on\\nboard the prize to remedy any serious damage and to assist in dressing\\nthe wounded.  I was sent with the boat.  Mr Weymss, the third\\nlieutenant, had not been idle: jury-masts were in preparation, the decks\\nhad been cleared, the dead thrown overboard, and the wounded taken\\nbelow.\\n\\nOn mustering the remainder of the Dort\\'s ship\\'s company, and calling\\nover the muster-roll of the troops on board, we found that she had lost\\nthe captain, 2 lieutenants and 10 officers, 73 seamen and 61 soldiers,\\nkilled; and the first-lieutenant, 13 officers, and 137 wounded--147\\nkilled and 151 wounded: total 298.  She had received several shot\\nbetween wind and water, and had a good deal of water in the hold: this\\nwas, however, soon remedied by the carpenter and his crew, and the\\nfrigate pumped out by the prisoners.\\n\\nI returned on board of the Calliope with this intelligence to the\\ncaptain, and found that the surgeon had just sent in the report of our\\nown loss, which was, 1 officer and 17 men killed--master, 2 lieutenants,\\n2 midshipmen, and 47 wounded.\\n\\n\"Do you know who are the midshipmen wounded?\" said the captain to me.\\n\\n\"I heard that Mr James was killed, sir, but not the names of those who\\nare wounded; but I think one of them must be Mr Dott, or we certainly\\nshould have seen him about.\"\\n\\n\"I should not be surprised,\" replied the captain.  \"Sentry, ask who are\\nthe young gentlemen wounded.\"\\n\\nThe sentry replied, \"Mr Castles and Mr Dott.\"\\n\\n\"Well,\" replied the captain, \"he\\'ll be in no more mischief for some\\ntime; I heard of his trick to the purser.\"\\n\\nAs the captain was saying this, I perceived the piece of paper which the\\npurser had brought up as his report of killed and wounded lying on the\\ntable with the other reports.  It had, apparently, not been examined by\\nthe captain, but my eye caught it, and I observed, written in a shaking\\nhand, \"Pieces of beef, 10; ditto pork, 19; raisins, 17; marines, 10.\"  I\\ncould not help smiling.\\n\\n\"What are you amused with, Mr Keene, may I ask?\" said the captain,\\nrather gravely.\\n\\n\"I beg your pardon, sir, for venturing so in your presence,\" replied I;\\n\"but it is Mr Culpepper\\'s report of killed and wounded;\" which I then\\ntook up, and handed to the captain.\\n\\nThis proof of Mr Culpepper\\'s state of mind during the conflict was too\\nmuch for even Captain Delmar, who laughed outright.\\n\\n\"The old fool,\" muttered he.\\n\\n\"You may go now, Mr Keene.  If breakfast is ready, tell Mr Hippesley\\nto let the men have it as soon as possible.\"\\n\\n\"Aye, aye, sir,\" replied I, and bowing respectfully, I quitted the\\ncabin; for I felt that Captain Delmar thought that he had not been quite\\nso reserved towards me as he always wished to be.\\n\\nAs soon as I had given the captain\\'s orders, I went down to find out\\nTommy Dott.  He was in his hammock, next to mine, in which I had put the\\nyoung Dutch officer.  Dott was wide awake, and, apparently, very\\nfeverish.\\n\\n\"Where are you hurt, Tommy?\"\\n\\n\"I am sure I don\\'t know,\" said he.  \"Get me some water, Keene.\"\\n\\nI got a pannikin of water, and he drank it.\\n\\n\"Don\\'t you know where you are hurt?\"\\n\\n\"I believe it\\'s my side--somewhere about the body, I know; but I\\'m so\\nstiff all over, that I can\\'t tell exactly where.  Something hit me, and\\nI fell right down the hatchway; that\\'s all I know about it until I found\\nmyself in my hammock.\"\\n\\n\"Well, at all events, you won\\'t be punished now for dropping the quid\\ninto Mr Culpepper\\'s mouth.\"\\n\\n\"No,\" replied Tommy, with a smile, in spite of his pain; \"but I would\\nhave played him a better trick than that if I had had any idea that we\\nshould have been so soon in action.  I wish I could turn round, Keene--I\\nthink I should be easier.\"\\n\\nI turned poor Tommy in his hammock, and then left him.  I looked at the\\nson of the Dutch captain--he was slumbering; he was a very slight youth,\\nwith very beautiful, but very feminine features.  I felt a kindness\\ntowards him, poor fellow; for he had lost his father, and he was about\\nto pass his best years in prison.  But the boatswain\\'s mates piped to\\nbreakfast, and I hastened down into the berth to get my share of the\\ncocoa.\\n\\nAs soon as the men had finished their breakfast, the hands were again\\nturned up, the lower deck cleared and washed, new sails bent and the\\nguns properly secured; screens were put up round the half-deck where the\\nwounded were in their beds.  The dead were brought up and sewed up in\\ntheir hammocks, laid out on gratings, and covered with the ensign and\\nunion jack, preparatory to their being committed to the deep.  Another\\nparty was sent to assist on board of the prize, and the prisoners were\\nbrought on board, and put down in the fore-hold, which had been cleared\\nfor their reception.\\n\\nBy noon everything was so far ready that we were enabled to take the\\nprize in tow, and make sail on the Calliope, after which the men, who\\nwere exhausted, went to dinner, and were permitted to sleep during the\\nremainder of the day until the evening, when the ship\\'s company was\\nordered up, and the dead were committed to the deep blue sea with the\\nusual ceremonies.\\n\\nThe breeze was steady but the water was smooth during the night, and\\nglad I was to throw myself on one of the lockers in the midshipmen\\'s\\nberth, after so many hours of excitement.  I slept till four in the\\nmorning, and finding the planks not quite so soft as they might be, I\\nthen turned into the hammock of the midshipman of the morning watch, and\\nremained till six hells, when Bob Cross came down and told me that the\\ncaptain would soon be on deck.\\n\\n\"Well, Cross,\" said I, as I came on deck and went aft to look at the\\nprize in tow, \"this is a nice business, and our captain will gain a\\ngreat deal of credit.\"\\n\\n\"And he deserves it, Master Keene,\" replied Cross: \"as I said before, I\\nnever had an idea that he could handle his ship so well--no, nor none of\\nthe ship\\'s company.  We all thought Mr Hippesley the best officer of\\nthe two, but we have found out our mistake.  The fact is, Mr Keene,\\nCaptain Delmar wraps himself an in his dignity like a cloak, and there\\'s\\nno making him out, till circumstances oblige him to take it off.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s very true, Bob,\" replied I: \"it is only this very morning that\\nhe laughed himself, and I laughed also, and he pulled up immediately\\nafterwards, twice as stiff to me as before.\"\\n\\nI then told Bob of Mr Culpepper\\'s report, which amused him very much.\\n\\n\"I am sure that he is pleased with you, Mr Keene, and I must say that\\nyou were very useful and very active.\"\\n\\n\"Do you know that the carpenter says that we have received injuries that\\ncannot be well repaired without the ship going into dock, and I should\\nnot be surprised if we were to be sent home, if the survey confirms his\\nreport.  I hope we shall; I am tired of the West Indies, and I should\\nlike to see my mother; we have a nice breeze now, and we are two points\\nfree.  If it lasts, we shall be at Jamaica in a fortnight or less.\"\\n\\nThe captain coming on deck put an end to our conversation.\\n\\nBefore night the prize had got up jury-masts, and sail set upon them,\\nand we went through the water more rapidly.  In ten days we arrived at\\nPort Royal with our prize.  The captain went on shore, and what was\\nstill more agreeable, we got rid of all our prisoners and wounded men.\\nA survey, in consequence of the carpenter\\'s report was held upon the\\nCalliope, and the result was, she was ordered home to be repaired.  The\\nDort was commissioned by the admiral, and Mr Hippesley received an\\nacting order to the sloop of war, which had become vacant by the\\ncommander of her being promoted into the Dort, which was now christened\\nthe Curacao.\\n\\nIn ten days after our arrival we were ready, and made sail for Old\\nEngland.  Tommy Dott and the second lieutenant remained on board, and\\nwere both convalescent before we entered the Channel.  Tommy Dott\\'s\\nwound, by the bye, was a splinter in the back, added to severe bruises\\nfrom tumbling down the hatchway.\\n\\nCaptain Delmar had shown great kindness to the son of the Dutch captain\\nand he did not send him on shore with the rest of the prisoners, but\\npermitted him to remain, and come home in the Calliope.  He recovered\\nslowly, but was soon out of danger, and was walking about with his arm\\nin a sling long before we arrived in England.  It appeared to me that,\\nduring the passage home, old Culpepper was not so much in the good\\ngraces of Captain Delmar as he used to be; he was, however, more\\nobsequious than ever.  We had a fine run home, and in seven weeks from\\nour leaving Port Royal, we dropped our anchor at Spithead.\\n\\nI may have been wrung, but it certainly did appear to me that as we\\nneared the coast of England, the behaviour of Captain Delmar was more\\nreserved to me (I may say it was harsher) than ever it had been before.\\nHurt at treatment which I felt I did not deserve, I tried to analyse the\\ncause as I walked up and down the deck, and at last I decided that his\\npride was again alarmed.  On the one hand he was returning to his own\\ncountry, to meet with his aristocratical connections, and on the other\\nhe was reminded of my mother, and his _mesalliance_ with her--if such a\\nterm can be used to a woman who had sacrificed herself to one above her\\nin rank.  At all events, I was the result of that connection, and I\\npresumed that he was ashamed of it, and consequently kept me at a\\ndistance, and checked his feelings towards me.  Perhaps he thought that\\nmy mother might be induced to disclose to me that which I had under his\\nown hand-writing, and wore next my heart; or he might consider I was no\\nlonger a boy, but a tall young man, and one who might be induced to\\nclaim his protection.  Such were my reflections, and my resolutions were\\ntaken accordingly--I wanted no Bob Cross to counsel me now.\\n\\nWhen the captain left the ship, I made no request, as did the other\\nmidshipmen, for leave to see my friends; nor even when he returned on\\nboard, which he did several times after the ship had gone into harbour,\\nand was stripping, preparatory to being docked.  One thing, however,\\ngave me great satisfaction, which was, that when the despatch which we\\nbrought home was published, I found my name honourably mentioned in\\nconjunction with other officers, and but three midshipmen were named.\\n\\nWhen the Calliope went into dock the report of the dockyard was very\\nunfavourable.  She required a thorough repair which would take some\\nmonths.  She was therefore ordered to be paid off.  In the mean time the\\ncaptain had gone to London.  During his sojourn at Portsmouth I had\\nnever spoken to him, except on duty, and he had left me without a word\\nof explanation as to his intentions towards me.  As soon, however, as\\nthe order came down for paying off the ship, I received a letter from\\nhim, very cold and stiff, stating that I might, if I pleased, join any\\nother ship, and he would recommend me to the captain; or I might remain\\non the books of the guard-ship, and wait until he commissioned another\\nvessel, when he would be happy to take me with him.\\n\\nMy reply was immediate.  I thanked him for his kindness, and hoped I\\nmight remain on board the guard-ship until he took the command of\\nanother vessel, as I did not wish to sail with any other captain.  I had\\nbeen brought forward by him in the service, and preferred waiting for\\nmonths rather than lose his kind protection.\\n\\nThe only reply to my letter was an order from the Admiralty, for me to\\nbe discharged into the guard-ship when the Calliope was paid off.\\n\\nI hardly need say that I had written and received letters from my\\nmother, who was delighted at my name being mentioned in the despatches;\\nbut I will defer family news till the proper opportunity, as I must\\nfirst tell all that occurred in the Calliope before she was paid off.\\n\\nThe reader will recollect that the son of the Dutch captain, whose name\\nwas Vangilt, had been permitted to come home in the ship, instead of\\nbeing sent to prison.  He and I were very intimate and when I discovered\\nthat he was the cousin of Minnie Vanderwelt, I became more partial to\\nhim.  He was very melancholy during the passage home; how, indeed, could\\nhe be otherwise, with the prospect of being a prisoner during the\\nremainder of the war? and he often expressed his feelings on the\\nsubject.\\n\\n\"Could you not escape?\" said I, one evening.\\n\\n\"I fear not,\" replied he.  \"If once out of prison, I have no doubt but\\nthat I could get a conveyance over the Channel by means of the\\nsmugglers; indeed, I have connections in England who would assist me.\"\\n\\nWhen Captain Delmar went away to town, he had quite forgotten the poor\\nfellow, and Mr Weymss, who was the commanding officer, did not make any\\nspecial report of him as he thought he might defer it till the last\\nmoment, as every day out of prison would be so much gained by young\\nVangilt, who was a general favourite.\\n\\nIn this instance, my regard for the young man made me quite forget my\\nduty as an officer, and the Articles of War.  I knew that I was about to\\ndo wrong; but I considered that, with so many thousand prisoners which\\nwe had in England, one more or less could be of no consequence, and I\\nset to work to see if I could not effect his escape.\\n\\nAfter much cogitation, I found I could do nothing without Bob Cross and\\nI consulted with him.  Bob shook his head, and said it was, he believed,\\nhanging matter; but, after all, it was a pity that such a nice lad\\nshould be peeping between iron bars.  \"Besides,\" continued he, \"he lost\\nhis father in the action, and he ought not to lose his liberty also.\\nWell, Mr Keene, show me how I can help you.\"\\n\\n\"Why, Bob there\\'s a very pretty little girl, who very often comes\\nalongside with the old woman, and you go down into the boat and talk\\nwith her.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir,\" replied Bob, \"that\\'s the little girl I told you of, that\\nused to repeat her fables on my knee.  The fact is, I hope to splice her\\nsome of these days.  It\\'s her mother who is with her, and she will not\\nlet her come on board to mix with the other women, because she is good\\nand modest; too good for me, I\\'m afraid, in one sense of the word.\"\\n\\n\"How do you mean Bob?\"\\n\\n\"Why, sir, when I first knew her, she and her mother were living upon\\nwhat they could earn, for the father was killed in action many years\\nago, and I used to help them as far as I could; but now I find that,\\nalthough they are not changed, things are, most confoundedly.  Her uncle\\nlost his wife; he is considered a rich man, and being stone blind, and\\nhaving no one to take care of him after his wife\\'s death, he sent for\\nthis girl and her mother to keep his house and he is very fond of the\\ngirl, and declares that he will leave her all his money, and that she\\nshall marry well.  Now, sir, if she was to marry me, a petty officer\\nonly, it would not be considered that she married well; so you see, sir,\\nthere\\'s a hitch.\"\\n\\n\"Who and what was he?\"\\n\\n\"He was a smuggler, sir, and a very successful one; he has six or seven\\nhouses, all his own property besides the one he lives in himself.  He\\nlives about a quarter of a mile out of Gosport.  I know all about him,\\nalthough I have never seen him.  Soon after he left off smuggling, he\\nlost his eyesight, and, somehow or another, he considered it was a\\njudgment upon him--at least his wife, who had joined the Ranters,\\npersuaded him so--and so he took a religious turn, and now he does\\nnothing but pray, and call himself a poor blind sinner.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Bob, but I do not see why you should give up the girl.\"\\n\\n\"No, sir; nor will she or her mother give me up.  I could marry her\\nto-morrow without his consent, but I do not like to do her that injury.\"\\n\\n\"He is stone-blind, you say?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir.\"\\n\\n\"We\\'ll talk your affair over another time.  What I want at present is,\\nto help this poor young Vangilt to escape.  He says, that if once clear,\\nthe smugglers would put him on the other side of the water.  Now, it\\nappears to me that it would be very easy for him to get out of the ship\\nunperceived, if he were dressed in woman\\'s clothes, so many women are\\ngoing and coming all day long.\"\\n\\n\"Very true, sir, especially on pay-day, when nobody keeps any look-out\\nat all.  I see now, you want some of Mary\\'s clothes for him; they would\\nfit very well.\"\\n\\n\"Exactly; and I think that, as her uncle had been a smuggler, we might\\ngo and consult him as to his escape over the water.  Vangilt will pay\\n100 pounds with pleasure--he told me so.  That will be an introduction\\nfor you as well as for me to the old fellow.\"\\n\\n\"I think we had better let the old fellow suppose it\\'s a woman--don\\'t\\nyou, sir?  But what shall we call ourselves?\"\\n\\n\"Why, I will be a sort of agent for ships, an you shall be a captain.\"\\n\\n\"A captain!  Mr Keene.\"\\n\\n\"Yes; a captain, who has had a ship, and expects another.  Why, you were\\na captain of the fore-top before you were rated coxswain.\"\\n\\n\"Well, sir, I must consult Mary and her mother, and then I\\'ll let you\\nknow: they will come this afternoon.  Perhaps in helping Mr Vangilt, I\\nmay help myself.\"\\n\\nThat night Bob Cross told me that Mary and her mother were quite willing\\nto assist, and that they thought it would be a very good introduction to\\nold Waghorn: that we must expect some religious scruples at first, but\\nwe must persevere, and they had no doubt that the old man would contrive\\nto get the young man over to Cherbourg, or some other place on the other\\nside; that we had better call on him in the evening, and they would be\\nout of the way.\\n\\nAs soon as the work was over for the day, Bob Cross and I obtained\\nleave, and set off for Mr Waghorn\\'s house.  We were met by Mary and her\\nmother, who pointed it out to us, and then continued their walk.  We\\nwent to the door, and found the old man smoking his pipe.\\n\\n\"Who\\'s there?\" cried he, as we lifted the latch of the gate.\\n\\n\"Friends, sir,\" replied Cross; \"two persons who come to talk on\\nbusiness.\"\\n\\n\"Business!  I\\'ve no business--I\\'ve done with business long ago: I think\\nof nothing but my perishing soul--poor blind worm that I am.\"\\n\\nHe was a very fine-looking old man, although weather-beaten, and his\\nsilver locks hung down on his collar; his beard was not shaved, but\\nclipped with scissors: his want of sight gave him a mournful look.\\n\\n\"Nevertheless, sir, I must introduce myself and my friend, the captain,\"\\nreplied I, \"for we want your assistance.\"\\n\\n\"My assistance! poor blind beetle--how can I assist you?\"\\n\\n\"The fact is, sir, that a young woman is very anxious to return to her\\nfriends, on the other side of the water; and knowing that you have\\nacquaintance with those who run to and fro, we thought you might help\\nthe poor young woman to a passage.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s to say, you\\'ve heard that I was a smuggler.  People do say so;\\nbut, gentlemen, I now pay customs and excise--my tea has paid duty, and\\nso has my tobacco; so does everything--the king has his own.  The Bible\\nsays, `Render under Caesar the things which are Caesar\\'s.\\'  Gentlemen, I\\nstand by the Bible.  I am a poor, sinful old wretch--God forgive me.\"\\n\\n\"We ask nothing against the Bible, Mr Waghorn; it\\'s our duty to assist\\nthose who are in distress; it\\'s only a poor young woman.\"\\n\\n\"A poor young woman.  If she\\'s poor, people don\\'t do such work for\\nnothing; besides, it\\'s wrong, gentlemen--I\\'ve given up all that,--I\\'ve a\\nprecious soul to look after, and I can\\'t divert my attention from it.  I\\nwish you good-bye, gentlemen.\"\\n\\nAt this moment Mary and her mother returned, and we rose up.  \"Mrs\\nJames, is that you and Mary?  Here\\'s a captain and his friend come to\\nme; but it\\'s a fool\\'s errand, and so I\\'ve told them.\"\\n\\nI then stated to Mrs James what we had come for, and begged that she\\nwould persuade Mr Waghorn.\\n\\n\"Well, Mr Waghorn, why won\\'t you?--it\\'s a good action, and will have\\nits reward in heaven.\"\\n\\n\"Yes; but she\\'s a poor young woman, and can\\'t pay her passage, so it\\'s\\nno use.\"\\n\\n\"On the contrary,\" replied I, \"the captain here will become security,\\nthat 100 pounds shall be paid down as soon as she arrives in any part of\\nFrance or Holland.\"\\n\\n\"Will he?  But who\\'s the captain?\"\\n\\n\"I haven\\'t a ship just now, but I expect one soon,\" replied Bob; \"the\\nmoney shall be paid at once, if you will only receive the young woman\\nuntil she can be sent off.\"\\n\\n\"Well let me see--there\\'s James Martin; no he won\\'t do.  There\\'s Will\\nSimpson; yes, that\\'s the man.  Well, it\\'s a good act; and, captain, when\\nwill you bring the money?\"\\n\\nNow the ship was to be paid off on Wednesday and as we had each three\\nyears\\' pay due, there was no difficulty about that; so I replied, \"On\\nWednesday, the captain will give the money to this lady, or whoever\\ncomes with us to receive the young woman; will you not, Captain Cross?\"\\n\\n\"Oh! certainly; the money is ready at an hour\\'s notice,\" replied Bob.\\n\"I\\'m sure that she\\'ll pay me back, if she can; and if she can\\'t, it\\'s of\\nno consequence.\"\\n\\n\"Well, well, it\\'s a bargain,\" replied the old man.  \"I\\'m a poor blind\\nbeetle, a sinful old soul; I\\'ve nothing to do but to make my peace with\\nHeaven.  It\\'s charity--`Charity covereth a multitude of sins,\\' saith St.\\nPaul.  Recollect 100 pounds--that\\'s the bargain.  I\\'ll send Mrs James\\nto you; you must not call again till she\\'s on the other side of the\\nwater.\"\\n\\n\"Many thanks, sir,\" replied Bob.  \"I won\\'t call till I hear she is safe,\\nand then I\\'ll bring you some tobacco to smoke, such as you don\\'t often\\npick up nowadays.\"\\n\\n\"Happy to see you, Captain Cross, and your friend there,\" replied the\\nold man.\\n\\nWe then took our leave.  Mrs James, after we were gone, praised the\\nappearance of Captain Cross, as such a nice-looking man, and old Waghorn\\nevidently thought well of him by the answer he made.  Mary, however,\\npretended to prefer me.\\n\\nAs soon as I returned on board, I told young Vangilt what I had been\\nabout.  He wrung my hand, and the tears started in his eyes.  \"You, as\\nan officer, are indeed risking much for me.  As to the money, you know\\nme, I trust, too well, not to be sure of receiving it as soon as I can\\nsend it; but I never can repay your kindness.\"\\n\\n\"Perhaps you may be able to help me one of these days,\" I replied.  \"Who\\nknows?  It\\'s fortune of war, my good fellow; but it\\'s as well not to be\\nseen too much together.\"  So saying, I left him.\\n\\nThe next day, Mrs James came off with the necessary garments and bonnet\\nfor his escape, and they were given me by Bob Cross.  The day after was\\npay-day; and the ship was in such a state of confusion, and there were\\nso many people on board, that there was no difficulty whatever.  Vangilt\\nchanged his clothes in the midshipmen\\'s berth, which was empty, and Bob\\nCross handed him down the side into the boat, where Mrs James waited to\\nreceive him.  Bob and I had both been paid, and we gave her the 100\\npounds for old Waghorn.  The boat shoved off; Vangilt arrived safe at\\nWaghorn\\'s house, where he was kept concealed for eight days, when, for\\nthe sum of 20 pounds, he was safely landed on the French coast, old\\nWaghorn having pocketed 80 pounds by the transaction which, considering\\nhe acted out of pure charity, was a pretty good reward.\\n\\nHaving thus successfully managed, by being guilty of high treason, in\\naiding and abetting the enemy, I bade farewell to Bob Cross, leaving him\\nto follow up his amour, while I went to Chatham to pay my respects to my\\nmother.  I had made up my mind how to act.  I was no longer a child, but\\na man in reflection as well as appearance.\\n\\nI arrived, and hastened to the house from which I had escaped so\\nmysteriously the last time I was in it.  My mother threw herself in my\\narms, embracing me, and then looking at me with surprise and pleasure.\\nThree years and a half had changed me; she hardly knew me, for her\\nassociation of ideas had still pictured me as the smart stripling whom\\nshe had, with so much anguish, consigned into the hands of Bob Cross.\\nShe was proud of me--my adventures, my dangers, my conduct, and my\\nhonourable mention in the Gazette, were all known to her, and she had\\nbeen evidently congratulated by many upon my successful career.  My\\ngrandmother, who had grown much older in appearance, seemed to be\\nsoftened towards me, and I had sense enough to receive her advances with\\ngreat apparent cordiality.  My aunt and the captain were delighted to\\nsee me, and I found that my two cousins, of whose appearance I had been\\nduly apprised, were very pretty children.  I found that my mother had\\ntwo assistants in her business and everything appeared to be on a\\ngrander scale, and more flourishing than ever.\\n\\nThe first two or three days were devoted to narratives, communications,\\nexplanations, and admirations, as is usually the case after so long an\\nabsence; after which we quietly settled down in the relative positions\\nof mother and son, and she assumed, or rather would have assumed, her\\ncontrol over me; but this was not my wish; I had made up my mind that,\\nalthough a clever woman, I must in future control her, and I took the\\nfirst opportunity of a long _tete-a-tete_ to let her know that such was\\nmy intention.\\n\\nSpeaking of Captain Delmar, I at once told her that I knew he was my\\nfather, and that I had his own handwriting to prove it.  She denied it\\nat first; but I told her that all denial was useless, that I had\\npossession of the letter he had written to her upon my supposed death,\\nand that it was no ghost, but I, who had frightened my grandmother.\\n\\nThis was my first blow, and a heavy one, to my poor mother; for what\\nwoman can bear to be humiliated by her offspring being acquainted with\\nher indiscretion?  I loved my mother, and would fain have spared her\\nthis pang, had it not been that all my future plans were based upon this\\none point, and it was necessary she should aid and abet me in them.\\n\\nMy poor mother was bowed to the earth when she found that it was in vain\\nto deny my parentage; she covered her face with her hands in deep shame\\nbefore her child, but I consoled, and caressed, and told her (what I\\nreally felt), that I was indebted to her for not being the son of a\\nprivate marine; that, at all events, I had noble blood in my veins, and\\nwould prove myself worthy of my descent, whether it were acknowledged or\\nnot; but from that hour I took the command over her--from that hour it\\nwas I that dictated, and her authority as a parent was gone for ever.\\nLet it not be imagined that I treated her harshly; on the contrary, I\\nwas more kind, and, before other people, more dutiful than ever I was\\nbefore.  She was my only confidant, and to her only did I explain the\\nreasons of my actions: she was my adviser, but her advice was not that\\nof a parent, but that of an humble, devoted, and attached friend; and\\nduring the remainder of her days this position was never altered.\\n\\nAs soon as my mother had acknowledged the fact there was no longer any\\nreservation on my part.  I told her what was the conduct of Captain\\nDelmar towards me.  I pointed out his checking any display of paternal\\nfeelings towards me, and also the certainty that I had that he was\\npartial to and proud of me.  I explained to her the line of conduct\\nwhich I had pursued, and was determined still to pursue, towards him.\\n\\n\"Percival,\" said my mother, \"I see the judiciousness of what you say and\\nof your behaviour towards him; but allow me to ask you: What is the\\nobject you are aiming at--I mean particularly aiming at?  Of course you\\nhope to obtain advancement from his interest, and perhaps, if he becomes\\nmore attached to you, he may not forget you when he dies; but it appears\\nto me that you have something nearer to your heart than all this--tell\\nme, am I right?\"\\n\\n\"You are, my dear mother; my great end is, that Captain Delmar should\\nacknowledge me as his son.\"\\n\\n\"I fear that he will never do that, Percival; nor, indeed, do I think\\nyou would gain by it.  When you are more advanced in the world, your\\nparentage may be considered as obscure, but still, being born in\\nwedlock, it will be more respectable than the acknowledgment you would\\nseek from Captain Delmar.  You are not aware of the affronts you may\\nmeet with by obtaining what you evidently wish; and once known as the\\nson of Captain Delmar, you may wish that it was never promulgated.\"\\n\\n\"I was born in wedlock, mother, as you say, and as many others are, who\\nnow are peers of the realm, and in virtue of their being born in\\nwedlock, succeed to property to which they would otherwise not be\\nentitled.  Your shame (excuse me for using the word) and my disgrace are\\nequally covered by that wedlock, which is an answer to any accusations\\nof illegitimacy.  As to affronts, I do not fear them, or ever shall,\\nfrom those who know me.  I can defend and protect myself; but it is a\\ngreat difference to me to let the world suppose that I am the son of Ben\\nthe marine, when I know myself to be the son of the future Lord de\\nVersely.  I wish to be acknowledged by Captain Delmar in such a way as\\nto convince the world that such is the fact, without the world being\\nable to throw it up in my face.  That is easily done if Captain Delmar\\nchooses to do it; and if done as it ought to be done, will lead to my\\nbenefit.  At all events, it will satisfy my pride; for I feel that I am\\nnot the son of your husband, but have blood boiling in my veins which\\nwould satisfy the proudest aristocrat.  I prefer the half relation to\\nthat class, such as it is, with all its penalties to being supposed to\\nbe the son of the man whom, from prudential motives alone, you took to\\nbe your husband.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Percival, I cannot blame you; and do not you, therefore, blame\\nyour mother too much, when you consider that the same feeling was the\\ncause of her becoming your mother.\"\\n\\n\"Far from it my dear mother,\" replied I; \"only let us now act in\\nconcert.  I require your assistance.  Allow me to ask you one question--\\nHave you not realised a sufficient sum of money to enable you to retire\\nfrom our business?\"\\n\\n\"I certainly have, my dear Percival, much more than is necessary for me\\nto live in comfort, and I may say, some little luxury; but I have\\nthought of you, and for your sake, every year, have continued to add to\\nmy profits.\"\\n\\n\"Then, my dear mother, for my sake give up your business as soon as\\npossible; money is not my object.\"\\n\\n\"Tell me what your reasons are for this demand.\"\\n\\n\"My dear mother, I will be candid with you.  I wish you to retire from\\nbusiness, and leave this place for any distant part of England; I wish\\nyou to change your name, and, in one word, I wish Captain Delmar should\\nbelieve that you are dead.\"\\n\\n\"An why so, Percival?  I cannot see how that will benefit you; it was on\\nmy account that he took charge of you.  You are not sure that he may not\\nbe severed from you, and who knows but that my supposed death may\\noccasion him to desert you altogether?\"\\n\\n\"You assist my cause, my dear mother, by what you say, if it is on your\\naccount that Captain Delmar is my friend; and if as you say, he might\\ndesert me when you are dead, or supposed to be so, it is evident that\\nhis motive of action must be fear.  You have the secret of my birth,\\nwhich he supposes to be known only to you and to him.  I am convinced\\nthat if you were supposed dead, and that the secret was his own, if he\\nthought that there was no proof whatever against him, he would then not\\ncare showing towards me that regard which he is inclined to feel as a\\nfather, and which is now checked by his pride.  Captain Delmar is\\nnaturally of a kind and affectionate disposition--that I am sure of.\\nYour memory would do more for me than your existence ever can, and as\\nfor the rest, leave that to me.  At all events, if he should, as I do\\nnot believe he will, be inclined to throw me off, I have still his\\nwritten acknowledgment that I am his son, to make use of in case of\\nnecessity.  Now, my dear mother, you must consent to do as I wish.  Give\\nup your business as soon as possible, and retire to another part of the\\ncountry.  When I consider it a proper time to do so, your death shall be\\nmade known to him.  I have no doubt that he will be afloat again in a\\nfew months, and when we are out of England I will bide the proper time.\"\\n\\n\"But your grandmother, Percival--must I tell her?\"\\n\\n\"No; tell her only that you intend to retire from business and go away\\nfrom Chatham; say that you will in future reside in Devonshire, and ask\\nher to accompany you.  Depend upon it she will be pleased with your\\nintentions.  As to what we arrange relative to Captain Delmar, say\\nnothing to her--she hates his very name, and is not likely to talk about\\nhim.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Percival you will allow me till to-morrow to think about it\\nbefore I give a decided answer.\"\\n\\n\"Certainly, my dear mother; I wish you so to do, as I am convinced that\\nyou will agree with me; and I infinitely prefer that you should decide\\non conviction, than be induced by maternal regard.\"\\n\\nAs I was well assured, my mother\\'s decision was favourable to my wishes.\\nShe consulted with my grandmother, who approved of her intentions, and\\nthen it was made public that Mrs Keene intended to retire from\\nbusiness, and that the good-will was to be disposed of along with the\\nstock.  My aunt Milly and Captain Bridgeman appeared well content that\\nmy mother should take the step which she proposed.  In short, all the\\nfamily approved of the measure, which is not a very usual circumstance\\nin this world.  I now employed myself in assisting my mother in her\\naffairs.  In a month we found a purchaser of the stock and good-will,\\nand when the sum paid was added to my mother\\'s former accumulations, she\\nfound herself possessed of 12,000 pounds in the Three per Cents, the\\ninterest of which, 360 pounds, was more than sufficient for her living\\ncomfortably in Devonshire, especially as my grandmother had still\\nremaining an income very nearly amounting to 200 pounds per annum.\\n\\nIn another month everything was arranged, and my mother bade farewell to\\nher sister and all her friends, and left Chatham, after having resided\\nthere more than seventeen years.\\n\\nLong before my mother had removed from Chatham I received a letter from\\nyoung Vangilt, announcing his safe arrival in Amsterdam, and enclosing\\nan order to receive the money advanced, from a house in London.  His\\nletter was very grateful, but, as I had cautioned him, not one word was\\nin it which could implicate me, had it fallen into other hands.\\n\\nI may as well here observe, that in the hurry of paying off the ship,\\nVangilt was never missed, and although it did occur to the commanding\\nofficer after he had gone on shore that Mr Vangilt had not been sent to\\nprison, he thought it just as well not to raise a question which might\\nget himself into a scrape; in short, nothing was thought or said about\\nit by anybody.\\n\\nA few days before my mother quitted Chatham I went up to London to\\nreceive the money, and then went to Portsmouth to repay the portion\\nbelonging to Bob Cross.  I found that Bob had made good use of his time,\\nand that the old smuggler now received him as a suitor to his niece.\\n\\nAs however, Mary was still very young--not yet seventeen--and Bob had\\nacknowledged that he had not laid by much money as yet, the old man had\\ninsisted that Bob Cross should get another ship, and try a voyage or two\\nmore before he was spliced; and to this arrangement both the mother and\\nMary persuaded him to consent.  I went to call upon them with Bob, and\\ndid all I could, without stating what was not true, to give the old man\\na favourable opinion of Cross.  I even went so far as to say that if he\\ncould not procure another vessel, I was ready to put down a sum of money\\nto assist him; and so I was; and had it been requisite, I have no doubt\\nbut that my mother would have advanced it; but Bob, a fine seaman, not\\nyet thirty years old, was always sure of a ship--that is, a man-of-war.\\nTo save himself from impressment, Cross had dressed himself in long\\ntoggery as a captain of a merchant vessel, and was believed to be such.\\n\\nHaving satisfied myself that everything went on favourably in that\\nquarter, I again returned to Chatham, that I might escort my mother and\\ngrandmother into Devonshire.  We bade farewell to my aunt and Captain\\nBridgeman, and set off for London, where we remained a few days at an\\nhotel, and then took the day coach down to Ilfracombe, where my mother\\nhad decided upon taking up her future residence, changing her name to\\nOgilvie, which had been my grandmother\\'s maiden name.\\n\\nIlfracombe was then a beautiful retired spot, and well suited to my\\nmother from its cheapness: with their joint incomes, my grandmother and\\nshe could command anything they wished.  We soon hired a very pretty\\nlittle cottage _ornee_, ready furnished, as my mother would not furnish\\na house until she had ascertained whether there were no drawbacks to the\\nlocality.  I ought to observe, that my grandmother now appeared quite as\\npartial to me as she had before been otherwise.  I treated her with\\ngreat respect.\\n\\nAlthough it was not difficult to obtain a renewal of leave from a\\nguard-ship, after I had remained six weeks with my mother, it was\\nnecessary that I should make my appearance at Portsmouth.  It was\\narranged that I should take my departure for Portsmouth in three days,\\nwhen, on reading the Plymouth newspaper, I learnt that the\\nnewly-launched frigate Manilla, of 44 guns, was put in commission, and\\nthat the Honourable Captain Delmar had come down and hoisted his\\npennant.  This, of course, changed my plans.  I resolved to set off for\\nPlymouth, and wait upon Captain Delmar.  I wrote to Bob Cross, enclosing\\nan order for my chest and bedding on board of the guard-ship at\\nPortsmouth, acquainting him with my intention, but requesting him not to\\nact until he heard from me again.\\n\\nI had a long conversation with my mother, from whom I obtained a renewal\\nof her promise to abide and act by my instructions.  I took a respectful\\nfarewell of my grandmother, who gave me 100 pounds, which I did not\\nwant, as my mother had given me a similar sum, and then set off for\\nPlymouth.\\n\\nThe reader may perhaps inquire how it was that Captain Delmar--as he had\\npromised to pay my expenses--had not made any offer of the kind, or\\ncommunicated with me on the subject?  But the fact was, that he knew I\\nhad three years\\' pay due, besides the prize-money for the Dutch frigate,\\nwhich, however, I had not yet received, although it was payable.  In\\npecuniary matters I was certainly well off, as my mother desired that I\\nwould draw for any money that I required, feeling convinced that, being\\naware of her circumstances, I should not distress her by any\\nextravagancies in that she did me justice.\\n\\nI was now eighteen years old, and just starting again on my career.  As\\nI grew up, my likeness to Captain Delmar became more remarkable every\\nday.  My mother could not help observing it even to me.  \"I almost wish\\nthat it was not so, my dear mother.  I fear it will be the cause of\\nannoyance to Captain Delmar; but it cannot be helped.  At all events, it\\nmust satisfy him, allowing that he has any doubt (which I am sure he has\\nnot), that I am his own child.\"\\n\\n\"That I believe to be quite unnecessary,\" replied my mother with a deep\\nsigh.\\n\\n\"I should think so too, my dear mother,\" replied I, caressing her\\nkindly.  \"At all events, I will prove, whether I ever obtain it or not,\\nthat I am not unworthy of the name of Delmar: but I must wait no\\nlonger--the coach is about to start.  Adieu, and may God bless you.\"\\n\\nOn my arrival at Plymouth--or Plymouth Dock, as Devonport was then\\ncalled--I inquired at which hotel Captain Delmar had taken up his\\nquarters.  It was the one to which I had intended to have gone myself;\\nbut I immediately had my luggage taken to another, for I really believe\\nthat Delmar would have considered it a great liberty for any one of his\\nofficers to presume, to lie down in the same caravanserai as himself.\\nThe next morning I sent up my name and was admitted.\\n\\n\"Good morning, Mr Keene,\" said the captain.  \"I presume that you have\\ncome down to request to join my ship, and I therefore consent before you\\nmake the request.  I trust you will always show the same zeal and\\ndeference to your officers that you did in the Calliope.  You have grown\\nvery much, and are now a young man.  I shall give you the rating of\\nmate, and I trust you will not do discredit to my patronage.\"\\n\\n\"I trust not, Captain Delmar,\" replied I.  \"I have but one wish in the\\nworld, which is to please you, who have so befriended me from my\\nboyhood.  I should be very ungrateful if I did not do my duty with zeal\\nand fidelity; I am indebted to you for everything, and I am aware I must\\nlook to you for every future prospect.  I have to thank you, sir, for\\nyour great kindness in publishing my name in the public Gazette.\"\\n\\n\"You deserved it, Mr Keene, and it certainly will be of great advantage\\nto you when you have served your time.  Has your time gone on since the\\nCalliope was paid off?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir; I am still on the books of the Salvadore?\"\\n\\n\"How much time have you served?\"\\n\\n\"Nearly four years and a half, sir.\"\\n\\n\"Well, the rest will soon be over; and if you do your duty, my patronage\\nshall not be wanting.\"\\n\\nHere there was a bow on my part, and a pause, and I was backing out with\\nanother bow, when the captain said, \"How is your mother, Mr Keene?\"\\n\\n\"She has been advised to retire from business, and to settle in the\\ncountry,\" replied I, mournfully; \"her health is such, that--\" Here I\\nstopped, as I preferred deceiving him by implication, or rather allowing\\nhim to deceive himself.\\n\\n\"I am sorry to hear that,\" replied he; \"but she never was strong as a\\nyoung woman.\"  Here the captain stopped, as if he had said too much.\\n\\n\"No, sir,\" replied I; \"when in the service of Mrs Delmar she could not\\nbe put to anything that required fatigue.\"\\n\\n\"Very true,\" replied the captain.  \"You may go on board, Mr Keene, and\\ndesire my clerk to make out a letter, requesting your discharge from the\\nSalvadore into the Manilla.  Do you require anything?\"\\n\\n\"No, sir, I thank you.  I need not trespass on your generosity just now.\\nGood morning, sir.\"\\n\\n\"Good morning, Mr Keene.\"\\n\\n\"I beg your pardon Captain Delmar,\" said I, as I held the door ajar;\\n\"but should you like Robert Cross, your former coxswain, should join you\\nin the same capacity?  I know where he is.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, Mr Keene, I should like to have him: he was a steady, good man.\\nYou will oblige me by writing to him, and requesting him to join\\nimmediately.  Where is he?\"\\n\\n\"At Portsmouth, Captain Delmar.\"\\n\\n\"Very well; tell him to come round as fast as he can.  By the bye, you\\nwill have two of your old messmates--Mr Smith, the master, and Mr\\nDott.  I hope the latter is a little more steady than he was.  I was in\\nhopes to have had your old acquaintance, Mr Culpepper, with us; but he\\ndied about six weeks back--a fit, or something of that kind.\"\\n\\n\"Thank heaven for that,\" thought I.  Again I made my most respectful\\nbow, and quitted the room.\\n\\nI returned to my own hotel, and sitting down, I began to reflect upon\\nthe interview.  I recalled all that had passed, and I made up my mind\\nthat I was right in preparing him for the report of my mother\\'s death:\\nhis reception of me was all that I could have expected from him--it was\\ncordial; but my blood boiled when I called to mind that he had only made\\na casual inquiry after my mother, as I was leaving the room; and then\\nhis checking himself because he had inadvertently said that she was not\\nstrong when she was a young woman.  \"Yes,\" thought I; \"he cannot bear\\nthe remembrance of the connection; and it is only for myself, and not\\nfrom any natural affection of a parent, that he cares for me; or if he\\ndoes care for me as his son, it is because I have his blood in my veins;\\nand he despises and looks down upon the mother.  I am sure that he will\\nbe anything but sorry to hear that my mother is dead, and he shall be\\ngratified.  I will now write to her.\"\\n\\nI could not help observing that there was some change in the appearance\\nof Captain Delmar.  Strange to say, he looked more youthful; and as I\\ncompared our two faces in the mirror on the mantel-piece behind him,\\nwhen I stood up, he appeared more like me in appearance than ever.  What\\nwas it?  \"Oh!\" thought I, \"I have it.  His hair is no longer mixed with\\ngrey: he must wear a wig.\"  This was the fact, as I afterwards\\nascertained; the colour of his wig was, however, much darker than my own\\nhair.\\n\\nBy the same post I wrote to Bob Cross, acquainting him with what had\\npassed, and begging him to come round by the first water conveyance, and\\nbring my chest and bedding with him.  I then walked down to the dockyard\\nto have a look at the Manilla, which was, as I had heard, a splendid\\nvessel; went up again to order a mate\\'s uniform, and returned to the\\nhotel.  It was useless going to the ship at that time, as the marines\\nand boys had only been drafted into her that morning; and there was\\nnothing to do until she was clear of the shipwrights, who were still on\\nboard of her, and employed in every part of her.  The first lieutenant\\nhad not yet come down.  The master was the only officer who had joined,\\nand he had hoisted the pennant.  I was delighted to find that he was to\\nsail with us; and we passed that evening together.\\n\\nDuring the evening the master said, \"I hear there are plenty of good men\\nstowed away by the crimps at different places.  I wish we could only\\nfind out where they are, and get hold of them.  I fear, if we do not, we\\nshall either be badly manned in haste from the Tower tender, or have to\\nwait a long while before we sail.  Now, Keene, don\\'t you think you could\\nmanage so as to get us some men?\"\\n\\n\"I\\'ve got one already,\" replied I: \"Bob Cross, the captain\\'s coxswain.\"\\n\\n\"And a real good one too,\" replied the master; \"the best helmsman we had\\nin the Calliope.  You and he were very thick together.\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied I: \"when I came on board, a mere lad, he was very kind to\\nme, and I am very partial to him in consequence.\"\\n\\nThat night after the master and I had parted, I thought over the\\nquestion he had put to me, as to obtaining good seamen for the ship, and\\nI made up my mind that I would wait till Cross arrived, and consult with\\nhim as to a project which I had in my head.  In the mean time I went to\\na slop-shop by the dockyard wall, and provided myself with a common\\nsailor\\'s toggery, of the real cut, with a banyan covered hat, and all\\ncomplete.  Three days afterwards Cross joined me, having found a passage\\nround in a cutter; and as soon as I had talked over his affairs, I\\nproposed my plan to him, in which he heartily coincided.\\n\\nThat I did this to please the captain is certain: I had no other view.\\nIt was necessary, however, that I obtained the captain\\'s permission, and\\nI went to him and explained my ideas.  The captain was too willing to\\nlet me try it, and thanked me for my zeal.\\n\\n\"Go on board, Mr Keene, and tell them I have given you six weeks\\' leave\\nof absence, and then you can do as you propose.\"\\n\\nI did so, for it was absolutely necessary that as few as possible should\\nbe acquainted with what I was about, as I ran a great risk.  I have no\\nhesitation in saying that I should have been made away with by the\\ncrimps, had they discovered me.\\n\\nI dressed myself as a common seaman, darkened my face, and dirtied\\nmyself a little, especially on the hands, and Bob Cross and I then went\\nat night into one of the low public houses, with which the town is\\nfilled; there we pretended to be much alarmed lest we should be pressed,\\nand asked for a back-room to smoke and drink in.  We called in the\\nlandlord, telling him we were second mates of vessels, and not secure\\nfrom the impress; that we never were at Plymouth before, our ships\\nhaving put in damaged, and that the crew were discharged; and asked if\\nthere was no safe place where we could be stowed until we could find\\nanother vessel ready to start.\\n\\nHe replied, that there was a house at Stonehouse where we could be quite\\nsafe; but that, of course, we must pay the crimps well for our board and\\nlodging and that they would find us a ship when we wished to go; and\\nfurther, that we must give him something handsome for taking us there.\\nTo this we agreed, and at midnight we set off in company with our\\nlandlord, each of us carrying our bundles, and in less than an hour\\narrived at a sort of farm-house detached from the road.\\n\\nAfter a short parley we obtained entrance, and were taken into a small\\nroom where the crimp inquired of us what money we had, and then told us\\nwhat his charges were.  The reason of his doing this was, because if we\\nhad no money, or very little, he would have disposed of us very soon by\\nsending us on board of some ship, and obtaining an advance of our wages\\nfrom the captain as his indemnification; but if we had plenty of money,\\nhe would then keep us as long as he could that he might make his profit\\nof us; his charges were monstrous, as may be supposed, and we had\\nreplied that we had very little money.  We contrived to look as careless\\nand indifferent as we could, agreed to everything, paid the landlord of\\nthe pothouse a guinea each for taking us to the house, and were then\\nushered into a large room, where we found about twenty seamen sitting at\\na long table, drinking, and playing cards and dominoes.\\n\\nThey did not appear to notice us, they were so busy either playing or\\nlooking on.  Cross called for a pot of ale, and we sat down at the\\nfarther end of the table.\\n\\n\"What a dislike the men must have to the press,\" said Cross to me, \"when\\nthey submit to be mured up here in prison.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, and cheated by such a scoundrel as the crimp appears to be.\"\\n\\n\"Don\\'t talk so loud, Jack,\" replied Cross; for I had insisted upon his\\ncalling me Jack, \"lest we should be overheard.\"\\n\\nWe then asked to go to bed, and were shown by the crimp into a room\\nwhich had about fourteen beds in it.\\n\\n\"You may take your choice of those five,\" said he, pointing to five\\nnearest the door: \"I always come up and take away the candle.\"\\n\\nAs we found some of the other beds occupied, we did not resume our\\nconversation, but went to sleep.\\n\\nThe next morning we found that we mustered about thirty-five, many of\\nthe more steady men having gone to bed before we arrived.  After\\nbreakfast, Cross and I each entered into conversation with a man, and\\npumped them very cleverly.  Our chief object was, to ascertain the\\nhouses of the other crimps, and, as the men knew most of them, having\\ninvariably resorted to them at the end of their voyages, we obtained the\\nlocality of five or six, all apparently public-houses, but having back\\npremises for the concealment of seamen: all these were carefully noted\\ndown.\\n\\nAs we became more intimate, the seamen, who were glad to talk, from\\nweariness of confinement, asked us many questions.  We said that we had\\ndeserted from a man-of-war, and then a hundred questions were asked us\\nas to our treatment.  I allowed Bob Cross to be spokesman, and his\\nreplies were very sensible.  He told them that all depended upon what\\nsort of captains and first lieutenants were on board; that he had been\\npressed twice: the first time he was comfortable enough, and made 200\\npounds prize-money in eight months; but in the last man-of-war he was\\nvery uncomfortable, and had therefore cut and run.  Altogether, he made\\nthe service appear much more favourable than they supposed, although the\\ncrimp, who had stood by, did all he could to persuade the men to the\\ncontrary.\\n\\nWe remained in this house for more than a week, and then declared that\\nwe had no more money, and must find a ship.  The crimp said that he had\\na berth for one of us as second mate of a brig, and I agreed to take it,\\nleaving Bob Cross to get a berth for himself as soon as he could.  As I\\nraid up, there was no demand upon the owners of the vessel, and it was\\narranged that I should be down at a certain wharf at three o\\'clock in\\nthe morning, when I should find a boat waiting for me.  I waited up with\\nBob Cross until the clock had struck two, and then the crimp let me out.\\nHe did not offer to go down with me, as he had no money to receive;\\nand, as it was pitch-dark, there was little chance of my being picked up\\nby a press-gang at that hour.  I wished Cross good-bye, and set off for\\nPlymouth Dock with my bundle on my stick.\\n\\nNot knowing where to go at such an hour, I walked about to see if I\\ncould perceive a light in any house: I did so at last through the chinks\\nof the shutters of a small ale-house, and tapped at the door; it was\\nopened, I was ushered in, and the door closed immediately upon me.  I\\nfound myself in the presence of several marines with their side-arms,\\nand seamen with cutlasses.  An officer started up from his seat, and\\ncollaring me said, \"You\\'re just the fellow we want.  We\\'re in luck\\nto-night.\"  In fact, I was in the hands of a press-gang, and I was\\npressed myself.\\n\\n\"Yes, he\\'ll do: he\\'ll make a capital maintop-man,\" said a midshipman,\\ngetting up and surveying me.\\n\\nI looked at him, and perceived my old acquaintance Mr Tommy Dott, grown\\na great deal taller; I perceived that he did not recognise me.  \"But,\\nsir,\" said I to the officer of the party, who was so disguised that I\\ncould not tell his rank, \"suppose I belong to a man-of-war already?\"\\n\\n\"That you do not; or if you do, you must be a deserter, my good fellow;\\nthat is evident by your stick and bundle.  Now sit down and drink some\\nbeer, if you like; you are going to serve in a fine frigate--you may as\\nwell make yourself comfortable, for we shall not go on board yet, for\\nthis hour.\"\\n\\nI determined to keep up my _incognito_, as it amused me.  I sat down,\\nand it then occurred to me that my not going on board of the vessel\\nmight lead to an explanation with the crimp, and that an alarm might be\\ncreated and the men dispersed in consequence.  There were still two\\nhours to daylight, and if I could take up the press-gang, we might\\nsecure all the men in the house before the dawn of day.\\n\\nAs I had just made up my mind to act, there was a stamping of feet\\noutside and a knock at the door.  When it was opened, another portion of\\nthe press-gang, headed by another officer, entered.  I counted heads,\\nand found that they mustered thirty hands--quite sufficient, as they\\nwere armed, to secure all my late companions.  I therefore went up to\\nthe officer, and begged to speak with him aside.\\n\\nI then told him that I had just come from a crimp\\'s house near\\nStonehouse, where I left in their beds thirty-five as fine men as ever\\nwalked a plank, and that, as I was pressed myself, I did not mind\\ntelling him where they were, and he could take them all.\\n\\nThe officer curled up his lip, as if to say, \"You\\'re a pretty scoundrel\\nto betray your companions,\" but immediately resolved to act upon it.\\nWithout stating his intentions, he ordered all the men out, and putting\\nme between two marines, so as to prevent my escaping, I was desired to\\nlead on.  I did so, and we proceeded in silence until we arrived near to\\nthe house.  I then pointed out to the officer that it must be\\nsurrounded, or the men would escape, and that it must be done very\\ncarefully, as there was a large dog which would be sure to give the\\nalarm.  My advice was attended to, and when all the men were at their\\nstations, the whole advanced slowly towards the house.  The dog\\ncommenced baying, as I had foreseen, and shortly afterwards the crimp\\nput his head out of a window, and perceived that the press-gang were\\nbelow.  But all attempts to force an entrance were in vain, every window\\nbelow, and the doors, being secured with iron bars.\\n\\n\"Is there no way of getting into this den?\" said the officer to me.\\n\\n\"Why sir, I\\'ll try.\"\\n\\nAs Bob Cross had given another name, I knew that I risked nothing in\\ncalling out his, and I therefore requested the officer to impose\\nsilence, and when it was obtained, I cried out, \"Bob Cross!  Bob Cross!!\\nWhere\\'s Bob Cross?\"\\n\\nAfter that, I went to the small door at the side of the house, which led\\nto the homestead, and again cried out, \"Bob Cross!--where\\'s Bob Cross?\"\\n\\nI then told the officer that we must wait patiently, and that if it was\\ndaylight before we got in, all the better.\\n\\nAbout ten minutes after that, as I remained at the small door, I heard\\nthe bars quietly removed; I then requested the officer to attempt to\\nforce the small door, and it yielded almost immediately to their\\nefforts.\\n\\n\"Now, sir, leave a guard at the other door, that they may not open it,\\nand escape by it, also five or six hands to catch any who may jump out\\nof the upper windows, and then enter with the rest of your party.\"\\n\\n\"You know what you are about, at all events,\" said he, giving the\\ndirections which I had pointed out, and then entering with the remainder\\nof his party, with the exception of one marine that held me by the arm,\\nwith his bayonet drawn.\\n\\nThe scuffle within was very severe, and lasted for many minutes: at\\nlast, the armed force, although not so numerous, prevailed, and one by\\none, the men were brought out, and taken charge of by the marines, until\\nthe whole of them were discovered in their retreats, and secured.\\n\\nDay now dawned, and it was time to be off.  To make more secure, the\\npressed men were lashed two and two, with small rope, which had been\\nprovided on purpose.  Bob Cross, who, of course, had not mixed in the\\naffray, gave me a nod of recognition, and we set off as fast as the men\\ncould be persuaded to move; certainly not a very gay procession, for\\nalthough the wounds were not dangerous, there was scarcely one of the\\nparty, amounting in all to upwards of sixty men, who was not bleeding.\\nHardly a word was exchanged.  We were all put into the boats, and rowed\\noff to the hulk appropriated to the crew of the frigate, until she was\\nrigged, and as soon as we were on board, we were put below under the\\ncharge of sentries.\\n\\n\"What! you here?\" said some of the pressed men.\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied I: \"they picked me up as I went to ship myself last\\nnight.\"  The crimp, who had been brought on board with the others, then\\nstarted forward.  \"It is he who has blown upon us; I\\'ll swear to it.\"\\n\\n\"You may swear if you please,\" replied I; \"that will do you no good, and\\nme no harm.\"\\n\\nThe crimp talked with the other men, and then indignation was levelled\\nagainst me.  Most of them swore they would be even with me, and have my\\nlife if they could; indeed, they could hardly be prevented laying hands\\nupon me; but Bob Cross told the sentry, and he interfered with his\\nbayonet; notwithstanding which, fists continued to be shook in my face,\\nand vengeance threatened every minute.\\n\\n\"I told you, my lads,\" said Bob Cross, \"that I have been on board of a\\nman-of-war before this, and you\\'d better mind what you\\'re about, or\\nyou\\'ll repent it; at all events, if one of you touches him, you\\'ll have\\nfive dozen lashes at the gangway before to-morrow morning.\"\\n\\nThis made the poor fellows more quiet; most of them lay down, and tried\\nto sleep off their misery.\\n\\n\"Why don\\'t you make yourself known, Mr Keene?\" said Cross to me, in a\\nwhisper: \"I saw the master go on the quarterdeck just now.\"\\n\\n\"I think I had better not: there are more houses to examine, and if my\\ntrick was known, it would soon get wind from the women, and I should be\\nwaylaid, and perhaps murdered by the crimps.  The captain will be on\\nboard by ten o\\'clock, I have no doubt, and then I will contrive to see\\nhim, somehow or another.\"\\n\\n\"But you could trust the master--why not see him?\"\\n\\n\"I\\'ll think of it--but there\\'s no hurry.\"\\n\\nI was afraid that Tommy Dott would have discovered me, and I kept out of\\nhis way as much as I could.\\n\\n\"I\\'ll tell you what, sir--as I\\'ve not joined the ship, why not let it be\\nsupposed that I am impressed with the other men, and then I can send for\\nMr Dott and make myself known?  The commanding officer will, of course,\\nsend for me, and I will enter, and then I shall be allowed to go about,\\nand can speak to the captain when he comes on board.\"\\n\\n\"Well, that is not a bad idea.  Talk to the sentry.\"\\n\\n\"Who\\'s the captain of this ship, sentry?\" said Bob Cross.\\n\\n\"Captain Delmar.\"\\n\\n\"Delmar!--why, he\\'s my old captain.  Did not I see a Mr Dott, a\\nmidshipman?\"\\n\\n\"Yes there is a Mr Dott on board.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I wish you would just pass the word to Mr Dott, to say that one\\nof the pressed men wishes to speak to him.\"\\n\\nThe sentry did so, and Mr Dott came down.\\n\\n\"How d\\'ye do, Mr Dott?\" said Bob Cross, while I turned away.\\n\\n\"What Cross, is that you?  Are you dressed?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir, can\\'t be helped.  I\\'m glad I\\'m to sail with you, sir.  What\\'s\\nbecome of Mr Keene?\"\\n\\n\"Oh, I don\\'t know; but if he\\'s not hanged by this time, I believe that\\nhe\\'s to join the ship.\"\\n\\n\"Won\\'t I pull your ears for that?\" thought I.\\n\\n\"What other officers have we of the Calliope, sir?\"\\n\\n\"There\\'s the master, Mr Smith, and the surgeon.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Mr Dott, one must always make a virtue of necessity.  Tell Mr\\nSmith that I shall enter for the ship; and I\\'ll put my name down at\\nonce, instead of being penned up here.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s right, Cross; and I say, you chaps, you\\'d better follow a good\\nexample.  Sentry, let this man go with me.\"\\n\\nBob Cross then went with Tommy Dott, and entered for the service.  The\\nmaster was very glad to see him again and said, \"Why, Cross, Mr Keene\\nsaid that you had promised him to join us.\"\\n\\n\"Why, sir, so I had; but it\\'s a long story.  However, it\\'s all the same\\nin the end: here I am, and I hope I shall get my old rating.\"\\n\\nSoon after, Bob Cross came down and said, \"Well, my lads, I\\'m free now,\\nand I advise you all to do the same.  Come, Jack,\" said he to me, \"what\\nd\\'ye say?\"\\n\\n\"No, no,\" replied I.  \"I won\\'t unless all the rest do.\"\\n\\nBob then took me on one side, and told me what had taken place, and\\nasked me what he should say to the captain.  I told him, and then he\\nleft us.\\n\\nAt ten o\\'clock the captain came on board.  Bob Cross went up to him and\\nsaid he wished to say something to him in the cabin.  He followed the\\ncaptain down, and then explained to him that I was among the pressed men\\nbut as a means of obtaining plenty more men, I had remained among them,\\nand had not made myself known, for fear my trick should get wind; also\\nthat I thought the crimp should be kept on board, although he was of no\\nuse as a seaman.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene has behaved very prudently,\" replied Captain Delmar.  \"I\\nunderstand his motives--leave the rest to me.\"\\n\\nA few minutes after Bob had communicated to me what the captain had\\nsaid, the pressed men were ordered up, and ranged along the\\nquarter-deck.  A finer set of men I never saw together: and they all\\nappeared to be, as they afterwards proved to be prime seamen.  The\\ncaptain called them one by one and questioned them.  He asked them to\\nenter, but they refused.  The crimp begged hard to be released.  Their\\nnames were all put down on the ship\\'s book together.\\n\\nThe captain, turning to me--for I had stood up the last of the row--\\nsaid, \"I understand the officer of the impress agreed to release you if\\nyou would tell him where your comrades were.  I don\\'t like losing a good\\nman, but still I shall let you go in consequence of the promise being\\nmade.  There, you may take a boat and go on shore.\"\\n\\n\"Thank your honour,\" replied I.  I went to the gangway immediately; but\\nI never shall forget the faces of the pressed men when I passed them:\\nthey looked as if I had a thousand lives, and they had stomach enough to\\ntake them all.\\n\\nI went on shore immediately, and going to my hotel, washed the colour\\nand dirt off my face, dressed myself in my mate\\'s uniform, and went to\\nthe hotel where the captain lived.  I found that he had just come on\\nshore, and I sent up my name, and I was admitted.  I then told the\\ncaptain the information which we had received with regard to nine or ten\\nmore houses, and that I thought I might now go on board, and never be\\nrecognised.\\n\\n\"You have managed extremely well,\" replied Captain Delmar; \"we have made\\na glorious haul: but I think it will be better that you do not go on\\nboard; the press-gang shall meet you every night, and obey your orders.\"\\nI bowed, and walked out of the room.\\n\\nThe next night, and several subsequent ones, the press-gang came on\\nshore, and, from the information I had received, we procured in the\\ncourse of a fortnight more than two hundred good seamen.  Some of the\\ndefences were most desperate: fort as one crimp\\'s house after another\\nwas forced, they could not imagine how they could have been discovered;\\nbut it put them all on their guard; and on the last three occasions the\\nmerchant seamen were armed and gave us obstinate fights; however,\\nalthough the wounds were occasionally severe, there was no loss of life.\\n\\nHaving expended all my knowledge, I had nothing more to do than go on\\nboard, which I did, and was kindly received by the master and the other\\nofficers, who had been prepossessed in my favour.  Such was the\\nsuccessful result of my plan.  The crimp we did not allow to go on\\nshore, but discharged him into a gun-brig, the captain of which was a\\nnotorious martinet; and I have no doubt, being aware of his character\\nand occupation, that he kept his word, when he told Captain Delmar that\\nhe would make the ship a hell to him--\"and sarve him right too,\" said\\nBob Cross, when he heard of it; \"the money that these rascals obtain\\nfrom the seamen, Mr Keene, is quite terrible; and the poor fellows,\\nafter having earned it by two or three years\\' hard work, go to prison in\\na crimp-house to spend it, or rather to be swindled out of it.  It is\\nthese fellows that raise such reports against the English navy, that\\nfrighten the poor fellows so; they hear of men being flogged until they\\ndie under the lash, and all the lies that can be invented.  Not that the\\nmasters of the merchant vessels are at all backward in disparaging the\\nservice, but threaten to send a man on board a man-of-war for a\\npunishment, if he behaves ill--that itself is enough to raise a\\nprejudice against the service.  Now, sir, I can safely swear that there\\nis more cruelty and oppression--more ill-treatment and more hard work--\\non board of a merchantman, than on board any man-of-war.  Why so?\\nBecause there is no control over the master of a merchant vessel, while\\nthe captain of a man-of-war is bound down by strict regulations, which\\nhe dare not disobey.  We see many reports in the newspapers of the\\nill-treatment on of merchant vessels; but for one that is made known,\\nninety-nine are passed over; for a seaman has something else to do than\\nto be kicking his heels at a magistrate\\'s office; and when he gets clear\\nof his vessel, with his pay in his pocket, he prefers to make merry and\\nforget his treatment, to seeking revenge.  I say again, sarve that crimp\\nright, and I hope that he\\'ll get a lash for every pound which he has\\nrobbed from the poor seamen.\"\\n\\nI may as well inform the reader that, as it is mostly the case after the\\nmen have been impressed, nearly the whole of them entered the service;\\nand when, some time afterwards, they ascertained that it was I that had\\ntricked them, so far from feeling the ill-will towards me that they had\\non their first coming on board, they laughed very much at my successful\\nplan, and were more partial to me than to any other of the officers.\\n\\nOur frigate was now well manned, and nearly ready for sea.  I wrote to\\nmy mother, enclosing the heads of a letter to her which she should send\\nto Captain Delmar, and in a day or two I received an answer, with a copy\\nof what she had sent.  It was to the effect that I was now going away\\nfor the second time, and that it was possible she might never see me or\\nCaptain Delmar again; that she wished him success and happiness, and\\nbegged him, in case she should be called away, not to forget his\\npromises to her, or what she had undergone for his sake; but she trusted\\nentirely to him, and that he would watch over me and my interests, even\\nmore out of regard to her memory, than if she were alive to support my\\nclaims upon him.\\n\\nThe letter was given to Captain Delmar when he was on the quarter-deck,\\nand he went with it down below.  He came on deck shortly afterwards.  I\\nlooked at him but did not perceive that he was in any way put out or\\nmoved by its reception.  Claims for past services, whether upon the\\ncountry or upon individuals, are seldom well received; like the payment\\nof a tavern bill, after we have done with the enjoyments, we seem\\ninclined to cavil at each separate item--_ainsi va le monde_.\\n\\nIt was reported down at Mutton Cove, that our ship, which sailed with\\nsealed orders was to be sent to the West Indies.  This the captain did\\nnot expect or wish, as he had had enough of the tropics already.  When\\nhe, however, opened his orders, it was found that Mutton Cove was\\ncorrect, and the captain\\'s instructions were, to seek the admiral of the\\nstation with all possible dispatch.\\n\\nWe carried sail day and night, and as the Manilla proved a remarkably\\nfast sailer, we were very soon in Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes, where we\\nfound the admiral and six sail of the line, and a few smaller vessels.\\nAs soon as the despatches were opened by the admiral, our signal, as\\nwell as that of all the smaller vessels, was made, and before the\\nevening we had spread our canvas in every direction, being sent to\\nrecall the whole of the disposable force to rendezvous at Carlisle Bay.\\nWe knew that something was in the wind, but what, we had no idea of.\\nOur orders were to proceed to Halifax, and we had a quick passage.  We\\nfound two frigates there, and we gave them their instructions; and then,\\nhaving remained only twenty-four hours, we all made sail together for\\nBarbadoes.\\n\\nOn our arrival there, we round the bay crowded with vessels:\\ntwenty-eight sail of pennants and a fleet of transports, containing ten\\nthousand troops.  Three days afterwards the signal was made to weigh,\\nand the whole fleet stood out from Carlisle Bay, it being now well known\\nthat the capture of the island of Martinique was the object of the\\nexpedition.  On the third day we arrived off the island, and our troops\\nwere disembarked at two points, expecting to meet with strong\\nopposition.  Such, however, to our surprise, was not the case.  It\\nappeared that the militia of the island, being composed of slaves, and\\nwho were sent to oppose us, did not consider that slavery was worth\\nfighting for quite as well as liberty, and therefore very quietly walked\\nhome again, leaving the governor and regular troops to decide the\\nquestion as to whether the island was for the future to belong to the\\nFrench or English.  But the two following days there was some hard\\nfighting, and our troops, although they advanced, had a severe loss.\\nThe French retired from the advanced posts to Fort Dessaix, and we\\nobtained possession of the fort on Point Salamon.\\n\\nThe next point to be attacked was Pigeon Island, and there the navy were\\ncalled into action; we had to get the carronades and mortars up a hill\\nalmost inaccessible; we did it, much to the surprise of the troops, who\\ncould hardly believe it when the battery opened fire.  After a brisk\\ncannonading of ten hours, Pigeon Island surrendered, and then the\\nadmiral stood into, and anchored the fleet in Fort Royal Bay; not,\\nhowever, in time to prevent the French from setting fire to the frigates\\nwhich were in the harbour.  A few days after, the town of St. Pierre and\\nthe town of Fort Royal surrendered, and Fort Dessaix only held out.  For\\nmore than a week we were very busy constructing batteries and landing\\ncannon and mortars; and when all was ready, the bombardment of Fort\\nDessaix commenced, and five days afterwards the French capitulated, and\\nthe island was formally surrendered to the English.\\n\\nI have hurried over the capture, as it has oftentimes been described in\\ndetail.  All I can say is, that it was very hard work for the seamen,\\nand that they had their full share of the fatigue; but, from the\\npeculiar nature of the service, an affair took place which was of much\\nimportance to me.  I said before that the sailors were employed in the\\nhard duty of getting the guns, etcetera, on shore, and up to where the\\nbatteries were to be erected--in short, working like slaves in the heat\\nof the sun, while the troops remained quiet investing the fort.  There\\nwas no objection raised to this, and the seamen worked very willingly;\\nbut the staff and mounted officers of the army, who rode to and fro\\ngiving orders, were not quite as civil as they might be--that is, some\\nof them; and a certain feeling of dissension and ill-will was created in\\nconsequence.\\n\\nThe junior officers of the navy, and the lieutenants who could be spared\\nto direct the labour of the seamen on shore, received occasionally very\\nharsh language from some of the military officers, and did not fail to\\ngive very prompt replies to those who they did not consider had any\\nright to control them.  Complaints were made to the captains of the\\nmen-of-war, and, on being investigated, the result generally was, that\\nthe captains defended their officers, and the military gentlemen\\nobtained no redress.  The active service, however, did not admit of any\\nnotice being taken of it at the time; but after the island had\\nsurrendered, these unfortunate animosities were resumed.\\n\\nA few days after the capture of the island, the prisoners and troops\\nwere embarked an the fleet sailed, a sufficient garrison being left upon\\nthe island for its defence.  The admiral also thought proper to leave\\ntwo or three men-of-war in the harbour, and our frigate was one.  For\\nthe first few days everything went on smoothly.  The French inhabitants\\nwere soon on good terms with us, and balls and parties had commenced;\\nbut the seamen and soldiers, when they met at the liquor-stores, began\\nto quarrel as to which branch of the service had done most towards the\\ntaking the island.  This will always be the case with people so addicted\\nto intoxication.  Several severe wounds were received in the various\\nskirmishes which took place, and at last the seamen were interdicted\\nfrom going on shore.  Indeed, as they were not armed, and the soldiers\\ncarried their bayonets, it was too unequal a contest when an affray took\\nplace; but the ill-will spread, and at last arrived to the superior\\nofficers.\\n\\nThe consequence was, that a challenge was given to one of the captains\\nof the frigates by an adjutant.  It was accepted; but not an hour after\\nit was accepted, the captain was taken with a fever, and on the morning\\nof the following day, when the duel was to have taken place, he was not\\nable to quit his bed; and the military gentlemen, on arriving at the\\nground, found an excuse instead of an antagonist.  Whether it was really\\nsupposed that the fever was a mere excuse to avoid the duel, or that the\\nanimosity prevailing gave rise to the report, certain it is, that there\\nwere many sneers on the part of the military men, and great indignation\\non the tart of the naval officers; who, if they could have so done,\\nwould have gone on shore on purpose to insult every officer they could\\nmeet who wore a red coat; but in consequence of this excitement being\\nknown all leave was prohibited.\\n\\nCaptain Delmar, who was the naval commanding officer, had taken up his\\nquarters on shore; he had done all he possibly could to prevent the\\nunpleasant feeling from continuing, and had shown great forbearance and\\ngood sense: but it so happened that, being in company with some of the\\nmilitary staff, observations were made in his presence, relative to the\\nconduct of the naval captain ill with the fever, that he could not\\npermit.  He gave a flat denial to them, and the consequence was, that\\nlanguage was used which left no alternative but a duel.\\n\\nThis was the Monday night, and as it was too late then, it was agreed\\nthat the meeting should take place on the following evening at sunset.\\nI believe this was proposed by Captain Delmar, in preference to the\\nmorning, as he knew his antagonist was a regular duellist and he wished\\nto have the next day to put his affairs in order, previous to the\\nmeeting.  I should here observe that the captain had not been on\\nanything like intimate terms with his lieutenants.  The surgeon and\\nmaster were old shipmates, and with them he was sociable: whether it was\\nthat he did not choose to ask the favour of the commissioned officers,\\ncertain it is, that he sent for the master to be his second on the\\noccasion, and on the master returning on board, he desired me to go on\\nshore with the boat and take the captain\\'s pistols with me, but not to\\nallow them to be seen by any one; a message was also sent for the\\nsurgeon to go on shore to the captain.\\n\\nWhen the surgeon and I arrived at the house where the captain resided,\\nand were ushered up, the sitting-room was empty.  I had put the case of\\npistols in a piece of canvas, so as to look like despatches about to be\\nsent to England, and I uncovered them and placed them on one of the\\ntables.  A few minutes afterwards the captain came out, and I was very\\nmuch surprised at his appearance; he was very flushed and heated in the\\nface, and appeared to tremble as he walked.  The surgeon also looked at\\nhim with surprise.  We knew him to be incapable of fear, and yet he gave\\nus the appearance of a person very much troubled.\\n\\n\"Doctor,\" said he, \"I am glad that you are come.  I feel very unwell--\\nfeel my pulse.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir,\" said the doctor, \"that you certainly are; you have the same\\nfever on you as Captain W. Singular.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, but it will be rather too singular, doctor.  Poor W had obloquy\\nenough on account of his illness; and if a second captain in the navy\\nwere to be obliged to send a similar excuse, we should be at a pretty\\ndiscount with the red-coats.  If you can do any thing for me, do; but it\\nmust be perfectly understood that fight to-morrow evening I will, even\\nif I am carried to the ground.\"\\n\\n\"Certainly, Captain Delmar, if it is possible.  I think that a little\\nblood must be taken from you immediately, and probably the fever may\\nsubside.\"\\n\\nBut before his arm could be bound up, the captain became incoherent in\\nhis discourse; and after the bleeding had been performed, when he\\nattempted to look at his papers, he was so confused that he found it\\nimpossible, and was obliged to be put to bed immediately.  When the\\nsurgeon came out of his bed-room, he said to us, \"He\\'ll never get up to\\nfight that duel, depend upon it; the fever increases--it may be that he\\nmay never rise again--I fear it is the yellow fever.\"\\n\\n\"A bad job,\" replied the master--\"a very bad job indeed; two captains in\\nthe navy receiving challenges, and both sending excuses on account of\\nillness.  The service will be disgraced.  I\\'ll fight the soldier\\nmyself.\"\\n\\n\"That will never do,\" replied the surgeon; \"it will not help the captain\\nthat he has sent one of his officers in his stead.  Steward, make a bed\\nup here in this room; I shall not leave the house to-night.\"\\n\\n\"It\\'s of no use my staying here,\" observed the master: \"nor you either,\\nKeene: let\\'s go on board, and we will be here early to-morrow morning.\\nConfounded bad job this.  Good-bye.\"\\n\\nThe master and I returned to the boat.  I had been reflecting a good\\ndeal on the disgrace which would, at all events for a certain period, be\\nthrown upon the service and Captain Delmar by this unfortunate\\ncircumstance, and before I had gone up the ship\\'s side I had made up my\\nmind.  As soon as we were on board, I requested the master to allow me\\nto speak to him in his cabin; and when we were there, after canvassing\\nthe question, and pointing out to him what discredit would ensue, and\\nworking him up into a great state of irritation, I then proposed to him\\nwhat I considered to be the best course to pursue.  \"Every one says how\\nlike I am to Captain Delmar, Mr Smith,\" said I.\\n\\n\"If you were his own son, you could not be more so,\" replied the master.\\n\\n\"Well, sir, I am now as tall as he is: the colour of my hair is lighter,\\ncertainly; but the captain wears a wig.  Now, sir, I am perfectly sure\\nthat if I were to put on the captain\\'s uniform and wig, as the duel is\\nto take place in the evening, they never could find out that it was not\\nthe captain; and as for a good shot, I think I can hit a button as well\\nas the best duellist in existence.\"\\n\\nThe master bit his lips, and was silent for a short time.  At last he\\nsaid, \"What you propose is certainly very easy; but why should you risk\\nyour life for Captain Delmar?\"\\n\\n\"Why, did you not offer to do it just now for the honour of the service?\\nI have that feeling, and moreover wish to serve Captain Delmar, who has\\nbeen my patron.  What\\'s the life of a midshipman worth, even if I were\\nto fall?--nothing.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s true enough,\" replied the master bluntly; and then correcting\\nhimself, he added, \"that is, midshipmen in general; but I think you may\\nbe worth something by-and-by.  However, Keene, I do think, on the whole,\\nit\\'s a very good plan; and if the Captain is not better to-morrow, we\\nwill then consider it more seriously.  I have an idea that you are more\\nlikely to pin the fellow than the captain, who, although as brave a man\\nas can be, he has not, I believe, fired twenty pistols in his life.\\nGood night; and I hardly need say we must keep our secret.\"\\n\\n\"Never fear, sir.  Good night.\"\\n\\nI went to my hammock, quite overjoyed at the half-consent given by the\\nmaster to my proposition.  It would give me such a claim on Captain\\nDelmar, if I survived; and if I fell, at all events he would cherish my\\nmemory; but as for falling, I felt sure that I should not.  I had a\\npresentiment (probably no more than the buoyant hope of youth) that I\\nshould be the victor.  At all events, I went to sleep very soundly, and\\ndid not wake until I was roused up by the quartermaster on the following\\nmorning.\\n\\nAfter breakfast the master requested a boat to be manned, and we went on\\nshore.  On our arrival at the house, we found the surgeon in great\\nanxiety: the captain was in a state of delirium, and the fever was at\\nthe highest.\\n\\n\"How is he?\" demanded the master.\\n\\n\"More likely to go out of the world himself than to send another out of\\nit,\" replied the surgeon.  \"He cannot well be worse, and that is all\\nthat I can say.  He has been raving all night, and I have been obliged\\nto take nearly two pounds of blood from him; and, Mr Keene,\" continued\\nthe surgeon, \"he talks a great deal of you and other persons.  You may\\ngo in to him, if you please; for I have as much as possible kept the\\nservants away--they will talk.\"\\n\\n\"Bob Cross is down below, sir,\" replied I: \"he is the safest man to wait\\nupon him.\"\\n\\n\"I agree with you, Keene--send for him, and he shall remain at his\\nbedside.\"\\n\\nThe master then spoke with the surgeon, and communicated my proposition;\\nand the surgeon replied, \"Well, from what I have learned this night,\\nthere is no person who has so great a right to take his place; and\\nperhaps it will be as well, both for the captain\\'s sake and his own; at\\nall events, I will go with you, and, in case of accident, do my best.\"\\n\\nThe matter was, therefore, considered as arranged, and I went into the\\ncaptain\\'s room.  He was delirious, and constantly crying out about his\\nhonour and disgrace; indeed, there is no doubt but that his anxiety to\\nmeet his antagonist was one very great cause of the fever having run so\\nhigh; but at times he changed the subject, and then he spoke of me and\\nmy mother.  \"Where is my boy--my own boy, Percival?\" said he--\"my\\npride--where is he?  Arabella, you must not be angry with me--no,\\nArabella; consider the consequence;\" and then he would burst out in such\\nfond expressions towards me, that the tears ran down my cheeks as I\\nplanted a kiss upon his forehead; for he was insensible, and I could do\\nso without offence.\\n\\nBob Cross, who had for some time been at his bedside, wiped the tears\\nfrom his eyes, and said, \"Master Keene, how this man must have suffered\\nto have cloaked his feelings towards you in the way which he has done.\\nHowever, I am glad to hear all this, and, if necessary, I will tell him\\nof it--ay, if I get seven dozen for it the next minute.\"\\n\\nI remained with Bob Cross at his bedside for the whole day, during which\\nhe more than twenty times acknowledged me as his son.  As the evening\\nclosed in, I prepared in silence for the duty I had to perform.  To the\\nsurprise of Cross, who was ignorant of what I intended, I stripped off\\nmy own clothes and put on those of the captain, and then put his wig\\nover my own hair.  I then examined myself in the glass, and was\\nsatisfied.\\n\\n\"Well,\" said Cross, looking at me, \"you do look like the captain\\nhimself, and might almost go on board and read the articles of war; but,\\nsurely, Master Keene,\" added he, looking at the captain as he lay\\nsenseless in bed, \"this is no time for foolery of this sort.\"\\n\\n\"It is no foolery, Bob,\" replied I, taking his hand; \"I am going to\\nrepresent the captain and fight a duel for him, or the service will be\\ndisgraced.\"\\n\\n\"I didn\\'t know that the captain had a duel to fight,\" replied Bob,\\n\"although I heard that there had been words.\"\\n\\nI then explained the whole to him.  \"You are right, Master Keene--right\\nin everything.  May God bless you, and send you good luck.  I wish I\\nmight go with you.\"\\n\\n\"No, Bob, that must not be.\"\\n\\n\"Then, God bless you, and may you floor the soldier.  Lord, what a state\\nI shall be in till I know what has taken place!\"\\n\\n\"It will soon be known, Bob; so good-bye, and I trust we shall meet\\nagain.\"  I then went out of the bed-room.\\n\\nThe surgeon actually started when I made my appearance, and acknowledged\\nthat the personation was exact.  Taking the arm of the surgeon and the\\nmaster, we set off, the master carrying the pistols, which had been\\nprepared; and in a quarter of an hour we arrived at the place of\\nmeeting.  My disguise was so complete that we had not hesitated to walk\\nout sooner than we had intended; and we found ourselves the first on the\\nfield of action, which I was glad of.\\n\\nAbout dusk, which was the time agreed upon and about five minutes after\\nour arrival, our antagonists made their appearance.  There was no time\\nto be lost, as there is little or no twilight in the West Indies; so a\\npolite bow was exchanged, and the ground marked out at eight paces by\\nthe master and the second of my opponent.  A very short parley then took\\nplace between Mr Smith and the other gentleman, who officiated for the\\nadjutant, in which it was decided that we should turn back to back, with\\nour pistols ready, and that on the words, \"Make ready--present--fire\"\\ngiven in succession, we were to turn round to each other, level, and\\nfire.  This made it more difficult to hit; indeed it was almost\\nimpossible to take aim, as the words were given so quick after each\\nother; and the great point was, to fire as soon as the word was given.\\n\\nThe first discharge was not lucky for me.  I missed my antagonist, and\\nreceived his bullet in my left shoulder; this did not, however, disable\\nme, and I said nothing about it.  The pistols were again loaded and\\nhanded to us; and on the signal being given, my adversary\\'s pistol went\\noff a little before the word \"fire\" was given, and I felt myself again\\nhit; but I returned the fire with fatal success.  The ball went through\\nhis body, and he fell.  The surgeon, master, and his second, immediately\\nwent up, and raised him in a sitting position; but in a few minutes he\\nwas senseless.\\n\\nIn the meantime I remained where I was, having dropped my pistol on the\\nground.  That I had an unpleasant pang at the idea of a fellow-creature\\nhaving fallen by my hand in a duel, I acknowledge; but when I called to\\nmind why I had fought the duel, and that if had saved the honour of the\\ncaptain (may I not say at once my father\\'s honour? for that was my\\nfeeling), I could not, and did not, repent the deed.  But I had not time\\ngiven me to analyse my feelings; a sensation of faintness rapidly crept\\nover me.  The fact was that I had been bleeding profusely; and while the\\nsurgeon and the others were still hanging over the expiring adjutant, I\\ndropped and fell fainting on the ground.  When I recovered I found\\nmyself in bed, and attended on by the surgeon, the master, and Bob\\nCross.\\n\\n\"Keep quiet, Keene,\" said the surgeon, \"and all will be well; but keep\\nquiet, that we may have no fever.  Here, drink this, and try if you\\ncannot go to sleep.\"  They raised me up, and I swallowed the mixture; my\\nhead was so confused, and I was so weak, that I felt as if I hardly\\ndared breathe, lest my breath should leave my body, and I was glad to\\nfind myself again on the pillow.  I was soon in a sound seep, from which\\nI did not arouse for many hours, and, as I afterwards was told, had had\\na very narrow escape, from the exhaustion arising from the excessive\\nhaemorrhage.\\n\\nWhen I opened my eyes the next morning, I could scarcely recall my\\nsenses.  I saw Bob Cross sometimes, and I heard moaning and talking.  I\\nthought the latter was my own voice, but it was Captain Delmar, whose\\nfever still continued, and who was in an alarming state.  It was not\\ntill the evening, twenty-four hours after the duel, that I could\\ncompletely recall my senses; then I did, and motioned to Cross that I\\nwanted drink.  He gave me some lemonade--it was nectar; he then went out\\nfor the surgeon, who came to the bedside, and felt my pulse.\\n\\n\"You\\'ll do now, my boy,\" said he; \"get another good sleep to-night, and\\nto-morrow morning you will have nothing to do but to get well.\"\\n\\n\"Where am I hit?\" said I.\\n\\n\"You had a ball in your shoulder and another in your hip, but they are\\nboth extracted; the one in the hip cut through a large vein, and the\\nhaemorrhage was so great before you could be brought here, that at one\\ntime I thought you were gone.  Your life hung upon a thread for hours;\\nbut we may thank God that all is right now.  You have no fever, and your\\npulse is getting strong again.\"\\n\\n\"How\\'s the captain, sir?\"\\n\\n\"As bad as bad can be just now; but I have hopes of a change for the\\nbetter.\"\\n\\n\"And Captain W, sir?\"\\n\\n\"Poor fellow! he is dead; and has so decidedly proved that his fever was\\nnot a sham, the soldiers are a little ashamed of themselves--and so they\\nought to be; but too often good feelings come too late.  Now, Keene, you\\nhave talked quite enough for to-night; take your sedative mixture, and\\ngo to sleep again; to-morrow, I have no doubt, you will be able to ask\\nas many questions as you like.\"\\n\\n\"Only one more, sir:--is the adjutant dead?\"\\n\\n\"I have not heard,\" replied the surgeon; \"but we shall know to-morrow:\\nnow go to sleep, and good-night.\"\\n\\nWhen the surgeon left the room, \"Bob?\" said I.\\n\\n\"Not an answer will I give to-night, Mr Keene,\" said Bob Cross;\\n\"to-morrow morning we\\'ll have the rights and wrongs of the whole story.\\nYou must obey orders, sir, and go to sleep.\"\\n\\nAs I knew Bob would do as he said, I laid my head down, and was soon\\nonce more in forgetfulness.  It was not daylight.  When I again awoke,\\nand found Cross snoring in the chair by the bedside; poor fellow, he had\\nnever lain down since he came on shore, when the captain was first taken\\nill.  I felt much better, although my wounds tingled a little, and I was\\nvery anxious to know if Captain Delmar was out of danger; but that could\\nnot be ascertained till I saw the surgeon.  I remained thinking over the\\nevents which had passed.  I called to mind that the captain, in his\\ndelirium, had called me his own boy, his Percival and I felt more happy.\\n\\nAbout an hour after I had awoke, the surgeon came into the room.  \"How\\nis Captain Delmar, sir?\" said I.\\n\\n\"I am glad to say that he is much better; but I must wake up poor Cross,\\nwho is tired out.\"\\n\\nCross, who was awake the moment that we spoke, was now on his legs.\\n\\n\"You must go to the captain, and keep the bed-clothes on him, Cross.  He\\nis now in a perspiration, and it must not be checked--do you\\nunderstand?\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied Bob, walking away into the other room.\\n\\n\"You are all right again, Keene,\" said the surgeon, feeling my pulse;\\n\"we will look at your wounds by-and-by, and change the dressing.\"\\n\\n\"Tell me, sir,\" said I, \"how have you managed?  Nobody has found it\\nout?\"\\n\\n\"Oh, no; it is supposed that Captain Delmar is badly wounded, and that\\nyou have the yellow fever, and we must keep it up--that is the reason\\nwhy Bob Cross is the only one allowed to come into the sick rooms.  I\\nhave no doubt that Captain Delmar will be sensible in a few hours, and\\nthen we shall be puzzled what to say to him.  Must we tell him the\\ntruth?\"\\n\\n\"Not at present, sir, at all events: tell him that he has fought the\\nduel, and killed his man; he will think that he did it when he was out\\nof his senses, or else that the fever has driven it from his memory.\"\\n\\n\"Well, perhaps that will be the best way just now; it will relieve his\\nmind, for with his return to sensibility will also revive his feelings\\nof disgrace and dishonour; and if they are not checked, the fever may\\ncome on again.\"\\n\\nThe surgeon gave me some breakfast this morning, and then dressed my\\nwounds, which he pronounced were doing quite well; and about twelve\\no\\'clock the master came on shore with the first lieutenant.  The master\\ncame into my room after the first lieutenant went away, who had been\\ntold by the surgeon that he could not see Captain Delmar--and he, of\\ncourse, did not wish to come into contact with me, who he supposed had\\nthe yellow fever.  In the afternoon Captain Delmar woke up from his\\nstupor--the fever had left him, and he had nothing to combat with but\\nextreme debility.  \"Where am I?\" said he, after a pause; and,\\nrecollecting himself, he continued to Cross, who was the only person in\\nthe room, and who had received his instructions from the surgeon, \"How\\nlong have I lain here?\"\\n\\n\"Ever since the duel, sir.\"\\n\\n\"The duel--how do you mean?\"\\n\\n\"I mean ever since your honour fought the duel, and killed the soldger\\nofficer.\"\\n\\n\"Killed--duel--I can\\'t recollect having fought the duel.\"\\n\\n\"Dare say not, your honour,\" replied Bob; \"you were in a roaring fever\\nat the time; but you would not stay in bed, all the surgeon could do--go\\nyou would; but when you had fought, we were obliged to carry you back\\nagain.\"\\n\\n\"And so I really have fought--I have not the least recollection--I must\\nhave been in a high fever indeed.  Where\\'s the surgeon?\"\\n\\n\"He\\'s in the verandah below, sir, speaking to some soldger officers who\\nhave come to inquire after your health.  Here he comes.\"\\n\\nThe surgeon came in, and Captain Delmar then said to him, \"Is this all\\ntrue that Cross has been telling me?  Have I really fought a duel and\\nkilled my adversary?\"\\n\\n\"I regret to say, sir, that he is dead, and was buried yesterday; but,\\nif you please, you must not talk any more at present--you must be quiet\\nfor a few hours.\"\\n\\n\"Well, doctor, so that my honour is saved, I am content to obey you--\\nit\\'s very odd--\" Here the captain was exhausted, and was silent, and in\\na few minutes he was again asleep, and remained slumbering till the next\\nmorning, when he was much better.  He then entered into conversation\\nwith the surgeon, making him describe the duel; and the latter did so,\\nso as to satisfy the captain; and he also informed him that I had been\\ntaken ill with the fever, and was in the next room.\\n\\n\"Next room!\" replied the captain: \"why was he not sent on board?  Are\\nall the midshipmen who are taken ill to be brought to my house to be\\ncured?\"\\n\\nI overheard this reply of the captain, and it cut me to the heart.  I\\nfelt what an invincible pride had to be conquered before I could obtain\\nmy wishes.\\n\\nThe surgeon answered Captain Delmar,--\"As only you and Mr Keene were\\ntaken with the fever, I thought it better that he should remain here,\\nthan that the ship\\'s company should take it by his being sent on board.\\nI trust, Captain Delmar, I have done right?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, I see,\" replied the captain; \"you did perfectly right--I did not\\nthink of that.  I hope Mr Keene is doing well?\"\\n\\n\"I trust that we shall get him through it, sir,\" replied the surgeon.\\n\\n\"Pray let him have anything that he requires, Mr ---; let him want for\\nnothing during his illness and convalescence.  He would be a heavy loss\\nto the service,\" added the captain.\\n\\n\"He would, indeed, sir,\" replied the surgeon.\\n\\n\"Here are the journals of St. Pierre, in which there are several\\naccounts of the duel, most of them incorrect.  Some say that you were\\ntwice wounded, others once.\"\\n\\n\"I dare say they thought so,\" replied the captain, \"for Cross tells me\\nthat I was carried home.  It\\'s very singular that I should have fought\\nin such a condition.  Thank you, Mr ---; I will read them when I have\\nlain down a little, for I am tired again already.\"\\n\\nThe surgeon then informed the captain of the death of Captain W.\\n\\n\"Poor fellow!\" replied Captain Delmar.  \"Well, I will not make any\\nappointments until I am better.\"  The captain then lay down again,\\nleaving the newspapers on the coverlet.\\n\\nA week now passed, during which both the captain and I became nearly\\nconvalescent: we had both been out of bed, and had remained for a few\\nhours on the sofas in our respective rooms.  The surgeon told me that it\\nwould be necessary to tell him the truth very soon, and that he thought\\nhe would do so on the following day.  It did, however, happen that the\\ndiscovery was not made to him by the surgeon.  In the afternoon, when\\nthe latter was on board, Captain Delmar felt so strong that he resolved\\nto put on his clothes, and go into the sitting-room.  He desired Cross\\nto give them to him, and the first articles handed to him were his\\ntrowsers, and Bob quite forgot that I had worn them.\\n\\n\"Why, how\\'s this?\" said the captain--\"here\\'s a hole through the\\nwaistband, and they are bloody.\"\\n\\nBob was so frightened, that he walked out of the room as if he had not\\nheard what the captain had said.  It appears that the captain took up\\nhis coat, and discovered another hole in the shoulder, with the same\\nmarks of blood.\\n\\n\"This is quite a dream,\" said the captain, talking to himself--\"I\\'ve no\\nwound, and yet the newspapers say that I was wounded twice.  Cross!\\nCross!--Where is Cross?\"\\n\\nBob, who had taken refuge in my room, where we overheard everything he\\nsaid, whispered, \"It\\'s no use now, Mr Keene,--I must tell it all; never\\nfear me, I know how to do it.\"  And then he obeyed the captain\\'s\\nsummons, leaving me in a state of great nervous anxiety.\\n\\n\"Cross,\" said the captain sternly, \"I insist upon knowing the truth: I\\nhave been deceived by my officers.  Did I, or did I not, fight this\\nduel?\"\\n\\n\"Well, sir,\" replied Cross, \"the truth was only kept back from you till\\nyou were quite well again, and I suppose I must tell it to you now.  You\\nwere too ill, and you raved about our honour, and that you were\\ndisgraced, and that--\"\\n\\n\"Well, go on, sir.\"\\n\\n\"I will, Captain Delmar; but I hope you\\'ll not be angry, sir.  Mr Keene\\ncould not bear to see you in that way, and he said he would lay down his\\nlife for you at any time, and he begged Mr Smith, the master, to allow\\nhim to fight the duel, because he said that he was so like you in person\\n(which, somehow or other he is, that\\'s certain), that no one would know\\nit was him if he put on your honour\\'s wig and uniform: that\\'s how it\\nwas, sir.\"\\n\\n\"Go on,\" said the captain.\\n\\n\"Well, sir, the master could not bear the sneering of the sogers on\\nshore, and he consented that Mr Keene should take your place, which he\\ndid, sir; and I hope you will not be angry with Mr Keene, for it\\'s your\\nold coat, sir, and I think it may have a piece let in, that it won\\'t be\\nseen.\"\\n\\nCross then went on describing the whole affair--of course praising me--\\nand told the captain that everybody on board, as well as on shore,\\nthought that he was wounded and that I had been taken with the yellow\\nfever, and that nobody knew the real truth except the master, the\\nsurgeon, and himself.\\n\\n\"Is Mr Keene seriously hurt?\" inquired the captain, after a pause.\\n\\n\"No, sir; the doctor says he will do very well.  He was as near gone as\\never a man was: at one time his breath would not move a feather--all the\\nblood was out of his body.\"\\n\\nFor a minute the captain made no reply; at last he said, in a quiet\\ntone, \"You may leave the room, Cross.\"\\n\\nWhat were the thoughts and feelings of Captain Delmar when he was left\\nto reflect upon the information which he had received, I cannot tell but\\nthat he was not angry I inferred by the tone in which he desired Cross\\nto leave the room.  I was absorbed in my own feelings, when the surgeon\\nentered the room, and gave me a letter.  \"Here\\'s a schooner just come in\\nwith despatches from the admiral,\" said the surgeon: \"the second\\nlieutenant has brought them on shore for the captain, and among the\\nletters from England I found this one for you.  I have seen Cross,\"\\ncontinued the surgeon, nodding his head significantly as he left the\\nroom.\\n\\n\"The second lieutenant, with despatches, sir,\" reported Bob Cross to the\\ncaptain in the other room--\"Shall I show him in?\"\\n\\n\"No, I am not well; desire him to send them in by you,\" replied the\\ncaptain.\\n\\nWhile the captain was busy with his despatches, I read my letter, which\\nwas from my mother, enclosing a copy of one from my grandmother,\\nannouncing my mother\\'s death.  Of course there were a great many dying\\nwishes; but that was a matter of course.  I felt happy that this letter\\nto the captain arrived at such a propitious time, as I knew that the\\nannouncement of my mother\\'s death would be a great point in my favour.\\nThat it ought not to have been, I confess; but I knew whom I had to deal\\nwith: the captain was ashamed of his intimacy, and the claims of my\\nmother upon him, but not so much ashamed of me; and, now that she was\\nremoved, probably he might not be at all ashamed.  My mother was no\\nrelation, and below him--I was his own flesh and blood, and half\\nennobled by so being.\\n\\nThe captain sent on board orders for getting under weigh.  It appeared\\nthat the admiral had written to him, desiring him to sail for the coast\\nof South America, to look after a French frigate, and that, as there was\\nno farther occasion for so large a force at Martinique, he was to leave\\nthe next senior officer in command; but this was Captain W, who had died\\nof the fever.\\n\\nAs senior in command, Captain Delmar then filled up the vacancy; the\\ncaptain of a corvette was appointed to Captain W\\'s ship; our first\\nlieutenant to the command of the corvette; but the lieutenant\\'s vacancy\\nwas not filled up, much to the surprise of the officers of the squadron.\\nThis was the work of the afternoon; in the evening the master was sent\\nfor, and a consultation held with him and the surgeon, which ended in\\nthe captain\\'s consenting to go on board with his arm in a sling, as if\\nhe had been wounded, and my being put into a cot, and removed on board\\nto the captain\\'s cabin, as if still too weak with the fever to quit my\\nbed.  Cross was enjoined silence, and I was made acquainted by the\\nsurgeon with the result of the conference.\\n\\nThe next morning we were all embarked, and we hove the anchor up, and\\nmade sail to the southward.  It must be observed, that I had neither\\nseen nor had any communications with the captain, during the whole of\\nthis time.  He was informed by the surgeon that I was in great distress\\nof mind at the news of my mother\\'s death, and that my recovery would be\\nretarded in consequence.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWENTY ONE.\\n\\nIT was not until three or four days after the ship had sailed from\\nMartinique that the captain spoke to me.  I had during that time\\nremained in my cot, which was hung up in the fore-cabin, and when the\\nsurgeon dressed my wounds it was only in the presence of Bob Cross.  On\\nthe fourth morning after our sailing, the captain came inside of the\\nscreen, which was hung round my cot:--\"Well, Mr Keene,\" said he in a\\nvery kind voice, \"how are you?\"\\n\\n\"Much better, sir, I thank you; and hope you will look over the great\\nliberty I ventured to take for the honour of the service.\"\\n\\n\"Why,\" replied the captain, smiling, \"I think you have been sufficiently\\npunished already for your temerity; I appreciate your motive of action\\nand feel obliged to you for your great zeal towards the service and\\ntowards me.  The only objection (I may say annoyance) I have on the\\nsubject is, the mystery and secrecy compelled to be observed in\\nconsequence of your taking my place; and still more, that one of the\\nseamen of the ship should be a party to the secret.\"\\n\\n\"I certainly did not consider the consequences as I ought to have done,\\nsir, when I ventured to act as I did,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Say no more about it, Mr Keene.  I am very sorry to hear of your\\nmother\\'s death; but it was not, I believe, unexpected.\"\\n\\n\"No, sir,\" replied I; \"and therefore the shock has not been so great.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Mr Keene, of course it is from the interest I took in your\\nmother that I was induced to take you under my protection, and her death\\nwill make no difference in that point, so long as you conduct yourself\\nas you have hitherto done.  You have now created a strong interest for\\nyourself by your good conduct, and I shall not lose sight of you.  How\\nmany months have you yet to serve before your time is out?\"\\n\\n\"I have served five years and seven months, as far as I can recollect.\"\\n\\n\"So I thought.  Now, Mr Keene, it was because I thought of you that I\\ndid not fill up the lieutenant\\'s vacancy which was made by the death of\\nCaptain W and the promotion of the commander and my first lieutenant.\\nAs soon as you are well, I will give you an acting order as lieutenant\\nof this ship; and, as we are now on a sort of roving commission, I have\\nno doubt but that you will have served your time, and found the means of\\npassing, before we join the admiral; your promotion will, under such\\ncircumstances, be, I have no doubt, confirmed; so all you have to do now\\nis to get well as fast as you can.  Good-bye.\"\\n\\nThe captain gave me a most gracious nod, and then went outside of the\\nscreen, giving me no time for thanks.  I was, indeed, overjoyed; not so\\nmuch at the promotion as at the change in the captain\\'s manner towards\\nme: a change so palpable that it filled me with the fondest\\nanticipations.  I remained for a long while reflecting upon my future\\nprospects.  As a lieutenant of the same ship I should be more in contact\\nwith him: he could now converse and take notice of me without its being\\nconsidered remarkable; nay, he could be intimate with me.  I resolved to\\nbe most careful of my conduct, so as not to alarm his pride by the least\\nfamiliarity, and hoped, eventually, to play my cards so as to obtain my\\nearnest wish; but I felt that there was a great deal of ground to go\\nover first, and that the greatest circumspection was necessary.  I felt\\nthat I had still to raise myself in his opinion and in the opinion of\\nthe world to a much higher position than I was in at present, before I\\ncould expect that Captain Delmar would, virtually, acknowledge me as his\\nson.  I felt that I had to wade through blood, and stand the chance of\\nthousands of balls and bullets in my professional career, before I could\\ndo all this; a bright vista of futurity floated before me and, in the\\nfar distance, I felt myself in the possession of my ambition, and with\\nmy eyes still fixed upon it I dropped fast asleep, revelling still in\\nthe same dreams which I had indulged in when awake.\\n\\nIn a fortnight I was quite recovered; my wounds had healed up, and I now\\nwalked about.  Having had my uniform altered by the ship\\'s tailor, and\\nprocured an epaulet from one of the lieutenants, I took possession of my\\ncabin in the gun-room, and was warmly received by my new messmates; but\\nI did not return to my duty for nearly a month, on account of a little\\nlameness still remaining, and which the surgeon declared was often the\\ncase after the yellow fever!!\\n\\nI ought to have observed, that when my mother was so indulgent as to\\ncommit suicide for my sake, she had taken every precaution, and the\\nletter of my grandmother informed Captain Delmar that my mother had\\nbequeathed me 12,000 pounds in the three per cents, which she had laid\\nby from her business, and that therefore there was no longer any\\noccasion that I should be an expense to Captain Delmar.  It must not,\\nhowever, be supposed, from my grandmother stating this, that Captain\\nDelmar was at all mercenary or stingy; on the contrary, considering\\nthat, as the second son of a nobleman, he had only 1,000 pounds per\\nannum besides his pay, he was exceedingly liberal (although not\\nextravagant) in all money matters.\\n\\nAt last I was well enough to return to my duty; and glad I was to be\\nonce more walking the quarter-deck, not as before, on the lee, but on\\nthe weather side, with an epaulet on my shoulder.  Strange to say, there\\nwas not a midshipman in the ship (although there were so many) who had\\nserved so long as I had, and in consequence there was not any\\nheart-burning or jealousy at my promotion, and I continued on the best\\nterms with my old mess-mates, although gradually lessening the intimacy\\nwhich existed between us.  But that was not intentional on my part; it\\nwas the effect of my promotion, and removal from the berth of a set of\\nlads to the company of the senior and older officers.  I was now a man,\\nand had the feelings and thoughts of a man.  My frolics and tricks were\\ndiscarded with the midshipman\\'s coat; and in respecting my new rank I\\nrespected myself.\\n\\nNow that I walked on the same side of the deck, Captain Delmar very\\noften entered into conversation with me; and although at first it was\\nwith caution on his part, yet, when he found that I never presumed, and\\nwas, invariably, most respectful, he became on much more intimate terms\\nwith me.\\n\\nDuring three months we continued cruising about without falling in with\\nor having received any intelligence of the French frigate which we were\\nsent in quest of; at last Captain Delmar resolved to change the cruising\\nground, and we ran up to ten degrees of latitude further north.\\n\\nAs we were running up, we fell in with an American brig, and brought her\\nto; a boat was sent for the captain, who, when he came on board, was\\ninterrogated by Captain Delmar, as to his having seen or heard of any\\nFrench vessel on that coast.  As the conversation took place on the\\nquarter-deck, and I was officer of the watch, I can repeat it.\\n\\n\"Well,\" replied the American through his nose, \"I reckon there is a\\nFrenchman in these parts?\"\\n\\n\"Have you fallen in with her?\" inquired Captain Delmar.\\n\\n\"Well, I may say I have; for I lay alongside of her in Cartagena when I\\nwas taking in my cargo of hides.  You haven\\'t such a thing as a spar as\\nwill make me a pole top-gallant mast, captain, have you?\"\\n\\n\"Is she large or small?\"\\n\\n\"Well, captain, I don\\'t care whether the spar be large or small; I\\'ve\\ntwo carpenters on board, and I\\'ll soon dub it down into shape.\"\\n\\n\"I inquired about the vessel--I did not refer to the spar,\" replied\\nCaptain Delmar, haughtily.\\n\\n\"And I referred to the spar, which is my business, and not to the\\nvessel, which is no consarn of mine,\" replied the American captain.\\n\"You see, master, we have both our wants; you want information, I want a\\nspar: I have no objection to a fair swop.\"\\n\\n\"Well,\" replied Captain Delmar, rather amused, \"give me the information\\nand you shall have the spar.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s agreed.\"\\n\\n\"Send for the carpenter, and desire him to get out a small spar, Mr\\n---,\" said Captain Delmar to the first lieutenant.\\n\\n\"Well, captain, that looks like business, and so now I\\'ll go on.  The\\nFrenchman is as large as you; may be,\" said he, looking round the deck,\\n\"he may be a bit larger, but you won\\'t mind that, I suppose.\"\\n\\n\"Did you leave her in port when you sailed?\"\\n\\n\"I reckon she was off two days before me.\"\\n\\n\"And how many days is it since you sailed?\"\\n\\n\"Just four days, I calculate.\"\\n\\n\"And did you hear where she was going to?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, I did, and I\\'ve a notion I could put my finger upon her now, if I\\nchoosed.  Captain, you haven\\'t got a coil of two-inch which you could\\nlend me--I ain\\'t got a topsail brace to reeve and mine are very queer\\njust now.  I reckon they\\'ve been turned end for end so often, that\\nthere\\'s an end of them.\"\\n\\n\"You say that you know where the vessel is--where is she?\"\\n\\n\"Captain, that\\'s telling--can\\'t I have the two inch?\"\\n\\n\"We have not a whole coil of two-inch left, sir,\" said the master,\\ntouching his hat.  \"We might spare him enough for a pair of new braces.\"\\n\\n\"Well, well, I\\'m reasonable altogether, and if so be you haven\\'t got it,\\nI don\\'t expect it.  It\\'s very odd now, but I can\\'t just now remember the\\nplace that the French vessel was going to; it\\'s slipped clean out of my\\nmemory.\"\\n\\n\"Perhaps the two-inch might help your memory,\" replied the captain.\\n\"Mr Smith, let the rope be got up and put into the boat.\"\\n\\n\"Well,\" said the American captain, \"as you say, mister, it may help my\\nmemory.  It\\'s not the first time that I\\'ve freshened a man\\'s memory with\\na bit of two-inch myself,\" continued he, grinning at his own joke; \"but\\nI don\\'t see it coming.\"\\n\\n\"I have ordered it to be put in the boat,\" replied Captain Delmar,\\nhaughtily: \"my orders are not disobeyed, nor is my word doubted.\"\\n\\n\"Not by them as knows you, I dare say, captain, but you\\'re a stranger to\\nme; I don\\'t think I ask much, after all--a bit of spar and a bit of\\nrope--just to tell you where you may go and take a fine vessel, and\\npocket a nation lot of dollars as prize-money.  Well, there\\'s the rope,\\nand now I\\'ll tell you.  She was going off Berbice or Surinam, to look\\nafter the West Indiamen, who were on the coast, or expected on it, I\\ndon\\'t know which.  There you\\'ll find her, as sure as I stand here; but I\\nthink that she is a bit bigger than this vessel--you don\\'t mind that, I\\ndare say.\"\\n\\n\"You may go on board now, sir,\" said Captain Delmar.\\n\\n\"Well, thank ye, captain, and good luck to you.\"\\n\\nThe American captain went down the side; and as soon as our boat\\nreturned, and was hoisted up, we made all sail for the coast of\\nDemerara.\\n\\n\"She must be a fine vessel,\" said Captain Delmar to me, as he was\\nwalking the deck,--\"a very fine vessel, if she is bigger than we are.\"\\n\\n\"You will excuse me, Captain Delmar, if I venture to observe that there\\nwas an expression in the eye of the American, when he said a bit bigger,\\nwhich made me take it into my head, that in saying so, he was only\\ndeceiving us.  The Americans are not very partial to us, and would be\\nglad of any revenge.\"\\n\\n\"That may be, Mr Keene; but I do not see that he can be deceiving us,\\nby making her out to be larger, as it is putting us on our guard.  Had\\nhe said that she was smaller, it would then have been deceiving us.\"\\n\\n\"I did not take it in that sense, sir,\" replied I.  \"He said a bit\\nbigger; now, I can\\'t help thinking that a bit bigger was meant to\\ndeceive us, and that it will prove that the Frenchman is a\\nline-of-battle ship, and not a frigate: he wished to leave us under the\\nimpression that it was a larger frigate than our own and no more.\"\\n\\n\"It may be so,\" replied Captain Delmar, thoughtfully; \"at all events,\\nMr Keene, I am obliged to you for the suggestion.\"\\n\\nThe captain took two or three more turns fore and aft in silence and\\nthen quitted the deck.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWENTY TWO.\\n\\nIn three days we had gained the latitude of Berbice, and on the fourth\\nmorning the men at the mast-head were keeping a sharp look-out for any\\nstrange sail.  Our head was then towards the land, which, being very\\nlow, could not be seen; the breeze was light, the royals had been set,\\nand the men piped down to breakfast, when the mast-head-man reported\\nthree sail right ahead.  We soon made them out to be merchant vessels,\\nand as they separated, and made all sail from us, we made sure that they\\nhad been captured; and so it proved when we took possession of them,\\nwhich we did not do of the third before night-fall.\\n\\nUpon interrogating the prisoners and the few English who had been left\\non board the prizes, we found out that I had been right in my\\nconjecture; they had been captured by a French line-of-battle ship,\\nwhich they had left in shore the evening before.  The English reported\\nher a very fast sailer, and believed her to be an eighty gun ship--\\nindeed the French prisoners acknowledged that such was the case.\\n\\nThis was very important intelligence, and Captain Delmar walked up and\\ndown deck in deep thought: the fact was, he was puzzled how to act.  To\\nattempt to cope with such a force, unless under peculiarly favourable\\ncircumstances, would be madness: to leave the coast and our mercantile\\nnavy exposed to her depredations, was at the same time very repulsive to\\nhis feelings and sense of duty.  The prizes had been manned, the\\nprisoners were on board, the boats hoisted up, and the Manilla still\\nremained hove to.  The fact was, the captain did not know which way to\\nput the ship\\'s head; and he walked up and down in deep thought.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene, is it your watch?\"\\n\\n\"No, sir.\"\\n\\n\"Oblige me by telling the master to work up the reckoning; I wish to\\nknow exactly where we are.\"\\n\\n\"It is done already, sir,\" replied I, \"and pricked off on the chart--I\\nhave just left the gun-room.\"\\n\\n\"Then, Mr Keene, bring the chart into my cabin.\"  I followed into the\\ncabin with the chart, which I laid down on the table, and pointed out\\nthe position of the ship.\\n\\n\"You were right in your supposition, Mr Keene,\" said the captain; \"and\\nreally this vessel turning out to be a line-of-battle ship has put me in\\na very awkward predicament--I really am puzzled.  Fighting is of no use,\\nand yet run away I will not, if I can possibly help it.\"\\n\\nNow, I had been studying the chart, and had made up my own mind how I\\nshould have acted under the circumstances, had I been in Captain\\nDelmar\\'s position.  The great point was, to give him my ideas without\\nappearing to offer advice; I therefore replied, \"We have one advantage,\\nat all events sir; we have been cruising so long that we are flying\\nlight--I don\\'t think we draw sixteen feet water.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, that may give us the heels of her in light winds, certainly,\"\\nreplied the captain.\\n\\n\"I think she cannot draw less than twenty-six or twenty-seven feet of\\nwater, sir,\" continued I, to put him on the right scent, \"which, on this\\ncoast, will be a great advantage.  I think, sir, when I was down below,\\nI measured from soundings to soundings, and the water is so shallow, and\\ndeepens so gradually, that there is a distance of four miles between\\nseventeen feet and twenty-eight feet water.\"\\n\\nI took up the compass so as to take in the two soundings laid down in\\nthe chart, and then measuring the distance, showed that my assertion was\\ntrue.  The captain said nothing for a little while.  At last I perceived\\na smile on his lips.  \"Tell the officer of the watch to lower down the\\ncutter, Mr Keene.  Go on board of the prizes, and tell them, in\\naddition to their present orders, to follow us, that in case of an\\nenemy, they are to run as close in shore as the water will allow them,\\nand drop their anchors.\"\\n\\n\"Aye, aye, sir,\" replied I, leaving the cabin.\\n\\nThis order satisfied me that the captain perceived what I would suggest,\\nwhich was, that if we once got in shore and in shallow water we might\\nlaugh at the line-of-battle ship, which, in all probability would not be\\nable to get near enough to reach us with her guns; or, if she attempted\\nit, she would run on shore, and then we should have the best of it.\\n\\nAs soon as I had given the orders to the prize-masters and returned on\\nboard, the boat was hoisted up, and all sail made for the land.  At\\ntwelve o\\'clock we sounded, and found ourselves in nine-fathom water, by\\nwhich we calculated we were about thirty miles from the land.  I hardly\\nneed say that a most careful lookout was kept up, that we might not fall\\nin with our formidable adversary.\\n\\nAt one o\\'clock the moon rose, and I, having the middle watch, surveyed\\nthe horizon on every side, but without discovering the enemy; but at\\nhalf-past three the day dawned, and before my watch was over it was\\nbroad daylight; and then, just as I was going down, having been relieved\\nby the second lieutenant, a strange sail was reported about eight miles\\nto leeward, two points before the beam.\\n\\nThe second lieutenant hastened down to the cabin, to report to the\\ncaptain, and I went up to the mast-head to make her out, and I soon\\ndiscovered that she was a line-of-battle ship: I immediately descended,\\nand reported to the captain, who had come on deck.  As we could\\ndistinguish the masts and sails of the enemy very well from the deck,\\nthe glasses were fixed upon her at the gang-way, and she was seen to set\\nher royals and flying jib in chase of us; but we felt that we were safe,\\nas we should be in shallow water long before she could beat up to us.\\nAll we had to fear for was the merchant vessels which we had re-taken,\\nand which were two or three miles astern of us, with all the sail that\\nthey could carry.\\n\\nIt was a five-knot breeze, and the water quite smooth, which was very\\nfavourable for the line-of-battle ship and ourselves, but not for the\\nmerchant vessels, which, with their cargoes, required more wind to\\npropel them through the water.  The state of affairs, when the hands\\nwere piped to breakfast, was as follows:--\\n\\nThe French line-of-battle ship had stood in for the land, under all\\nsail, until half-past-seven, being then, as she was when we first saw\\nher, exactly two points before the beam, when, probably being in shoal\\nwater, she had tacked, and was now a little abaft our beam, and lying\\npretty well up for the merchant vessel the furthest astern of us.  Since\\nshe had tacked, she had risen her hull out of water, so as to show her\\nupper tier of guns.  Two of the merchant vessels were about three miles\\nastern of us,--the other one, five, and stood a fair chance of being cut\\noff; the more so, because when we discovered the enemy, we were standing\\nabout two points free, right for the coast; whereas, upon her hauling\\nher wind in chase, we of course did the same, which made us approach the\\nshallow water in a more slanting direction, and consequently not get in\\nquite so soon.  We were now in seven fathoms water, and, by our pricking\\noff on the chart, about eleven miles from land, which was so low as to\\nbe barely visible from the mast-head.  The men were allowed an hour to\\ntheir breakfast, and then we beat to quarters.  The captain did not,\\nhowever, put out the fires, so as to prevent the ship\\'s company\\'s dinner\\nbeing cooked, as everything was ready, and the magazines could be opened\\nin a minute.\\n\\nAt ten o\\'clock we had drawn into six fathoms water; the Frenchman was\\nnow nearly astern of us, still on the opposite tack, and passing about\\nthree miles to leeward of the merchant vessel which lagged most behind.\\nIt was now considered certain that she would re-capture this vessel,\\nwhich was at least seven miles astern of us, and not impossible that she\\nmight take one, if not both of the others, as it was evident she was a\\nprime sailer, as fast almost as our own ship.\\n\\nAt a quarter-past ten, the French line-of-battle ship tacked, and stood\\nright after us in our wake, being now hull down about twelve miles from\\nus.\\n\\n\"He\\'ll soon have the starnmost vessel, Mr Keene,\" said Bob Cross to me.\\n\"Mr Dott has charge of her; he is always in some scrape or other.\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied I; \"but he gets out of them, and I dare say he will out\\nof this.\"\\n\\n\"Helm up there, quarter-master--flatten in forward.\"\\n\\n\"The wind\\'s heading us, sir,\" said the master; \"she\\'s full again now.\\nThus, boy, and nothing off.\"\\n\\n\"She has broken off two points, sir.\"\\n\\n\"All the better,\" replied the captain; \"it\\'s a squeak for Mr Dott.\"\\n\\nIn a few minutes we perceived that the other vessel had met the change\\nin the wind and had broken off as well as ourselves.  The Frenchman did\\nnot now lay up for the merchant vessel as she did before, and the latter\\nhad some chance of escape.  It was very exciting: for as the time drew\\nnearer to noon, the wind became more light and more variable, and at one\\ntime all the vessels broke off another point; shortly afterwards, the\\nwind flew back again to the point which it at first blew from, and the\\nenemy lay once more right up for the merchant vessels.  The French\\nline-of-battle ship was still about four miles astern of the merchant\\nvessel nearest to her.\\n\\n\"I think we shall have a calm soon,\" observed Captain Delmar.  \"Square\\nthe mainyard; we may as well be nearer to her, as not, now; for if it\\nfalls calm she will recapture them with her boats, and we shall be too\\nfar to give any assistance.  Get the yard tackles up: all ready, Mr\\n---?\"\\n\\n\"Aye, aye, sir,\" replied the first lieutenant.\\n\\n\"Pipe the boat\\'s crew away, and let them get their guns and ammunition\\non the gangway.\"\\n\\nIt was about a quarter to eleven when we hove to, the breeze still\\ncontinuing variable and light, and the French line-of-battle ship did\\nnot come up so fast as before.  We sounded after we hove to, and found\\nthat we were in five and a half fathoms water.\\n\\nAt twelve o\\'clock, in consequence of our having hove to, the relative\\npositions of the vessels were as follows:--The two merchant vessels\\nwhich had been about four miles astern of us were now alongside of us;\\nthe third was about three miles astern of us; and the Frenchman was\\nabout the same distance astern of her; so that our frigate was about six\\nmiles from the French line-of-battle ship.\\n\\nCaptain Delmar had given orders to pipe to dinner at seven bells\\n(half-past eleven o\\'clock); that in case the boats were required, the\\nmen might have dined before the were sent away.  A few minutes after\\ntwelve o\\'clock it fell a dead calm; the hands were turned up, the boats\\nhoisted out and lowered down, the guns and ammunition put in them, and\\neverything in readiness; we keeping our glasses upon the enemy, and\\nwatching her manoeuvring, which, at the distance we were, was now easily\\nto be distinguished.  Captain Delmar was aware that he ran some risk in\\nsending his boats away, for it might so happen that a breeze might\\nspring up from the seaward, and the enemy have the advantage of it long\\nbefore us; if so, it might bring her up to the vessel astern, and the\\nboats be captured: indeed it might bring her up nearly alongside of us\\nbefore we caught the wind.  It was necessary therefore, to be very\\ncautious, and not send the boats away till the last moment--that is,\\nbefore we saw the French ship hoisting out or lowering down her own.\\nThat the Frenchman knew that our boats had been hoisted out, could not\\nbe doubted, as their eyes were quite as sharp as ours.  They, however,\\ntried to double us; for all of a sudden, as I had my glass upon the\\nFrench ship, I perceived three boats coming round her quarter, and\\npulling right for the merchant vessel: the fact was, that she had\\nlowered down her stern and quarter boats to leeward, which we could not\\nperceive.  I reported this immediately to the captain, who ordered the\\nboats\\' crews to be piped away.\\n\\n\"Who is to command the boats, sir?\" said the first lieutenant.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene,\" said the captain.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene, I wish to speak with you before you go.\"\\n\\nCaptain Delmar then walked to the capstern, and, in few words, pointed\\nout what I have just stated as the difficulty which might occur, and the\\nchances of capture.\\n\\n\"You understand me, Mr Keene?\"\\n\\n\"Perfectly, sir,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Well, then, I trust to your discretion, Mr Keene, and hope I shall not\\nbe disappointed.  Now you may go.\"\\n\\n\"The French ship is getting up her yard tackles,\" said the signal man.\\n\\n\"Then you have no time to lose, Mr Keene.  As for the small boats, they\\nare of no consequence.\"\\n\\nI went down the side, and shoved off.  Our men gave way cheerfully and\\nmanfully; and the three boats of the Frenchmen had but a little start of\\nus.  In half an hour we were both within less than a mile of the\\nmerchant vessel; but the French boats were the nearest of the two.  The\\naffair now became very exciting.  In another ten minutes the French\\nboats had gained the merchant vessel, and the men were clambering up her\\nsides, while we were not more than three cables\\' length from them.  That\\nTommy Dott was defending himself was to be presumed, as a good deal of\\nfiring took place; but before we could get alongside, it was evident\\nthat he and his men had been mastered, and the French were in possession\\nof the vessel.  But now our turn came.  Dividing my boats, six in\\nnumber, into two divisions, we boarded on both sides, and very soon had\\nregained the vessel and mastered the French, who did not amount to more\\nthan thirty-five men, while we had more than seventy.\\n\\nWe found that the Frenchmen had not spared our people on board of the\\nvessel, all of them being wounded or killed; but the fact was that Tommy\\nDott had fought most nobly, and resisted to the very last.  He himself--\\npoor fellow!--lay against the cap-stern, with his head cut open by a\\nblow of a cutlass, and quite insensible.  As soon as we had secured the\\nprisoners, I turned my eyes to the line-of-battle ship, and saw that her\\nlarge boats had shoved off; they were five in number, but much larger,\\nand holding more men than we had.\\n\\nA little reflection decided me that we should have a better chance of\\nresisting them on board of the vessel than in the boats; and I\\ndetermined that I would get my boats\\' guns up on board of the vessel,\\nand arm her in that way.  It was necessary, however, to secure our\\nboats, that they might not cut them away from alongside; I therefore, as\\nsoon as the guns and ammunition were on board, lowered the iron chain\\ncable down from the bows, and passed it from one boat to the other under\\nthe fixed thwarts of each boat, including those captured from the\\nFrench, hauling the end of the cable on board again through the stern\\nport.  We had plenty of time to do this, and make any other preparation\\non board, before the French boats arrived.\\n\\nIt was a dead calm; the sea was like a mirror, and the advancing boats,\\nas their oars rose and fell in the water, gave you the idea of creatures\\npossessed of life and volition, as they rapidly forced their way through\\nthe yielding fluid.  The vessel\\'s stern was towards the line-of-battle\\nship, and the boats were pulling up a little on the starboard quarter.\\nThe guns which I had hoisted on board had, for want of any other means,\\nbeen sufficiently secured by ropes to the slides and breechings to\\nenable us to fire them with effect.  When the boats were about a quarter\\nof a mile from us, we opened our fire; not that we expected much from\\nour guns, as we knew we could not obtain more than two good shots at the\\nboats before they were alongside; still there was a chance of hitting\\nand disabling them, and no chance was to be thrown away.\\n\\nOur first shot was successful; it struck one of the pinnaces, and she\\nswamped immediately.  Our men cheered, while the other French boats\\npulled to it, and took up the men who were floating in the water.\\nBefore they could effect this, another gun was fired with grape and\\nround, which apparently did some execution, as there appeared to be much\\nconfusion on board of the two boats that had gone to the assistance of\\ntheir comrades.  We now fully expected the boats to advance; on the\\ncontrary, they spread out on each quarter, and opened their fire upon us\\nwith their guns--a very foolish act on their part, as it gave us every\\nadvantage; for they were far superior to us in number of men, and should\\nhave boarded us at once, instead of risking the loss of more of their\\nboats.  So little did we expect this, that at one time I was debating\\nwhether I should not leave the guns in the boats alongside, instead of\\ngetting them on board, that there might be no delay in case wind sprang\\nup, and it were necessary that we should be off; of course, as it was, I\\nwas very glad that I had decided otherwise.\\n\\nThe action, if it may be so termed, now continued for about half an hour\\nwithout any great casualty on either side: we had five or six men\\nwounded on board of the vessel, but none killed.  I had occasionally\\nlooked round to see if there was any appearance of wind, and just about\\nthis time I perceived a black line in the offing, which promised not\\nonly wind, but wind from the very quarter which would be most disastrous\\nto us, and I began to feel very anxious, when I heard a bugle sounded\\nfrom the largest French boat.  This was the signal to advance, and I was\\nvery glad, as the affair would now be soon decided.\\n\\nAs all our boats were secured on the starboard side of the vessel, the\\nFrenchmen did not attempt to board on that side, as in so doing it would\\nhave been at a double disadvantage; they had therefore no alternative\\nbut to board all together on the larboard side.  Two of the boats\\' guns\\nhad been fixed on that side--double shotted and depressed, so as to be\\nfired at the moment one of the boats should pass beneath them; they were\\nboth fired at the leading boat, the launch, which was very large and\\nfull of men, and the shot went through her bottom.  This did not prevent\\nher coming alongside: but she filled and sank almost immediately\\nafterwards, while the men were climbing up the sides of the vessel.  The\\nsinking of this boat prevented the men of the other boats outside of her\\nfrom supporting their companions, and we had therefore only to meet the\\nforce of the launch and the two other boats which had come alongside\\nahead of her, and which was in number not equal to our own.\\n\\nWe always had an idea that the French would never do much in the way of\\nboarding, and so it proved; they were beat down as fast as they made\\ntheir appearance above the bulwarks.  The French lieutenant was\\nattempting to get over the gunwale; he was unsupported, as almost all\\nhis men had tumbled back into the sea.  Instead of cutting him down, I\\ncaught him by the collar, and hauled him on board, and as soon as he was\\ndisarmed, gave him in charge of a marine.  In ten minutes all was over:\\ntwo of the French boats remained alongside, and the others shoved off,\\nhalf manned, and dropped astern.  We gave them three cheers as a parting\\nsalutation, but we had no time to lose--the wind was evidently springing\\nup fast; already cat\\'s paws were to be seen here and there rippling the\\nwater, and the line on the horizon was now dark and broad.  I ordered\\nour boats to be ready for starting, the guns to be got in, and the\\nwounded men divided among them as fast as possible.  The two large\\nFrench boats which remained on the starboard side we cleared of the men\\nwho lay in them, and then had their bottoms beat out to sink them.  The\\nFrench lieutenant and two other officers I ordered into our own boats,\\nto take on board as prisoners; the rest of the French who had been\\ncaptured, with their wounded, we put into the three small French boats\\nwhich had been captured in the first attack, taking away their oars,\\nthat, when I shoved off and left the vessel, they might drift about till\\nthey were picked up by the French ship.\\n\\nEvery thing being in readiness, I had now to decide what I should do\\nwith the merchant vessel.  The wind coming up so fast from the seaward,\\ngave her no chance of escape, and I decided that I would set her on\\nfire.  Having so done in three different parts, to ensure her\\ndestruction, I then shoved off with our boats, having first pushed off\\nthe Frenchmen in their boats without oars, and wished them good-bye;\\nthey certainly did look very foolish, and anything but pleased.\\n\\nAs we pulled for the frigate, I perceived that the line-of-battle ship\\'s\\nsails were filling, and that it was touch and go with us; but I also\\nknew that she could not leave her boats and that it would take some time\\nto pick them up; two were half-manned, and pulling towards her; the\\nother three were without oars, and must be picked by the other boats;\\nall of which would occasion delay.  Notwithstanding, we pulled as hard\\nas we could and were halfway back before the breeze was sufficiently\\nsteady to enable the line-of-battle ship to make much progress through\\nthe water.  Of course we could not well see what was going on when we\\nhad pulled away in the boats, and were at a distance; all we could see\\nwas, that the French line-of-battle ship was not yet in chase, from\\nwhich we presumed that she had not yet picked up her boats.  In the\\nmeantime the merchant vessel burnt furiously, and the columns of smoke\\nvery often hid the enemy from our view.\\n\\nBefore we arrived on board the breeze had passed us and caught the sails\\nof our frigate and the two merchant vessels, so that we were more easy\\non that score.  Captain Delmar had been very anxious; the yards,\\ntackles, and stays, and the tackles for hoisting up the quarter-boats,\\nwere already hanging down as we pulled alongside, and \"all hands in\\nboats\" was piped before we could get up the gangway.  There was no time\\nto be lost: the French line-of-battle ship had picked up her boats, and\\nwas now in chase, with studding-sails below and abaft.  The two merchant\\nvessels had made all sail, and were running inshore ahead of us.  I\\ntouched my hat to the captain, and said, \"Come on board, sir--shall I\\nsee the quarter-boats hoisted up?\"\\n\\n\"If you please, Mr Keene,\" replied he.\\n\\nThe fact was, it was very easy to tell my story after the boats were up\\nand sail made upon the frigate, and I knew there was no time for\\ntalking.\\n\\nI never witnessed such a rapidity as was shown on this occasion; in less\\nthan five minutes all the boats were on board, and all sail made.  I\\nlooked at the French line-of-battle ship; she was within four miles of\\nus, and bringing up a very steady breeze.  But we were now drawing\\nthrough the water, and as the re-captured vessels were three miles ahead\\nof us, there was nothing to fear.  Captain Delmar came aft to look at\\nthe Frenchman, who had already passed by the vessel which I had set on\\nfire.\\n\\n\"Now, then, Mr Keene,\" said he, \"we will know what has taken place.  Of\\ncourse we have seen most of it.\"\\n\\nI narrated what the reader already knows.\\n\\n\"What do you suppose to have been the loss?\"\\n\\n\"I should say three boats, and about forty men, sir.  I forgot, sir, to\\ntell you that we have a lieutenant and two officers prisoners, whom I\\nbrought on board with me.\"\\n\\n\"Desire them to be brought on deck,\" said the captain.  \"Mr Keene, you\\nhave done your work well--with great gallantry and great judgment.\"\\n\\nI touched my hat, not a little pleased at such a compliment from.\\nCaptain Delmar.\\n\\n\"What\\'s the last soundings, Mr Smith?\" inquired the captain.\\n\\n\"And a quarter four, sir,\" said the master.\\n\\n\"This chase won\\'t last long,\" observed the captain.  \"Take in the lower\\nstudding-sail.\"\\n\\nThe French lieutenant was then questioned; but with the exception of the\\nname of the ship and captain, there was little to be expected from him,\\nand he was dismissed and sent below.\\n\\nThis affair, however, was not without loss on our side (principally\\narising from Tommy Dott\\'s stout defence).  We had two men killed, and we\\nhad altogether fourteen men wounded--some of them very severely.  My\\nfriend Tommy Dott came on board a miserable object, his face and hair\\nmatted with blood; but when it was washed away, he proved to be not so\\nmuch hurt as was supposed: the cut was severe, but the bones were not\\ninjured.  He was very soon out of his hammock again, and his chief\\npleasure was to put his tongue in his cheek and make faces at the French\\nlieutenant, who at last became so annoyed, that he complained to Captain\\nDelmar, who ordered Mr Tommy to leave off these expressions of national\\nanimosity, if he had any wish to obtain his promotion.  But to return.\\n\\nAs the breeze freshened, and the French ship had the first of it; she\\nrapidly gained upon us, and in an hour and a half was about three miles\\nfrom us.  We had now shoaled our water to three fathoms and a half,\\nwhich was quite near enough to the ground, as it left but four feet\\nbetween our keel and the bottom; the studding-sails were taken in, and\\nwe ranged the cable.  A few minutes afterwards the French line-of-battle\\nship was seen to shorten sail, and haul to the wind; she had followed us\\ninto as shoal water as far as she dared to venture in, and as she\\nrounded to, out of spite, I presume, she fired a gun.  The evening was\\nnow closing in, and as there was every appearance of fine weather, we\\nstood out till we were again in four fathoms, and then dropped our\\nanchor.\\n\\nThe next morning, when the day broke, the French line-of-battle ship was\\nin the offing about eight miles distant.  It may easily be imagined that\\nthe French were very much annoyed at what had taken place; their prizes\\nre-captured, three boats lost, and their ship\\'s company weakened, and\\nall by an inferior force close to them, and without any prospect of\\ntheir having any revenge.  But we, on the other hand, were not very\\npleasantly situated.  It is true that we were safe, but, at the same\\ntime, we were in prison, and could not hope for escape, unless some\\nvessel came down to our assistance; and how long we might be compelled\\nto remain where we were, or what the chapter of accidents might bring\\nabout, no one could foresee.\\n\\nAbout eight o\\'clock the French ship again stood in, and when as close as\\nshe dare come to us, she ran up and down, trying for deeper water on one\\nside or the other, but in vain.  She was within gun-shot of us, it is\\ntrue, as we had run out into four fathoms; but we could always trip our\\nanchor when we pleased and stand further in.  At last she tried a shot\\nat us, and it fell very close.  Captain Delmar did not, however, get\\nunder weigh and stand further in, although he ordered the capstern bars\\nto be shipped, and the messenger passed.  A second and a third shot were\\nfired, and one went over us.  At last the Frenchman anchored, and set to\\nwork in good earnest.  He found that he was within range, and as we did\\nnot move, presumed that we were in as shallow water as we could run\\ninto.\\n\\nAs the wind was still to seaward, we laid head on to him, and one of his\\nshot struck us in the forefoot; Captain Delmar then ordered the cable to\\nbe hove in and the anchor tripped, by which means we drifted in shore\\nand increased our distance without his being aware of it, and his firing\\nstill continued, but without injury to us.  The reason for Captain\\nDelmar\\'s doing this was evident; he wished the French ship to continue\\nfiring, as the report of her guns might be heard and bring down some\\nvessel to our assistance.  At all events, such was not our good fortune\\non the first day, and I began to be tired of our situation; so did\\nCaptain Delmar; for on the second day he sent a boat to the recaptured\\nvessels, which were at anchor inshore of us, directing them to heave up\\nas soon as it was dark, and make the best of their way to Barbadoes,\\nkeeping well in shore till they got more to the northward; this they\\ndid, and the following morning they were not in sight.\\n\\nThe French ship still remained at anchor, and it appeared that she had\\nbeen lightening so as to get further in; for on that morning she\\nweighed, and stood in to a mile and a half of us, and we were obliged to\\ndo the same, and run inshore out of his reach.  To effect this we\\nanchored in three and a quarter fathoms, so that we actually stirred up\\nthe mud.  Towards the evening the wind fortunately shifted to off shore,\\nand as soon as it was dark the captain ordered the anchor to be weighed,\\nand we made all sail to the northward, trusting to our heels; the\\nfollowing morning we had run seventy miles, and as the French ship was\\nnot to be seen, it was to be presumed that she was not aware of our\\nhaving so done.\\n\\nTen days afterwards we dropped our anchor in Carlisle Bay, Barbadoes.\\nWe found two men-of-war, both captains junior officers to our own, and I\\ntook this opportunity of passing my examination, which was a mere matter\\nof form.  Having watered and taken in provisions, we then sailed for\\nJamaica, to join the admiral, who, upon Captain Delmar\\'s representation,\\nimmediately confirmed the acting order of lieutenant given to me by him.\\n\\nA few days afterwards a packet arrived from England, and letters were\\nreceived by Captain Delmar, informing him of the death of his elder\\nbrother and his succeeding to the title of Lord de Versely; for his\\nelder brother, although married, had no male issue.  Upon this\\nintelligence, Captain Delmar immediately resigned the command of the\\nManilla, and another Captain was appointed to her.  I did not much like\\nthis, as I wished to remain with Captain Delmar, and gain his good-will.\\nI was, however, consoled by his sending for me, previous to his sailing\\nfor England in a frigate ordered home, and saying, \"Mr Keene, my duties\\nin the House of Lords, and family affairs, require my presence in\\nEngland, and I think it most probable that I now quit the service\\naltogether; but I shall not lose sight of you.  You have conducted\\nyourself much to my satisfaction, and I will take care of your\\nadvancement in the service, if you only continue as you have begun.  I\\nshall be happy to hear from you, if you will write to me occasionally.\\nI wish you every success.  Is there anything that I can do for you?\"\\n\\n\"I am most grateful, my lord,\" replied I, \"for all your kindness.  I had\\nhoped to have been longer under your protection and guidance; but I am\\naware that your high station must now prevent it.  If I might be so bold\\nas to ask a favour, my lord?\"\\n\\n\"Certainly, Keene,\" replied his lordship.\\n\\n_Keene_! not _Mr_ Keene, thought I.\\n\\n\"It is, sir, that I--think I should have a better chance of doing\\nsomething if I were to obtain the command of the Firefly schooner; the\\nlieutenant commanding her is about to invalid.\"\\n\\n\"I agree with you.  I will speak to the admiral this very day.  Is that\\nall?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, my lord; unless you think you could ask for Cross, your coxswain,\\nto be appointed to her.  I should like to have a man on board whom I\\nknew, and could trust.\"\\n\\n\"I will see about it, and so good-bye.\"\\n\\nHis lordship held out his hand.  I took it very respectfully; he had\\nnever done so before, and the tears ran down my cheeks as I was quitting\\nhim.  His lordship observed it, and turned away.  I left the cabin,\\nquite overcome with his kindness, and so happy, that I would not have\\nchanged positions with the grand sultan himself.\\n\\nLord de Versely was faithful to his promise: the next day I received\\nfrom the admiral my appointment to the Firefly, and, what was more\\nunexpected, Bob Cross received a warrant as her boatswain.  This was a\\nvery kind act of Lord de Versely, and I was as much delighted as Bob\\nhimself.  I also received an invitation to dinner with the admiral on\\nthat day.  On my arrival at the house, a few minutes before dinner, the\\nadmiral called me aside to the verandah, and said to me, \"Mr Keene, I\\nhave not forgotten your cruise in the pirate schooner, and Lord de\\nVersely has told me of your good behaviour in many instances since;\\nparticularly of your conduct in the boats off Berbice.  In his\\ndespatches he has given you great praise, and I have added mine to back\\nit; so that if you only keep steady, you will command a sloop of war\\nvery soon.  You have now been seven months a lieutenant, for your\\ncommission will be confirmed to your first appointment; a few months\\nmore, and I hope to see you with a commander\\'s commission in your\\npocket.\"\\n\\nI replied, that I was very grateful, and only hoped that he would send\\nme out in the schooner to where I might prove myself deserving of his\\npatronage.\\n\\n\"Never fear.  I\\'ll find something for you to do, Mr Keene.  By-the-bye,\\nLord de Versely told me last night, when we were alone, the history of\\nthe duel at Martinique.  You did well, Mr Keene; I thank you in the\\nname of our service--it won\\'t do for the soldiers to crow over us,\\nthough they are fine fellows, it must be admitted.  However, that secret\\nhad better be kept.\"\\n\\n\"Most certainly, sir,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Now, then, there\\'s that black fellow come up to tell us dinner is\\nready; so come along, or you\\'ll be where the little boat was--a long way\\nastern.\"\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWENTY THREE.\\n\\nThe admiral was very kind to me, and shook hands with me when I left\\nhim.  I returned on board of the Manilla, took leave of the surgeon, and\\nmaster, and other officers, and then of all my mess-mates, and a boat\\nwas manned to take Bob Cross and me on board of the Firefly.  After the\\nboat shoved off and was a little distance from the frigate, the men\\nsuddenly tossed up their oars.\\n\\n\"What are you about, men?\" said I.\\n\\n\"Look there, sir,\" said Bob Cross, pointing to the frigate.\\n\\nI turned round, and perceived all the men in the rigging, who gave me\\nthree cheers from a pipe of the boatswain; a compliment which I had not\\ndreamt of, and which moved me to tears.  I rose, and took off my hat;\\nthe men in the boat returned the cheers, dropped their oars in the\\nwater, and rowed to the schooner.  I stepped on board, ordered the hands\\naft and read my commission, and then Cross\\'s warrant; after which I went\\ndown into the cabin, for I wished to be alone.\\n\\nI was now in command of a vessel, and not more than twenty years old.  I\\nreflected what a career was before me, if I was fortunate, and never\\nneglected an opportunity of distinguishing myself; and I vowed that I\\nnever would, and prayed to Heaven to assist my endeavours.  Lord de\\nVersely\\'s kindness to me had struck deep into my heart, and my anxiety\\nwas, that he should be proud of me.  And then I thought of the chances\\nfor and against me; he might marry and have children; that would be the\\nworst thing that could happen to me: if he did not marry, his other\\nbrother had a large family, and the title would go to the eldest son;\\nbut that was nothing to me.\\n\\nWhile I was summoning up all these contingencies in my mind, there was a\\nknock at the cabin door.  \"Come in,\" said I.  \"Oh! is it you, Cross?\\nI\\'m glad to see you.  Sit down there.  You see I command a vessel at\\nlast, Bob.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir; and you\\'ll command a larger one before long, I hope; but as\\nto your being in command of a vessel--there\\'s nothing very surprising in\\nthat; what is surprising is, to find myself a warrant officer--the idea\\nnever came into my head.  I must write, and tell my little girl of my\\ngood fortune; it will make her and her mother very happy.\"\\n\\n\"I must do the same, Cross.  My mother will be very much pleased to hear\\nall I have to tell her.\"\\n\\n\"I haven\\'t heard it myself yet, Mr Keene, and that\\'s why I came in,\"\\nreplied Bob.  \"I know you don\\'t want advice now; but I can\\'t help having\\na wish to know what took place between you and his lordship.\"\\n\\n\"No one has a better right to know than you, Cross, who have been such a\\nsincere friend to me; so now I\\'ll tell you.\"\\n\\nI then entered into a detail of all that had passed between Lord de\\nVersely and me, and also what the admiral had said to me.\\n\\n\"All\\'s right, Mr Keene,\" replied Bob; \"and let the admiral only give us\\nsomething to do and I think you\\'ll believe me when I say that the\\nboatswain of the Firefly will back you as long as he has a pin to stand\\nupon.\"\\n\\n\"That I\\'m sure of, Bob; you will ever be my right-hand man.  There are\\ntwo midshipmen on board, I perceive: what sort of lads may they be?\"\\n\\n\"I haven\\'t had time to find out; but you have a capital ship\\'s company--\\nthat the gunner and carpenter both say.\"\\n\\n\"And a very fine vessel, Bob.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir, and a regular flyer, they say, if she is well managed.  You\\nhave never been in a schooner, Mr Keene, but I have, and for nearly\\nthree years, and I know how to handle one as well as most people.\"\\n\\n\"So much the better, Cross, for I know nothing about it.  Come, I will\\nring the bell; I suppose some one will answer it.\"  A lad made his\\nappearance.\\n\\n\"Were you Mr Williams\\'s servant?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir.\"\\n\\n\"Get me out a bottle of wine and some glasses--there, that will do.\"\\n\\n\"Now, Bob, let\\'s drink success to the Firefly.\"\\n\\n\"Here\\'s success to the Firefly, Mr Keene, and success to the captain.\\nMay you do well in her, and be soon out of her.\"\\n\\n\"Thank you, Bob: here\\'s your health, and may we long sail together.\"\\n\\nBob and I finished the bottle, and then we parted.\\n\\nThe next day, I was very busy in examining my vessel and my ship\\'s\\ncompany.  The schooner was a beautiful model, very broad in the beam,\\nand very low in the water; she mounted one long brass thirty-two-pounder\\nforward on a circular sweep, so that it could be trained in every\\ndirection; abaft, she had four brass nine-pound carronades.  My ship\\'s\\ncompany consisted of sixty men and officers; that is, myself, two mids,\\nboatswain, gunner, and carpenter.  The mids were young lads of about\\nsixteen years of age, a Mr Brown and a Mr Black, gawky tall boys, with\\ntheir hands thrust too far though the sleeves of their jackets, and\\ntheir legs pulled too far through their trowsers; in fact, they were\\ngrowing lads, who had nothing but their pay to subsist upon, being both\\nsons of warrant officers.  They bore very good characters, and I\\nresolved to patronise them, and the first thing which I did was, to\\npresent them each with a new suit of uniform and a few other\\nnecessaries, so as to make them look respectable; a most unheard-of\\npiece of patronage, and which it is, therefore, my boast to record.  The\\nfact is, I was resolved that my schooner should look respectable; my\\nship\\'s company were really a very fine body of men, most of them tall\\nand stout, and I had received a very good character of them from the\\nofficer who had invalided.  I had taken all his stores and furniture off\\nhis hands, for I had plenty of money, and to spare.\\n\\nAs soon as I had examined my ship\\'s company, I made them a speech, the\\nwhich, although they were bound to hear it, I shall not inflict upon the\\nreader, and I then went down and examined every portion of the vessel,\\nascertained what there was in her and where everything was.  Bob Cross\\naccompanied me in this latter duty, which was not over till dinner-time.\\n\\nThe next morning my signal was made, and I went up to the admiral.\\n\\n\"Mr Keene,\" said the admiral, \"here are despatches to take down to the\\ngovernor of Curacao.  When can you be ready?\"\\n\\n\"Now, sir,\" replied I; \"and if you will make the signal for the Firefly\\nto weigh anchor, there will be so much time gained.\"\\n\\n\"Very good, Keene; tell them to make the signal.  You must make all the\\nhaste you can, as they are important.  Here are your orders: after you\\nhave delivered your despatches, you will be allowed to cruise down in\\nthat quarter, as I understand there are some very mischievous vessels in\\nthat direction.  I hope you will give me a good account of one or two of\\nthem, if you fall in with them.\"\\n\\n\"I will do my best, sir,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Well, I sent you on purpose.  I have ordered the senior officer at\\nCuracao to forward the return despatches by the Mosquito, that you may\\nhave a chance.  I won\\'t ask you to stay to dinner, as it is an affair\\nthat presses, so of course you will carry a press of sail.  Good-bye,\\nand I wish you success.\"\\n\\nI took my leave of the admiral and hastened down to the town.  In an\\nhour afterwards the Firefly was driving along with a fine breeze on the\\nquarter, and long before night the vessels in the harbour were not to be\\ndistinguished.  The breeze freshened after the sun went down, and I\\nremained on deck, carrying on to the last moment.  Bob Cross once or\\ntwice ventured to say, that we had better reduce the sail; but I told\\nBob that the admiral was very anxious that I should make a quick\\npassage.\\n\\n\"Yes, Mr Keene, but `turning the turtle\\' is not making a quick passage,\\nexcept to the other world, and the admiral does not wish his despatches\\nto go there.  She is a fine boat, sir, but there may be too much sail\\ncarried on a good vessel: the men say she never has been so pressed\\nbefore.\"\\n\\n\"Well, you are right, Bob, and so we will take a little off her.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir; it\\'s my watch coming on now, and I will carry all she can\\nbear with safety, and I think she will go quite as fast as she does now.\\nWe shall have more wind yet, sir, depend upon it.\"\\n\\n\"Well, so long as it is fair, I don\\'t mind how much,\" replied I.  \"Send\\nthe watch aft.\"\\n\\nWe reduced the sail, and then I went down to bed.\\n\\nAt daylight I awoke and went on deck.  The carpenter had the watch, for\\nthe watches were entrusted to the warrant officers, who were all good\\nseamen, and accustomed to the schooner.  I found that the wind had\\nfreshened, but was steady from the same quarter, and the schooner was\\ndarting through the water at a tremendous rate.\\n\\n\"She sails well, Mr Hayter,\" said I.\\n\\n\"Yes, sir, that she does,\" replied he; \"and never sailed better than she\\ndoes now.  I was a little alarmed for my sticks, last night, until you\\nshortened sail.\"\\n\\n\"Admiral\\'s order to carry a press of sail, Mr Hayter.\"\\n\\n\"Well, sir, then by Jove you obey orders; you half frightened the men,\\nalthough they had been so long in the vessel.\"\\n\\nI felt, by what the carpenter had said, that I had been rash.  Neither\\nhe nor Bob Cross would have ventured so much if I had not been so; and\\nthey understood the vessel better than I did, so I resolved to be guided\\nby them until I felt able to judge for myself.  Notwithstanding that\\nsail was afterwards carried more prudently, we had a most remarkably\\nrapid passage; for we took the breeze with us down the whole way, not\\nseeing a vessel during the run.  I had another cause of impatience,\\nwhich was, to ascertain if Mr Vanderwelt and Minnie had left the\\nisland.\\n\\nOn my arrival, I went first to the naval commanding officer, and then to\\nthe governor\\'s, delivering my credentials.  They complimented me on my\\nhaving been so active.  I accepted the governor\\'s invitation to dinner,\\nand then went to inquire after Mr Vanderwelt.  I walked first to his\\nhouse, but found it occupied by a Scotch merchant, who, however, was\\nvery polite.  He stated that he was an old friend of Mr Vanderwelt, and\\ncould give me every information, as he had received letters from him\\nvery lately; and that, in those letters, Mr Vanderwelt had informed him\\nthat I had said, in my last letter to them, that I was again on the West\\nIndia station, and requested him, if I came to the island, to show me\\nevery attention.  \"So, my dear sir,\" continued Mr Fraser, \"I trust you\\nwill enable me to comply with my friend Mr Vanderwelt\\'s injunctions,\\nand consider this house as your home during your stay here.\"\\n\\nI thanked Mr Fraser and accepted the offer.  I sent for my portmanteau,\\nand slept there that night after I had dined with the governor.  At\\ndinner I met Captain C---, who told me he had orders to send me on a\\ncruise, and asked when I would be ready.  I replied, that I should like\\na day or two to lift my rigging and overhaul it, as I had been very much\\nstrained in my passage down.\\n\\n\"No wonder,\" replied he; \"you must have flown--indeed, your log proves\\nit.  Well, I will send you as soon as you are ready.  The Naiad sloop is\\nout, and so is the Driver brig, both in pursuit of three vessels, which\\nhave done a great deal of mischief.  One is a French brig of fourteen\\nguns, very fast and full of men.  She has her consort, a large schooner,\\nwho is also a regular clipper.  The other vessel is a brigantine, a very\\nfine vessel, built at Baltimore--of course, under French colours: she\\ncruises alone.  I don\\'t know how many guns she carries, but I suspect\\nthat both she and the brig will be too much for you; and unless you\\ncould catch the schooner away from her consort, you will not be able to\\ndo much with the Firefly.\"\\n\\n\"I will do my best, sir,\" replied I.  \"I have a very fine set of men on\\nboard, and I think, very good officers.\"\\n\\n\"Well, at all events, if you can\\'t fight, you have a good pair of heels\\nto run with,\" replied Captain C---; \"but dinner\\'s announced.\"\\n\\nI left early, that I might have some conversation with Mr Fraser.  On\\nmy return we sat down to some sangoree and cigars; and then he told me\\nthat Mr Vanderwelt had left Curacao about nine months before, and that\\nmy last letter directed to him had been forwarded to Holland.  He had\\noften heard the history of my saving their lives on board of the pirate\\nvessel from Mr Vanderwelt who made it a constant theme of his\\ndiscourse; and, added Mr Fraser, \"You do not know what a regard he has\\nfor you.\"\\n\\n\"And little Minnie, sir?\" inquired I: \"it is now nearly five years since\\nI saw her.\"\\n\\n\"Little Minnie is no longer little Minnie, Mr Keene, I can assure you.\\nShe was _fifteen_ when she left the island, and had grown a tall and\\nvery beautiful girl.  All the young men here were mad about her and\\nwould have followed her not only to Holland, but to the end of the\\nworld, I believe, if they thought that they had the least chance--but\\nfrom my intimacy with the family, I tell you candidly, that I think if\\nyou were to meet again, you would not have a bad one; for she talks\\nincessantly of you when alone with her father: but I must not divulge\\nfamily secrets.\"\\n\\n\"I fear there is little chance of my meeting again with her,\" replied I:\\n\"I have to carve my way up in my profession, and this war does not\\nappear likely to be over soon.  That I should like to see her and her\\nfather again, I grant; for I have made but few friendships during my\\nlife, and theirs was one of the most agreeable.  Where is Mr Vanderwelt\\nsettled?\"\\n\\n\"He is not in Holland--he is at Hamburg.  Well there is no saying;\\naccident may bring you together again, as it did on board of the pirate;\\nand I hope it may.\"\\n\\nShortly afterwards we went to bed.  I must say, his description of\\nMinnie, which was even much more in detail than I have narrated to the\\nreader, did prevent my going to sleep for a long while.  Women, as the\\nreader may have seen, never once troubled my thoughts!  I had fed upon\\none sole and absorbing idea, that of being acknowledged by Captain\\nDelmar; this was, and had been, the source and spring of every action,\\nand was the only and daily object of reverie; it was my ambition, and\\nambition in any shape, in whatever direction it may be led, is so\\npowerful as to swallow up every other passion of the human mind; but\\nstill I had a strong affection for Minnie--that is for little Minnie, as\\nI saw her first, with her beautiful large eyes and Madonna countenance,\\nclinging to her father.  With the exception of my own relations, who\\nwere so much my seniors, I had had nothing to bestow my affections on--\\nhad not even made the acquaintance, I may say, of a woman, unless my\\ncasual intercourse with Bob Cross\\'s Mary, indeed, might be so\\nconsidered.  A passion for the other sex was, therefore, new to me; but,\\nalthough new, it was pleasing, and, perhaps, more pleasing, from being,\\nin the present case, ideal; for I had only a description of Minnie as\\nshe was, and a recollection of what she had been.  I could, therefore,\\nbetween the two, fill up the image with what was, to my fancy, the ideal\\nof perfection.  I did so again and again, until the night wore away;\\nand, tired out at last, I fell fast asleep.\\n\\nThe next day, after I had been on board of the schooner, and given my\\norders to Bob Cross, I returned to Mr Fraser, and sat down to write to\\nMr Vanderwelt; I also wrote to Minnie, which I had never done before.\\nThat my night reveries had an effect on me is certain, for I wrote her a\\nlong letter; whereas, had I commenced one before my arrival at Curacao,\\nI should have been puzzled to have made out ten lines.  I told her I was\\nsitting in the same chair, that I was sleeping in the same room, that I\\ncould not look around me without being reminded of her dear face, and\\nthe happy hours we passed together; that Mr Fraser had told me how tall\\nshe had grown, and was no longer the little Minnie that used to kiss me.\\nIn fact, I wrote quite romantically as well as affectionately, and when\\nI read over my letter, wondered how it was that I had become so\\neloquent.  I begged Mr Vanderwelt to write to me as soon as possible,\\nand tell me all about their doings.  I sealed my letter, and then threw\\nmyself back in my chair, and once more indulged in the reveries of the\\nnight before.  I had a new feeling suddenly sprung up in my heart, which\\nthreatened to be a formidable rival to my ambition.\\n\\nIn two days the Firefly was ready, and I reported her as being so to\\nCaptain C---.  He gave me my orders, which were to cruise for six weeks,\\nand then to rejoin the admiral at Port Royal, unless circumstances\\nshould make me think it advisable to return to the island.  The boats of\\nthe men-of-war were sent to tow me out of the harbour, and I was once\\nmore on the wide blue sea--the schooner darting along like a dolphin.\\n\\nFor a fortnight we cruised without seeing any vessel but the Naiad.  I\\nwas very much afraid that the captain would have ordered me to keep\\ncompany; but as he considered his vessel quite a match for the brig and\\nschooner if he should fall in with them, and did not want the\\nprize-money to be shared with the crew of the Firefly, he allowed me to\\ngo my own way, saying to me, laughingly, as I went over the side, \"They\\nwill certainly take you if they meet you, and we shall have to recapture\\nyou.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I hope you will not forget your promise, sir,\" replied I; \"I\\nshall depend upon you.\"\\n\\nDuring the fortnight that I had been out, I had taken great pains in\\nexercising the men at their guns, the great gun particularly; and I had\\nhad an excellent sight put on it, which it had not, and very much\\nrequired.  During two or three days\\' calm, I had fired shot at a mark\\nfor three or four hours each day, and I found that the men, with this\\nlittle practice, were very expert, and could hit a very small object,\\nnow that the sight was put on the gun.  The two best shots, however,\\nwere the gunner and Bob Cross.\\n\\nThe night after we parted from the Naiad, I had run to the southward,\\nhaving heard from the captain that the Driver was more to the northward\\nthan he was.  There was nothing in sight on the next day, and when the\\nevening set in, the wind being very light, and water smooth, I said to\\nCross, \"Suppose we furl sail at night--it is just as good as running\\nabout; we then shall see them if they come in our way, and they will not\\nsee us.\"\\n\\n\"A very good idea, Mr Keene; we must keep a good look-out, that\\'s all.\"\\n\\nI followed up my own suggestion; we furled the sails, and leaving two\\nmen with the officer of the watch to keep a sharp look-out, allowed the\\nrest of the ship\\'s company to remain in the hammocks during the whole of\\nthe night.\\n\\nWhen day broke we had two look-out men at the mast-head, but remained\\nwith our sails furled as before, for the same reason, that we should\\ndiscern a vessel by her sails long before she could discover us.  The\\nmore I thought of it, the more convinced I was of the advantage to be\\ngained by the following up of this plan.  I was on the exact cruising\\nground I wished to be, and therefore could not do better while the\\nweather remained so fine.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.\\n\\nFour nights and three days we remained in this way; during which my men\\nhad nothing to do but to exercise at the guns, and of that I took care\\nthey should have a good spell.  On the fourth night the wind was a\\nlittle fresher, but the water quite smooth.  I had turned in about\\ntwelve o\\'clock, and had been asleep about an hour when Cross came and\\ncalled me.\\n\\n\"Well, Cross,\" said I, \"what is it?\"\\n\\n\"Here they are, sir.\"\\n\\n\"What?--the privateers?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir; the brig and schooner both coming down right before the wind;\\nthey are on our weather quarter, and will pass us within two miles, if\\nnot nearer.\"\\n\\nI left my bed-place, and was dressed in a minute.  I went on deck with\\nmy glass, and directed it to the vessels, which were quite plain to the\\nnaked eye.\\n\\n\"Put out the binnacle light, Cross,\" said I; \"they might discover us.\"\\n\\nThe brig, which was the headmost of the two vessels, was now nearly\\ncrossing our stern.  The schooner was about a mile astern of her.\\n\\n\"Turn the hands up, Cross; see all ready for action and making sail.\"\\n\\n\"Not yet, sir, surely!\"\\n\\n\"No, not yet; we will let them run two or three miles dead to leeward,\\nand then follow them till daylight, or till they see us, when, of\\ncourse, they will be after us.\"\\n\\n\"It\\'s very fortunate, sir, that we did furl the sails; for had they come\\ndown, and we under sail, they would have seen us, and we should have\\nbeen to leeward of them, which would have given us a poor chance against\\nsuch odds; now we shall have the weather-gage, and may choose, if our\\nheels are as good as theirs, which I expect they are, if not better.\"\\n\\n\"I shall fight them in some shape or another, Bob, you may depend upon\\nit.\"\\n\\n\"Of course you will, Mr Keene, or you\\'ll disappoint us all.  The ship\\'s\\ncompany have every confidence in you, I can tell you.\"\\n\\n\"Thanks to your long yarns, Bob, I presume.\"\\n\\n\"Thanks to my telling the truth, Mr Keene.  The schooner is right\\nastern of us now, so there\\'s the weather-gage gone--thank God!\"\\n\\nWe remained as we were till I considered the two vessels sufficiently to\\nleeward, and the sails were then set upon the Firefly, and first running\\nto the eastward, so as to get right in the wind\\'s eye of them, I put the\\nhelm up, and followed them.  We had continued our course in their wake\\nfor about an hour, when day dawned, and the schooner, who had discovered\\nus, fired a gun as a signal to her concert.\\n\\n\"So you\\'ve found us out at last, have you?\" said Bob Cross--\"at all\\nevents, we keep a better look-out than you do, old fellow.\"\\n\\nShortly after the gun was fired, both vessels hauled to the wind on the\\nlarboard tack, and we did the same: being about four miles to windward\\nof the schooner and five or five and a half of the brig, we could now\\nexamine our adversaries.  The schooner was, apparently, about the same\\ntonnage as the Firefly, a very beautiful vessel with her masts raking\\nover her stern.  She was painted black, and we could not ascertain, at\\nfirst, how many guns she carried, as her ports were shut; but after a\\nshort time she knocked out her half ports to prepare for action, and\\nthen we discovered that she carried twelve guns, but not a long gun on a\\nswivel like the one on board of the Firefly.  I observed this to Cross,\\nwho replied, \"Then, sir, all we have to do now is to try our rate of\\nsailing with them, and if we are faster than they are we have not much\\nto fear--unless we lose a spar, indeed; but luck\\'s all, Mr Keene.  The\\nschooner has more sail on her than we have; shall we set exactly the\\nsame?\"\\n\\n\"No, Cross, for I think we have fore-reached upon her already, and, if\\nwe can beat her with less sail set, it will do just as well.  I think\\nthat the breeze is steady; if anything, we shall have more than less of\\nit.\"\\n\\nFor an hour we continued running on the same tack with them, by which\\ntime we found that we had not only brought the schooner one point abaft\\nour beam, but had weathered her at least half a mile.  We therefore were\\nfully satisfied that we had sailed better than the schooner.  With the\\nbrig it was not so.  Although we had brought the schooner two points\\nabaft our beam, the brig was much in her former position, being still\\nhalf a point abaft our beam, and moreover had come in much closer to the\\nschooner, proving that we had neither weathered her, nor fore-reached\\nupon her.  As near as we could judge, our sailing with the brig was much\\nupon a par.  Having ascertained this point more satisfactorily by\\nallowing another hour of trial, I desired the men to get their\\nbreakfasts, while I and the officers did the same, and as soon as that\\nwas done, I ordered the Firefly to be kept away--edging down till within\\ngood range of our long brass thirty-two-pound gun--that is, about one\\nmile and a half--when we again hauled our wind and hoisted the English\\ncolours.\\n\\nThe tri-colour was immediately thrown up by the two Frenchmen, and a\\nshot was fired at us by the schooner: it fell exhausted into the water\\nabout half a cable\\'s length from us.\\n\\n\"Now, Cross,\" said I, \"see if we can\\'t return the compliment with a\\nlittle better success.\"\\n\\nCross, who had been training the gun, and had his eye on the sight,\\nwaited for a second or two, and fired: we saw the shot pass through the\\nfirst reef of his main-sail, and dash into the water to leeward of him.\\n\\n\"Very good that, Cross; but hull him if you can.\"\\n\\nThe schooner now returned the fire with the whole broadside, apparently\\ntwelve pounders; but they did not throw so far as our long\\nthirty-two-pounder, and no shot went over us, although one fell close\\nunder the stern.  At the distance, therefore, that we were, we had\\neverything in our favour and my object was to dismantle the schooner\\nbefore any chance enabled the brig to assist her.  We continued to fire\\nat her, taking the greatest pains in our aim, for the next hour, during\\nwhich we ascertained that we had hulled her more than once, and had very\\nmuch cut up her spars and rigging.  She continued to return the fire,\\nbut without effect.  One or two shots hit us, but their force was so\\nmuch spent by the distance they were propelled, that they did not enter\\nthe sides.  At last a shot fired by the gunner did the job; it struck\\nher foremast, which shortly afterwards went by the board.  The Fireflies\\ngave three cheers at the good fortune.\\n\\n\"She\\'s done for, sir,\" said Cross.  \"Now for the brig--we must try what\\nmetal she carries.\"\\n\\n\"Stop a bit,\" said I, \"Cross; we must give the schooner a little more\\nbefore she gets away.  They have lowered down the main-sail and I\\npresume, intend getting up some head-sail, so as to pay off, and run\\nunder the lee of the brig for shelter.  Put the helm up, and run down so\\nas to keep the schooner about two points on our larboard bow.  Get the\\ngun round, and pitch it into her.\"\\n\\nAs we had supposed, the schooner got a stay up from her bowsprit and to\\nher mainmast head, and hoisted a fore and aft sail upon it, that she\\nmight pay off, and run down to her consort for support; but as we ran\\nthree feet to her one, and now stood directly for her, we were enabled\\nto get close to her, and put several shots into her from our long gun as\\nwe advanced.  She did not attempt to round to, to give us her broadside,\\nand our raking shot must have had great effect.  When within half a mile\\nof her we rounded to, and gave her our broadside; for had we followed\\nher any further we should have been closer to the brig than might be\\nagreeable.  Indeed, we were nearer than we thought, for she had\\ncontinued to hug the wind, and was so weatherly, that she was not more\\nthan a mile to leeward of us when we rounded to the wind again; but as\\nshe had fore-reached upon the schooner, she was distant from us about\\ntwo miles.  As we rounded to the brig tacked, and we immediately did the\\nsame; and we now had a fair trial of sailing with her.\\n\\n\"Cross, let the men go down and get what they can to eat,\" said I, \"and\\nget up the grog.  We shall have plenty of work before the night is over,\\nI expect.\"\\n\\n\"We must make a running fight of it, sir, I expect, for she is too heavy\\nfor us.\"\\n\\n\"I shall try her the same way as the schooner, Cross,\" replied I.  \"If I\\ncan only knock away some of her spars without losing my own, I shall\\nthen be able to do something; if, on the contrary, we lose our spars,\\nand she gets alongside of us, why then we must fight to the last.\"\\n\\n\"I consider that schooner as our own,\" replied Bob; \"she must haul down\\nher colours when no longer protected by the brig.\"\\n\\n\"Yes; I was afraid that she would run away to leeward altogether; but I\\nsee she has rounded to, and is no doubt getting up a jury fore-mast.\"\\n\\nI allowed the men to remain an hour at their dinner, and then they were\\nsummoned up.  During the hour we found the rate of sailing between us\\nand the brig so nearly balanced, that it was impossible to say which had\\nthe best of it.\\n\\n\"Now, my lads, we will wear round, and get a little closer to this\\nfellow, and see what we can do with him.\"\\n\\nThe men were full of spirits and hope, and were as anxious to decide the\\nquestion as I was.  In ten minutes we passed the brig within a mile on\\nopposite tacks, and had given her our long gun three times, and had\\nreceived her broadside.\\n\\n\"He has long twelve-pounders, I think, sir,\" said Cross; \"smart guns, at\\nall events.  There\\'s a fore shroud and a back stay gone; but that\\'s no\\ngreat matter.\"\\n\\nAs soon as the brig was three points abaft the beam we tacked, and\\nrecommenced firing.  Not a shot was thrown away by my men.  I believe\\nthe brig was hulled every time; nor was her fire without effect upon us.\\nOur rigging was much cut up; several of her shots had gone through our\\nsails, and we had two men hurt.  I was annoyed at this, as we had no\\nsurgeon on board.  The assistant surgeon who had belonged to the\\nschooner was at the hospital, and there was not one to replace him when\\nwe sailed.  However, we had one of the men belonging to the hospital--a\\nsort of dispenser--who knew very well how to manage anything that was\\nnot very serious.\\n\\nThe breeze had gradually died away, and we did not go more than three\\nmiles through the water; and as our sails were much torn, we did not\\nhold so good a wind.  The consequence was that the distance between us\\nand our antagonist was, by two o\\'clock, decreased to half a mile, and\\nthe fight became very warm.  Our broadside guns were now called into\\nplay, and assisted us very much, as we directed them chiefly at her\\nsails and rigging, while our long thirty-two-pounder was fired at her\\nhull, pointed below her water-line.  She had the advantage in number of\\nguns, certainly; but our large shots from the long gun were more\\ndestructive.\\n\\nAbout three we knocked away her fore-topmast, which enabled us to shoot\\nahead about a quarter of a mile, and increase our distance, which was a\\nboon to us, for we latterly had suffered very much.  We had eight men\\nwounded and one of my poor middies killed; and we had received several\\nshots in the hull.  Now that we had increased our distance, we had a\\nbetter chance, as our long gun was more effective than those of the\\nbrig.  At five o\\'clock it fell dead calm, and both vessels lay with\\ntheir heads round the compass; this was also in our favour, as we could\\ntrain our long gun on its circular bend in any direction we pleased; but\\nthe brig contrived, by getting sweeps out of her bow ports, to bring her\\nbroadside to bear upon us, and the action continued till night closed\\nin.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWENTY FIVE.\\n\\nAs it may be supposed, my men were completely worn out with the fatigue\\nand excitement of the day; and Cross said, \"There\\'s no saying how this\\nwill end, Mr Keene; but, at all events, we have not the worst of it at\\npresent.\"\\n\\n\"No, Bob,\" replied I.  \"I wish the men were not so knocked up.\"\\n\\n\"Oh, as for that, sir, I\\'ll answer for it, that if you serve out some\\nmore grog, make them eat half a biscuit at the tub before they drink it,\\nand make them a little bit of a speech, that they\\'ll go on for\\ntwenty-four hours more.\"\\n\\n\"If that will have the effect, I\\'m sure I\\'ll try it,\" replied I.  \"Which\\nshall they have first?\"\\n\\n\"Oh, biscuit first, grog next, and then a speech afterwards.\"\\n\\n\"That fellow has not fired for this last five minutes; perhaps he wishes\\nto put it off till to-morrow morning; but I\\'ll not; so get up the grog--\\nmake it pretty strong: and I\\'ll get something to eat myself, for I have\\nhad nothing to eat all day.\"\\n\\nAs soon as the ship\\'s company had had their refreshment, I sent for them\\naft, and said, \"My lads, you have behaved very well, and I am much\\nobliged to you.  We have had hard work, and I dare say you are tired\\nenough; but I will tell you what my opinion is: I think that we have\\npeppered that Frenchman very well; and I am convinced that you have put\\na good many shots into him between wind and water.  Now, that he is\\nanxious to leave off fighting till to-morrow morning, that he may stop\\nhis leaks and repair his damages, I have no doubt; indeed, he proves it\\nby his having ceased to fire.  For the very reason that he wants to\\nleave off, I wish to go on; for he is much heavier armed than we are,\\nand sails as well; and if we permit him to get all right and all ataunt\\nby to-morrow morning, he may prove a very awkward customer yet.  Now\\nwhat I propose is this, that we should first get up fresh sails, and\\nbend them, and then renew the action through the night.  There will be\\nno occasion for all of you to be on deck; we will fight the schooner\\nwatch and watch till daylight.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s my opinion, Mr Keene,\" said Bob Cross.\\n\\n\"And mine,\" replied the carpenter.\\n\\n\"And all of us, Mr Keene,\" replied the ship\\'s company with one voice.\\n\\n\"Then, my lads, let\\'s work hard; and when we have settled that fellow,\\nwe shall have plenty of time to sleep.\"\\n\\nThe men now set to with good-will; and the spare sails were got up, and\\nthose which were shattered by the enemy unbent and replaced.  The new\\nsails, which we had bent, we furled--it was a dead calm--and then we\\nrecommenced our fire, for we were nearer to her than when we ceased\\nfiring, and could distinguish her very well.  We fired the long gun four\\ntimes before she returned a shot; she then opened very briskly, but none\\nof her shots did us any damage; our sails being furled, prevented her\\ndistinguishing us as well as we could her.  After a time, we manned the\\nsmall guns on our broadside, and worked them, for our large gun was so\\nhot, that it was necessary to let it cool before we could reload it.  At\\nlast one of their shots came in through the bulwarks; the splinters\\nwounded me and the carpenter; but I was not so much hurt as to oblige me\\nto leave the deck.  I bound up my leg with my handkerchief; the\\ncarpenter, however, was taken down below.\\n\\n\"Are you much hurt, sir?\" said Bob Cross.\\n\\n\"Oh, no; the flesh is lacerated a good deal, but it is not very deep.\"\\n\\n\"There\\'s a little wind springing up, sir, from the right quarter,\" said\\nBob.\\n\\n\"I\\'m glad to hear it,\" replied I, \"for it will soon be daylight now.\"\\n\\nAt this moment another shot struck the hammock rail and a piece of it\\nabout two feet long was sent with great force against Bob Cross\\'s head;\\nhe was stunned, if not worse, and fell immediately.  This was a severe\\nblow to me, as well as to poor Bob.  I desired two of the men who were\\nabaft, to take him down into my cabin, and do all they could for him;\\nand ordered the men to quit the broadside guns, and renew their fire\\nwith the long 32-pounder.  In a quarter of an hour afterwards, the\\nbreeze came down very strong, and I resolved to shoot ahead, farther off\\nfrom my antagonist, as I should have a better chance by using my long\\ngun at a greater distance.  The sails were set, and the schooner went\\nfast through the water, leaving the brig, who had also the benefit of\\nthe breeze; and for a time the firing again ceased.  On reflection, I\\ndetermined that I would wait till daylight, which would appear in less\\nthan half an hour, before I renewed the action.\\n\\nI contrived with some difficulty--for my leg was so numbed that I could\\nscarcely feel that I had one--to go down into the cabin and see Bob\\nCross.  He was recovering, but very wild and incoherent.  As far as I\\ncould judge, his skull was not injured, although the splinter had torn\\noff a large portion of the scalp, and he was drenched with his blood.\\nAt all events, he could be of no further assistance to me at present,\\nnor could I be to him, so I regained the deck, and sat down abaft, for\\nmy leg had become so painful, that I could not stand but for a few\\nminutes.\\n\\nAt last the day dawned, and I could distinctly make out both brig and\\nschooner.  I was about a mile and a half distant from the brig; she had,\\nsince the wind sprung up, driven a mile ahead of the schooner, who had\\ncontrived to get up a jury-mast during the night; but as she could not\\nstir without reducing her after-sail, she had close-reefed her\\nmain-sail, so that she could make but little progress.  The brig was\\nvery much cut up in her sails and rigging, and I saw at once that I had\\nnow the advantage in sailing; I therefore wore round and stood towards\\nthem; the brig did the same, and went down to the schooner that she\\nmight have her support.  We immediately recommenced firing with our long\\ngun, and as soon as we were within a mile, I hove to.  The brig and\\nschooner then both bore up and gave us their broadsides; they had just\\ndone so, when the midshipman who was on deck with me cried out, \"A large\\nsail coming down before the wind, Mr Keene.\"\\n\\nI caught up my glass.  It was a sloop of war; the cut of her sails and\\nrigging evidently English.  \"It must be the Naiad,\" said I.  \"Well, I\\'m\\nglad of it.  We shall lose some prize-money; but at all events we\\nrequire her surgeon, and that is of more consequence.\"\\n\\nMy men, who were quite tired out, were in great spirits at the\\nappearance of a friend.  The brig had set studding-sails; she had\\nevidently seen the vessel to windward, and was now trying to escape, and\\nthe schooner was following her as well she could.  I immediately kept\\naway in pursuit, and when I fired into the schooner she hauled down her\\ncolours.  I did not wait to take possession, but followed the brig, who\\nappeared to sail as well off the wind as she did when close hauled.\\nOnce or twice she rounded to return my fire, but afterwards she\\ncontinued running before the wind, having got two of her guns aft, with\\nwhich she attempted to cut away my rigging.  In the meantime, the\\nstrange vessel to windward had hoisted English colours, and was bringing\\ndown with her a spanking breeze: fortunately it was so, for my\\nfore-topmast was knocked away by the fire of the brig, and I now dropped\\nfast astern.\\n\\nWe had scarcely got up a new fore-topmast and set sail again, when the\\nNaiad, who had exchanged numbers with me, passed the schooner without\\ntaking possession of her, and was very soon not a mile from us.  In half\\nan hour she was alongside and hailing me to haul my wind and take\\npossession of the schooner, continued in chase of the brig.  I obeyed my\\norders, and by the time I had put my men on board of the schooner, the\\nbrig had hove to and hauled down her colours to the Naiad.\\n\\nWe ran down to her in company with the prize, and then sent a boat\\nrequesting immediate surgical attendance.  The Naiad\\'s surgeon and his\\nassistant were brought on board in one of the sloop-of-war\\'s boats, and\\na lieutenant, to obtain from me the particulars of the action, which I\\ngave to him.  The lieutenant told me that they had heard the firing\\nabout one o\\'clock in the morning, and had in consequence bore up; but\\nthe brig had so many shot in her, and was making so much water, that\\nthey were almost afraid that they would not be able to get her into\\nport.  But I was now quite faint with the pain of my wound and\\nexhaustion, and was carried below to have it dressed.  All our men had\\nbeen attended to, and I was glad to hear that Bob Cross was in no\\ndanger, although his wound was very severe.  The surgeon\\'s assistant was\\nallowed to remain on board, and the captain of the Naiad sent all my men\\nback and manned the prizes, giving me orders to keep company with him.\\nAs soon as my wound was dressed, and I was put into my bed, I felt much\\nrelieved, and soon afterwards fell fast asleep.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWENTY SIX.\\n\\nThe prizes proved to be the Diligente brig, of fourteen guns, and two\\nhundred and ten men, and Caroline schooner, of eight guns, and one\\nhundred and twenty men--they had done a great deal of mischief, and\\ntheir capture was of importance.  The captain of the Naiad\\'s orders were\\nto return to Curacao, and we all made sail before sunset.  Our loss had\\nbeen severe: commanding officer, boatswain, carpenter, and twelve men\\nwounded--one midshipman and two men killed.\\n\\nThe next morning our signal was made to pass within hail, and the\\ncaptain of the Naiad inquired how I was.  The surgeon\\'s assistant\\nreplied that I and all the wounded were doing well, and there was no\\nmore communication till we arrived at Curacao on the fourth day, by\\nwhich time I was rapidly recovering.\\n\\nMr Fraser, as soon as he heard of my being hurt, immediately came on\\nboard and insisted upon my being taken on shore to his house, and I\\ngladly consented.  The next day I had a visit from Captain C, the\\ncommanding officer, and the captain of the Naiad.  Captain C asked me if\\nI was well enough to write the account of the action.  I replied that I\\nwas, and that I would send it the next day.  He and the captain of the\\nNaiad both paid me many compliments for having fought a superior force\\nfor so long a time, and Captain C said that as soon as I was well enough\\nhe would send me up to Jamaica, as bearer of my own despatches to the\\nadmiral.\\n\\nI requested, as a particular favour of Mr Fraser, that he would allow\\nBob Cross to be sent ashore to his house, and Mr Fraser immediately\\nconsented.  My friend Bob was therefore brought up that evening, and was\\nsoon established in very comfortable quarters.\\n\\nWe had been a fortnight at the island, during which my wound was healing\\nrapidly, and I was able to hop about with a crutch.  Cross also was out\\nof bed, and able to sit up for an hour or two on the verandah, in the\\ncool of which I spent the best part of the day, with my wounded limb\\nresting upon a sofa.  From the veranda we had a view of the harbour, and\\none morning I perceived that there were two additional vessels which had\\nanchored during the night; they proved to be the Driver and the\\nbrigantine privateer, which she had captured after a chase and running\\nfight of forty-eight hours.  I was glad of this, as I knew what pleasure\\nit would give to the admiral.\\n\\nI now again indulged in my dreams of Minnie, who had been forgotten as\\nsoon as I had left the harbour and been engaged in active service.\\nStretched upon a sofa, with my wounded leg, I had nothing else to do, or\\nrather nothing else which was so agreeable to me.  I wrote to her again,\\nand also to my mother; neither did I forget that Lord de Versely had\\nrequested at parting that I should write to him.  I did so in a very\\nrespectful manner, detailing what had occurred.\\n\\nWhen we had been three weeks at Curacao, all our wounded, as well as\\nmyself, had so far recovered, that there was no reason for the Firefly\\nnot proceeding to Jamaica.  The commanding officer lent an\\nassistant-surgeon to the schooner.  I received my despatches, took a\\ngrateful leave of Mr Fraser, and the Firefly was once more skimming\\nover the water.  In three weeks we arrived at Port Royal, and I took up\\nmy despatches.\\n\\n\"Happy to see you, Keene,\" said the admiral.  \"Hollo! what makes you\\nlimp in that way?  Have you hurt your leg?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir,\" replied I; \"I\\'m not quite well yet, but the despatches of\\nCaptain C will explain all.\"\\n\\nAs no vessel had sailed from Curacao, the admiral had no idea of what\\nhad happened.\\n\\n\"Well, then,\" said he, \"sit down on that sofa, Mr Keene, while I read\\nthe despatches.\"\\n\\nI watched the admiral\\'s countenance, and was delighted to witness the\\nevident signs of satisfaction which he expressed as he read on.\\n\\n\"Excellent!\" said he, as he closed them.  \"Keene, you have done me a\\ngreat favour.  The remonstrances of the merchants, the badgering I have\\nreceived from the Admiralty by every packet, relative to the\\ndepredations on our commerce by these vessels, have been enough to make\\na saint swear.  Now they are happily disposed of, and I have chiefly to\\nthank you for it.  Captain C informs me that the brig is well adapted\\nfor his Majesty\\'s service, but that the schooner is an old vessel.\"  The\\nadmiral then left the room.  In a few minutes he returned with a paper\\nin his hand, which he laid upon the table, and, taking up a pen, he\\nsigned it and presented it to me, saying--\"_Captain_ Keene, I trust you\\nwill give me the pleasure of your company to dinner; and, as you are\\nstill very lame, I think you had better make a signal for your servant\\nand traps, and take up your quarters at the Penn till you are quite\\nrecovered.\"\\n\\nPerceiving that I was too much agitated to reply, he continued, \"I must\\nleave you now;\" then extending his hand, he said, \"Allow me to be the\\nfirst to wish you joy on your promotion, which you have so well\\ndeserved.\"  He then went out of the room.  It really was so unexpected--\\nso little dreamt of, this sudden promotion, that I was confused.  I had\\nhoped that, by a continuance of good conduct, I might in a year or two\\nobtain it; but that I should receive it after only one cruise in the\\nschooner was beyond all my imagination.  I felt grateful, and as soon as\\nI was more composed, I returned thanks to Heaven, and vowed eternal\\ngratitude to the admiral.  I felt that I was a step nearer to Lord de\\nVersely, and I thought of the pleasure it would give my mother and\\nMinnie.  I had been alone about half an hour, when the admiral returned.\\n\\n\"I have just sent for an old messmate of yours, Captain Keene, who was\\nseverely wounded in your action with the Dutch frigate; he has now\\npassed, and Lord de Versely recommended him to me as a deserving young\\nofficer--a Mr Dott.\"\\n\\n\"Oh, yes, admiral; he was my first acquaintance when I went to sea.  He\\nhas been to sea longer than I have, but he lost a good deal of his\\ntime.\"\\n\\n\"Well I am going to give him an acting order for your brig.  I hope he\\nis a good, smart officer.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, admiral, he is a very good officer indeed,\" replied I, laughing.\\n\"Will you oblige me by not telling him that I am to be his captain, till\\nafter we have met?\"\\n\\n\"Ah, some mischief, I suppose; but if we make captains of such boys as\\nyou we must expect that.  Are your wounded men all going on well?\"\\n\\n\"All, sir,--even Bob Cross, the boatswain, whose head was half knocked\\noff, is quite well again.  He was Lord de Versely\\'s coxswain, sir, and\\nyou were kind enough to give him his warrant.\"\\n\\n\"I recollect--a good man, is he not?\"\\n\\n\"So good, sir, that the only regret I have in leaving the schooner is,\\nthat I cannot take him with me.  He is my right-hand man and I owe much\\nto him, and it will be a sore blow to him as well as to me.\"\\n\\n\"I see, you want him made boatswain of your brig--that\\'s it.\"\\n\\n\"I assure you, admiral, I should be most grateful if you would have that\\nkindness.\"\\n\\n\"I am always ready to promote a good man; your recommending him, and his\\nsevere wound, are sufficient.  He shall be your boatswain, Keene.\"\\n\\n\"You are very kind, sir,\" replied I.  \"I hope I shall do justice to your\\npatronage.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'ve no fear of that, Keene, and I know that a man, to work well,\\nshould, as far as he can, choose his own tools.  Mr Dott is waiting\\nnow, and as soon as he has his acting order, I will send him in to you.\"\\n\\nAbout ten minutes afterwards Mr Tommy Dott made his appearance; he\\nextended his hand to me, saying, in a haw-haw way, \"Keene, my dear\\nfellow, I\\'m glad to see you.\"  He certainly did look two or three inches\\ntaller, for he walked almost on tiptoe.\\n\\n\"Glad to see you, Tommy,\" said I; \"well, what\\'s the news?\"\\n\\n\"Nothing, I believe, except what you have brought.  I hear you had a bit\\nof a brush, and got winged.\"\\n\\n\"Even so, Tommy,\" replied I, pointing to my wounded leg.  \"The admiral\\nhas kindly asked me to stay here until I\\'m better.\"\\n\\n\"I dine with him to-day,\" replied Tommy; \"but as for staying here, I\\nshould think that rather a bore.  By the bye, Keene, what sort of a\\ncraft is that Diligente brig which the Naiad and you took?\"\\n\\n\"A very fine craft, Tommy: sails as well as the Firefly.\"\\n\\n\"Oh, you, of course, swear by your own vessel; and there\\'s nothing like\\nthe schooner--that\\'s natural enough; now, I must say, I prefer something\\na little larger, and, therefore, I\\'m not sorry that I have my commission\\nfor the new brig.\"\\n\\n\"Indeed!  Tommy; I wish you joy,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Thank ye, Keene,\" replied Tommy, very dignified.  \"I wonder,\" said he,\\n\"what sort of a skipper we shall have.  There\\'s the first lieutenant of\\nthe Naiad has a good chance.  I saw him: a very sharp sort of gentleman,\\nand carries his head remarkably high; but that won\\'t do for me.  I\\'ll\\nnot allow any captain to play tricks in a ship that I\\'m aboard of.  I\\nknow the rules and regulations of the service as well as any one, and\\nthat the captain shall see, if he attempts to go beyond his tether.\"\\n\\n\"Now, Tommy,\" replied I, \"you know, that although you talk so big, if\\nyou had been appointed a lieutenant into a ship commanded by Lord de\\nVersely, you would have been as much afraid of him as a lieutenant as\\nyou used to be as a midshipman.\"\\n\\n\"Lord de Versely,\" replied Tommy, who felt the truth of what I said:\\n\"he\\'s a peculiar sort of man.\"\\n\\n\"Take my word for it, Tommy, you\\'ll find all captains peculiar to one\\npoint; which is, that they expect respectful behaviour, and not\\ncavilling, from their officers; and our service is so peculiar, that it\\nis absolutely necessary that the officers should set this example to the\\nmen.\"\\n\\n\"Yes; that may be very well; but who knows but the captain of the brig\\nmay be some young fellow, who has seen no more service than myself--\\nperhaps, not been to sea so long?\"\\n\\n\"That is no reason that you should not obey his orders; indeed, if not\\nexperienced, you ought to do all you can to support him.\"\\n\\n\"Well, if he was to ask my advice, indeed--\"\\n\\n\"But he may not require your advice, Tommy, he may prefer deciding for\\nhimself.  Now, the first lieutenant of the Naiad is a great Tartar, and\\nI\\'m certain, if he is your captain, that, on the first word, he would\\nhave you under an arrest.  There\\'s an old saying, Tommy, `It\\'s folly to\\nkick against tenpenny nails;\\' and that every officer does who kicks\\nagainst his superior.  I can assure you, Tommy, that if ever I am a\\ncaptain, my officers shall obey me implicitly.  I will have no cavilling\\nat my orders.  I will always treat them as gentlemen, and support their\\nauthority, as they ought to support mine; but captain of my own ship I\\nwould be, and I suspect that it would go hard with any officer who\\nventured to dispute my rights.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I dare say you will be a martinet, or rather that you are one\\nnow, as you command a schooner.  However, as I never intend to sail with\\nyou, that\\'s nothing to me.  I\\'m sure, from what has passed, that you and\\nI should have a row before we were a week on board; for I\\'m not to be\\nplayed with.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Tommy, I\\'m very glad we have had this explanation; for now we\\nboth know what to expect.  I am resolved to be captain, you to resist my\\nauthority.\"\\n\\n\"No, no, I don\\'t say that--I only say that I won\\'t be played with--I\\nwon\\'t be trifled with.\"\\n\\n\"Tommy, I will neither play nor trifle with you; nor will you ever play\\nor trifle with me.  We have done that as midshipmen; in our new relative\\nsituations it is not to be thought of for a moment.  Read this.\"  I\\nhanded him my appointment as commander of the Diligente: Tommy cast his\\neyes over it, and at once saw that his promotion did not prevent his\\ngetting into scrapes, as usual.\\n\\n\"You a commander! you captain of the Diligente!  Why, I came to sea\\nbefore you.\"\\n\\n\"I know you did, Tommy; but, although you have been in the service\\nlonger, you have not seen quite so much service as I have.  At all\\nevents, I\\'m now your captain.  I flatter myself I shall make a very\\ntolerable one; and what is more, I have an idea that you will make a\\nvery good lieutenant, as soon as the vanity, with which you have been\\npuffed up since your receiving your promotion, will have settled down a\\nlittle, and that you will find it much pleasanter to be on good terms\\nwith your captain than to be eternally in hot water, especially with one\\nwho, you know, is not a person to be played with.\"\\n\\nTommy looked very confused; he said nothing, but kept his eyes on my\\ncommission, which he still held in his hand.  I had no idea that Tommy\\nDott\\'s being ignorant of my being captain of the brig would have\\noccasioned such a conversation as this.  I only wished to amuse myself\\nwith him, and surprise him at the last.  Tommy perceived that he had\\nmade a mess of it, and he stammered out some explanation as he returned\\nme the commission; and I replied: \"The fact is, Dott, you were merely\\ncutting a caper upon your new promotion; you never meant what you said;\\nit was all talk.  You always have been very obedient to proper authority\\nsince I have known you, and I am sure that you always will; so let\\'s say\\nno more about it.  I wish you joy upon your promotion, and, what\\'s more,\\nI\\'m very glad that we are to sail together.\"  Saying this, I held out my\\nhand, which Tommy took very readily, and we then began to talk on other\\nsubjects.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN.\\n\\nI had written to Cross, informing him of my promotion, and his being\\nappointed to the Diligente.\\n\\nI had been a fortnight with the admiral when the Naiad arrived with the\\nprizes in company, and, my wound being now cured, I took leave of the\\nadmiral, and went down, that I might superintend the fitting out of my\\nnew vessel.  As there were supernumerary men expected out of England,\\nthe admiral, at my suggestion, allowed me to turn over the crew of the\\nFirefly to form the nucleus of my ship\\'s company, and made up my\\ncomplement from his own ship.\\n\\nIn two months I was ready for sea, and most anxious to be off.  The\\nadmiral perceived my impatience, but, as there was no other vessel in\\nthe harbour, he would not let me go until another arrived, to be at his\\ndisposal in case of emergency.  The weariness of so long remaining in\\nharbour was, however, a little relieved by a circumstance which took\\nplace, and which probably will make my readers imagine that my\\npropensity for playing tricks was not quite eradicated.\\n\\nI lodged at a sort of hotel, kept by a mulatto woman of the name of\\nCrissobella, as the negroes termed her, originally Christobela.  She was\\nof Spanish blood by the father\\'s side, and had come down from the\\nHavannah.  She was very portly; very proud and dignified in her\\ncarriage, and demanded as much attention from her lodgers as a lady\\nwould who had received us as her guests, so that, to gain and retain\\nadmittance into her hostelry, it was necessary not only to pay a large\\nbill, but compliments to an equal amount.  She was very rich, possessed\\nnumerous slaves, and was perfectly independent of keeping an hotel.  I\\nbelieved she preferred to have something for her slaves and herself to\\ndo, and moreover, probably, she felt that if she retired she should be\\nthought a person of no consequence, whereas in her present position she\\nreceived a great deal of attention.  One thing was certain, that if\\nthose who lodged and boarded with her were very polite, and, on their\\nreturn from any other place, brought her small presents, she was very\\nindifferent as to their paying their bill; nay, to those who were her\\nfavourites, her purse was open, and a handful of doubloons was freely\\ntendered, if required.\\n\\nThe living was the same as at a boarding-house.  Breakfast was ready in\\nthe large hall by nine o\\'clock, and remained there until every one had\\ncome down at their own hour.  Dinner was always ready at five o\\'clock,\\nand then Crissobella presided at the table.  She admitted civilians,\\narmy officers, and navy, down to midshipmen; but warrant officers and\\ncaptains of merchant vessels were considered too low.  On the whole, it\\nwas a very pleasant establishment, as the private rooms were well\\nfurnished, the slaves numerous, and the attendance very good.\\nConsidering the price of most eatables on that island, it could not be\\nconsidered as very dear, although the wines, etcetera, made up a\\nformidable bill at the end of the month.\\n\\nThis kind of exclusiveness on the part of Signora Crissobella made the\\nhotel quite the fashion, and certainly it was by far the best in the\\ntown.  The inmates of it at this time were besides me Lieut.  Thomas\\nDott and Lieut.  William Maxwell, both appointed to the Diligente; three\\nor four young civilians, on mercantile speculations from New York; three\\nmidshipmen, who had been left behind on account of fever, and who were\\npromising fair, by the life they were now leading, to be very soon sent\\nto the hospital again; and one or two planters from the other islands.\\nThe latter and I were very well behaved, but the civilians were noisy,\\ndrinking and smoking from morning till night.  The midshipmen were\\nequally troublesome; and as for the new-made lieutenants, they were so\\nauthoritative and so disagreeable, and gave themselves such\\nconsequential airs, that Mammy Crissobella, as the slaves called her,\\nwas quite indignant--she had never had such a disorderly set in her\\nhouse.\\n\\nShe complained to me, and I spoke to them, but that was of little use.\\nI had no power over the young merchants, and the three midshipmen did\\nnot belong to my ship.  As for my lieutenants, I could not say much at\\ntheir giving themselves airs at an hotel where they paid for what they\\nhad.  It was not an offence that a captain could remonstrate upon.  I\\ntherefore merely said, that Mammy Crissobella could not have them in her\\nhouse if they did not leave off their treatment of the slaves, and if\\nthey continued to give her so much trouble and annoyance.  At last our\\nhostess would stand their behaviour no longer, and ordered them all to\\nleave the hotel, sending in their bills; but they all were unanimous in\\ndeclaring that they would not go, and it was not very easy to use force\\non such occasions.  I tried all I could to make matters right, but my\\nefforts were of little avail.  At last Mammy Crissobella became quite\\nfurious.  She did not make any alteration in the meals, as that would be\\npunishing all of us; but she refused wine and spirits; this they did not\\ncare for, as they sent for it elsewhere by their own servants, and there\\nwas nothing but noise and confusion all day along.  Mammy often came to\\nappeal to me, and wished to go to the governor, but I persuaded her not\\nto do so; and the mutiny continued, and every day there was nothing but\\naltercation at the meals.\\n\\n\"So help me God, gemmen, you no gemmen.  You make wish me dead, dat you\\ndo.  I tak obeah water some day.  I not live like this,\" said Mammy\\nCrissobella.  \"I take pepper-pot--I kill myself.\"\\n\\n\"Pray don\\'t do that,\" replied Tommy Dott; \"we shall be put to the\\nexpense of mourning.\"\\n\\n\"And I shall weep my eyes out,\" continued one of the mercantile\\ngentlemen.\\n\\n\"Weep your eyes out--is that all?  I shall blow my brains out,\" said\\nanother.\\n\\n\"And I will lie down on your grave and die,\" said the third.\\n\\n\"Dat all very well, gemmen; you say dat and laugh--but I no slave.\\n\\'Pose I not get you out my house, I ab _vengeance_, now I tell you, so\\nlook to that.  Yes,\" continued Mammy Crissobella, striking the table\\nwith her fist, \"I ab revenge.\"\\n\\n\"I have been thinking,\" said one of the mids, \"what I shall do if Mammy\\nCrissobella takes pepper-pot; I shall marry Leila, and keep the hotel.\\nMammy, you\\'ll leave me the plate and furniture.\"\\n\\nLeila was the head female slave--a very well-featured young mulatto\\ngirl, and a great favourite, as she was always laughing, always in good\\nhumour, and very kind and attentive.  At this remark Leila laughed, and\\nMammy Crissobella, who observed her showing her white teeth, \"You laugh,\\nyou huzzy: what you laugh for, Leila?  Get away--get out of room.  I\\ngive you nice flogging, by-by.  You dare laugh--you take side against\\nme, you nigger.\"\\n\\nI must here observe that Mammy Crissobella had been closeted with me for\\nsome time previous to this scene, and that Leila and the two planters\\nwere in the secret; this was, of course, unknown, and the hostess\\'s\\nanger appeared now to be extended towards me and the two planters, with\\nwhom she had been on good terms.\\n\\nShortly afterwards Mammy rose and left the room, and then I spoke to the\\nparty, and told them that they were driving the poor woman to\\nextremities.  The planters agreed with me, and we argued the case with\\nthem, but the majority were, of course, against us, and the young\\nmerchants appeared to be very much inclined to be personal with me.  At\\nlast I replied, \"Very well, gentlemen--as you please; but as I happen to\\nbe well known both to the admiral and governor I give you fair warning\\nthat, if this continues much longer, I will report the affair.  I should\\nbe very sorry to do so; but the house is now very uncomfortable, and you\\nhave no right to remain when the landlady insists upon your going.\"\\n\\nAt this reply of mine the naval portion of the guests were silent, but\\nthe civilians more insolent than before.  I did not wish to come to open\\nwar, so I said nothing more, and left the table.  After I was gone, the\\nrefractory parties made more noise than ever.  Just before the dinner\\nhour on the following day, Mammy Crissobella sent a circular round to\\nthe young men, stating that she could not receive them at dinner.  They\\nall laughed, and went down to table as before.  The dinner was better\\nthan usual, and they complimented Mammy upon it.  Mammy, who had taken\\nher seat with a scowl on her brow, and had not spoken a word, merely\\nbowed her head in reply to their observations.\\n\\nDinner was over, and then Mammy desired Leila to bring her a goblet\\nwhich was on the sideboard, and a small white jug which was in the\\n_buffet_.  She appeared much distressed, and hesitated a good deal,\\nputting the goblet to her lips, and then putting it down on the table\\nwithout tasting it.  This conduct induced us all to look seriously at\\nher.  At last she took it up, sighed deeply, and drank the whole off at\\na draught.  For a few seconds she held her hand over her forehead, with\\nher elbows resting on the table.  At last she looked up and said,\\n\"Gemmen, I got a little speech to make--I very sorry dat I not drink\\nyour health; but it no use--dat why you see me drink; I tell plenty time\\nyou make me mad--you make me drink obeah water--make me kill myself.\\nNow I ab done it--I drink pison water just now.  In two hour I dead\\nwoman.\"\\n\\nAt this communication, the truth of which appeared confirmed by the\\nwoman\\'s behaviour, all the company started from their chairs.\\n\\n\"Gemmen, I dare say you all very sorry; you be more sorry by-and-by.\\nCaptain, I beg your pardon; Mr W---, Mr G (the two planters), I beg\\nyour pardon; I not mean hurt you, but could not help it.  Now I tell all\\ncompany, all drink the pison water--because I not like die on the\\njibbit, I drink de pison water--Gemmen your dinner all pison, and you\\nall pisoned.  Yes, all pisoned,\" cried Mammy Crissobella at the highest\\npitch of her voice, and rushing out of the room.\\n\\nAt this announcement, I started from my chair and clasped my hands, as\\nif in agony.  I looked round me--never did I witness such a variety of\\nhorror as was expressed in the different faces at the hotel.  The old\\nplanter; Mr D, who sat next to me, and who was in the secret as well as\\nMr G, laid his head on the table with a groan.  \"The Lord have mercy on\\nmy sins,\" exclaimed Mr G; Mr Lieutenant Maxwell looked me in the face,\\nand then burst into tears; Mr Lieutenant Dott put his fingers down his\\nthroat, and with three or four more getting rid of their dinner as fast\\nas they could.\\n\\nAt last I sprang up to ring the bell; no one answered.  I rang again\\nmore furiously.  At last a slave appeared.\\n\\n\"Where\\'s my servant?\"\\n\\n\"Not here, sar.\"\\n\\n\"Where\\'s all the people of the house?\"\\n\\n\"All with missy, sar; Mammy Crissobella die.\"\\n\\n\"Run down then to the beach, and desire the surgeon of the brig to come\\nup immediately.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sar,\" replied the negro, leaving the room.\\n\\n\"Oh, I feel it now--here,\" exclaimed I, putting my hand to my chest;\\n\"I\\'m suffocating.\"\\n\\n\"And so do I,\" replied one of the midshipmen, weeping.\\n\\nThe girl Leila now entered the room in tears.  \"Mammy dead,\" said she.\\n\"Oh Captain Keene, I very sorry for you: you come with me, I give you\\nsomething.  I know how stop pison.\"\\n\\n\"Do you, Leila? then give it me; quick, quick.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, yes; give it us quick.\"\\n\\n\"I not stuff enough but I make more when I gib what I ab to Captain\\nKeene.  You all stay still, not move; pose you move about, make pison\\nwork.  I come back soon as I can.\"\\n\\nLeila then took my arm and led me tottering out of the room, when I went\\nto Mammy Crissobella, and laughed till I cried; but the punishment was\\nnot over.  After remaining about ten minutes looking at each other, but\\nneither speaking nor moving, in pursuance of Leila\\'s direction, with the\\nutmost despair in their countenances, they were gladdened by the return\\nof Leila with a large jug, out of which she administered a glass of some\\ncompound or another to each of them.  I watched at the door, and the\\neagerness with which they jostled and pushed each other to obtain the\\ndose before the rest was very amusing, and never did they swallow any\\nliquor with so much avidity, little imagining that, instead of taking\\nwhat was to cure them, they were now taking what was to make them very\\nsick; but so it was; and in a few minutes afterwards the scene of\\ngroaning, crying, screaming, writhing with pain, was quite awful.\\n\\nAfter a time, the slaves came in and carried them all to their\\nrespective beds, leaving them to their own reflections, and the violent\\neffects of the drugs administered, which left them no repose for that\\nnight, and in a state of utter exhaustion on the following morning.\\n\\nAt daylight I went into Mr Dott\\'s room with the surgeon, to whom I had\\nconfided the secret.  Tommy was a miserable object.\\n\\n\"Thank heaven! here is one still alive,\" said the surgeon to me.\\n\\n\"Oh!  Captain Keene,\" said Tommy, \"I\\'m glad to see that you are so well;\\nbut you had the remedy given you long before we had.\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied I, \"it was given me in good time; but I hope it was not\\ntoo late with you.\"\\n\\n\"I feel very bad,\" replied Tommy.  \"Doctor, do you think I shall live?\"\\n\\nThe doctor felt his pulse, and looked very grave; at last he said, \"If\\nyou get over the next twelve hours, I think you may.\"\\n\\n\"How many are dead?\" inquired Tommy.\\n\\n\"I don\\'t know; you are the first that I have visited; it\\'s a shocking\\nbusiness.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'ve been thinking that we were very wrong,\" said Tommy; \"we ought not\\nto have driven the poor woman to desperation.  If I do recover, her\\ndeath will be on my conscience.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'m glad to hear you say that, Tommy,\" replied I; \"but the doctor says\\nyou must remain very quiet, and therefore I shall leave you.  Good-bye;\\nI will see you again this evening.\"\\n\\n\"Good-bye, sir, and I hope you\\'ll forgive me for not having been so\\nrespectful as I should have been.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, yes, Tommy; we have been friends too long for that.\"\\n\\nMammy Crissobella\\'s dose had certainly put an end to all Tommy\\'s spirit\\nof resistance.  All the others who had been victims to our plot were\\nkept in the dark as to the real facts, and, as soon as they were able to\\nbe moved, paid their bills to Leila, and left the house.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.\\n\\nOn the third day, Tommy Dott and Mr Maxwell went on board, imagining\\nthat they had had a miraculous escape, and the two old planters and I\\nwere left the only inmates of the house to welcome the resurrection of\\nMammy Crissobella, who was again as busy as before.  She said to me,\\n\"Massy Keene, I really under great obligation to you; suppose you want\\ntwo, three hundred, five hundred pounds, very much at your service;\\nnever mind pay back.\"\\n\\nI replied that I did not want any money, and was equally obliged to her.\\nBut the affair had already made a great noise.  It was at first really\\nsupposed that Mammy Crissobella had poisoned them as well as herself,\\nand I was obliged to refute it, or the authorities would have taken it\\nup.  As the admiral sent down to make inquiries, I went up to him and\\ntold him the whole story; I was obliged to do the same to the governor,\\nand it was the occasion of great mirth all over the island, and no small\\nmortification to those who had been the sufferers.  Mammy Crissobella\\nwas complimented very much upon her successful stratagem to clear her\\nhouse, and she was quite in ecstasies at the renown that she obtained.\\n\\nOne day the admiral sent for me, and said--\"Keene, I can wait no longer\\nthe arrival of another vessel.  I must send you to England with\\ndespatches: you must sail to-morrow morning.\"\\n\\nAs I was all ready, I took my leave of the admiral, who promised me\\nevery assistance if on his station, and his good word with the\\nAdmiralty, and said that he would send down my despatches at daylight.\\nI went on board, gave the necessary orders, and then returned to the\\nhotel to pack up my portmanteau and pay my bill; but Mammy Crissobella\\nwould not hear of my paying anything; and as I found that she was\\nbeginning to be seriously angry, I gave up the point.  So I gave the old\\nlady a kiss as a receipt-in-full, and another to Leila, as I slipped a\\ncouple of doubloons into her hand, and went on board.  The next morning\\nshortly after daylight the despatches were on board, and the Diligente\\nwas under all the sail she could carry on her way to England.\\n\\nThe Diligente sailed as well as ever, and we made a very quick passage.\\nI found my ship\\'s company to be very good, and had no trouble with my\\nofficers.  Tommy Dott was very well behaved, notwithstanding all his\\nthreats of what he would do.  It was therefore to be presumed that he\\nwas not very ill treated.\\n\\nWe were now fast approaching the end of our passage, being about a\\nhundred miles to the South West of the Scilly Islands, with a light wind\\nfrom the southward when, in the middle watch, Bob Cross, who had the\\ncharge of it, came down and reported firing in the South East.  I went\\nup, but, although we heard the report of the guns, we could not\\ndistinguish the flashes.  I altered our course to the direction, and we\\nwaited till daylight should reveal what was going on.  Before daybreak\\nwe could see the flashes, and make out one vessel, but not the other.\\nBut when the sun rose the mystery was cleared off.  It was a French\\nschooner privateer engaging a large English ship, apparently an\\nEast-Indiaman.  The ship was evidently a good deal cut up in her spars\\nand rigging.\\n\\nBob Cross, who was close to my side when I examined them with my glass,\\nsaid, \"Captain Keene, that rascally Frenchman will be off as soon as he\\nsees us, if we hoist English colours; but if you hoist French colours,\\nwe may get down and pin him before he knows what we are.\"\\n\\n\"I think you are right, Bob,\" says I.  \"Hoist French colours.  He will\\nmake sure of his prize then, and we shall laugh at his disappointment.\"\\n\\nAs Cross turned away to go aft, I perceived a chuckle on his part, which\\nI did not understand, as there was nothing particular to chuckle about.\\nI thought it was on account of the Frenchman\\'s disappointment, when he\\nfound that we were not a friend, as he might suppose.\\n\\n\"Hadn\\'t we better fire a gun, Captain Keene, to attract their\\nattention?\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied I; \"it will look as if we really were Frenchmen.\"  The\\ngun was fired, and we continued to stand towards them with a good\\nbreeze.  About seven o\\'clock we were within two miles, and then we\\nobserved the Englishman haul down her colours, and the schooner\\nimmediately went alongside, and took possession.  I continued to run\\ndown, and in half an hour was close to her.  Calling up the boarders, I\\nlaid the brig alongside the schooner; as half her men were on board the\\nIndiaman, they were taken by surprise, and we gained possession with\\nvery trifling loss on our side, much to the astonishment of the crew of\\nthe privateer, as well as that of the Indiaman.\\n\\nThe captain, who was on deck, informed me that they had engaged the\\nschooner for nine hours, and that he had some hopes of beating her off,\\nuntil he saw me come down under French colours, upon which he felt that\\nfurther resistance was vain.  I told him I was afraid the schooner would\\nescape, if I had not deceived him, and complimented him upon his\\nvigorous defence.  The schooner was a very fine vessel, mounting\\nfourteen guns, and of three hundred tons burthen.  In fact, she was\\nquite as large as the Diligente.\\n\\nWhile we were handing the prisoners over to the brig, and securing them,\\nI accepted the invitation of the captain of the Indiaman to go into the\\ncabin with him, where I found a large party of passengers, chiefly\\nladies, who were very loud in their thanks for my rescue.  In another\\nhour we were all ready.  I left a party on board the Indiaman to repair\\ndamages, and my surgeon to assist the wounded men, and hauled off the\\nbrig and schooner.  The latter I gave into the charge of Tommy Dott, and\\nwe all made sail.\\n\\nAs I was walking the quarter-deck, delighted with my success, Cross, who\\nhad the watch and was by my side, said, \"I think, Captain Keene, you did\\nvery right in hoisting French colours.\"\\n\\n\"Why, yes, Cross,\" replied I; \"she is a very fast sailer, that is\\nevident, and she might have escaped us.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s not what I mean, Captain Keene.\"\\n\\n\"What then, Cross?\"\\n\\n\"Why, sir, I would not tell you why I wished you to hoist French colours\\nat the time, because I was afraid that, if I did, you would not have\\ndone so; but my reason was, that it would make a great difference in our\\nprize-money, and I want some, if you do not.\"\\n\\nEven then I could not imagine what Cross meant, for it never came into\\nmy head, and I turned round and looked at him for an explanation.\\n\\n\"Why, Captain Keene, if we had hoisted English colours, the schooner\\nwould have made sail and gone off, and, even if she had not done so, the\\nIndiaman would have held out till we came down; but as he hauled down\\nhis colours, and was taken possession of by the enemy, he now becomes a\\nrecapture, and I expect the salvage of that Indiaman will be of more\\nvalue to us than two or three of such schooners.\"\\n\\n\"That certainly did not enter my head when I hoisted the colours, Cross,\\nI must confess.\"\\n\\n\"No, sir, that I saw it did not, but it did mine.\"\\n\\n\"It\\'s hardly fair, Cross.\"\\n\\n\"Quite fair, sir,\" replied Bob.  \"The Company is rich, and can afford to\\npay, and we want it in the first place, and deserve it in the next.  At\\nall events, it\\'s not upon your conscience, and that schooner is such a\\nclipper, that I really think we should have lost her, if she had run for\\nit; besides, as she is as strong as we are, we might have lost a good\\nmany men before we took her.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s very true, Bob,\" replied I, \"and satisfies me that I was right\\nin what I did.\"\\n\\nThe wind had sprung up much fresher from the westward, and we were now\\nall three running with a fair wind; and as it continued, we did not put\\ninto Plymouth, but continued our course for Portsmouth, and on the third\\nday, at a very early hour in the morning, anchored at Spithead.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER TWENTY NINE.\\n\\nAs it was too soon to present myself to the admiral, I dressed, ready to\\ngo on shore, and hoisted the number of the Diligente as given by the\\nadmiral at Jamaica; but, as I expected, it was not known to the\\nguard-ship, and there was much surmise among the early risers as to what\\nmight be the large ship, schooner, and brig-of-war, which had entered.\\n\\nWe had just finished the washing of the decks, and I was standing aft\\nwith Cross, who had the morning watch, when he observed to me, \"Captain\\nKeene, we are now at anchor as near as possible to where the Calliope\\nwas when you went adrift in the boat with poor Peggy.  Some difference\\nbetween your situation now and then.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, Bob,\" replied I; \"I was thinking the same when I was dressing this\\nmorning, and I was also thinking that you would be very anxious to go on\\nshore--so you may take a boat as soon as you please; I will order one to\\nbe given to you.\"\\n\\n\"Thankey, sir.  I am a little anxious to see the poor girl, and I think\\nmatters will go smooth now.\"\\n\\n\"I hope so, with all my heart.  Let the gigs be all dressed and cleaned,\\nand the boat manned at six bells.  Pass the word for them to get their\\nbreakfast.\"\\n\\nAs it was better that I should wait for the admiral\\'s getting up, than\\nthat he should wait for me, I was on shore, and up at the office at\\nhalf-past seven o\\'clock, and found that the admiral was in his\\ndressing-room.  The secretary was there, and I delivered my orders and\\ndespatches, with which he went up to the admiral.  In about a quarter of\\nan hour he came down again with the port-admiral\\'s request that I would\\nwait for him, and stay to breakfast.  The secretary remained with me,\\nextracting all the West India intelligence that I could give him.\\n\\nAs soon as the admiral made his appearance, he shook me warmly by the\\nhand.  \"Captain Keene,\" said he, \"I wish you joy: I see you are\\nfollowing up your career in the West Indies.  We know you well enough by\\nthe despatches, and I am glad to be personally acquainted with you.\\nThis last business will, I have no doubt, give you the next step, as\\nsoon as you have been a little longer as commander.  Mr Charles, desire\\nthem to make the signal for the Diligente and schooner to come into\\nharbour.  The Indiaman may, of course, do as he pleases.  Now then, for\\nbreakfast.\"\\n\\nThe admiral, of course, asked me as many questions as the secretary, and\\nended, as I rose to take my leave, in requesting the pleasure of my\\ncompany to dinner on that day.  As the reader may suppose, I had every\\nreason to be satisfied with my reception.\\n\\nAs soon as I had left the admiral\\'s office, I put into the post-office,\\nwith my own hands, my letter to my mother, and one to Lord de Versely.\\nIn the latter I told him of my good fortune, and enclosed a copy of my\\ndespatch to the Admiralty.  Although the despatch was written modestly,\\nstill the circumstances in themselves--my having recaptured an Indiaman,\\nand carried, by boarding, a vessel of equal force to my own, and\\nsuperior in men--had a very good appearance, and I certainly obtained\\ngreater credit than it really deserved.  It was not at all necessary to\\nsay that I hoisted French colours, and therefore took the schooner\\nunawares, or that at the time most of her men were on board of the\\nIndiaman; the great art in this world is, to know where to leave off,\\nand in nothing more than when people take the pen in their hands.\\n\\nAs soon as I had finished my correspondence--for I wrote a few lines to\\nMrs Bridgeman, at Chatham, and a postscript to my mother\\'s letter--I\\nwent down to the saluting battery, when I found that the two vessels\\nwere just entering the harbour.  I went up and reported it at the\\nadmiral\\'s office, and the admiral went on board of both vessels to\\nexamine them himself, and he ordered a dock-yard survey.  They were both\\npronounced fit for his Majesty\\'s service, with the necessary dock-yard\\nalterations.  The crew of the Diligente were turned over to a hulk,\\npreparatory to unrigging and clearing her out for dock.  As soon as I\\nleft the admiral\\'s house, I sat down at the George Hotel, where I had\\ntaken up my quarters, and wrote a long letter to Minnie Vanderwelt.\\n\\nCross called upon me the next morning.  I saw by his countenance that he\\nhad good news to tell me.  He had found his lady-love as constant as he\\ncould wish, and having explained to the blind old smuggler that he had\\nbeen offered and accepted the situation of boatswain in his Majesty\\'s\\nservice during the time that he was in the West Indies, he had received\\nhis approbation of his conduct, and a warm welcome to the house whenever\\nhe could come on shore.\\n\\n\"I have not put the question to the old chap yet, Captain Keene,\" said\\nhe, \"but I think I will very soon.\"\\n\\n\"Don\\'t be in too great a hurry, Bob,\" replied I.  \"Give the old fellow a\\nlittle more \\'baccy, and ask his advice as to what you are to do with\\nyour prize-money.  You must also talk a little about your half-pay and\\nyour widow\\'s pension.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s very good advice, Captain Keene,\" replied Cross.  \"Mercy on us!\\nhow things are changed!  It appears but the other day that I was leading\\nyou down to this very hotel, to ship you into the service, and you was\\nasking my advice, and I was giving it to you; and now I am asking your\\nadvice, and taking it.  You have shot ahead in every way, sir, that\\'s\\nsartain; you looked up to me then, now I look up to you.\"\\n\\nI laughed at Cross\\'s observation, which was too true; and then we went\\ninto the dock-yard, and were very busy during the remainder of the day.\\n\\nThe following morning I received an answer from Lord de Versely, couched\\nin most friendly terms.  He complimented me on my success, and the high\\ncharacter I had gained for myself during so short a career, and added\\nthat he should be happy to see me as soon as I could come to London, and\\nwould himself introduce me to the first lord of the Admiralty.  He\\nadvised me to request leave of absence, which would be immediately\\ngranted, and concluded his letter, \"Your sincere friend and well-wisher,\\nde Versely.\"\\n\\nAs soon as I had laid down the letter, I said to myself, I was right--\\nthe true way to create an interest in a man like Lord de Versely, is to\\nmake him proud of you.  I have done well as yet--I will try to do more;\\nbut how long will this success continue?  Must I not expect reverses?\\nMay not some reaction take place? and have I not in some degree deserved\\nit?  Yes, I have used deceit in persuading him of my mother\\'s death.  I\\nbegan now to think that that was a false step, which, if ever\\ndiscovered, might recoil upon me.  I remained a long while in deep\\nthought.  I tried to extenuate my conduct in this particular, but I\\ncould not; and to rid myself of melancholy feelings, which I could not\\novercome, I wrote a letter, requesting leave of absence for a fortnight,\\nand took it myself to the admiral\\'s office.  This depression of spirits\\nremained with me during the time that I remained at Portsmouth, when,\\nhaving obtained leave, I set off for London, and on arrival, put up at a\\nfashionable hotel in Albermarle Street.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THIRTY.\\n\\nThe next morning I called at Lord de Versely\\'s and sent up my card.  I\\nwas immediately ushered up, and found myself in his presence.  Lord de\\nVersely rose from his sofa, and took my hand.  \"Keene, I am very glad to\\nsee you.  I am proud that an _eleve_ of mine should have done me so much\\ncredit.  You have gained all your rank in the service by your own merit\\nand exertions.\"\\n\\n\"Not quite all, my lord,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Yes, all; for you are certain of your next step--they cannot well\\nrefuse it to you.\"\\n\\n\"They will not refuse your lordship, I have no doubt,\" replied I.\\n\\n\"Sit down, Keene.  We will have a little conversation, and then we will\\ngo to the Admiralty.\"\\n\\nHis lordship then asked me many questions relative to what had passed;\\nand I entered into more detail than I had done in my letters.  After an\\nhour\\'s conversation, carried on by him in so friendly--I may almost say\\naffectionate--a style as to make my heart bound with delight, the\\ncarriage was announced, and accompanied his lordship down to the\\nAdmiralty.  His lordship sent up his card, and was requested immediately\\nto go upstairs.  He desired me to follow him; and as soon as we were in\\nthe presence of the first lord, and he and Lord de Versely had shaken\\nhands, Lord de Versely said, \"Allow me to introduce to you Captain\\nKeene, whose name, at least, you have often heard of lately.  I have\\nbrought him with me because he is a follower of mine: he entered the\\nservice under my protection, and continued with me until his conduct\\ngave him his promotion.  I have taken this opportunity of introducing\\nhim, to assure your lordship that, during the whole time that he served\\nwith me as midshipman, his gallantry was quite as conspicuous as it has\\nbeen since.\"\\n\\nThe first lord took me by the hand, and complimented me on my conduct.\\n\\n\"Captain Keene has strong claims, my lord.  What can we do now for him?\"\\n\\n\"I trust you will acknowledge that Captain Keene has earned his post\\nrank, my lord,\" replied Lord de Versely; \"and I shall take it as a\\nparticular favour to myself if your lordship would appoint him to a\\nfrigate, and give him an opportunity of doing credit to your lordship\\'s\\npatronage.\"\\n\\n\"I think I may promise you both,\" replied the first lord; \"but when we\\nmeet in the house to-night, I will let you know what I can do.\"\\n\\nAfter a few minutes\\' conversation, Lord de Versely rose, and we left the\\nroom.  As soon as we were in the carriage his lordship said, \"Keene, you\\nmay depend upon it I shall have good news to tell you to-morrow; so call\\nupon me about two o\\'clock.  I dine out to-day with the premier; but\\nto-morrow you must dine with me.\"\\n\\nI took leave of his lordship as soon as the carriage stopped; and as I\\nwished to appoint an agent, which I had not yet done, I had begged his\\nlordship to recommend me one.  He gave me the address of his own, and I\\nwent there accordingly.  Having made the necessary arrangements, I then\\nemployed the remainder of the day in fitting myself out in a somewhat\\nmore fashionable style than Portsmouth tailors were equal to.\\n\\nThe next morning I sat down to write to my mother; but somehow or\\nanother I could not make up my mind to address her.  I had thought of\\nit, over and over, and had made up my mind that in future I would always\\ncorrespond with my grandmother; and I now determined to write to her,\\nexplaining that such was my intention in future, and requesting that all\\nanswers should be also from my grandmother.  I commenced my letter,\\nhowever, with informing her that I had, since I had last written,\\nobtained leave of absence, and was now in London.  I stated the kindness\\nshown me in every way by Lord de Versely, and how grateful I was to him.\\nThis continued down to the bottom of the first page, and then I said\\n\"What would I not give to bear the name of one I so much love and\\nrespect!  Oh, that I was a Delmar!\"  I was just about to turn over the\\nleaf and continue, when the waiter tapped at the door, and informed me\\nthat the tailor was come to try on the clothes which I had ordered.  I\\nwent into the bed-room, which opened into the sitting-room, and was busy\\nwith the foreman, who turned me round and round, marking alterations\\nwith a piece of chalk, when the waiter tapped at the bed-room door, and\\nsaid Lord de Versely was in the sitting-room.  I took off the coat which\\nwas fitting as fast as I could, that I might not keep his lordship\\nwaiting, and put on my own.\\n\\nDesiring the man to wait my return, I opened the door, and found his\\nlordship on the sofa, and then for the first time, when I again saw it,\\nrecollected that I had left the letter on the table.  The very sight of\\nit took away my breath.  I coloured up as I approached his lordship.  I\\nhad quite forgotten that I had addressed my grandmother.  I stammered\\nout, \"This is an honour, my lord.\"\\n\\n\"I came to wish you joy of your promotion and appointment to a fine\\nfrigate, Keene,\" said Lord de Versely.  \"I have just received this from\\nthe Admiralty; and as I have business unexpectedly come to hand, I\\nthought I would be the bearer myself of the good news.  I leave you the\\nletter, and shall of course see you to dinner.\"\\n\\n\"Many thanks, my lord,\" replied I.  \"I am, indeed, grateful.\"\\n\\n\"I believe you are, Keene,\" replied his lordship.  \"By the bye, you\\nleave your letters so exposed, that one cannot help seem them.  I see\\nyou are writing to your grandmother.  I hope the old lady is well?\"\\n\\nMy grandmother!  Oh, what a relief to my mind it was when I then\\nrecollected that it was to my grandmother that I had written!  I replied\\nthat she was very well when I last heard from her.\\n\\n\"If I can be of any use in arranging your money affairs, Keene, let me\\nknow.\"\\n\\n\"I thank you, my lord; but I found that my agent perfectly understands\\nbusiness,\" replied I.  \"I will not trouble your lordship, who has so\\nmany important affairs to attend to.\"\\n\\n\"Very good,\" replied he.  \"Then now I\\'ll leave you to read what I have\\ngiven you; and I shall expect you at eight.  Goodbye.\"  His lordship\\nagain shook me warmly by the hand, and left me.\\n\\nI was quite giddy with the reaction produced upon my feelings.  When his\\nlordship left the room I dropped down on the sofa.  I forgot the letter\\nin my hand and its contents, and the tailor in the next room.  All I\\nthought of was the danger I had escaped, and how fortunate I was in not\\nhaving addressed the letter to my mother, as I had at first intended.\\nThe agony which I felt was very great, and, as I remained with my hands\\ncovering my eyes, I made a vow that nothing should induce me ever to use\\ndeceit again.  I then read over the letter.  There was nothing but\\ngratitude to Lord de Versely, and a wish that I had been born a Delmar.\\nWell, if his lordship had run his eyes over it, there was nothing to\\nhurt me in his opinion; on the contrary, it proved that I was grateful;\\nand I then recollected that when I expressed my gratitude, he said he\\nbelieved it.  As for my saying that I wished my name was Delmar, it was\\nnothing, and it let him know what my wishes were.  On the whole, I had\\ngreat cause for congratulation.\\n\\nI was here interrupted by the tailor who put his head out of the\\nbed-room door.  I went to him, and he finished his work, and promised me\\nthat I should have a complete suit at half-past seven o\\'clock in the\\nevening, in time for dinner.  I then returned to the sitting-room, and\\nopened the letter which Lord de Versely had put into my hands.  It was\\nfrom the first lord, acquainting him that I might call at the Admiralty\\nthe next day, as my post-captain\\'s commission was signed, and I was\\nappointed to a thirty-two gun frigate which would be launched in two or\\nthree months.  Well, then, thought I, here I am, at twenty-three, a\\npost-captain in his Majesty\\'s service, and commanding a frigate.\\nSurely, I have much to be thankful for.  I felt that I had, and I was\\ngrateful to Heaven for my good fortune.  Now I had but one more wish in\\nthe world, and that was, instead of being Captain Keene, to be Captain\\nDelmar.\\n\\nThe reader may say, \"What\\'s in a name?\"  True; but such was my ambition,\\nmy darling wish, and it is ardent longing for anything, the ardour of\\npursuit, which increases the value of the object so much above its real\\nvalue.  The politician, who has been manoeuvring all his life does not\\nperhaps feel more pleasure in grasping the coronet which he has been in\\npursuit of, than the urchin does when he first possesses himself of a\\nnest which he has been watching for weeks.  This would, indeed, be a\\ndreary world if we had not some excitement, some stimulus to lead us on,\\nwhich occupies our thoughts, and gives us fresh courage, when\\ndisheartened by the knavery, and meanness, and selfishness of those who\\nsurround us.  How sad is the analysis of human nature--what\\ncontradictions, what extremes! how many really brave men have I fallen\\nin with, stooping to every meanness for patronage, court favour, or\\ngain; slandering those whose reputation they feared, and even descending\\nto falsehood to obtain their ends!  How many men with splendid talents,\\nbut with little souls!\\n\\nUp to the present I had run a career of prosperous success; I had risen\\nto a high position without interfering, or being interfered with by\\nothers; but now I had become of sufficient consequence to be envied; now\\nI had soon to experience, that as you continue to advance in the world,\\nso do you continue to increase the number of your enemies, to be exposed\\nto the shafts of slander, to be foiled by treachery, cunning, and\\nmalevolence.  But I must not anticipate.\\n\\nI remained in London till my leave was expired, and then went down to\\nPortsmouth to pay off the brig, which had been ordered into dock, to be\\nrefitted for his Majesty\\'s service.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THIRTY ONE.\\n\\nThe Circe, thirty-two, to which I had been appointed, was a small but\\nvery beautiful frigate and as far as I could judge by her build as she\\nlay on the stocks, had every requisite for sailing well.\\n\\nWhen I took my leave of Lord de Versely, he told me that he should come\\ndown on the first of the following month (September) to Madeline Hall,\\nwhere his aunt, Miss de Versely, was still flourishing at a green old\\nage.  \"Here is a letter of introduction to her, Keene,\" said he, \"as she\\nhas not seen you since you were a few months old, and therefore it is\\nnot very likely that she would recognise you.  Take my advice, and make\\nyourself as agreeable to the old lady as you can; you will find Madeline\\nHall a very pleasant place, when you are tired of the dockyard and the\\nsmell of pitch and tar.\"\\n\\nI thanked his lordship, and we parted with much more cordiality shown by\\nhim than I had experienced.\\n\\nI hardly need say, that the first person who came to congratulate me on\\nmy arrival at Portsmouth was my old friend an adviser Bob Cross.  \"Well,\\nCaptain Keene,\" said Bob, as I shook him warmly by the hand, \"I\\'m\\ndelighted at your success, and I know you will not be sorry to hear that\\nI am getting on as well as I could wish in my small way; Jane and I are\\nto be married in a few days, and I hope you will honour me by being\\npresent at the wedding.\"\\n\\n\"That I will, Bob, with pleasure,\" replied I; \"let me hear all that has\\ntaken place.\"\\n\\n\"Why, sir, it\\'s told in a few words.  I took your advice, and brought\\nthe old gentleman presents, and I sat with him and heard all his old\\nstories at least fifty times over, and laughed at his jokes as regularly\\nthe last time as the first; and he told Jane and her mother that I was a\\nvery pleasant, sensible and amusing young man--although he had all the\\ntalk, and I had none.  The fact is, sir, it was he who first brought up\\nthe subject of my splicing his niece; that is to say, he hinted how he\\nshould like to see her well settled, and that if she married according\\nto his wishes, he would leave her all he had.\\n\\n\"Well, sir, it was the opinion of Jane and her mother, that, as he was a\\nwhimsical, changeable old chap, it would be right for her to refuse me\\nat first; and so she did, very much to the old man\\'s annoyance, who then\\nset his mind upon it, and swore that if she did not marry me, he would\\nnot leave her a farthing.  After a few days of quarrelling, Jane gave\\nin, and the old chap swears that we shall be married immediately, and\\nthat he will give us half his property down at once.\"\\n\\n\"Strike the iron while it\\'s hot, Bob,\" replied I.  \"Is the day fixed?\"\\n\\n\"Not exactly, sir; but we are to be put up in church next Sunday, and it\\ntakes three Sundays.  I hope you won\\'t part with me, sir,\" continued\\nBob.  \"The Diligente will be paid off on Tuesday, they say, and if you\\ncould get me appointed to the Circe--\"\\n\\n\"Why, Cross, you are thinking of going to sea again, even before you are\\nmarried.  I should advise you not to be in such a hurry.  You must not\\ndisplease the old gentleman; besides, you must not leave a young wife so\\nsoon.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s very true, Captain Keene, but I don\\'t think I should be\\ncomfortable if I knew you were afloat without me.\"\\n\\n\"I suppose you think that I cannot take care of myself.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, I do, sir; but still I know that I should fret; and, sir, it will\\nbe four months at least before the Circe is ready for sea and I may just\\nas well be appointed to her, and I can decide whether I do go to sea or\\nnot when the time comes.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Cross, I will certainly apply for you; but, if you take my\\nadvice, you will give up the sea altogether, and live on shore.\"\\n\\n\"I have nothing to do, sir.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, you have; you have to cherish your wife, and look after the old\\ngentleman.\"\\n\\n\"Well he is rather shakey, they say sir; the old woman is often called\\nout to him at nights.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Cross, I will do as you wish, and time will decide how you are to\\nact.  I am going over to Southampton for a few days perhaps, and will\\ntake care to be back by the wedding.  By-the-bye, have you heard\\nanything about prize-money?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir; it\\'s payable for the Diligente and schooner, and all our\\nrecaptures in the West Indies when we were in the Firefly.  The Dutch\\nfrigate has been for distribution some time; but as I was only petty\\nofficer then, it won\\'t come to much.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I can tell you that the government have taken the schooner which\\nwe captured in the chops of the channel, and the East India Company have\\ngiven us salvage for the ship.  My agent has received already 7,400\\npounds on my account, which I have ordered to be purchased into the\\nfunds.  As there were so few warrant officers, your share will not be\\nless than 1,500 pounds, perhaps more.  As you said, the salvage of the\\nIndiaman has proved more valuable to us than all the rest of our\\nprize-money put together.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Captain Keene, if my prize-money comes to as much as that, I\\nthink I shall be nearly as well off as my little Jane will be.  Will you\\nhave the kindness to let your agent put it by for me in the same way\\nthat you have done yours?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, Cross, I will see to it immediately; I shall write to him\\nto-morrow, or the day after.\"\\n\\nAfter a little conversation, Cross took leave.  The next day I took\\npost-horses, and went over to Madeline Hall, having two or three days\\nbefore received a note from the Honourable Miss Delmar, saying how glad\\nshe should be to see me as a friend and shipmate of her nephew, Lord de\\nVersely; so that it appeared the old lady had been written to by Lord de\\nVersely respecting me.\\n\\nI arrived early in the afternoon, and the post-chaise drove up the\\navenue of magnificent chestnut-trees which led to the mansion.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THIRTY TWO.\\n\\nI must say that I was very much excited; I was now arriving at the site\\nof my birth, and it brought to my mind the details given me by my poor\\nmother, when, finding she could no longer conceal the truth from me, she\\nentered into a narrative to extenuate her conduct, pointing out her\\ntemptations, and how fatal to her were opportunity and seclusion.  Her\\nform was before me with the tears running down her cheeks as she made\\nher humiliating confession to her own son, and I could not help\\nexclaiming, as I cast my eye upon the beautiful grounds, \"My poor\\nmother!\"\\n\\nThe chaise stopped, and the boys dismounted and rang the bell.  In a\\nminute three or four servants made their appearance, and on inquiring, I\\nfound that the Honourable Miss Delmar was at home, and visible.\\n\\n\"Colonel Delmar, I presume, sir?\" said the old butler.\\n\\n\"No,\" replied I--\"Captain Keene.\"\\n\\nThe butler looked me full in the face, and earnestly; and then, as if\\nrecollecting himself, he bowed and went on.\\n\\n\"Captain Keene, madam,\" said he, as he introduced me into a large room,\\nat the end of which sat a venerable-looking old lady, very busy with her\\nknitting needle, and another, almost equally ancient, sitting on a low\\nstool beside her.\\n\\nAs I advanced, the old lady made me a bow as she remained in in her\\nchair, and looked at me through her spectacles.  She certainly was the\\nbeau-ideal of old age.  Her hair, which was like silver, was parted in\\nbraid, and was to be seen just peeping from under her cap and pinners;\\nshe was dressed in black silk, with a snow-white apron and handkerchief,\\nand there was an air of dignity and refinement about her which made you\\nfeel reverence for her at first sight.  As I approached to take the\\nchair offered to me, the other person, who appeared to be a sort of\\nattendant, was shuffling her feet to rise; but as soon as Mrs Delmar\\nhad said, \"You are welcome, Captain Keene; sit still,\" she continued,\\n\"my child, there is no occasion to go away.\"  I could scarcely help\\nsmiling at the old lady calling a woman of past sixty, if not even\\nfurther advanced, a child; but the fact was, that Phillis had been her\\nattendant as lady\\'s maid for many years, and subsequently promoted to\\nthe position of humble companion.\\n\\nAs for Miss Delmar, as I afterwards found out from her own lips, she was\\nupwards of eighty-seven years old, but still in perfect good health, and\\nin full possession of all her faculties; Phillis therefore was much\\nyounger, and as the old lady had had her in her employ ever since she\\nwas twenty-two, it was not surprising that she continued to address her,\\nas she had done for so many years, as a young person compared to\\nherself; indeed I have no doubt but that the old lady, following up her\\nassociation of former days, and forgetting the half-century that had\\nintervened, did consider her as a mere child.  The old lady was very\\nchatty and very polite, and as our conversation naturally turned on Lord\\nde Versely, of whom I spoke in terms of admiration and gratitude, I had\\nsoon established myself in her good graces.  Indeed, as I subsequently\\ndiscovered, her nephew was the great object of her affections.  His\\nyounger brother had neglected her, and was never mentioned except when\\nshe regretted that Lord de Versely had no children, and that the title\\nwould descend to his brother.\\n\\nShe requested me to stay for dinner, which I did not refuse, and before\\ndinner was over I had made great progress in the old lady\\'s esteem.  As,\\nwhen dinner was announced, her companion disappeared, we were then\\nalone.  She asked me many questions relative to Lord de Versely, and\\nwhat had occurred during the time that I was serving with him; and this\\nwas a subject on which I could be eloquent.  I narrated several of our\\nadventures, particularly the action with the Dutch frigate, and other\\nparticulars in which I could honestly do credit to his lordship, and I\\noften referred to his kindness for me.\\n\\n\"Well, Captain Keene, my nephew has often spoken to me about you, and\\nnow you have done him credit in proving that he had made you a good\\nofficer; and I have heard how much you have distinguished yourself since\\nyou have left him.\"\\n\\n\"Or rather he left me, madam,\" replied I, \"when he was summoned to the\\nHouse of Peers.\"\\n\\n\"Very true,\" replied the old lady.  \"I suppose you know that you were\\nborn in this house, Captain Keene?\"\\n\\n\"I have been told so, madam.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, I have no doubt your poor mother that\\'s gone must have told you.\\nI recollect her--a very clever, active, and pretty young woman (here the\\nold lady sighed); and I held you in my arms, Captain Keene, when you\\nwere only a few days old.\"\\n\\n\"You did me great honour, madam,\" replied I.\\n\\nHere the conversation took another channel, which I was not sorry for.\\n\\nAfter tea, I rose to take my leave, and then I received an invitation\\nfrom the old lady to come and spend some time at Madeline Hall, and to\\ncome a few days before the first of September, that I might join the\\nshooting party.  \"I expect my nephew, Lord de Versely,\" said she, \"and\\nthere is Colonel Delmar of the Rifles, a cousin of Lord de Versely, also\\ncoming, and one or two others.  Indeed I expect the colonel every day.\\nHe is a very pleasant and gentleman-like man.\"\\n\\nI accepted the invitation with pleasure, and then took my leave.  The\\nchaise drove off, and I was soon in a deep reverie; I called to mind all\\nmy mother had told me, and I longed to return to the Hall, and visit\\nthose scenes which had been referred to in my mother\\'s narrative; and\\nmore than that, I wished to meet Lord de Versely on the spot which could\\nnot fail to call to his mind my mother, then young, fond, and confiding;\\nhow much she had sacrificed for him; how true she had proved to his\\ninterests, and how sacred the debt of obligation, which he could only\\nrepay by his conduct towards me.\\n\\nOn my return to Portsmouth, I found that orders had come down for the\\npaying off the Diligente, and re-commissioning her immediately.  As the\\nmen would now be free (until again caught by the impress, which would\\nnot be long), I turned up the ship\\'s company, and asked how many of them\\nwould enter for the Circe.  I pointed out to them that they would be\\nimpressed for other vessels before long, but that I could give them each\\nthree months of absence, upon which they would not be molested, and that\\nby three months all their money would be gone, and if it were gone\\nbefore that time, the guard-ship would receive them when they had had\\nenough of the shore.  By this method I proposed to myself to obtain the\\nfoundation of a good ship\\'s company.  I was not disappointed.  Every man\\nI wished to take with me volunteered, and I wrote leave of absence\\ntickets for three months for them all as belonging to the Circe,\\nreporting what I had done to the Admiralty.  The brig was then paid off,\\nand the next day re-commissioned by a Captain Rose, with whom I had some\\nslight acquaintance.\\n\\nAs I was now my own master again,--for although appointed to the Circe,\\nI had nothing but my pennant to look at,--I thought that, by way of a\\nlittle change, I would pass a few days at the Isle of Wight; for this\\nwas the yachting season, and I had made the acquaintance of many of the\\ngentlemen who belonged to the club.  That I had no difficulty in getting\\ninto society may easily be imagined.  A post-captain\\'s commission in his\\nMajesty\\'s navy is a certain passport with all liberal and really\\naristocratical people; and, as it is well known that a person who has\\nnot had the advantage of interest and family connections to advance in\\nthe service, must have gained his promotion by his own merits, his rank\\nis sufficient to establish his claims to family connections or personal\\nmerit, either of which is almost universally acknowledged; I say almost\\nuniversally, because, strange to say, for a succession of reigns, the\\nnavy never has been popular at court.  In that region, where merit of\\nany kind is seldom permitted to intrude, the navy have generally been at\\na discount.  Each succession of the House of Hanover has been hailed by\\nits members with fresh hopes of a change in their favour, which hopes\\nhave ended in disappointment; but perhaps it is as well.  The navy\\nrequire no prophet to tell it, in the literal sense of the word, that\\none cannot touch pitch without being defiled; but there is a moral\\npitch, the meanness, the dishonesty, and servility of Court, with which,\\nI trust, our noble service will never be contaminated.\\n\\nI have, however, somewhat wandered from my subject, which was brought up\\nin consequence of a gentleman who had paid me every attention at a large\\nclub down at Cowes, to which I had been invited, inquiring of me, across\\nthe table, if I were connected with the Keenes of ---?  My reply was\\nready: \"I did not think that I was; my father had died a young man in\\nthe East Indies.  I knew that he was of Scotch descent (which he was),\\nbut I was too young to know anything about his connections, whom he had\\nquitted at an early age; since that I had been educated and brought\\nforward by Lord de Versely, who had, since the death of my mother,\\ntreated me as if I were his own son.\"  This was said openly, and being\\nstrictly true, of course without hesitation on my part.  It was quite\\nsufficient; I had noble patronage, and it was therefore to be presumed\\nthat I was somebody, or that patronage would not have been extended.  I\\nmention this, because it was the only time that I was ever questioned\\nabout my family; it was therefore to be presumed that my reply was\\nconsidered satisfactory.\\n\\nI accepted an invitation on board of the yacht and sailed about for\\nseveral days, very much amused and flattered by the attention shown to\\nme by the noble commodore and others.  One day I fell in with an old\\nacquaintance.  A small vessel, of about twenty tons, cutter-rigged, came\\ndown under the stern of the commodore\\'s yacht; it was then very smooth\\nwater, very light wind, and, moreover, very hot weather; and one of the\\nsquadron, who was standing by me on the taffrail, said, \"Keene, do look\\nat this craft coming down under our stern--there\\'s quite a curiosity in\\nit.  It is a yacht belonging to an Irish Major O\\'Flinn, as he calls\\nhimself; why the O, I don\\'t know; but he\\'s a good fellow, and very\\namusing; there he is abaft; he has the largest whiskers you ever saw;\\nbut it is not of him I would speak.  Wait a little, and as soon as the\\nsquare sail is out of the way, you will see his wife.  Such a whapper!\\nI believe she weighs more than the rhinoceros did which was at Post-down\\nfair.\"\\n\\nAs the vessel neared, I did behold a most enormous woman in a sky-blue\\nsilk dress, and a large sky-blue parasol over her head; the bonnet\\nhaving been taken off, I presume, on account of the heat.  \"She is a\\nmonster,\" replied I; \"the major was a bold man; I think I have seen the\\nface before.\"\\n\\n\"I am told that she was the daughter of a purser, and had a lot of\\nmoney,\" continued my friend.\\n\\nI recollected then, and I replied, \"Yes; I know now, her name was\\nCulpepper.\"\\n\\n\"That was the name,\" replied he; \"I recollect now.\"\\n\\nThe reader may probably recollect Miss Medea, who knew so well how to\\nput that and that together; and her mother, who I presumed had long ago\\nbeen suffocated in her own fat, a fate which I thought that Mrs O\\'Flinn\\nwould meet with as well as her mother.  The lady did not recognise me,\\nwhich I was not sorry for.  I certainly should have cut her dead.  I\\nwalked forward, and my thoughts reverted to the time when my mother\\nfirst brought me down to embark, and I was taken care of by Bob Cross.\\nThis recollection of Bob Cross reminded me that I had promised to be at\\nhis wedding, and that it was to take place on the following day, which I\\nhad quite forgotten.  So that Mrs O\\'Flinn did me a good turn at last,\\nas I should have neglected my promise, if she had not made her\\nappearance, sailing along like an elephantine Cleopatra.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THIRTY THREE.\\n\\nI had not called upon old Waghorn, the uncle of Jane; as I was fearful\\nthat he might recognise the pretended agent of former days with the now\\ncaptain of the Circe.  The blind are very acute in all their other\\nsenses,--a species of reparation made by nature by way of\\nindemnification for the severe loss which they have sustained.\\n\\nAs I grew older I grew wiser, and I could not help remarking, that the\\nacts of deceit, which as a midshipman I thought not only very\\njustifiable, but good fun, were invariably attended with unpleasant\\nresults.  Even in this trifle my heart misgave me, whether on my\\nappearance at the wedding I might not I be recognised, and be the cause\\nof creating a breach, by raising suspicions on the part of the blind man\\nwhich might prevent the wedding; and I had stated my fears to Bob Cross.\\n\"Well, Captain Keene, it was all done with good intentions, and I do\\nnot think that there is much fear.  It\\'s a long while back, and you were\\nnot so much of a man as you are now.  They do say, that cheating never\\nthrives, and I believe that it seldom does in the long run.  Jane will\\nbe much disappointed if you do not come.\"\\n\\n\"There is no help for it, Bob; I must disguise my voice; I must cheat a\\nlittle now to hide the first cheat.  That\\'s always the case in this\\nworld.\"\\n\\n\"I don\\'t call it cheating, sir; my ideas are, that if you cheat to get\\nadvantage for yourself, then you do cheat; but when you do so to help\\nanother, there\\'s no great cheating in the case.\"\\n\\n\"I cannot agree with you, Bob; but let us say no more about it.  I will\\nbe with you at ten o\\'clock, which you say is the hour that you go to\\nchurch.\"\\n\\nThis conversation took place on the morning of the wedding.  About eight\\no\\'clock, I dressed and breakfasted, and then took a wherry over to\\nGosport, and in half an hour was at the house, which was full of people\\nwith white favours, and in such a bustle, that it reminded me of a hive\\nof bees just previous to a swarm.\\n\\n\"Here\\'s the captain come, sir,\" said Bob, who had received me; for the\\nbride was still in her room with her mother.\\n\\n\"Happy to see you, sir; I wish you joy, Mr Waghorn,\" replied I, taking\\nhis hand.\\n\\n\"You\\'re Captain Keene, then, whose letters to the Admiralty Jane has so\\noften read to me in the newspapers.  Where have we met?  I\\'ve heard that\\nvoice before.\"\\n\\n\"Indeed sir,\" replied I, rather confused.\\n\\n\"Yes, I have; I always know a voice again; let me see--why, captain, you\\nwere here with Cross, the first time I ever heard him--you were an\\nagent, and now you\\'re a captain,\" continued the old man, looking very\\ngrave.\\n\\n\"Hush, sir,\" replied I: \"pray don\\'t speak so loud.  Do you recollect\\nwhat I came about?  Do you suppose that when I was a party to the escape\\nof a prisoner I could let you know, being a perfect stranger, that I was\\nan officer in his Majesty\\'s service?\"\\n\\n\"Very true,\" replied the old man, \"I cannot blame you for that.  But was\\nCross an officer in the service at that time?\"\\n\\n\"No, sir, he was not,\" replied I; \"he was appointed boatswain to my ship\\nby the admiral in the West Indies.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'m glad to hear that.  I thought Cross might have deceived me also;\\nevery one tries to cheat a blind man--and the blind are suspicious.  I\\'m\\nglad that Cross did not deceive me, or I would have seen my niece in her\\ncoffin before--but say no more about it, you could not do otherwise;\\nall\\'s right, sir, and I\\'m very glad to see you, and to have the honour\\nof your company.  Sit down, sir, I beg.  By the bye, Captain Keene, have\\nyou heard of the girl since?\"\\n\\n\"My dear sir,\" replied I, glad to give him my confidence, \"there are no\\nsecrets between us now; it was no girl, but the son of the captain of\\nthe Dutch frigate, and an officer, whose escape you assisted in.\"\\n\\n\"I don\\'t wonder, then, at your not making yourself known,\" replied the\\nold man.  \"Why, if I had known it had been an officer, I never would\\nhave had a hand in the job--but a poor girl, it was mere charity to\\nassist her, and I thought I was acting the part of a Christian, poor\\nblind sinner that I am.\"\\n\\n\"You did a kind act, sir, and Heaven will reward you.\"\\n\\n\"We are sad, wicked creatures, Captain Keene,\" replied he.  \"I wish this\\nday was over, and my poor Jane made happy; and then I should have\\nnothing to do but to read my Bible, and prepare for being called away;\\nit\\'s never too soon, depend upon it, sir.\"\\n\\nThe appearance of the bride with her bridesmaids put an end to our\\nconversation, which I was not sorry for.  The order of march was\\narranged, and we started off for the church on foot, making a very long\\nand very gay procession.  In half an hour it was all over, and we\\nreturned.  I then had an opportunity of telling Cross what had passed\\nbetween me and old Waghorn.\\n\\n\"It was touch and go, sir, that\\'s sartin,\" replied Bob; \"for if the old\\ngentleman had not been satisfied, he is so obstinate that the match\\nwould have been broken off at the church door.  Well, sir, I always said\\nthat you were the best to get out of a scrape that I ever knew when you\\nwere a middy, and you don\\'t appear to have lost the talent; it was well\\nmanaged.\"\\n\\n\"Perhaps so, Bob; but in future I do not intend to get into them, which\\nwill be managing better still.\"  I then left Cross, and went to talk to\\nJane, who certainly looked very handsome.  The tables for dinner were\\nlaid out in the garden, for it was a beautiful warm autumnal day.  We\\nsat down about twenty, and a merrier party I never was at.  Old Waghorn\\nwas the only one who got tipsy on the occasion, and it was very\\nridiculous to hear him quoting scraps of Scripture in extenuation, and\\nthen calling himself a poor blind old sinner.  It was not till eight\\no\\'clock in the evening that the party broke up, and I had then some\\ndifficulty to persuade some to go away.  As for the old man, he had been\\nput to bed an hour before.  I staid a few minutes after all were gone,\\nand then, kissing Jane, and shaking hands with Bob, I went back to\\nPortsmouth.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THIRTY FOUR.\\n\\nAs soon as I was at home again, the events of the day, from association\\nof ideas, naturally brought Minnie Vanderwelt into my head, and I\\nrecollected that I had not written to her since my promotion and\\nappointment to the Circe; I therefore sat down and indited a long\\nletter, ending with expressing my regret at not having received an\\nanswer from the many I had written, especially the last, which informed\\nthem of my arrival in England, and gave them the knowledge where to\\naddress me.  I also requested to know what had become of young Vangilt,\\nwhose escape I had contrived.  Having enclosed that letter to the agent,\\nand begged him to have it forwarded to Hamburg, I went to bed, and,\\nafter the excitement of the day, had a variety of dreams, in which\\nMinnie\\'s form was continually making its appearance.\\n\\nThe following morning brought me a long letter from my aunt, Mrs\\nBridgeman, very lively and very amusing: the only news in it was the\\nmarriage of Lieutenant Flat to a tavern-keeper\\'s daughter, which had\\ngiven great offence to the marine corps, as she was said to be rather\\nlight of carriage.  She begged me very much to pay them a visit, but\\nthat was not all to my wishes, I most candidly confess.  My pride\\nrevolted at it; I even doubt if I would have fitted out a ship at\\nChatham where people could point their finger at me, and say--That\\npost-captain\\'s father was a marine in those barracks.  Another letter\\nfrom Lord de Versely, announcing his arrival at Madeline Hall, and\\nrequesting me to join him as soon as possible, was infinitely more to my\\ntaste, and I resolved to start next day, which I did.  I was very\\ncordially received by his lordship, and very graciously by the old lady,\\nwho expressed a hope that I would now make a long visit.  About an hour\\nafter I had arrived, Colonel Delmar made his appearance: he was a cousin\\nof Lord de Versely\\'s, but I certainly should not, from his appearance,\\nhave supposed him to be a Delmar: for he was short, round-shouldered,\\nand with a fat, rubicund face, apparently about forty years of age.  I\\nobserved, after our introduction, that his eyes were very often directed\\ntowards me; but his manner was courteous, and, although his appearance\\nat first sight was not prepossessing, his conversation was very\\nagreeable, and he was very gentleman-like.  Before dinner was over, I\\nfelt a great liking for him.\\n\\nAs the first of September had not yet arrived, the birds had still two\\ndays of peace and quietness, leading their broods through the stubbles,\\nand pointing out to them the corn which had spilled on the ground, for\\ntheir food.  That the old birds had some idea of a gun, it is to be\\nsupposed, from their having escaped the season before; but the young\\ncoveys had still that pleasure to come; in two days more they were to be\\ninitiated into the astonishing fact, that fast as feathers could fly,\\nlead could fly faster, and overtake them.\\n\\nThe two or three days before the shooting season begins are invariably\\nvery tedious in the country, and I passed my morning chiefly in roaming\\nthrough the park and pleasure grounds, and I hardly need say that,\\nduring those rambles, my thoughts were chiefly occupied with the\\nintimacy which had taken place between my mother and Lord de Versely.\\nOn the third morning after my arrival I had been strolling for more than\\ntwo hours, when I came to a very retired sort of Gothic cell, formed of\\nthe distended limbs of an old oak, intermixed with stones and grass.  It\\nfaced towards the park, and was built up on the green lawn amidst clumps\\nof laurel and other evergreens.  I threw myself on the benches.  It was\\njust the place for a man to select for a rendezvous: just the secret\\nspot where a maiden could listen without trembling at intruders; and it\\nstruck me that this must have been the trysting place of my parents.\\nFor an hour I remained there, castle-building for the future, and musing\\non the past, when I heard a voice, close to me on the other side of the\\ncell, the back of which was turned towards the hall.  I knew the voice\\nto be that of the old lady, who, it appears, had, as usual, come out in\\nher garden chair, and was dragged by her attendant, Phillis: the wheels\\nhad made no noise on the velvet lawn, and, until roused by her voice, I\\nwas not aware of their approach.\\n\\n\"Nonsense, Phillis; why, child, what should you know about such things?\"\\nsaid the old lady.\\n\\n\"If you please to recollect, ma\\'am,\" replied Phillis, who certainly was\\nold enough to recollect all the passages in a woman\\'s life, \"I was your\\nmaid at the time that it happened, and I was constantly in company with\\nBella Mason.  She was very respectful towards you, but you did not know\\nwhat her temper was; there never was so proud a young woman, or who\\nconsidered herself of such consequence as she did--so much so, that she\\ntreated even Mr Jonas, the butler, and Mrs Short, the housekeeper,\\nwith disdain.\"\\n\\n\"Well, well, I know that she was proud; her mother was always a proud\\nwoman.  Mr Mason, in his younger days, held property of his own, at\\nleast his father did, but he ran through it revelling and horse-racing;\\nbut what does that prove?\"\\n\\n\"I only say, madam, what was said at the time by everybody, that Bella\\nMason never would have married that marine, whom she looked upon with\\ncontempt, although he certainly was a good-looking young man, if she had\\nnot been obliged to do so.\"\\n\\n\"But why obliged, Phillis?\"\\n\\n\"To conceal her shame, madam; for, if you recollect, the child was born\\nthree months after marriage.\"\\n\\n\"I recollect that, very well,\" replied Miss Delmar; \"it was a sad thing,\\nand, as my nephew said, I ought to have looked out sharper after Bella\\nthan I did, and not have allowed her to be so much in company with that\\nmarine.\"\\n\\n\"That marine, ma\\'am! he was innocent enough; Bella was not likely to\\nlisten to one like him.\"\\n\\n\"Who can you mean then, Phillis?\"\\n\\n\"Why, Lord de Versely, ma\\'am, to be sure.  Everybody in the Hall was\\nsure the child was his; he and Bella were for ever together for months\\nbefore her marriage.\"\\n\\n\"Phillis, Phillis, you don\\'t know what you are saying--it\\'s impossible;\\nindeed, I recollect talking the matter over with Lord de Versely, who\\nwas then Captain Delmar, and he was more shocked at the impropriety than\\neven I was, and offered to give the marine a good whipping.\"\\n\\n\"That may be, madam, but still Captain Delmar was the father of that\\nboy; for, if you recollect, old Mrs Mason came to the Hall, and went\\naway almost immediately.\"\\n\\n\"Well, what of that? she was displeased no doubt.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, indeed she was, madam; but she had a private meeting with Captain\\nDelmar; and Mrs Short, the housekeeper, overheard what passed, and I\\nunderstand that the captain did not deny it to her.  One thing is\\ncertain, that Mrs Mason, as she was going away, in her rage made use of\\nlanguage about Captain Delmar, which otherwise she never would have\\ndared.  And, then, madam, only look at Captain Keene,--why, he is the\\nvery image of his lordship.\"\\n\\n\"He is very like him, certainly,\" said the old lady, musing.\\n\\n\"And then, madam, do you think his lordship would have brought the boy\\nup in the service, and made him a post-captain, if he had been the son\\nof a marine?  And then, madam, see how fond his lordship is of him; why,\\nhe dotes upon him; and would he ask the son of his own servant to come\\ndown to Madeline Hall, as fit company for you?  No; so, madam, depend\\nupon it, Captain Keene is a Delmar, and no wonder his lordship is so\\nfond of him, madam; for he is his only child, and I dare say his\\nlordship would give him his right hand if he could leave him the barony\\nand estates, instead of them going away, as they will, to his younger\\nbrother\\'s children.\"\\n\\n\"Well, well, Phillis, it may be so.  I don\\'t know what to think of it.\\nI shall speak to Lord de Versely about it; for if Captain Keene is a\\nDelmar, he must be looked to.  He is a Delmar, although with the bar\\nsinister.  I feel a little cold, Phillis, so drag me to the terrace,\\nthat I may get a little sunshine.\"\\n\\nPhillis, I thank thee, said I to myself, as the chair wheeled away.\\nYour love of chatting may be useful to me.  Perhaps his lordship may now\\nacknowledge my birth to his aunt, and good may come of it.  I waited\\ntill the chair wheels were heard on the gravel walk, and then quitted\\nthe grotto, and bent my steps away from the Hall, that I might commune\\nwith my own thoughts without chance of interruption.\\n\\nI had quitted the park, and was now pacing over several fields, one\\nafter another, walking as if I had some important business in hand, when\\nin fact, my legs were only trying to keep pace with my thoughts, when I\\nvaulted over a gate, and found myself in a narrow lane, sunk deep\\nbetween two hedges.  Indifferent as to the path I took, I turned to the\\nright, and continued on my way, walking as fast as before, when I heard\\nthe low bellowing of an animal.  This induced me to raise my eyes, and I\\nwitnessed a curious scene in front of me, which I will narrate in the\\nnext chapter.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.\\n\\nAs I said before, the lane was very narrow, not admitting more than one\\nvehicle to go along it, and was sunk between the hedges on each side, so\\nas to render it not very easy to climb up the bank.  The parties who\\npresented themselves were, first a cow with her tail turned towards me,\\nevidently a wicked one, as she was pawing and bellowing in a low tone,\\nand advancing towards two people who were the object of her attack.  One\\nwas a very little man, dressed in black, the other a stout burly young\\nfellow in a shooting-jacket; but what amused me most was, that the stout\\nyoung fellow, instead of being in the advance to defend one so much\\nsmaller than himself, not only kept behind the little man, but actually\\nnow and then held him by the shoulders before his own person, as a\\nshield to ward off the expected attack of the vicious animal.  It is\\ntrue that the little personage expostulated, and spoke several times in\\na tone of command to his companion, but his words were unheeded, and the\\ncow advanced, and they retreated in the order which I have described.\\n\\nI quickened my pace, so as to gain rapidly upon them, and was soon but a\\nfew yards from the animal.  I had no stick or weapon of any kind, but\\nstill I knew how to manage unruly cattle as sailors do when they were\\nsent on board ship alive.  Indeed I had more than once put it into\\npractice myself; and although with a bull it was not a very easy matter,\\nwith a cow I felt certain that I could effect my purpose.\\n\\nThe animal appeared now determined to come to close quarters; and I\\ntherefore approached her until I was about a couple of feet from her\\nflank, all ready for a spring, in case she should see me, and turn\\nround.  But she was too busy with the parties in front of her, and at\\nlast she made a run.  The stout young man pushed the little man towards\\nthe cow, and then ran for it.  The little one, in his attempt to recoil,\\nfell on the turf, and the cow made at him.  I sprang forward, and\\ncatching the horn of the animal farthest from me in my right hand, at\\nthe same time put my left knee on the horn nearest to me, threw all my\\nweight upon it, so as to turn the animal\\'s nose up in the air, and\\nseizing it by the nostrils with the other hand, I held her head in that\\nposition, which of course rendered the animal harmless.  In that\\nposition the cow went over the prostrate man without doing him any\\ninjury, plunging and capering, so as to extricate herself from my\\nweight.  I remained clinging to her for about ten yards further, when I\\nperceived the stout fellow ahead, who hallooed out, \"Hold her tight!\\nhold her tight!\" but that I would no longer do, as it was fatiguing\\nwork; so, as a punishment for his cowardice, I let go the animal,\\nspringing clear off, and behind it, the cow galloping away as fast as\\nshe could down the lane, and the fellow screaming and running before as\\nfast as he could.\\n\\nHaving thus rid myself of the cow and the coward, I turned back to where\\nthe other party had been left on the ground, and found him standing up,\\nand looking at what was passing.  \"You\\'re not hurt, sir?\" said I.\\n\\n\"No, thanks to you; but no thanks to that rascally clerk of mine, who\\nwanted to shove me on the cow\\'s horns to save himself.\"\\n\\n\"He has a run for it now, at all events;\" replied I, laughing, \"and I\\nlet the cow loose on purpose; for if I had held on, and used all my\\nstrength, I could have brought her down on her side and kept her down.\\nOh! there\\'s a break in the bank, and he has climbed up it, so he is safe\\nfor a good fright,\" continued I; \"and now we had better get away\\nourselves; for the animal may come back, and, although one can pin her\\nin that way from behind, it is not to be done when she comes stem on to\\nyou.\"\\n\\n\"Well, sir, I have heard of taking the bull by the horns as not being a\\nvery wise thing; but taking a cow by them has probably saved my life.  I\\nthank you.\"\\n\\n\"We manage them that way on board ship,\" replied I, laughing.\\n\\n\"You are a sailor, then, sir,\" replied the little man.  \"Probably I have\\nthe pleasure of addressing Captain Keene?\"\\n\\n\"That is my name,\" replied I; \"but here is the cow coming back, and the\\nsooner we get to the gate the better.  I\\'m not ashamed to run for it,\\nand I suppose you are not either.\"  So saying, I took to my heels,\\nfollowed by my new companion, and we very soon put the barred gate\\nbetween us and our enemy.\\n\\n\"I will wish you good day now, sir,\" said I; \"I am going to the Hall.\"\\n\\n\"I am also bound there, Captain Keene,\" replied my companion, \"and, with\\nyour permission, will accompany you.  Egad, we may meet another cow,\"\\nsaid he, laughing, \"and I prefer being in your company.\"\\n\\nHe then informed me that he was the solicitor and agent of the\\nHonourable Miss Delmar, and had been sent for about some new leases, and\\nthat his name was Warden.  During our walk I found him a very cheerful,\\nmerry little man, and a very good companion.\\n\\nOn our arrival at the Hall, Mr Warden was informed that Miss Delmar was\\nnot able to receive him just then, as she was very busy with Lord de\\nVersely, who was with her in her private room.  I therefore remained\\nwith Mr Warden for about an hour, when Lord de Versely came down and\\njoined us.  He appeared to be in a remarkable gay humour, and shook me\\nwarmly by the hand when he came in.\\n\\n\"Now, Mr Warden, you are to go up and receive your instructions, and\\nrecollect, the sooner everything is executed the better.\"\\n\\nMr Warden left the room, and I narrated to his lordship the adventure\\nwith the cow.  Just as I had begun it, Colonel Delmar came in, and\\nlistened to my narration.\\n\\nIn about half an hour Mr Warden came down-stairs, and with a very\\nsmiling face.\\n\\n\"Well, Mr Warden,\" said his lordship, \"have you your instructions?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, my lord and I assure you that I never shall execute any with so\\nmuch pleasure.  Has Captain Keene told you how he saved my life this\\nmorning?\"\\n\\n\"No, he did not say that,\" replied his lordship; \"but he has told me\\nabout the cow, and your clerk putting you foremost in the breach.\"\\n\\n\"She would have made a breach in me I expect, if it had not been for the\\ncaptain,\" replied Mr Warden; \"and you may therefore believe me, my\\nlord, when I say that I shall obey my instructions with pleasure.  I\\nwish you good morning.  Good morning, Captain Keene.  Colonel, your most\\nobedient.\"  So saying, Mr Warden left the room.  I was very much struck\\nwith Mr Warden\\'s observation, that he would execute his instructions\\nwith so much pleasure; and when I turned round, I perceived that Colonel\\nDelmar was looking very grave; but the first dinner bell rang, and we\\nall went to our rooms to dress.  Well, thought I, as I was dressing\\nmyself, I presume the old lady has left me a thousand or two in her\\nwill.  I cared little about that, and then I dismissed the subject from\\nmy thoughts; but as I sat by Miss Delmar after dinner, I could not help\\nthinking that her manner towards me was more affectionate than it had\\nbeen before; the _hauteur_ with which her civility and kindness had\\nhitherto been blended appeared to have been thrown aside; I presumed\\nthat Lord de Versely had been speaking in my favour, and felt grateful\\nto him for his kindness.  Perhaps, thought I, he has revealed to her the\\nsecret of my birth, and she now considers me as a relation; perhaps she\\nmay have left me more than I supposed.  However, it is of little\\nconsequence.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THIRTY SIX.\\n\\nThe next day, being the first of September, we were all very busy, and\\nwe continued to shoot every day for a week, when I thought it time to\\nreturn to Portsmouth.  I mentioned my intentions to Lord de Versely, and\\nwas pressed to stay until the following Saturday, it being then Tuesday.\\nOn Wednesday Mr Warden made his appearance, attended by his clerk, who\\ncarried a bag of papers.  He remained half an hour and then went home;\\nbut, before he went, he asked me to dine with him on the following day,\\nand I consented.\\n\\nAfter we returned from shooting the next day, I changed my clothes, and,\\nleaving word with the butler that I dined out, I took my way across the\\nfields.  I was walking very quietly on the grass, by the side of a high\\nhedge, when I perceived two other men on the opposite side; one I\\nrecognised as Colonel Delmar; the other I could not at first make out;\\nbut, as I approached them, I perceived that the colonel was talking with\\nthe clerk of Mr Warden.  I passed them without notice, for they were\\nvery earnestly engaged in conversation.  What they said, I did not know;\\nbut I thought it singular that so proud a person as Colonel Delmar\\nshould be so engaged with an inferior; a little reflection, however made\\nme consider that there was nothing very surprising in Colonel Delmar\\'s\\nentering into conversation with a man in the country.  They might be\\ntalking about the game, or a hundred other things.\\n\\nI had a very friendly dinner with Mr Warden, who, after dinner, gave me\\na hint that I should not be the worse for the papers signed the day\\nbefore.  He did not however, say anything positive, as it would have\\nbeen a breach of trust.  When I spoke of my soon being afloat again, he\\nsaid that he would not fail to watch over my interests at the Hall\\nduring my absence, and he requested that I would write to him, and\\nconsider him as my sincere friend.  \"Of course, my dear Captain Keene, I\\ndo not expect that you will at present give me your entire confidence;\\nbut I trust you will when you know me, and at all events that you will\\nnot fail to do so when my advice may be of use to you.  I have a debt of\\nobligation to pay, and I shall be most happy to do so, if it is in my\\npower!\"  I thanked Mr Warden for his kind offers, and promised to avail\\nmyself of them, and we parted great friends.\\n\\nThe next day, Friday, we had a large addition to our shooting party.  I\\nhad not been out more than an hour, when, as I was standing near Lord de\\nVersely, who was re-loading his gun, a report, close to us, was heard,\\nand I fell down close to his feet, apparently dead.  A keeper, who was\\nwith us, ran to see who had discharged the gun, and found that it was\\nColonel Delmar, who now ran up to us, stating, in hurried terms, to Lord\\nde Versely, that his gun had gone off accidentally as he was putting on\\na copper cap, and bitterly lamenting the circumstance.  Lord de Versely\\nwas at the time kneeling down by my side (as I was afterwards informed),\\nshowing the greatest anxiety and grief.  My hat had been taken off; it\\nwas full of blood and the back of my head was much torn with the shot.\\nI remained insensible, although breathing heavily; a gate was taken off\\nits hinges, and I was laid upon it, and carried to the Hall.\\n\\nBefore the surgeon had arrived, I had recovered my senses.  On\\nexamination, I had had a very narrow escape; the better part of the\\ncharge of shot had entered the back part of my head, but fortunately not\\nany had penetrated through the skull.  After a tedious hour, employed in\\nextracting this load, my head was bound up, and I was made comfortable\\nin my bed.  I must say that Lord de Versely and Colonel Delmar vied with\\neach other in their attentions to me; the latter constantly accusing\\nhimself as the author of the mischief, and watching by my bed the major\\npart of the day.\\n\\nThis accident delayed my departure, and it was not until three weeks\\nafterwards, that I was sufficiently recovered to leave my room.  In the\\nmeantime, Lord de Versely, assured that I was out of danger, went back\\nto London.  The colonel, however, remained.  His kindness and attention\\nhad given me great pleasure, and we had become very intimate.  He had\\noffered to go with me to Portsmouth, and I had expressed the pleasure I\\nshould have in his company.  The Honourable Miss Delmar had shown the\\ngreatest feeling and anxiety for me during my illness; so had Mr\\nWarden, who often called to see me; in fact, I found myself so\\nsurrounded by well-wishers and friends, that I hardly regretted my\\naccident.\\n\\nAt the end of the fifth week, I was sufficiently recovered to be able to\\nreturn to Portsmouth, where I was now very anxious to arrive, as the\\nCirce had been launched and had already received her lower masts.  I\\ntook my leave of Miss Delmar, who requested my early return to Madeline\\nHall, and, accompanied by Colonel Delmar, was once more established at\\nBillett\\'s Hotel.\\n\\nBob Cross was the first who made his appearance; for I had written to\\nhim to acquaint him with my intended return.  He had heard of my narrow\\nescape, as it had been put into the newspaper; his information was\\ntrifling, but to the purpose.  All was right as to the frigate: she sat\\non the water like a duck; the rigging was far advanced, and the officers\\nseemed of the right sort.  All was right, also, as to his matrimonial\\naffairs; his wife was every thing he wished; the old gentleman was as\\nsweet as molasses, and he had laid the keel of a young Cross.  We then\\nentered upon business, and I gave him some directions as to the rigging,\\nand he left me.\\n\\nThe next morning, the first lieutenant called to pay his respects, and\\nhis appearance and conversation proved him to be what he had been\\nrecommended as, a good seaman and a brave man.  I went with him to the\\ndockyard to look at the frigate in the basin, and afterwards on board\\nthe hulk to see the other officers and the men, who had been entered.  I\\nhad every reason to be satisfied, and I then returned to the hotel, to\\ndine with Colonel Delmar.  This officer appeared to have taken a strong\\ninterest in me, and ever since the accident of his gun going off, which\\nhad so nearly been fatal to me, was unbounded in his professions of\\nregard.  I must say, that a more gentleman-like or more amusing\\ncompanion I never met with.  A great intimacy was established between\\nus; he was constantly making me presents of value, which I would fain\\nhave prevented his doing; occasionally, when we were alone, he would\\nhint something about my family and parentage; but this was a subject\\nupon which I was invariably silent, and I immediately changed the\\nconversation; once only I replied, that my father and mother were both\\ndead.\\n\\nOn my arrival at Portsmouth, I found several letters waiting for me, and\\namong them two or three from my mother, who had seen the report in the\\nnewspaper of the escape that I had had, and, of course, was excessively\\nanxious to hear from my own hand how I was.  Had I thought that it would\\nhave come to her knowledge, I certainly should have written to my\\ngrandmother from Madeline Hall; but I imagined that she knew nothing\\nabout it, until my return to Portsmouth, when her anxious letters proved\\nthe contrary; for in her anxiety she had quite forgotten her promise\\nthat all communication should be through my grandmother.\\n\\nAs soon as I had read the letters I locked them up in my desk, and\\nhastened to reply to them, assuring my mother of my perfect restoration\\nto health, and cautioned her not to break through the agreement we had\\nmade for the future, pointing out to her that had these letters been\\nforwarded to Madeline Hall, her handwriting would have been recognised.\\nI said, in conclusion, \"I must say, my dear mother, that I now heartily\\nrepent that we should have resorted to the step we have done in\\npretending that you are dead.  That some advantage was gained by it at\\nthe time, I really believe; but I have a feeling that eventually some\\nmischief may occur from it.  I hope I may be mistaken; but if I am not,\\nit will only be the punishment which I deserve for an act of duplicity\\nwhich I have repented of ever since.\"\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN.\\n\\nMy time was now fully employed during the day in fitting out the\\nfrigate; but in the evening I generally dined out at the admiral\\'s or at\\nthe officers\\' mess.  I received several invitations from the marine mess\\nto dine with them; but I always contrived to be engaged, for I was\\nfearful that something might be said relative to my putative father,\\nBen, which might hurt my pride.  Not that I had any reason to suppose\\nthat any of the officers would have been guilty of any such rudeness;\\nbut as a great deal of wine was drank when company were at the mess, and\\nthere were many young men there, it was possible that, having the\\nknowledge, they might in their cups say something which they never would\\nhave done when they were sober.  The colonel very often dined there, and\\nconstantly asked me why I refused.  My reply was certainly not the\\ntruth, for I said that I was not very partial to marine officers.\\n\\nWe had been three weeks at Portsmouth when Colonel Delmar received a\\nletter from a friend of his, a Major Stapleton, which he read aloud to\\nme at breakfast.  It stated that the major would be down at Portsmouth\\nthe next day, and requested the colonel to procure him good rooms.  \"He\\nis an excellent fellow, the major,\" continued the colonel, \"and will be\\na great addition to our society.  I will prevail upon him to stay a week\\nor ten days.\"\\n\\nOn my return from the dock-yard on the following day, I found the\\ncolonel and Major Stapleton in our sitting-room, and was introduced to\\nhim.  He was a small, neatly-made man, with handsome features, very well\\ndressed, and of very fashionable appearance.  Still there was something\\nin his eye which did not please me; it was unsettled and wandering, and\\nnever fixed upon you for more than a second.  He met me with great\\nwarmth and _empressement_, shook me by the hand, and declared what\\npleasure he had in making my acquaintance.  We sat down to dinner, and\\nwere very merry.\\n\\nThe major had been with us a week, when we had a large party to dinner.\\nThe wine was passed freely, and we all were more or less elated.  The\\nmajor appeared particularly so, and very much inclined to be\\nquarrelsome, and as he constantly addressed himself to me, I was very\\ncautious in what I said, as I perceived that he was in the humour to\\ntake offence at anything.  Several very offensive remarks were made by\\nhim, as if to pick a quarrel between us, but I parried them as well as I\\ncould, and I was making an observation, when the major started up, and\\ntold me that what I said was a lie, and that I was a scoundrel for\\nhaving said so.\\n\\nNow, as my observation was to my first lieutenant, and was in reference\\nto the hold of the frigate, there could be no cause for this insult, and\\nit could only be ascribed to his being in a state of intoxication.  My\\nreply was very cool and quiet: \"Major, you do not know what you are\\nsaying; but we will talk about it to-morrow morning.\"  I then rose and\\nwent to my bed-room, and the whole party broke up immediately.\\n\\nShortly afterwards, Colonel Delmar came into my room, and blaming the\\nmajor very much for his conduct, ascribed it to intoxication and said\\nthat he would make him send a proper apology, which he had no doubt the\\nnext morning, when the major was informed of what he had done, he would\\nbe most anxious to offer himself.\\n\\nI replied, that I presumed so; and he quitted my room.  Indeed, so fully\\nwas I convinced of this in my own mind, that I gave it no further\\nthought, and was soon fast asleep, and did not wake until Colonel Delmar\\nentered my room at a late hour.\\n\\n\"Well, colonel,\" said I.\\n\\n\"My dear Keene,\" said he, \"I have been to the major, and, to my\\nsurprise, when I stated to him what had passed at the table last night,\\nhis reply was, that he perfectly remembered all about it and that he\\nwould not retract what he had said.  I remonstrated with him, but in\\nvain.  He says, that it is cowardly to retract, and that he will never\\nmake an apology.\"\\n\\n\"Then,\" replied I, \"there is but one step for me to take.\"\\n\\n\"As our friend, I told him so, and pressed him very hard to acknowledge\\nhis error, but he continued steadfast in his refusal.  I then took upon\\nmyself to say that I was there as your friend, and begged he would name\\nan officer to whom I might address myself.  Did I not right, my dear\\nKeene?\"\\n\\n\"Certainly; and I am very much obliged to you,\" replied I, putting on my\\ndressing-gown.\\n\\n\"He must be mad, utterly and positively mad!\" exclaimed Colonel Delmar;\\n\"I regret very much that he has ever come here.  I know that some years\\nago, when he was younger, he fought two or three duels rather than make\\nan apology; but in this instance it was so unprovoked, and I had hoped\\nthat he had got over all that nonsense and obstinacy.  Are you a good\\nshot, Keene? because he is a notorious one.\"\\n\\n\"I can hit my man, colonel; it is true that I have only fought one duel\\nin my life, and would make a great sacrifice rather than fight another;\\nbut no alternative is left me in this case; and if blood is shed, it\\nmust be on the head of him who provoked it.\"\\n\\n\"Very true,\" replied Colonel Delmar, biting his lip; \"I only hope you\\nwill be successful.\"\\n\\n\"I have no particular animosity against Major Stapleton,\" replied I;\\n\"but as he is such a good shot, I shall in my own defence take good aim\\nat him.  At all events, I have sufficient acquaintance with fire-arms,\\nand have passed through too many bullets not to be cool and collected\\nunder fire, and I therefore consider myself quite a match for the major.\\nNow, colonel, if you will order the breakfast, I will be down in ten\\nminutes or a quarter of an hour.\"\\n\\nAs the colonel was going out of the room, his servant knocked at the\\ndoor, and said that Captain Green wished to speak to him on particular\\nbusiness; I therefore did not hurry myself, but proceeded quietly with\\nmy toilet, as I was well aware what the particular business was, and\\nthat the conference might last some time.  On my descending into the\\nsitting-room I found the colonel alone.\\n\\n\"Well, Keene,\" said he, \"everything is arranged, for the major is deaf\\nto all expostulation.  You are to meet this evening, and, to avoid\\ninterference, Captain Green and I have agreed to say that the major has\\napologised, and all is made up.\"  Of course I had no objection to make\\nto that, and we parted for the present, I walking to the dock-yard, and\\nhe remaining at the hotel to write letters.\\n\\nThe reader may think that I took matters very coolly; but the fact was,\\nI had no preparations to make in case of accident, having no wife or\\nfamily, and as to any other preparations at such a time, I considered\\nthem as mockery.  I knew that I was about to do what was wrong--to\\noffend my Creator--and knowing that, and sinning with my eyes open, much\\nas I regretted that I was compelled to do so, I was still resolved upon\\ndoing it.  How great may be the culpability in such cases when you are\\ncalled upon to sacrifice all your worldly interests, and to be despised\\namong men, or run the risk of involuntarily taking another person\\'s\\nlife, I could not pretend to judge; but one thing was certain, that,\\nhowever it may be judged in the next world, in this, among soldiers and\\nsailors, it will always be considered as venial.  I did, therefore, what\\nmost in my profession would have done under the same circumstances.  I\\ndrove it from my thoughts as much as possible, until the time came to\\ndecide my fate.  I considered that I must be judged by the tenor of my\\nwhole life, and that repentance, under chance of death, was of about the\\nsame value as death-bed repentance.\\n\\nAs soon as the dock-yard men were mustered out, I returned to the hotel,\\nand sat down to dinner with the colonel.  We had scarcely finished a\\nbottle of claret when it was time to be off.  We walked out of the town,\\nto the place appointed, where I found my adversary and his second.  The\\nground was marked out by the colonel, and, when I took my station, I\\nfound that the setting sun was in my eyes.  I pointed it out to him, and\\nrequested my position might be changed.  The other second heard me do\\nso, and very handsomely agreed that I was entitled to what I asked, and\\nthe colonel immediately apologised for his remissness to my interests.\\nThe ground was then marked out in another direction, and the colonel\\ntook me to my place, where I observed that one of the white-washed posts\\nwas exactly behind me, making me a sure mark for my antagonist.  \"I am\\nnot used to these things, Keene,\" replied Colonel Delmar, \"and I make\\nstrange mistakes.\"  I then pointed out a direction which would be fair\\nfor both parties.  The pistols were then loaded, and put into our hands.\\nWe fired at the signal.  I felt that I was hit, but my adversary fell.\\nI was paralysed; and although I remained on my feet, I could not move.\\nCaptain Green and the colonel went up to where my adversary lay: the\\nball had passed through his chest.\\n\\n\"He is dead,\" said Captain Green--\"quite dead.\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied Colonel Delmar.  \"My dear Keene, I congratulate you: you\\nhave killed the greatest scoundrel that ever disgraced his Majesty\\'s\\nuniform.\"\\n\\n\"Colonel Delmar,\" replied Captain Green, \"the observation might well be\\nspared: our errors and our follies die with us.\"\\n\\n\"Very true, Captain Green,\" replied I.  \"I can only express my surprise\\nthat the colonel should have introduced to me a person whose memory he\\nnow so bitterly assails.\"  Somehow or another, from the commencement of\\nthe duel, Colonel Delmar\\'s conduct had excited my suspicions, and a\\nhundred things crowded into my memory, which appeared as if illumined\\nlike a flash of lightning.  I came suddenly to the conviction that he\\nwas my enemy, and not my friend.  But I was bleeding fast: some marines,\\nwho were passing, were summoned, and the body of Major Stapleton was\\ncarried away by one party, while I was committed to another, and taken\\nback to the hotel.  The surgeon was sent for, and my wound was not\\ndangerous.  The ball had gone deep into my thigh, but had missed any\\nvessel of magnitude.  It was extracted, and I was left quiet in bed.\\nColonel Delmar came up to me as before, but I received his professions\\nwith great coolness.  I told him that I thought it would be prudent of\\nhim to disappear until the affair had blown over; but he declared to me\\nthat he would remain with me at every risk.  Shortly afterwards, Captain\\nGreen came into my room, and said, \"I\\'m sure, Captain Keene, you will be\\nglad to hear that Major Stapleton is not dead.  He had swooned, and is\\nnow come to, and the doctor thinks favourably of him.\"\\n\\n\"I am indeed very glad, Captain Green; for I had no animosity against\\nthe major, and his conduct to me has been quite incomprehensible.\"\\n\\nAfter inquiry about my wound, and expressing a hope that I should soon\\nbe well, Captain Green left; but I observed that he took no further\\nnotice of Colonel Delmar than a haughty salute as he quitted the room;\\nand then, to my surprise, Colonel Delmar said that, upon consideration,\\nhe thought it would be advisable for him to go away for a certain time.\\n\\n\"I agree with you,\" replied I; \"it would be better.\"  I said this,\\nbecause I did not wish his company; for it at once struck me as very\\nstrange that he should, now that Major Stapleton was alive and promising\\nto do well, talk of departure, when he refused at the time he supposed\\nhim to be killed.  I was therefore very glad when in an hour or two\\nafterwards he took his leave, and started, as he said, for London.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT.\\n\\nMy recovery was rapid: in less than a fortnight I was on the sofa.  The\\nfrigate was now rigged, and had taken in her water and stores, and was\\nreported ready for sea in a month, as we still required about forty men\\nto make up our complement.  I saw a great deal of Captain Green, who\\npaid me a visit almost every day; and once, when our conversation turned\\nupon the duel, I made the same remark as I did when Colonel Delmar used\\nsuch harsh language over the body of Major Stapleton.  \"Yes,\" replied\\nCaptain Green, \"I thought it was my duty to tell him what Colonel Delmar\\nhad said.  He was very much excited, and replied, `The _greatest_\\nscoundrel, did he say?--then is the devil better than those he tempts;\\nhowever, we are both in each other\\'s power.  I must get well first, and\\nthen I will act.\\'  There certainly is some mystery, the attack was so\\nunprovoked, the determination so positive.  Have you any reason to\\nsuppose that Colonel Delmar is your enemy, Captain Keene? for certainly\\nhe did appear to me to do all he could at the time of the duel to give\\nyour adversary the advantage.\"\\n\\n\"I really have no cause to suppose that he has grounds for being my\\nenemy; but I cannot help suspecting that, for some reason or reasons\\nunknown, he is so.\"\\n\\nWhen Captain Green had left me, I tried all I could to find out why\\nColonel Delmar should be inimical to me.  That he was the supposed heir\\nto Miss Delmar I knew; but surely her leaving me a few thousands was not\\nsufficient cause for a man to seek my life.  Lord de Versely had nothing\\nto leave; I could come to no conclusion that was at all satisfactory.  I\\nthen thought whether I would write to Lord de Versely, and tell him what\\nhad happened; but I decided that I would not.  The initials had been put\\nin the papers at the announcement of the duel, and, had he seen them, he\\ncertainly would have written down to inquire about the facts.  My mother\\nhad so done, and I resolved that I would answer her letter, which had\\nhitherto remained on the table.  I sent for my desk, and when my servant\\nbrought it me, the bunch of keys were hanging to the lock.  I thought\\nthis strange, as I had locked my desk before I went out to meet Major\\nStapleton, and had never sent for it since my return; my servant,\\nhowever, could tell me nothing about it, except that he found it as he\\nbrought it to me; but after a little time, he recollected that the\\ndoctor had asked for a pen and ink to write a prescription, and that the\\ncolonel had taken the keys to get him what he required.  This accounted\\nfor it, and nothing more was said upon the subject.  Of course, although\\nit was known, no notice was taken of what had passed by the Admiralty.\\nI had not even put myself down in the sick report, but signed my daily\\npapers, and sent them into the admiral\\'s office as if nothing had\\nhappened.\\n\\nIn six weeks I was able to limp about a little, and the Circe was at\\nlast reported ready for sea.  My orders came down, and I was to sail\\nwith the first fair wind to join the squadron in the Texel and North\\nSea.  I had taken up my quarters on board, and was waiting two days,\\nwhile the wind still blew hard from the eastward, when my promise to\\nwrite to Mr Warden occurred to me; and, as I had closed all my\\ndespatches to Lord de Versely--the Honourable Miss Delmar, to whom I\\nmade my excuse for not being able to pay my respects before my\\ndeparture--my mother, and my aunt Bridgeman--I resolved that I would\\nwrite him a long letter previous to my sailing.  I did so, in which I\\nentered into the whole affair of the duel, the conduct of Colonel\\nDelmar, and my suspicions relative to him; stating, at the same time,\\nthat I could not comprehend why he should have sought to injure me.  I\\nfinished this letter late in the evening, and the next morning, the wind\\nhaving come round, we sailed for our destination.\\n\\nOnce more on the water, all my thoughts were given to the service.  We\\nsoon fell in with the North Sea squadron, and the day afterwards the\\nCirce was directed to go on shore in company with the Dryad, and watch\\nthe flotillas of gun-boats which had been collecting in the various\\nrivers and ports; to sink, burn, and destroy to the utmost of our power.\\nThis was an active and dangerous service, as the enemy had every\\nadvantage in the sands and shoals, and hardly a day passed in which we\\nwere not engaged with the flotillas and batteries.  It was, however, now\\nfine weather, for the winter had set in early, and had passed away, and\\nfor two months we continued in the service, during which my skip\\'s\\ncompany were well trained.  One morning a cutter from the fleet was\\nreported from the mast-head, and we expected that we should soon have\\nour letters from England, when the Dryad threw out the signal for six\\nsail of praams in shore.\\n\\nThe two frigates made all sail in chase, leaving the cutter to follow us\\nhow she could.  Our masters were well acquainted with the shoals on the\\ncoast, and we threaded our way through them towards the enemy.  We were\\nwithin gun-shot, and had exchanged broadsides with the batteries, when\\nthe flotillas gained a small harbour, which prevented our making any\\nfurther attempts.  The Dryad made the signal to haul off; it was quite\\ntime, as we had not more than four hours\\' daylight, and were entangled\\namong the shoals.  The breeze, which had been fresh, now increased very\\nrapidly, and there was every appearance of a gale.  We worked out as\\nfast as we could, and by nine o\\'clock in the evening we were clear of\\nthe sands, and in the open sea; but the gale had sprung up so rapidly\\nthat we were obliged to reduce our sail to close-reefed topsails.  With\\nthe sands under our lee, it was necessary to draw off as fast as we\\ncould, and we therefore carried a heavy press of sail all the night--at\\nlast, the wind was so strong that we could only carry close-reefed\\nmaintop-sail and reefed fore-sail; and with a heavy sea, which had risen\\nup, we felt that we were in extreme danger.\\n\\nDaylight once more made its appearance.  Our first object was to\\nascertain the position of the Dryad.  For a long time we looked in vain;\\nat last, a partial clearing up of the horizon on the lee bow discovered\\nher, looming through the heavy atmosphere, more like a phantom ship than\\nthe work of mortal hands.  She was a deep grey mass upon a lighter grey\\nground.  Her top-masts were gone, and she was pitching and rising\\nwithout appearing to advance under her courses and storm staysails.\\n\\n\"There she is, sir,\" said Mr Wilson; \"and if the gale lasts, good-bye\\nto her.\"\\n\\n\"If the gale lasts, Mr Wilson,\" said I in a low voice, \"I suspect you\\nmay sing our requiem as well; but we must trust to Heaven and our own\\nexertions.  Pass along the lead-line, Mr Hawkins.\"\\n\\n\"Aye, aye, sir,\" replied the officer of the watch; \"how much out sir?\"\\n\\n\"Forty fathoms.\"\\n\\nThe men ranged themselves along the lee-bulwarks, chains, and gangway\\nand passed the deep sea-lines from aft to the anchor stock forward.  The\\ndeep sea lead was taken forward, and as soon as it was bent and ready,\\nthe ship was thrown up to the wind so as to check her way.  \"Heave,\" and\\nthe lead was thrown, and as it descended the line was dropped from the\\nhands of the men, one after another, as the line drew aft; but when it\\ncame to the hands of the master, who was on the quarter, instead of\\nfinding, as he expected, forty fathoms of water, he had to haul in the\\nslack line for such a length of time, that the lead was astern and no\\nproper soundings could be obtained.\\n\\nOne thing was, however, certain, which was, that we were in much\\nshallower water than we had any idea of; and the master, much alarmed,\\ndesired the quarter-master to go into the chains and see if he could get\\nsoundings with the hand-lead while the men were hauling in the deep\\nsea-line.  The quarter-master was forestalled by Bob Cross who, dropping\\ninto the chains, cleared the line, and swinging it but twice or thrice,\\nfor there was little or no way in the vessel, let it go.\\n\\nThe anxiety with which the descent of the line was watched by me, the\\nmaster, and other of the officers who were hanging over the hammock\\nrails, it would be difficult to describe.  When sixteen fathoms were out\\nthe lead sounded.  Cross gathered up the slack line, and fourteen and a\\nhalf fathoms was announced.\\n\\n\"Mr Hillyer,\" said I, \"oblige me by coming down into the cabin.\"  The\\nmaster followed me immediately.  The chart was on the table in the\\nfore-cabin.\\n\\n\"We must have gone to leeward dreadfully, sir.\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied I; \"but the sweep of the currents in heavy gales is so\\ntremendous, and so uncertain on this coast, that I am not surprised.  We\\nmust have had a South East current, and probably we are hereabouts,\"\\ncontinued I, putting the point of the compass upon the spot.\\n\\n\"It seems hardly possible, sir,\" replied the master; \"but still I fear\\nit must be so; and if so,\" continued he, drawing a deep sigh, \"I\\'m\\nafraid it\\'s all over with us, without a miracle in our favour.\"\\n\\n\"I am of your opinion, Mr Hillyer; but say nothing about it,\" replied\\nI; \"the gale _may_ moderate, the wind _may_ shift, and if so we _may_ be\\nsaved.  At all events, it\\'s no use telling bad news too soon, and\\ntherefore you\\'ll oblige me by not saying anything on the subject.  A few\\nhours will decide our fate.\"\\n\\n\"But the Dryad, she is good four miles to the leeward of us, and the\\nsoundings decrease here so rapidly, that in an hour, with the sail she\\nis under, she must go on shore.\"\\n\\n\"She has no chance, that\\'s certain,\" replied I.  \"I only hope it may be\\nso thick that we may not see her.\"\\n\\n\"Not a soul will be saved, sir,\" replied the master, shuddering.  \"I\\nshould say it were impossible, Mr Hillyer; but we all owe Heaven a\\ndeath; and if they go first and we go after them, at all events, let us\\ndo our duty until the time comes--but never despair.  As long as there\\nis life, there is hope; so now let us go on deck, and put as good a face\\non it as we can.\"\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER THIRTY NINE.\\n\\nI returned on deck followed by the master.  \"The barometer is rising,\"\\nsaid I aloud, to the first lieutenant; \"so I presume the gale will break\\nabout twelve o\\'clock.\"\\n\\n\"I am glad to hear of it, sir; for we have quite enough of it,\" replied\\nthe first-lieutenant.\\n\\n\"Do you see the Dryad?\"\\n\\n\"No, sir; it\\'s quite thick again to leeward: we have not seen her these\\nten minutes.\"\\n\\nThank God for that, thought I, for they will never see her again.  \"What\\nsoundings had you last?\"\\n\\n\"Fourteen fathoms, sir.\"\\n\\n\"I expect we shall cross the tail of the bank in much less,\" replied I;\\n\"but, when once clear, we shall have sea-room.\"\\n\\nAs the captain is an oracle in times of danger, the seamen caught every\\nword which was uttered from my mouth; and what they gathered from what I\\nhad said, satisfied them that they were in no immediate danger.\\nNevertheless, the master walked the deck as if he was stupefied with the\\nimpending crisis.  No wonder, poor fellow; with a wife and family\\ndepending upon him for support, it is not to be expected that a man can\\nlook upon immediate dissolution without painful feelings.  A sailor\\nshould never marry: or if he does, for the benefit of the service, his\\nmarriage should prove an unhappy one, and then he would become more\\nreckless than before.  As for my own thoughts, they may be given in a\\nfew words--they were upon the vanity of human wishes.  Whatever I had\\ndone with the one object I had in view--whatever might have been my\\nsuccess had I lived--whether I might have been wedded to Minnie some\\nfuture day, or what may have resulted, good, bad, or indifferent, as to\\nfuture, all was to be, in a few hours, cut short by the will of Heaven.\\nIn the next world there was neither marriage nor giving in marriage--in\\nthe next world, name, titles, wealth, everything worldly was as nought--\\nand all I had to do was to die like a man, and do my duty to the last,\\ntrusting to a merciful God to forgive me my sins and offences; and with\\nthis philosophy I stood prepared for the event.\\n\\nAbout noon it again cleared up to leeward, but the Dryad was no longer\\nto be seen: this was reported to me.  As it was nearly three hours since\\nwe last had a sight of her, I knew her fate too well--she had plenty of\\ntime to go on shore, and to be broken up by the heavy seas.  I did\\nhowever point my glass in the direction, and coolly observed, \"she has\\nrounded the tail of the bank, I presume, and has bore up.  It was the\\nbest thing she could do.\"  I then asked the master if he had wound his\\nchronometers, and went down into the cabin.  I had not, however, been\\nexamining the chart more than a minute, when the officer of the watch\\ncame down, and reported that we had shoaled to twelve fathoms.\\n\\n\"Very good, Mr Hawkins; we shall be in shallower water yet.  Let me\\nknow if there is any change in the soundings.\"\\n\\nAs soon as the cabin door was again shut, I worked up the tide to see\\nwhen it would change against us; I found that it had changed one hour at\\nleast.  Then it will be sooner over, thought I, throwing down the\\npencil.\\n\\n\"Mr Cross, the boatswain, wishes to speak to you, sir,\" said the\\nsentry, opening the cabin door.\\n\\n\"Tell him to come in,\" replied I.  \"Well, Cross, what\\'s the matter?\"\\n\\n\"I was speaking to the first lieutenant about getting up a runner, sir--\\nthe fore-stay is a good deal chafed; that is, if you think it\\'s of any\\nuse.\"\\n\\n\"How do you mean, of any use, Cross?\"\\n\\n\"Why, sir, although no one would suppose it from you--but if the face of\\nthe master (and he is not a faint-hearted man neither) is to be taken as\\na barometer, we shall all be in `kingdom come\\' before long.  I\\'ve\\ncruised in these seas so often, that I pretty well guess where we are,\\nCaptain Keene.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Cross, it\\'s no use denying that we are in a mess, and nothing but\\nthe wind going down or changing can get us out of it.\"\\n\\n\"Just as I thought sir; well, it can\\'t be helped, so it\\'s no use\\nfretting about it.  I think myself that the gale is breaking, and that\\nwe shall have fine weather by to-morrow morning.\"\\n\\n\"That will be rather too late, Cross; for I think we shall be done for\\nin three or four hours, if not sooner.\"\\n\\n\"Eleven fathoms, sir,\" said the officer of the watch, coming in hastily.\\n\\n\"Very well, Mr Hawkins; let her go through the water,\" replied I.\\n\\nAs soon as the cabin door was again shut, I said, \"You see, Cross, the\\ntide is now against us, and this will not last long.\"\\n\\n\"No, sir; we shall strike in five fathoms with this heavy sea.\"\\n\\n\"I know we shall; but I do not wish to dishearten the men before it is\\nnecessary, and then we must do our best.\"\\n\\n\"You won\\'t be offended, I am sure, by my asking, Captain Keene, what you\\nthink of doing?\"\\n\\n\"Not at all, Cross; it is my intention to explain it to the ship\\'s\\ncompany before I do it.  I may as well take your opinion upon it now.\\nAs soon as we are in six fathoms, I intend to cut away the masts and\\nanchor.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s our only chance, sir, and if it is well done, and the gale\\nabates, it may save some of us; but how do you intend to anchor?\"\\n\\n\"I shall back the best bower with the sheet, and let go the small bower\\nat the same time that I do the sheet, so as to ride an even strain.\"\\n\\n\"You can\\'t do better, sir; but that will require time for preparation,\\nto be well done.  Do you think that we shall have time, if you wait till\\nwe are in six fathoms?\"\\n\\n\"I don\\'t know but you are right, Cross, and I think it would be better\\nto commence our preparations at once.\"\\n\\n\"Ten fathoms, sir,\" reported the officer of the watch.\\n\\n\"Very well, I will be on deck directly.\"\\n\\n\"Well, sir, we must now go to our duty; and as we may chance not to talk\\nto one another again, sir,\" said Cross, \"I can only say God bless you,\\nand I hope that, if we do not meet again in this world, we shall in\\nheaven, or as near to it as possible.  Good-bye, sir.\"\\n\\n\"Good-bye, Cross,\" replied I, shaking him by the hand; \"we\\'ll do our\\nduty, at all events.  So now for my last dying speech.\"\\n\\nCross quitted the cabin, and I followed him.  As soon as I was on deck,\\nI desired the first lieutenant to turn the hands up, and send them aft.\\nWhen they were all assembled, with Cross at their head, I stood on one\\nof the carronades and said: \"My lads, I have sent for you, because I\\nconsider that, although the gale is evidently breaking, we are shoaling\\nour water so fast, that we are in danger of going on shore before the\\ngale does break.  Now, what I intend to do, as our best chance, is to\\ncut away the masts, and anchor as soon as we are in six fathoms water;\\nperhaps we may then ride it out.  At all events, we must do our best,\\nand put our trust in Providence.  But, my lads, you must be aware, that\\nin times of difficulty it is important that we should be all cool and\\ncollected, that you must adhere to your discipline, and obey your\\nofficers to the last; if you do not, everything will go wrong instead of\\nright.  You have proved yourselves an excellent set of men, and I\\'m sure\\nyou will continue so to do.  It is possible we may not have to cut away\\nour masts, or to anchor; still, we must make every preparation in case\\nit is necessary, and I have, therefore, sent for you, to explain my\\nintentions, and to request that you will all assist me to the best of\\nyour abilities; and I feel convinced that you will, and will do your\\nduty like British seamen.  That\\'s all I have to say, my lads.  Pipe\\ndown, Mr Cross.\"\\n\\nThe ship\\'s company went forward in silence.  They perceived the full\\nextent of the danger.  The first lieutenant and boatswain employed a\\nportion in backing the best bower anchor with the sheet; the others\\nroued up the cables from the tiers, and coiled them on the main-deck,\\nclear for running.  All hands were busily employed, and employment made\\nthem forget their fears.  The work was done silently, but orderly and\\nsteadily.  In the meantime we had shoaled to eight fathoms, and it was\\nnow nearly three o\\'clock; but as it was summer time, the days were long.\\nIndeed, when the weather was fine, there was little or no night, and\\nthe weather was warm, which was all in our favour.\\n\\nWhen everything was reported ready, I went round to examine and\\nascertain if the cables would run clear.  Satisfied that all was right,\\nI then picked out the men, and appointed those who were most trustworthy\\nto the stations of importance; and, having so done, I then returned to\\nthe quarter-deck, and called up the carpenter and some of the topmen to\\nbe ready with the axes to cut away the masts and lashings of the booms\\nand boats.  Just as these orders were completed, the gale blew fiercer\\nthan ever.  We were now in seven fathoms water, and pressed heavy by the\\ngale.\\n\\nI stood at the break of the gangway, the first lieutenant and master by\\nmy side, and Cross a little forward, watching my eye.  The men in the\\nchains continued to give the soundings in a clear steady voice, \"By the\\nmark seven,\" \"Quarter less seven,\" \"And a half six.\"  At last, the man\\nin the chains next to me, a fine old forecastle man, gave the sounding\\n\"By the mark six,\" and he gave it with a louder voice than before, with\\na sort of defiance, as much as to say, \"The time is come, let the\\nelements do their worst.\"\\n\\nThe time was come.  \"Silence, fore and aft.  Every man down under the\\nhalf-deck, except those stationed.  Cut away the boom lashings, and\\nclear the boats.\"  This was soon done, and reported.  \"Now then, my\\nlads, be steady.  Cut away the lanyards in the chains.\"\\n\\nOne after another the lanyards and backstays were severed; the masts\\ngroaned and creaked, and then the fore-mast and main-mast were over the\\nside almost at the same time; the mizen followed, as the frigate\\nbroached to and righted, leaving the ship\\'s deck a mass of wreck and\\nconfusion; but no one was hurt, from the precautions which had been\\ntaken, the mast having been cut away before we rounded to, to anchor, as\\notherwise, they would have fallen aft and not gone clear of the ship.\\n\\n\"Stand by the best bower.  Stand clear of the cable.  Let go the\\nanchor.\"\\n\\nAs soon as the best bower cable was nearly out, the sheet anchor and\\nsmall bower were let go at the same moment, and the result was to be\\nascertained.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER FORTY.\\n\\nThe frigate was head to wind, rising and pitching with the heavy sea,\\nbut not yet feeling the strain of the cables: the masts lay rolling and\\nbeating alongside.\\n\\nThe ship\\'s company had most of them returned on deck, to view their\\nimpending fate, and the carpenters, who had already received their\\norders, were battening down the hatchways on the main-deck.  In a minute\\nthe frigate rode to her anchors, and as soon as the strain was on the\\ncables, she dipped, and a tremendous sea broke over her bows, deluging\\nus fore and aft, nearly filling the main-deck, and washing the\\ncarpenters away from their half-completed work.  A second and a third\\nfollowed, rolling aft, so as to almost bury the vessel, sweeping away\\nthe men who clung to the cordage and guns, and carrying many of them\\noverboard.\\n\\nI had quitted the gangway, where there was no hold, and had repaired to\\nthe main bitts, behind the stump of the main-mast.  Even in this\\nposition I should not have been able to hold on, if it had not been for\\nBob Cross, who was near me, and who passed a rope round my body as I was\\nsweeping away; but the booms and boats which had been cut adrift, in\\ncase of the ship driving on shore broadside, were driven aft with the\\nlast tremendous sea, and many men on the quarter-deck were crushed and\\nmangled.\\n\\nAfter the third sea had swept over us, there was a pause, and Cross said\\nto me, \"We had better go down on the main-deck, Captain Keene, and get\\nthe half-ports open if possible.\"  We did so, and with great difficulty,\\nfound the people to help us; for, as it may be imagined, the confusion\\nwas now very great; but the carpenters were again collected, and the\\nhalf-ports got out, and then the battening down was completed; for,\\nalthough she continued to ship seas fore and aft, they were not so heavy\\nas the three first, which had so nearly swamped her.\\n\\nI again went on deck, followed by Cross, who would not leave me.  Most\\nof the men had lashed themselves to the guns and belaying pins, but I\\nlooked in vain for the first lieutenant and master; they were standing\\nat the gangway at the time of the first sea breaking over us, and it is\\nto be presumed that they were washed overboard, for I never saw them\\nagain.\\n\\nWe had hardly been on deck, and taken our old position at the bitts,\\nwhen the heavy seas again poured over us; but the booms having been\\ncleared, and the ports on the main-deck open, they did not sweep us with\\nthe same force as before.\\n\\n\"She cannot stand this long, Bob,\" said I, as we clung to the bitts.\\n\\n\"No, sir, the cables must part with such a heavy strain; or if they do\\nnot, we shall drag our anchors till we strike on the sands.\"\\n\\n\"And then we shall go to pieces?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir; but do not forget to get to the wreck of the masts, if you\\npossibly can.  The best chance will be there.\"\\n\\n\"Bad\\'s the best, Cross; however, that was my intention.\"\\n\\nThe reader will be surprised at my having no conversation with any other\\nparty but Cross; but the fact was, that although it was only\\noccasionally that a heavy sea poured over us, we were blinded by the\\ncontinual spray in which the frigate was enveloped, and which prevented\\nus not only from seeing our own position, but even a few feet from us;\\nand, as if any one who had not a firm hold when the seas poured over the\\ndeck, was almost certain to be washed overboard, every man clung to\\nwhere he was; indeed, there were not fifty men on deck; for those who\\nhad not been washed overboard by the first seas, had hastened to get\\nunder the half-deck; and many had been washed overboard in the attempt.\\n\\nThe most painful part was to hear the moaning and cries for help of the\\npoor fellows who lay jammed under the heavy spars and boats which had\\nbeen washed aft, and to whom it was impossible to afford any relief\\nwithout the assistance of a large body of men.  But all I have described\\nsince the anchors were let go occurred in a few minutes.\\n\\nOn a sudden, the frigate heeled over to starboard, and at the same time\\na sea broke over her chesstree, which nearly drowned us where we were\\nclinging.  As soon as the pouring off of the water enabled us to recover\\nour speech, \"She has parted, Cross, and all is over with us,\" said I.\\n\\n\"Yes, sir; as soon as she strikes, she will break up in ten minutes.  We\\nmust not stay here, as she will part amidships.\"\\n\\nI felt the truth of the observation, and, waiting until a heavy sea had\\npassed over us, contrived to gain the after ladder, and descend.  As\\nsoon as we were on the main deck, we crawled to the cabin, and seated\\nourselves by the after-gun, Cross having made a hold on to a ring-bolt\\nfor us with his silk neck-handkerchief.\\n\\nThere were many men in the cabin, silently waiting their doom.  They\\nknew that all was over, that nothing could be done, yet they still\\ncontrived to touch their hats respectfully to me as I passed.\\n\\n\"My lads,\" said I, as soon as I had secured my hold, \"the cables have\\nparted, and the ship will strike, and go to pieces in a very short time;\\nrecollect that the masts to leeward are your best chance.\"\\n\\nThose who were near me said, \"Thank you, Captain Keene;\" but the words\\nwere scarcely out of their mouths, when a shock passed through the whole\\nvessel, and communicated itself to our very hearts.  The ship had struck\\non the sand, and the beams and timbers had not ceased trembling and\\ngroaning, when a sea struck her larboard broadside, throwing her over on\\nher beam-ends, so that the starboard side of the main-deck and the guns\\nwere under water.\\n\\nIt would be impossible after this to detail what occurred in a clear and\\ncorrect manner, as the noise and confusion were so terrible.  At every\\nsea hurled against the sides of the vessel the resistance to them became\\nless.  What with the crashing of the beams, the breaking up of the\\ntimbers, and the guns to windward, as their fastenings gave way,\\ntumbling with a tremendous crash to leeward, and passing through the\\nship\\'s sides, the occasional screams mixed with the other noise, the\\npouring, dashing, and washing of the waters, the scene was appalling.\\nAt last, one louder crash than any of the former announced that the\\nvessel had yielded to the terrific force of the waves, and had parted\\namidships.  After this there was little defence against them, even where\\nwe were clinging, for the waters poured in, as if maddened by their\\nsuccess, through the passage formed by the separation of the vessel, and\\ncame bounding on, as if changing their direction on purpose to overwhelm\\nus.  As the two parts of the vessel were thrown higher up, the shocks\\nwere more severe, and indeed, the waves appeared to have more power than\\nbefore, in consequence of their being so increased in weight from the\\nquantity of sand which was mixed up with them.  Another crash! the sides\\nof the after-part of the vessel had given way, and the heavy guns,\\ndisengaged, flew to leeward, and we found ourselves without shelter from\\nthe raging waters.\\n\\nThe part of the wreck on which Cross and I were sitting was so\\ncompletely on its beam-ends that the deck was within a trifle of being\\nperpendicular.  To walk was impossible: all that we could do was to\\nslide down into the water to leeward; but little was to be gained by\\nthat, as there was no egress.  We therefore remained for more than an\\nhour in the same position, wearied with clinging, and the continual\\nsuffocation we received from the waves, as they deluged us.  We\\nperceived that the wreck was gradually settling down deeper and deeper\\nin the sand; it was more steady in consequence, but at the same time the\\nwaves had more power over the upper part; and so it proved; for one\\nenormous sea came in, blowing up the quarter deck over our heads,\\ntearing away the planking and timbers, and hurling them to leeward.\\nThis, at all events, set us free, although it exposed us more than\\nbefore; we could now see about us, that is, we could see to leeward, and\\nCross pointed out to me the mainmast tossing about in the boiling water,\\nwith the main-top now buried, and now rising out clear.  I nodded my\\nhead in assent.  He made a sign to say that he would go first after the\\nnext wave had passed over us.\\n\\nI found myself alone, and as soon as I had cleared my eyes of the\\nsalt-water, I perceived Cross in the surge to leeward, making for the\\nfloating mast.  He gained it, and waved his hand.  I immediately\\nfollowed him, and, after a short buffet, gained a place by his side,\\njust behind the main-top, which afforded us considerable shelter from\\nthe seas.  Indeed, as the main-mast was in a manner anchored by the lee\\nrigging to the wreck of the vessel, the latter served as a breakwater,\\nand the sea was, therefore, comparatively smooth, and I found my\\nposition infinitely more agreeable than when I was clinging on the\\nwreck.  I could now breathe freely, as it was seldom I was wholly under\\nwater; neither was it necessary, as before, to cling for your life.\\n\\nOn looking round me, I found that about twenty men were hanging on to\\nthe mast.  Many of them appeared quite exhausted, and had not strength\\nleft to obtain a more favourable berth.  The position taken by Cross and\\nmyself was very secure, being between the main-top and the catharpings,\\nand the water was so warm that we did not feel the occasional immersion;\\nfive other men were close to us, but not a word was said,--indeed,\\nhardly a recognition exchanged.  At that time we thought only of\\nimmediate preservation, and had little feeling for anybody else.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER FORTY ONE.\\n\\nThe night was now coming on; the rolling waves changed from the yellow\\ntinge given by the sand to green, and then to purple: at last all was\\nblack except the white foaming breakers.\\n\\nExhausted with fatigue, it had not been dark more than two hours, when I\\nfelt an irresistible desire to sleep, and I have no doubt that I did\\nslumber in this position, half in and half out of the water, for some\\ntime; for when I was roused up by losing my balance, I looked above and\\nperceived that the sky was clear, and the stars shining brightly.  I\\nthen looked around me, and it was evident that the water was not so\\nagitated as it had been; the wind too had subsided; its roaring had\\nceased, although it still whistled strong.\\n\\n\"Cross!\" said I.\\n\\n\"Here I am, Captain Keene, close under your lee.\"\\n\\n\"The gale is broke; we shall have fair weather before the morning.\"\\n\\n\"Yes, sir; I have thought so some time.\"\\n\\n\"Thank God for His mercy; we must trust that He will not leave us here\\nto perish miserably.\"\\n\\n\"No, I hope not,\" replied Cross; \"let us trust in Him, but I confess I\\nsee but little chance.\"\\n\\n\"So have many others, yet they have been saved, Cross.\"\\n\\n\"Very true, sir,\" replied he: \"I wish it was daylight.\"\\n\\nWe had, however, three or four hours to wait; but during that time the\\nwind gradually subsided, and then went down to a light and fitful\\nbreeze.  At dawn of day the mast rose and fell with the swell of the\\nsea, which still heaved after the late commotion, but without any run in\\nany particular direction, for it was now calm.  I had been sitting on\\nthe mast with my back against the futtock-shrouds; I now rose up with\\ndifficulty, for I was sorely bruised, and stood upon the mast clear from\\nthe water, to look around me.  About thirty yards from us was the wreck\\nof the foremast with many men clinging to it.  The mizen-mast had broken\\nadrift.  The fore part of the frigate was several feet above water, and\\nthe bowsprit steeved in the air; of the after part there were but three\\nor four broken timbers to be seen clear of the water, so deep had it\\nbeen buried in the sand.\\n\\nCross had risen on his feet, and was standing by me, when we were hailed\\nfrom the wreck of the fore-mast, \"Main-mast, ahoy!\"\\n\\n\"Halloo!\" replied Cross.\\n\\n\"Have you got the captain on board?\"\\n\\n\"Yes,\" replied Bob; \"all alive and hearty;\" a faint huzzah which was the\\nreturn, affected me sensibly.  That my men should think of me when in\\nsuch a position was soothing to my feelings; but as I looked at them on\\nthe other mast and those around me, and calculated that there could not\\nbe more than forty men left out of such a noble ship\\'s company, I could\\nhave wept.  But it was time for action: \"Cross,\" said I, \"now that it is\\ncalm, I think we shall be better on the fore part of the frigate than\\nhere, half in and half out of water.  The forecastle is still remaining,\\nand the weather bulwarks will shelter the men; besides if any vessels\\nshould come in sight, we should more easily be able to make signals and\\nto attract their attention.\"\\n\\n\"Very true, sir,\" replied Cross; \"and as there are many men here who\\ncannot hold on much longer, we must try if we cannot haul them on board.\\nDo you feel strong enough to swim to the wreck?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, quite, Cross.\"\\n\\n\"Then we\\'ll start together, sir, and see how matters are.\"\\n\\nI dropped into the sea, followed by Cross; and as the distance from us\\nwas not forty yards, we soon gained the wreck of the fore part of the\\nfrigate; the lee gunnel was just above the water; we clambered over it,\\nand found the deck still whole; the weather portion as white as snow,\\nand quite dry: we gained the weather bulwarks, and looked in the offing\\nin case there should be any vessel, but we could see nothing.\\n\\n\"Now, sir, we had better hail, and tell all those who can swim to come\\nto us.\"\\n\\nWe did so, and six men from the main-mast and nine from the fore-mast\\nsoon joined us.\\n\\n\"Now, my lads,\" said I, \"we must look after those who cannot get here,\\nand try to save them.  Get all the ends of ropes from the belaying pins,\\nbend them on one to another, and then we will return and make the men\\nfast, and you shall haul them on board.\"\\n\\nThis was soon done; Cross and I took the end in our hands, and swam back\\nto the main-mast.  One of the top-men, with a broken, arm was the first\\nthat was made fast, and, when the signal was given, hauled through the\\nwater to the wreck; six or seven more followed in succession.  Two men\\nswam back every time with the rope and accompanied those who were hauled\\non board, that they might not sink.  There were many more hanging to\\ndifferent parts of the main-mast, but on examination they were found to\\nbe quite dead.  We sent on board all that showed any symptoms of life,\\nand then we swam to the fore-mast, and assisted those who were hanging\\nto it.  In about two hours our task was completed, and we mustered\\ntwenty-six men on the wreck.\\n\\nWe were glad to shelter ourselves under the bulwark, where we all lay\\nhuddled up together; before noon, most of the poor fellows had forgotten\\ntheir sufferings in a sound sleep.  Cross, I, and the man with the\\nbroken arm, were the only three awake; the latter was in too much pain\\nto find repose, and, moreover, suffered from extreme thirst.\\n\\nA breeze now sprang up from the southward, which cheered our spirits, as\\nwithout wind there was little chance of receiving any assistance.  Night\\nagain came on, and the men still slept.  Cross and I laid down, and were\\nglad to follow their example: the night was cold, and when we lay down\\nwe did not yet feel much from hunger or thirst; but when the morning\\ndawned we woke in suffering, not from hunger, but from thirst.\\nEverybody cried out for water.  I told the men that talking would only\\nmake them feel it more, and advised them to put their shirt sleeves in\\ntheir mouths, and suck them; and then I climbed upon the bulwarks to see\\nif there was anything in sight.  I knew that the greatest chance was\\nthat the cutter would be looking after us; but, at the same time, it was\\nnot yet likely that she would come so near to the sands.\\n\\nI had been an hour on the gunnel, when Cross came up to me.  \"It\\'s\\nbanking up, sir to the southward: I hope we are not going to have any\\nmore bad weather.\"\\n\\n\"I have no fear of a gale, although we may have thick weather,\" replied\\nI; \"that would be almost as bad for us, as we should perish on the wreck\\nbefore we are discovered.\"\\n\\n\"I am going to lower myself down into the galley, Captain Keene, to see\\nif I can find anything.\"\\n\\n\"I fear you will not be successful,\" replied I, \"for the coppers and\\nranges are all carried away.\"\\n\\n\"I know that, sir; but I have been thinking of the cook\\'s closet we had\\nbuilt up above the bowsprit.  I know that he used to stow away many\\nthings there, and perhaps there may be something.  I believe the\\nshortest way will be to go to leeward, and swim round to it.\"\\n\\nCross then left me, and I continued to look out.  About an hour\\nafterwards he returned, and told me that he had easily opened it with\\nhis knife, and had found eight or nine pounds of raw potatoes, and a\\nbucketful of slush.  \"We are not hungry enough to eat this now, sir; but\\nthere is enough to keep the life in us all for three or four days at\\nleast; that is, if we could get water, and I expect we shall feel the\\nwant of that dreadfully in a short time.  I would give a great deal if I\\ncould only find a drop to give that poor fellow Anderson, with his\\nbroken arm; it is terribly swelled, and he must suffer very much.\"\\n\\n\"Did you find anything in the closet to put water into, Cross; in case\\nwe should get any?\"\\n\\n\"Yes; there\\'s two or three kids, and some small breakers, Captain\\nKeene.\"\\n\\n\"Well, then, you had better get them ready; for those clouds rise so\\nfast, that we may have rain before morning, and if so, we must not lose\\nthe chance.\"\\n\\n\"Why, it does look like rain, sir,\" replied Cross.  \"I\\'ll take one or\\ntwo of the men with me, to assist in getting them up.\"\\n\\nI watched the horizon till night again set in.  We were all very faint\\nand distressed for water, and the cool of the evening somewhat relieved\\nus; the breeze, too, was fresh.  The men had remained quietly in the\\nshade as I had advised them; but, although patient, they evidently\\nsuffered much.  Once more we all attempted to forget ourselves in\\nrepose.  I was soundly asleep, when I was woke up by Cross.\\n\\n\"Captain Keene, it is raining, and it will soon rain much harder; now,\\nif you will order the men, they will soon collect water enough.\"\\n\\n\"Call them up immediately, Cross; we must not lose this providential\\nsuccour.  It may save all our lives.\"\\n\\nThe men were soon on the alert: the rain came down in a steady shower;\\nand as soon as they were wet through, they took off their shirts, and\\ndabbling them into the water as it ran down to leeward, squeezed it out\\ninto their mouths, until their wants were satisfied, and then, under the\\ndirection of Cross, commenced filling the three breakers and four tubs\\nwhich had been brought up.  They had time to fill them, and to spare,\\nfor the rain continued till the morning.  The tubs and breakers were\\nsecurely slung under the fore-bitts for future use, and they then\\ncontinued to drink till they could drink no more.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER FORTY TWO.\\n\\nThe sun rose and chased away the clouds, and the heat was overpowering.\\nWhat would have been our situation if it had not pleased Heaven to\\nrefresh us?\\n\\nThe consequence of their thirst being appeased made the demand for food\\nimperative, and a raw potato was given to each man.  The day passed, and\\nso did a third, and fourth, and our hopes began to fail us, when at\\ndaylight the next morning I spied a sail to the westward.  The breeze\\nwas light but the vessel was evidently coming down towards us, and\\nbefore noon we made it out to be the cutter.\\n\\nWe then sat on the bulwarks, and held out a white shirt, as a signal to\\nattract their attention.  When about three miles from us, the cutter\\nrounded to, not appearing to notice us, and for two hours we were left\\nin this state of maddening anxiety and suspense, when at last we\\nperceived her bows pay off, and she again stood towards us.  They had at\\nlast seen us, and as soon as they had run down to within three cables\\'\\nlength, the boat was lowered and sent to take us off.  In three trips we\\nwere all on board, and devoutly thanked Heaven for our preservation.\\n\\nThe lieutenant of the cutter said that at first the sun prevented his\\nseeing us, which I believe was the fact; but he acknowledged that he had\\nno idea that we had been wrecked, although he thought that the Dryad\\nwas, as he had seen a mast floating, and, sending a boat to look at it,\\nfound her name on the cross-trees.  We were, however, too much exhausted\\nto enter into much conversation.  As soon as we had been supplied with\\nfood, we were all put to bed in their hammocks; the first lieutenant\\nresigned his standing bed-place to me.  A long sleep recovered me, and I\\nfelt little the worse for what I had suffered, and sat down to a\\nbreakfast at noon on the following day with a good appetite.  The cutter\\nhad, by my directions, shaped a course for the island of Heligoland,\\nwhere we should find means of returning to England.\\n\\n\"I have letters for you, Captain Keene,\" said the lieutenant, \"if you\\nare well enough to read them.\"\\n\\n\"Thank you, Mr D---; I am now quite well, and will be happy to have\\nthem.\"\\n\\nThe lieutenant brought me a large packet, and I took a position on the\\nsofa to read them comfortably while he went on deck.  I first opened\\nthose on service--those, of course, had little interest for me, now that\\nI had lost my ship--I skimmed them over, and then threw them on the\\ntable one after another.  There were three private letters from England,\\none of which was in Lord de Versely\\'s hand-writing; I opened it first.\\nIt was very kind, but short, complaining that he had not been very well\\nlately.  The second was from my mother.  I read it; it contained nothing\\nof importance; and then I took up the third, which had a black seal.  I\\nopened it; it was from Mr Warden, acquainting me that Lord de Versely\\nhad expired very suddenly, on his return from the House of Lords, of an\\nossification of the heart.\\n\\nIn my weak state this blow was too much for me, and I fainted.  How long\\nI remained in that state I cannot say; but when I came to my senses I\\nfound myself still down in the cabin.  I rallied as well as I could, but\\nit was some time before I could take up the letter again, and finish it.\\nHe stated that his lordship had left me all his personal property,\\nwhich was all that he could leave--that the library and wines were of\\nsome value, and that there would be about a thousand pounds left at the\\nbanker\\'s, when the funeral expenses and debts had been paid.  \"Oh! if he\\ncould but have left me his family name!\"  I cried, \"it was all I\\ncoveted.  My father! my kind father!  I may really say who will lament\\nyour loss as I do?\"  I threw myself on the pillow of the sofa, and for a\\nlong while shed bitter tears, not unmixed, I must own; for my grief at\\nhis death was increased by my disappointment in having for ever lost the\\ngreat object of my wishes.\\n\\nThe lieutenant of the cutter came down into the cabin, and I was\\ncompelled to hide my emotion.  I complained of headache and weakness,\\nand, collecting the letters, I again lay down in the standing bed-place,\\nand, drawing the curtains, I was left to my own reflections.  But there\\nwas a sad tumult in my mind.  I could not keep my ideas upon one subject\\nfor a moment.  I was feverish and excited, and at last my head was so\\npainful that I could think no more.  Fortunately exhaustion threw me\\nagain into a sound sleep, and I did not wake till the next morning.\\nWhen I did, I had to recollect where I was and what had happened.  I\\nknew that there was something dreadful which had occurred; again it\\nflashed into my memory.  Lord de Versely was dead.  I groaned, and fell\\nback on the pillow.\\n\\n\"Are you very ill, Captain Keene!\" said a voice close to me.  I opened\\nthe curtains, and perceived that it was Cross, who was standing by my\\nbedside.\\n\\n\"I am indeed, Cross, very ill; I have very bad news.  Lord de Versely is\\ndead.\"\\n\\n\"That is bad news, sir,\" replied Cross--\"very bad news, worse than\\nlosing the frigate.  But, Captain Keene, we must have our ups and downs\\nin this world.  You have had a long run of good fortune, and you must\\nnot be surprised at a change.  It is hard to lose your frigate and your\\nfather at the same time--but you have not lost your life, which is a\\ngreat mercy to be thankful for.\"\\n\\nI turned away, for my heart was full of bitterness.  Cross, perceiving\\nmy mood, left me, and I remained in a state of some indifference, never\\nrising from the bed-place during the remainder of the time that I was on\\nboard.\\n\\nOn the second day we arrived at Heligoland, and I was requested by the\\ngovernor to take up my quarters with him, until an opportunity occurred\\nfor my return to England.  My spirits were, however, so much weighed\\ndown that I could not rally.  I brooded over my misfortunes, and I\\nthought that the time was now come when I was to meet a reverse of the\\nprosperity which I had so long enjoyed.\\n\\nThe sudden death of Lord de Versely, at the age of fifty-six, left me\\nwithout a patron, and had destroyed all my hopes centred in him.  The\\nobject of my ambition was, I considered, for ever lost to me.  There was\\nnow no chance of my being acknowledged as a member of his family.  Then\\nthe loss of so fine a frigate, and such a noble ship\\'s company.  That I\\nshould be honourably acquitted by a court-martial I had not a doubt; but\\nI had no chance of future employment; for, now that Lord de Versely was\\ndead, I had no one to support my claims.  My prospects, therefore, in\\nthe service were all gone, as well as the visions I had indulged in.  I\\ndwelt with some pleasure upon the idea that Lord de Versely had left me\\nhis personal property--it proved his regard; but I wanted his family\\nname, and I preferred that to thousands per annum.  The second day after\\nour arrival Cross called, and was admitted.  He found me in bad spirits,\\nand tried all he could to rouse me.  At last he said, \"As for the loss\\nof the frigate, Captain Keene, no human endeavour could have saved her,\\nand no one could have done his duty better than you did, as the\\ncourt-martial will prove; but sir, I think it would be proper just now\\nto show that your zeal for the service is as strong as ever.\"\\n\\n\"And how am I to do that, Cross?\"\\n\\n\"Why, sir, you know as well as we all do how the Frenchmen are going to\\nthe wall; that they have been thrashed out of Russia, and that they are\\nretreating everywhere.  They say that they have left Hamburg, and I\\nunderstand that the gun-brigs here are going on an expedition from this\\nisland, either to-morrow or next day, to storm the batteries of\\nCuxhaven, and so create a diversion, as they call it--and very good\\ndiversion it is--licking those French rascals.  Now, Captain Keene, if I\\nmay take the liberty of saying so, would it not be as well to take as\\nmany of your men as are able to go and join the storming party?  Much\\nbetter than sitting here all day, melancholy, and doing nothing.\"\\n\\n\"It\\'s the first I\\'ve heard of it, Cross; are you sure you are correct?\"\\n\\n\"How should you hear it, sir, shut up here, and seeing nobody?  It\\'s\\ntrue enough, sir; they were telling off the men as I came up, and I\\nthink they start at daylight to-morrow.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Cross, I will think of it, and let you know my decision if you\\ncall here in half an hour.\"\\n\\nCross left me, and I was still undecided, when the governor called to\\npay me a visit.  After the first exchange of civilities, I asked him if\\nthe report was true that there was an expedition about to proceed to\\nCuxhaven.  His reply was that the Russians had entered Hamburg, which\\nthe French had evacuated on the 11th, and that the French garrisons at\\nCuxhaven were reported to be in a very distressed state, and, in\\nconsequence, the Blazer, and another gun-brig, were about to proceed to\\nattack the forts.\\n\\nHamburg! thought I; why, Minnie Vanderwelt is at Hamburg with her\\nfather.  I will go and try if I cannot get to Hamburg.  The remembrance\\nof Minnie gave a spur to my energies, and created a new stimulus.  I\\nthen told the governor that I had a few men doing nothing; that I would\\njoin them to the expedition, and serve as a volunteer.  The governor\\nthanked me for my zeal, and I left him to go down and communicate my\\nintentions to the commanding officer of the gun-brig, who expressed\\nhimself most happy at my assistance and co-operation.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER FORTY THREE.\\n\\nAs neither my men nor I had any luggage to hamper us--for we had just\\nthe clothes we stood in--we were not long getting ready.  We started\\nnext morning; and on entering the river, found that the French had\\ndestroyed their flotilla, and soon afterwards we were invited by the\\npeople to come on shore and take possession of the batteries which the\\nFrench had evacuated.  I remained with Cross and my men on shore at\\nCuxhaven, while the brigs went up the river, in pursuit of a privateer.\\n\\nAfter a day or two, tired of inactivity, and anxious to arrive at\\nHamburg, I proposed to Cross that he should accompany me, which he\\ncheerfully acceded to.  I had drawn a bill at Heligoland, so that we\\nwere in no want of money, and we set off on our expedition.  We had not,\\nhowever, proceeded far before we were informed that the road to Hamburg\\nwas so full of French troops, scattered about, that it would be\\nimpossible to gain the city without we made a _detour_.  As we knew that\\nour throats would be cut by these disorganised parties, we followed the\\nadvice given to us, walking from village to village, until we had put\\nHamburg between us and the river.  But when there, we found that we\\ncould not approach the imperial city, but were obliged to direct our\\nsteps more inland.  At last, we heard that the inhabitants of the town\\nof Lunenburg had risen, and driven out the French garrison, and I\\nresolved to proceed there, as it was more advisable than being\\ncontinually in danger of being picked up by the French stragglers, who\\nwere committing every enormity that could be imagined.\\n\\nWe arrived safe; stated who we were to the authorities, and were well\\nreceived; but we had not been there more than two days, when the\\nrejoicings and braggings of the town\\'s-people, on account of the late\\nvictory over the French garrison, were turned to consternation by the\\nintelligence that General Moraud was advancing with a considerable force\\nto re-take the town.  The panic was so great, that all idea of defence\\nwas in vain; and at the very time that I was entreating them to make a\\nstand, the French troops poured in, and two cuirassiers galloped up, and\\nseized upon Cross and me.  A few minutes afterwards, General Moraud came\\nup, and inquired, in a rough tone, who we were.  I replied in French,\\nthat we were English officers.\\n\\n\"Take them away,\" said he, \"and secure them well; I\\'ll make an example\\nhere that shan\\'t be forgotten.\"\\n\\nWe were taken to the guard-room, where we remained shut up for the\\nnight.  The next morning one of the cuirassiers looked into our cell.  I\\nasked him whether we could not have something to eat.\\n\\n\"Cela ne vaut pas la peine.  Mon ami, vous n\\'aurez pas le temps pour la\\ndigestion; dans une demie-heure vous serez fusilles.\"\\n\\n\"May I ask the English of that, Captain Keene?\" replied Cross.\\n\\n\"Yes, it is very pleasant.  He says that it\\'s not worth while eating\\nanything, as we shall be shot in half an hour.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I suppose they\\'ll shoot us first, and try us afterwards,\" replied\\nCross.  \"Won\\'t they give us a reason?\"\\n\\n\"I suspect not, Cross.  I am sorry that I have got you into this scrape;\\nas for myself, I care little about it.\"\\n\\n\"I am sorry for poor Jane, sir,\" replied Cross; \"but we all owe Heaven a\\ndeath; and, after all, it\\'s not worth making a fuss about.\"\\n\\nOur conversation was here interrupted by a party of French soldiers, who\\nopened the door and ordered us to follow them.  We had not far to go,\\nfor we were led out to the Grand Place, before the prison, where we\\nfound the French troops drawn up, and General Moraud, with his officers\\nround him, standing in the centre.  At twenty yards\\' distance, and\\nsurrounded by the troops, which did not amount to more than three\\nhundred, were thirty of the principal inhabitants of the town, pinioned,\\nand handkerchiefs tied over their eyes, preparatory to their being shot;\\nthis being the terrible example that the governor had threatened.\\n\\n\"Look, Cross,\" said I, \"what a handful of men these Frenchmen have\\nretaken the town with.  Why, if we had resisted, we might have laughed\\nat them.\"\\n\\n\"They won\\'t laugh any more, I expect,\" replied Bob.\\n\\n\"_Allons_,\" said the corporal to me.\\n\\n\"Where?\" replied I.\\n\\n\"To your friends, there,\" replied he, pointing to the town\\'s-people, who\\nwere about to be shot.\\n\\n\"I wish to speak to the general,\" replied I, resisting.\\n\\n\"No, no: you must go.\"\\n\\n\"I will speak to the general,\" replied I, pushing the corporal on one\\nside, and walking to where the general was standing.\\n\\n\"Well,\" said the general, fiercely.\\n\\n\"I wish to know, sir,\" replied I, \"by what law you are guided in\\nshooting us.  We are English officers, here on duty to assist against\\nthe French, and at the most can only be prisoners of war.  Upon what\\ngrounds do you order us to be shot?\"\\n\\n\"As spies,\" replied the general.\\n\\n\"I am no spy, sir; I am a post-captain in the English navy, who joined\\nwith the seamen saved from the wreck of my frigate in the attack upon\\nCuxhaven, and there is my boatswain, who came up with me to go to\\nHamburg.  At all events, I am fully justified in siding against the\\nFrench: and to shoot us will be a murder, which will not fail to be\\nrevenged.\"\\n\\n\"You may pass yourself off as the captain of a frigate, but your dress\\ndisproves it, and I have better information.  You are two spies, and\\nsmugglers, and therefore you will be shot.\"\\n\\n\"I tell you before all your officers that I am Captain Keene, of the\\nCirce frigate, belonging to His Britannic Majesty, and no spy; if you\\nchoose to shoot me now, I leave my death to be revenged by my country.\"\\n\\nAt this moment an officer in naval uniform stepped forward and looked me\\nin the face.\\n\\n\"General Moraud,\" said he, \"what that officer says is true: he is\\nCaptain Keene, and I was prisoner on board of his vessel; and I also\\nknow the other man as well.\"\\n\\n\"Captain Vangilt, I do not request your interference,\" replied the\\ngeneral.\\n\\n\"But general, as an officer in the marine of the emperor, it is my duty\\nto state to you, that you are deceived, and that this officer is the\\nperson that he states himself to be.  Messieurs,\" continued Captain\\nVangilt, addressing those about the general, \"I assure you it is true,\\nand I am under the greatest obligation to this officer for his kindness\\nand humanity when I was his prisoner.\"\\n\\n\"I recognise you now, Mr Vangilt,\" replied I; \"and I thank you for your\\nevidence.\"\\n\\n\"You see, general, he knows me by name: I must demand the life of this\\nBritish officer.\"\\n\\nThe other officers then spoke to the general, who heard all they had to\\nsay, and then, with a sardonic grin, replied,--\"Gentlemen, he may be an\\nofficer, but still he is a spy.\"  At that moment an orderly came up on\\nhorseback, and, dismounting, gave a note to the general.\\n\\n\"_Sacre bleu_!\" cried he; \"then we\\'ll have our revenge first at all\\nevents.  Soldiers, take these two men, and put them in the centre, with\\nthe others.\"\\n\\nVangilt pleaded and entreated in vain: at last, in his rage, he called\\nthe general \"a coward and a madman.\"\\n\\n\"Captain Vangilt, you will answer that at some other time,\" replied the\\ngeneral; \"at present we will carry our will into execution.  Lead them\\naway.\"\\n\\nVangilt then covered his face with his hands, and all the other officers\\nshowed signs of great disgust.\\n\\n\"Farewell, Vangilt,\" said I in French; \"I thank you for your\\ninterference, although you have not succeeded with the _scoundrel_.\"\\n\\n\"Take them away!\" roared the general.\\n\\nAt that moment the report of musketry was heard in dropping shots.\\n\\n\"Well, if ever I saw such a bloody villain,\" said Cross.  \"Take that, at\\nall events;\" continued Bob, shying his hat right into the general\\'s\\nface.  \"I only wish it was a 32-pounder, you murdering thief.\"\\n\\nThe rage of the general may easily be imagined.  Once more he gave his\\norders, drawing his sword in a menacing way at his own soldiers, who now\\nforced us towards the part of the square where the other victims were\\ncollected.  As soon as we were there, they wanted to blind our eyes, but\\nthat both I and Bob positively refused, and a delay was created by our\\nresistance.  The musketry was now approaching much nearer; and a few\\nseconds afterwards the general gave the order for the party to advance\\nwho were to execute the sentence.\\n\\nThe other prisoners kneeled down; but I and Cross would not; and while\\nwe were resisting, the general repeated his order to fire; but the men\\nwere confused with the advance of the enemy, and the impossibility to\\nfire while Cross and I not only resisted the soldiers, but held them so\\nfast, that had the party fired they must have shot them as well as us.\\nA cry \"To arms\" was given, and the troops all wheeled round in front to\\nrepel the enemy.  A loud hurrah was followed by an inpouring of some\\nhundred Cossacks, with their long spears who, in a few seconds charged\\nand routed the French, who retreated in the greatest confusion by the\\ndifferent streets which led into the Grand Place.\\n\\n\"Hurrah! we are saved,\" cried Cross, snatching up a musket that had been\\ndropped by a soldier.  I did the same, and pursued the retreating\\nFrench, till a bullet through my leg put a stop to my progress.  I\\ncalled to Cross, who came to my assistance, and he helped me back to the\\nGrand Place, which was now clear of troops.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER FORTY FOUR.\\n\\nThe Cossacks having divided, and gone in pursuit of the French, I\\npointed out to Cross a hotel, and requested him to help me there.  As we\\ncrossed the square, strewed with the dead and wounded, we passed close\\nto General Moraud, who was breathing his last.\\n\\n\"See, Cross,\" said I, \"there is retribution.  He intended that we should\\nfall where he now lies.\"\\n\\nThe general recognised us, gave a heavy groan, and, turning on his back,\\nfell dead.\\n\\nAs soon as I gained the hotel, I was taken up into a room, and made as\\ncomfortable as I could be until my wound could be dressed.\\n\\n\"We\\'re well out of it this time, sir,\" said Cross.\\n\\n\"Yes, indeed, Bob; this has indeed been a miraculous preservation, and\\nwe ought to thank Heaven for it.\"\\n\\n\"Why, Captain Keene, I thought just now you did not care whether you\\nlived or died.\"\\n\\n\"No more I did at that time, Cross; but when we are so wonderfully\\npreserved, we cannot think but that we are preserved for better things;\\nand as Providence has interfered, it points out to us that it is our\\nduty to live.\"\\n\\n\"Well, I\\'m glad to hear you say that, sir.  There\\'s all the troops\\ncoming back.  What queer-looking chaps they are, with their long lances\\nand long beards!\"\\n\\n\"Yes; they are Cossacks--Russian irregular cavalry.\"\\n\\n\"Irregular enough I don\\'t doubt; but they spitted the French men nicely.\\nThey look exactly what I thought the Pope of Rome was like.\"\\n\\n\"Cross, call the master of the hotel, and tell him to come here.\"  When\\nthe man came, I desired him to let the commander of the allied troops\\nknow that an English captain was wounded, and required surgical\\nassistance.  The master of the hotel went to the burgomaster, who was\\none of those who had been ordered to be shot; and the burgomaster, who\\nwas now in company with the Russian commander, made known what I\\nrequired.  In about an hour a surgeon came, and my wound was dressed.\\nThe burgomaster called soon afterwards, and expressed his obligation to\\nme.  \"For,\" said he, \"if you had not created the delay--which you did by\\nyour resistance--it would have been all over with us by this time.\"\\n\\n\"You have to thank a Dutch naval officer of the name of Vangilt,\"\\nreplied I; \"it is he who saved us all; and if he is not hurt, you must\\nbe kind to him, and bring him to me.  I will get him his parole, if he\\nis a prisoner.  Will you see to it, burgomaster?\"\\n\\n\"I will,\" replied he, \"as soon as we are a little more tranquil; but,\\nwhat with fright and confusion, none of us know what we are about.  You\\nwere right, sir, in persuading us to defend ourselves.  We might easily\\nhave beaten off the small force of General Moraud; but we thought he had\\nten thousand men, at least.  We will do better another time; but the\\nFrench are now in full retreat everywhere.\"\\n\\nThat night, after dusk, Captain Vangilt came into my room: he had been a\\nprisoner; but the burgomaster made inquiries, and let him out, which, as\\nchief magistrate, he had the power to do.  Vangilt embraced me with much\\nwarmth, and expressed his regret that he could not persuade that wretch,\\nMoraud, from his murderous intentions.\\n\\n\"It came to the same thing, Vangilt.  I owe you my life; for if you had\\nnot created the delay, we should have been shot.\"\\n\\n\"That\\'s true,\" replied he.  \"How fortunate it was, that, as my squadron\\nof gun-boats were destroyed, I consented to join Moraud with what men I\\ncould collect, to surprise the town.  Are you badly wounded?\"\\n\\n\"No, not seriously, I believe; I hope to be able to get to Hamburg in a\\nfew days.\"\\n\\n\"There is more than one there who will be delighted to see you.\"\\n\\n\"Is Mr Vanderwelt alive and well?\"\\n\\n\"Oh yes; and Minnie, my pretty cousin, is still unmarried.\"  Vangilt\\nsmiled as he made this reply.\\n\\n\"I must ask for your parole, Vangilt, and then you can go to Hamburg\\nwith us.\"\\n\\n\"With all my heart,\" replied he; \"for we are tired of war, and as I am a\\nDutchman and not a Frenchman, I care little for the reverses we have met\\nwith; all I hope is, that Holland may become a kingdom again, and not a\\nFrench state, as it is now.\"\\n\\nThe next day, I was visited by the Russian commandant, who very\\nwillingly granted me the parole of Vangilt.  In a week I was well enough\\nto travel by slow journeys to Hamburg, lying on mattresses in a small\\ncovered waggon, and escorted by Cross and Vangilt.  A few hours before\\nmy arrival, Vangilt went ahead to give notice of my coming, and on the\\nevening of the second day I found myself in a luxurious chamber, with\\nevery comfort, in the company of Mr Vanderwelt, and with the beaming\\neyes of Minnie watching over me.\\n\\nThe report of Minnie\\'s beauty was fully warranted.  When she first made\\nher appearance, the effect upon me was quite electrical: her style was\\nradiant, and almost dazzling--a something you did not expect to find in\\nthe human countenance.  Their reception of me was all that I could\\ndesire; their affection shown towards me, their anxiety about my wound,\\nand joy at once more having me under their roof, proved that I had not\\nbeen forgotten.  After a short time, Vangilt left the room, and I\\nremained on the sofa, one hand in the grasp of Mr Vanderwelt, the other\\nholding the not unwilling one of Minnie.  That evening I made known to\\nthem all that had taken place since I last wrote to them, winding up\\nwith the loss of my frigate, the death of Lord de Versely, and my\\nsubsequent capture and rescue.\\n\\n\"And so it was in attempting to come and see us that you were wounded\\nand nearly murdered?\"\\n\\n\"Yes, Minnie; I had long been anxious to see you, and could not help\\navailing myself of the first opportunity.\"\\n\\n\"Thank God you are here at last,\" said Mr Vanderwelt, \"and that there\\nis now every prospect of a conclusion to the war.\"\\n\\n\"And you won\\'t go to sea any more--will you, Percival?\" said Minnie.\\n\\n\"They won\\'t give me a ship, Minnie, after having lost the one I\\ncommanded; to be unfortunate is to be guilty, in those who have no\\ninterest.\"\\n\\n\"I\\'m very glad to hear it; then you\\'ll remain quietly on shore, and you\\nwill come and see us.\"\\n\\nAs I had been rendered feverish by travelling, and my wound was a little\\nangry, as soon as it was dressed for the night, they left me to repose;\\nbut that I could not--the form of Minnie haunted me; to sleep was\\nimpossible, and I lay thinking of her till day dawned.  The fact was,\\nthat I was for the first time in love, and that in no small degree--\\nbefore morning I was desperately so.  Indeed, there was excuse\\nsufficient, for Minnie was as winning in her manners as she was lovely\\nin her person, and I was not at all surprised at hearing from Vangilt of\\nthe numerous suitors for her hand.\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER FORTY FIVE.\\n\\nThe next morning I was pale and feverish, which they observed with\\nconcern, Minnie was sitting by me, and Mr Vanderwelt had left the room,\\nwhen she said, \"How very pale you are, and your hand is so hot; I wish\\nthe doctor would come.\"\\n\\n\"I could not sleep last night, Minnie--and it was all your fault.\"\\n\\n\"My fault!\"\\n\\n\"Yes, your fault; for I could not sleep for thinking of you; I thought\\nyou were looking at me as you do now the whole night.\"\\n\\nMinnie blushed, and I kissed her hand.\\n\\nAs soon as my wound was dressed, I requested writing materials, and\\nwrote to the Admiralty, giving an account of what had occurred since I\\nquitted Heligoland.  (I had written to inform them of the loss of the\\nfrigate when I was on the island).  I stated in my despatches that my\\nwound would probably confine me for some weeks; but as soon as I was\\nable to be moved, I should return to England to await their orders.  I\\nalso wrote to my mother and Mr Warden.  I informed the latter of what\\nhad passed, and the delay which would be occasioned by my wound, and\\nrequested him to write to me more fully as to the death of Lord de\\nVersely, and any other particulars which might interest me.\\n\\nHaving sealed these despatches, and entrusted them to the care of Mr\\nVanderwelt, my mind was relieved, and I had nothing to do but to think\\nof and talk to Minnie.  That my progress in her affections was rapid,\\nwas not to be wondered at, her attachment to me having commenced so\\nearly; and as her father was evidently pleased at our increasing\\nintimacy, in a fortnight after my arrival at Hamburg, Minnie had\\nconsented to be mine, and her father had joined our hands, and given us\\nhis blessing.\\n\\nAs I now had no secrets from them, I detailed my whole history, the\\ncause of Lord de Versely\\'s patronage, and the mystery of my birth.  I\\nopened the seal-skin pouch to show them Lord de Versely\\'s letter to my\\nmother, and stated what had been the object of my ambition through life,\\nand how great was my disappointment at my hopes being overthrown by the\\ndeath of his lordship.\\n\\n\"My dear Percival,\" said old Mr Vanderwelt, after I had concluded my\\nnarrative, \"you have been pursuing a shadow, although the pursuit has\\ncalled forth all your energies, and led to your advancement.  You have\\nthe substance.  You have wealth more than sufficient, for you know how\\nrich I am.  You have reputation, which is better than wealth, and you\\nhave now, I trust, a fair prospect of domestic happiness; for Minnie\\nwill be as good a wife as she has been a daughter.  What, then, do you\\ndesire?  A name.  And what is that?  Nothing.  If you do not like your\\npresent name, from its association with your putative father of low\\norigin, change it to mine.  You will receive the fortune of an heiress,\\nwhich will fully warrant your so doing.  At all events, let not your\\npride stand in the way of your happiness.  We cannot expect everything\\nin this world.  You have much to be thankful to Heaven for, and you must\\nnot repine because you cannot obtain all.\"\\n\\n\"I have so ardently desired it all my life; it has been the sole object\\nof my ambition,\" replied I, \"and I cannot but severely feel the\\ndisappointment.\"\\n\\n\"Granted; but you must bear the disappointment, or rather you must\\nforget it; regret for what cannot be obtained is not only unavailing,\\nbut, I may say, it is sinful.  You have much to thank God for.\"\\n\\n\"I have indeed, sir,\" replied I, as I kissed his daughter; \"and I will\\nnot repine.  I will take your name when you give me Minnie, and I will\\nthink no more about that of Delmar.\"\\n\\nAfter this conversation, the subject was not renewed.  I felt too happy\\nwith Minnie\\'s love to care much about anything else; my ambition melted\\naway before it, and I looked forward to the time when I might embrace\\nher as my own.\\n\\nMy wound healed rapidly; I had been a month at Hamburg, and was able to\\nlimp about a little, when one day Cross came in with a packet of letters\\nfrom England.\\n\\nThere was one from the Admiralty, acknowledging the receipt of my two\\nletters, one announcing the loss of the Circe, and the other my\\nsubsequent adventures, desiring me to come home as soon as my wound\\nwould permit me, to have the cause of the loss of the Circe investigated\\nby a court-martial; that of course: one from my mother, thanking Heaven\\nthat I had escaped so many dangers with only a bullet in my leg, and\\nstating her intention of going up to town to see me as soon as she heard\\nof my arrival; the third was a voluminous epistle from Mr Warden, which\\nI shall give to the reader in his own words.\\n\\n  \"MY DEAR CAPTAIN KEENE:--\\n\\n  \"I received your two letters, the first, acquainting me with your\\n  miraculous preservation after the loss of your frigate, and the other\\n  with your subsequent adventures on _terra firma_.  You appear to me to\\n  have a charmed life! and as there is now every prospect of a speedy\\n  termination to this long and devastating war, I hope you will live\\n  many days.  I did not enter into many particulars as to Lord de\\n  Versely\\'s death, as it was so sudden; the property left you is not\\n  perhaps of so much value in itself, as it is as a mark of his regard\\n  and esteem.  Nevertheless, if ever you sit down quietly and take a\\n  wife, you will find that it will save you a few thousands in\\n  furnishing and decorating; the plate, pictures, and objects _de\\n  vertu_, as they are termed, are really valuable, and I know that you\\n  will not part with them, bequeathed as they have been by your friend\\n  and patron.\\n\\n  \"I must now refer to particulars of more consequence.  You know that,\\n  as a legal adviser, my lips are supposed to be sealed, and they would\\n  have remained so now, had it not been that circumstances have occurred\\n  which warrant my disclosure; indeed, I may say that I have permission\\n  to speak plainly, as you have to repel charges against you which, if\\n  not disproved, may seriously affect your future interests.  Know then,\\n  that when you were last at Madeline Hall, I was sent for to draw up\\n  the will of the Honourable Miss Delmar, and I then discovered that the\\n  will which had been made in favour of Lord de Versely, to whom Miss\\n  Delmar had left everything, was by his express desire to be altered in\\n  your favour; and at the same time the secret of your birth was\\n  confided to me.  You will see, therefore, that Lord de Versely did not\\n  neglect your interests.  The de Versely property he could not leave\\n  you, but he did what he could in your favour.  This will was signed,\\n  sealed, and attested, and is now in my possession; and as the old lady\\n  is very shakey, and something approaching to imbecile, I considered\\n  that in a short time I should have to congratulate you upon your\\n  succession to this fine property, which is a clear 8,000 pounds per\\n  annum.\\n\\n  \"You must also know, that Colonel Delmar, whom you also met here, and\\n  who accompanied you to Portsmouth, has always hoped that he would be\\n  the heir of the old lady; and, indeed, had you not stepped in, I have\\n  no doubt but eventually such would have been the case.  It appears\\n  that he has, by some means, discovered that you have ousted him, and\\n  since you sailed he has returned to Madeline Hall, and has so\\n  unsettled the old lady, by reporting that you are an impostor, and no\\n  relation by blood, that she has given me instructions to make a new\\n  will in his favour.  By what means he has prevailed upon her I cannot\\n  tell: the chief support of his assertion rests upon some letters,\\n  which he has either surreptitiously obtained or forged, written by\\n  your mother and addressed to you.  Now that your mother has been\\n  supposed to be dead many years I knew well for Lord de Versely told me\\n  so.  The old lady has shown me these letters, which certainly appear\\n  authentic; and she says, that if you have deceived her and Lord de\\n  Versely as to your mother\\'s death, you have deceived them in\\n  everything else, and that she does not now believe that you are the\\n  son of her nephew.  As I hinted before, the old lady is almost in her\\n  dotage, and cannot well be reasoned with, for she is very positive.  I\\n  argued as long as I could with her, but in vain.  At last she\\n  consented to stop proceedings until I heard from you, saying, `If I\\n  can have any proof under my nephew\\'s own hand that Percival is his\\n  son, I will be content; but without that I sign the new will.\\'\\n\\n  \"Such is the state of affairs, that you have little chance if such a\\n  document cannot be produced, I feel certain; at all events, I have\\n  gained delay which we lawyers always aim at.  I only wish the old lady\\n  would take a sudden departure, and leave the question as unsettled as\\n  it is.  Had Lord de Versely not been so suddenly called away, this\\n  would never have happened; as it is, we must make the best fight we\\n  can.  At present the colonel has it all his own way.  Pray write\\n  immediately, and explain as much as you can of this strange affair and\\n  let me know what steps you think it advisable to be taken.--Yours very\\n  truly,\\n\\n  \"F. WARDEN.\"\\n\\n\\n\\nCHAPTER FORTY SIX.\\n\\nThe receipt of this letter was extremely mortifying to me.  I could not\\nhelp feeling that if I lost the fine property which had been intended\\nfor me, I lost it chiefly by the deceit practised relative to my\\nmother\\'s supposed death, and that if I did lose the estate in\\nconsequence, it was a proper punishment.  At the same time, I felt not a\\nlittle indignant at the conduct of Colonel Delmar.  I now understood why\\nit was that he was talking with Mr Warden\\'s clerk when I passed by\\nthem; and I also felt certain that he must have taken advantage of my\\nsituation at Portsmouth, and have opened my desk and stolen the letters\\nfrom my mother.  For this I resolved to call him to account, under any\\ncircumstances (that is, whether he or I became the heir to the old\\nlady), as soon as I could fall in with him.  Although I was far from\\ndespising the property which I was now likely to lose, yet I was more\\nactuated in my wish to regain it by my enmity towards him, and I\\nimmediately resolved upon what I would do.\\n\\nAs I was still unfit to travel, and, moreover, was resolved not to leave\\nHamburg without Minnie as my wife, I sent for Cross, and telling him in\\nfew words, what had taken place, asked him if he would immediately start\\nfor England, which he gladly consented to do.  \"The old lady requires,\\nit seems, proof from Lord de Versely\\'s own hand that I am his son;\\nfortunately, that is in my power to give; so do you take this, and as\\nsoon as you arrive in England make all haste to Mr Warden\\'s and put it\\ninto his own hands.\"  I then took off the seal-skin pouch containing\\nLord de Versely\\'s letter to my mother, and confided it to his care.  At\\nthe same time I wrote a long letter to Mr Warden explaining as far as I\\ncould the means which the colonel had used to get possession of the\\nletters, and the reason which induced me to make his lordship believe\\nthat my mother was dead.  I did not attempt to extenuate my conduct; on\\nthe contrary, I severely blamed myself for my deception, and\\nacknowledged that if I lost the estate it was nothing more than I\\ndeserved.\\n\\nCross made all haste, and sailed the next morning.  Having put this\\naffair in train, I had nothing to do but to give all my thoughts to\\nMinnie.  In another fortnight I was completely recovered, and then I\\nmentioned to Mr Vanderwelt my anxiety that the marriage should take\\nplace.  No difficulties were raised; and it was settled that on that day\\nweek I should lead my Minnie to the altar.  I thought that the week\\nwould never expire; but, like all other weeks, it died a natural death\\nat last, and we were united.  The _fete_ was over, the company had all\\nleft us, and we were again alone, and I held my dearest Minnie in my\\narms, when Mr Vanderwelt brought me in a letter from England.  It was\\nfrom Mr Warden, and I hastily opened it.  Minnie shared my impatience,\\nand read over my shoulder.  The contents were as follows:--\\n\\n  \"MY DEAR CAPTAIN KEENE,\\n\\n  \"Most fortunate it was for you that you have preserved that letter;\\n  but I must not anticipate.  On receiving it from Cross I immediately\\n  went with it to the old lady, and presented it to her.  I did more,--I\\n  read over your letter in which you stated your reasons for making Lord\\n  de Versely believe that your mother was dead.  The old lady, who is\\n  now very far gone in her intellect, could hardly understand me.\\n  However, her nephew\\'s handwriting roused her up a little, and she\\n  said, `Well, well--I see--I must think about it.  I won\\'t decide.  I\\n  must hear what the colonel says.\\'  Now, this is what I did not wish\\n  her to do; but she was positive, and I was obliged to leave her.  The\\n  colonel was sent for; but I do not know what the result was, or rather\\n  might have been, as fortune stood your friend in a most unexpected\\n  way.\\n\\n  \"As I went out, I perceived two gentlemen arrive in a post-chaise.\\n  One of them appeared very ill and feeble, hardly able to walk up the\\n  steps.  They inquired for Colonel Delmar, and were shown into a\\n  sitting-room, until he came out of Mrs Delmar\\'s apartment.  I saw him\\n  come out; and there was so much satisfaction in his countenance, that\\n  I felt sure that he had gained over the old lady.  And I went home,\\n  resolving that I would burn the new will, which had not been signed,\\n  if it were only to gain the delay of having to make it over again.\\n  But the next morning an express arrived for me to go immediately to\\n  the Hall.  I did so, but I did not take the new will with me, as I\\n  felt certain that if I had so done, it would have been signed that\\n  day.  But I was mistaken: I had been sent for on account of the death\\n  of Colonel Delmar, who had that morning fallen in a duel with Major\\n  Stapleton, the officer who fought with you.  It appears that Captain\\n  Green had informed the major of the language used by the colonel when\\n  Major S was supposed to be dead; and that the major, who has been very\\n  ill ever since, only waited till he was able to stand to demand\\n  satisfaction of the colonel.  It was the major with his friend whom I\\n  met as I left the Hall the day before.  They fought at daylight, and\\n  both fell.  The major, however, lived long enough to acknowledge that\\n  the duel with you had been an arranged thing between him and the\\n  colonel, that you might be put out of the way, after the information\\n  the colonel had received from my clerk, and that the colonel was to\\n  have rewarded him handsomely if he had sent you into the other world.\\n  I suspect, after this, that the fowling-piece going off in the cover\\n  was not quite so accidental as was supposed.  However, the colonel is\\n  out of your way now, and the old lady has received such a shock, that\\n  there is no fear of her altering the will; indeed, if she attempted\\n  it, I doubt if it would be valid, as she is now quite gone in her\\n  intellect.  I have, therefore, destroyed the one not signed; and have\\n  no doubt, but that in a very few weeks I may have to congratulate you\\n  upon your succession to this property.  I think that the sooner you\\n  can come home the better, and I advise you to take up your quarters at\\n  Madeline Hall, for possession is nine points of the law, and you can\\n  keep off all trespassers.--Yours most truly,\\n\\n  \"F. WARDEN.\"\\n\\n\"Well, Minnie dearest, I may congratulate you, I believe, as the lady of\\nMadeline Hall,\" said I, folding up the letter.\\n\\n\"Yes, Percival, but there is a postscript overleaf, which you have not\\nread.\"\\n\\nI turned back to the letter.\\n\\n  \"PS.  I quite forgot to tell you that there is a condition attached to\\n  your taking possession of the property, which, as it was at the\\n  particular request of Lord de Versely, I presume you will not object\\n  to, which is--that you assume the arms and name of Delmar.\"\\n\\nTHE END.\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n\\nEnd of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Percival Keene, by Frederick Marryat\\n\\n*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PERCIVAL KEENE ***\\n\\n***** This file should be named 21572.txt or 21572.zip *****\\nThis and all associated files of various formats will be found in:\\n        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/5/7/21572/\\n\\nProduced by Nick Hodson of London, England\\n\\nUpdated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions\\nwill be renamed.\\n\\nCreating the works from public domain print editions means that no\\none owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation\\n(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without\\npermission and without paying copyright royalties.  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INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the\\ntrademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone\\nproviding copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance\\nwith this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,\\npromotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,\\nharmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,\\nthat arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do\\nor cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm\\nwork, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any\\nProject Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.\\n\\n\\nSection  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm\\n\\nProject Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of\\nelectronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers\\nincluding obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  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Email contact links and up to date contact\\ninformation can be found at the Foundation\\'s web site and official\\npage at http://pglaf.org\\n\\nFor additional contact information:\\n     Dr. Gregory B. Newby\\n     Chief Executive and Director\\n     gbnewby@pglaf.org\\n\\n\\nSection 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg\\nLiterary Archive Foundation\\n\\nProject Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide\\nspread public support and donations to carry out its mission of\\nincreasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be\\nfreely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest\\narray of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations\\n($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt\\nstatus with the IRS.\\n\\nThe Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating\\ncharities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United\\nStates.  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      "{'id': 'narrativeqa_32746', 'messages': [{'role': 'user', 'content': 'Answer the following question:\\n\\nHow does Brad get promoted to manager at Mi-T-Mart?'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'He stops a robbery'}], 'task_type': 'close_qa', 'background': ' Brad Hamilton (Judge Reinhold) is a popular senior who is looking forward to his last year of school and almost has his 1960 Buick LeSabre paid off. He has a part-time job at All-American Burger, a fast food joint where his girlfriend, Lisa, also works. This esteemed establishment has a strict policy of etiquette: \"No Shirt, No Shoes, No Dice.\" Brad is subsequently fired for losing his temper at an obnoxious customer. When Brad tries to tell Lisa how much he needs her, she says she is breaking up with him to see other guys. Brad quits his job at Captain Hook Fish & Chips because of the humiliation of having to wear a pirate costume when delivering food. He later gets a job at Mi-T-Mart, where he successfully thwarts an attempted robbery and is subsequently promoted to store manager.\\nBrad\\'s sister Stacy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a 15-year-old sophomore and also a virgin. Stacy works at a pizza parlor at the mall alongside her outspoken friend, popular and sexually active Linda (Phoebe Cates). One night at work, Stacy takes an order from Ron Johnson, a 26-year-old stereo salesman who asks her out after she tells him she\\'s nineteen. She then sneaks out to meet him and they have sex in a dugout at a softball field. Stacy never hears from Ron again, revealing the loss of her virginity to Linda.\\nMike Damone (Robert Romanus), a dilettante who earns money taking bets and scalping tickets, fancies himself a sagacious and worldly ladies\\' man. After Mike\\'s friend Mark Ratner (Brian Backer) proclaims his love for Stacy to him, Mike lets him in on his five secrets for picking up girls. Mike later coaxes Mark into taking Stacy on a date to a German restaurant. Afterwards, at her home, Stacy invites Mark into her bedroom, where they look at Stacy\\'s photo album together. They eventually kiss, but he soon shies away and leaves after Stacy attempts to initiate intimacy with him. Stacy invites Damone over after school for a swim in the pool, which leads to sex in the pool house between the two. Stacy later informs Damone that she is pregnant as a result. But on the day of her appointment, embarrassed at being unable to raise the money for his half of the bill, Damone ignores her. Stacy asks Brad to drive her supposedly to a bowling alley, but she goes to the abortion clinic. When Brad returns, Stacy makes him promise not to tell their parents. When Stacy tells Linda, Linda becomes angry at Damone, leading to an almost physical confrontation between Damone and Mark in the boys\\' locker room until it is broken up by the vice principal.\\nJeff Spicoli (Sean Penn) is a surfer and habitual marijuana user who runs afoul of a strict history teacher Mr. Hand (Ray Walston), who is intolerant of Spicoli\\'s disregard for his class. One night, Spicoli wrecks Ridgemont star football player Charles Jefferson\\'s 1979 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 during a joyride with Jefferson\\'s younger brother. Spicoli decides to park the car in front of the school with slurs painted on it supposedly written by Ridgemont\\'s rival, Lincoln High. When Ridgemont plays Lincoln, Jefferson is angry about his car, thrashes several of Lincoln\\'s players, and wins the game for Ridgemont. On the evening of the graduation dance, Mr. Hand shows up at Spicoli\\'s house and informs him that since he has wasted eight hours of class time over the past year, Mr. Hand intends to make up for it that night. They have a one-on-one session that lasts until Mr. Hand is satisfied that Spicoli has understood the lesson.\\nIn addition to Mark and Stacy\\'s continuing relationship and Brad\\'s promotion to manager at the convenience store, fates of some of the other characters are revealed in an epilogue sequence prior to the closing credits: Spicoli saves Brooke Shields from drowning and then spends the reward money hiring Van Halen to play at his birthday party. Linda gets accepted to UC Riverside and moves in with her Abnormal Psychology professor. Damone gets arrested for scalping Ozzy Osbourne tickets and gets a job at 7-Eleven when he gets out, and Mr. Hand still believes everyone is on drugs.'}\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## narrativeqa\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset(\"narrativeqa\")\n",
    "print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "print(data['train'][0])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data['train']):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    question = sample['question']['text']\n",
    "    answer = sample[\"answers\"][0]['text']\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"narrativeqa_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"close_qa\",\n",
    "            \"background\":sample['document']['summary']['text'],\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "print(total_data[-1])"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 13,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "1000\n",
      "{'pubid': 21645374, 'question': 'Do mitochondria play a role in remodelling lace plant leaves during programmed cell death?', 'context': {'contexts': ['Programmed cell death (PCD) is the regulated death of cells within an organism. The lace plant (Aponogeton madagascariensis) produces perforations in its leaves through PCD. The leaves of the plant consist of a latticework of longitudinal and transverse veins enclosing areoles. PCD occurs in the cells at the center of these areoles and progresses outwards, stopping approximately five cells from the vasculature. The role of mitochondria during PCD has been recognized in animals; however, it has been less studied during PCD in plants.', 'The following paper elucidates the role of mitochondrial dynamics during developmentally regulated PCD in vivo in A. madagascariensis. A single areole within a window stage leaf (PCD is occurring) was divided into three areas based on the progression of PCD; cells that will not undergo PCD (NPCD), cells in early stages of PCD (EPCD), and cells in late stages of PCD (LPCD). Window stage leaves were stained with the mitochondrial dye MitoTracker Red CMXRos and examined. Mitochondrial dynamics were delineated into four categories (M1-M4) based on characteristics including distribution, motility, and membrane potential (ΔΨm). A TUNEL assay showed fragmented nDNA in a gradient over these mitochondrial stages. Chloroplasts and transvacuolar strands were also examined using live cell imaging. The possible importance of mitochondrial permeability transition pore (PTP) formation during PCD was indirectly examined via in vivo cyclosporine A (CsA) treatment. This treatment resulted in lace plant leaves with a significantly lower number of perforations compared to controls, and that displayed mitochondrial dynamics similar to that of non-PCD cells.'], 'labels': ['BACKGROUND', 'RESULTS'], 'meshes': ['Alismataceae', 'Apoptosis', 'Cell Differentiation', 'Mitochondria', 'Plant Leaves'], 'reasoning_required_pred': ['y', 'e', 's'], 'reasoning_free_pred': ['y', 'e', 's']}, 'long_answer': 'Results depicted mitochondrial dynamics in vivo as PCD progresses within the lace plant, and highlight the correlation of this organelle with other organelles during developmental PCD. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of mitochondria and chloroplasts moving on transvacuolar strands to form a ring structure surrounding the nucleus during developmental PCD. Also, for the first time, we have shown the feasibility for the use of CsA in a whole plant system. Overall, our findings implicate the mitochondria as playing a critical and early role in developmentally regulated PCD in the lace plant.', 'final_decision': 'yes'}\n",
      "{'id': 'pubmed_qa_999', 'messages': [{'role': 'user', 'content': 'Are sugars-free medicines more erosive than sugars-containing medicines??'}, {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Paediatric SF medicines were not more erosive than SC medicines in vitro; a more significant predictor of their erosive potential was dose form.So the final answer is: no'}], 'task_type': 'close_qa', 'background': 'The reduced use of sugars-containing (SC) liquid medicines has increased the use of other dose forms, potentially resulting in more widespread dental effects, including tooth wear. The aim of this study was to assess the erosive potential of 97 paediatric medicines in vitro.\\nThe study took the form of in vitro measurement of endogenous pH and titratable acidity (mmol). Endogenous pH was measured using a pH meter, followed by titration to pH 7.0 with 0.1-M NaOH.\\nOverall, 55 (57%) formulations had an endogenous pH of<5.5. The mean (+/- SD) endogenous pH and titratable acidity for 41 SC formulations were 5.26 +/- 1.30 and 0.139 +/- 0.133 mmol, respectively; for 56 sugars-free (SF) formulations, these figures were 5.73 +/- 1.53 and 0.413 +/- 1.50 mmol (P>0.05). Compared with their SC bioequivalents, eight SF medicines showed no significant differences for pH or titratable acidity, while 15 higher-strength medicines showed lower pH (P = 0.035) and greater titratable acidity (P = 0.016) than their lower-strength equivalents. Chewable and dispersible tablets (P<0.001), gastrointestinal medicines (P = 0.002) and antibiotics (P = 0.007) were significant predictors of higher pH. In contrast, effervescent tablets (P<0.001), and nutrition and blood preparations (P = 0.021) were significant predictors of higher titratable acidity.'}\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## pubmed_qa\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset(\"pubmed_qa\",\"pqa_labeled\")\n",
    "print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "print(data['train'][0])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data['train']):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    question = sample['question']\n",
    "    answer = sample['long_answer'] + \"So the final answer is: \" + sample[\"final_decision\"]\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"pubmed_qa_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"close_qa\",\n",
    "            \"background\":\"\\n\".join(sample['context']['contexts']),\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "print(total_data[-1])"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 14,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "10246\n",
      "{'id': 'f001_0', 'context_id': 'f001', 'question_id': '0', 'domain': 'fiction', 'metadata': {'author': 'Joseph Devon', 'title': 'Black Eyed Susan', 'url': 'http://manybooks.net/pages/devonjother08black_eyed_susan/0.html'}, 'context': \"That fall came and I went back to Michigan and the school year went by and summer came and I never really thought about it. I'm not even sure if I was officially asked, I just wound up heading back to New Jersey when school was out. I think my parents thought it was a good enough deal. They were already having some problems and without Nonna there anymore to take care of me I think my cousin's house on the coast seemed like as good a spot as any to stick me for the summer. It certainly wasn't because of any great love between me and my cousin. We weren't really very good friends at that point. I think she saw me as sort of foisted off on her and getting in the way of her summers. Which was a fair enough judgment. But she could have been nicer. It's pretty amazing that she wound up as my Maid of Honor. Time does strange things. Your lovable jack-ass of a father would mention something about magic in here. You know if you took a group of fifty strangers, had them chat with your father for half an hour then with me for half an hour, then told them that one of us was an English Professor and one of us was head of distribution in the northeast for a large soft drink manufacturing concern, I'm pretty sure all fifty would peg your father as the English Professor and me as the head of distribution. He's honestly so good at what he does that I can almost allow him to claim it's magic except that it'd be nice if he took credit for some of the things he's done with his life. Of course he has this idea that he deserves credit for all sorts of things that he had no control over. Like our first kiss.\", 'question': 'Why was this character sent away after each school year?', 'question_type': 'Causality', 'answers': ['not enough information', 'to visit family', 'parents had problems', 'for tutoring'], 'correct_answer_id': 3}\n"
     ]
    },
    {
     "data": {
      "text/plain": [
       "{'id': 'quail_10245',\n",
       " 'messages': [{'role': 'user',\n",
       "   'content': \"Answer the question...Why is there most likely support for Pres. Trump's tariffs?\\nA. Steel plants will prosper\\nB. not enough information\\nC. Other businesses will prosper\\nD. It will keep American jobs\\n?\"},\n",
       "  {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'B'}],\n",
       " 'task_type': 'close_qa',\n",
       " 'background': 'U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs of 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum has met criticism from his Republican allies in Congress, many of whom worry the measures could trigger a trade war that damages U.S. businesses.\\nBut the president does have supporters among some Senate Democrats from states where voters are concerned about the long-term loss of American manufacturing jobs.\\n“This welcome action is long overdue for shuttered steel plants across Ohio and steelworkers who live in fear that their jobs will be the next victims of Chinese cheating,” Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, said in a statement released after the plan was announced. “If we fail to stand up for steel jobs today, China will come after other jobs up and down the supply chain tomorrow.”\\nAmerican labor unions have also broadly favored Trump’s proposed tariffs, saying they have been complaining for years that foreign countries frequently subsidize their own steel industries, putting American competitors at a disadvantage.\\nEconomists have been mostly critical of the plan, saying that overall it will hurt American manufacturers, some of whom may be targeted by trading partners for retaliatory sanction. They argue that the benefits to steel and aluminum workers are outweighed by job losses among Americans in other industries.\\nA test of how much the issue is resonating with American voters comes next week, when voters in Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district, vote in a special election to fill a vacated seat.\\nMany voters are looking to the president to fulfill his campaign promise of protecting manufacturing jobs in America’s heartland.\\nThe race for the seat left vacant by Rep. Tim Murphy’s sex scandal is coming down to the wire between Republican candidate Rick Saccone and Democrat Conor Lamb.\\nSaccone’s campaign endorsed Trump’s tariff plan in a statement, saying “If other countries aren’t playing by the rules and tariffs are needed to protect steel and aluminum jobs in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Rick would support those measures.”Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senator Bob Casey also voiced his support for the president’s plan in a Facebook statement Thursday.'}"
      ]
     },
     "execution_count": 14,
     "metadata": {},
     "output_type": "execute_result"
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## quail\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset(\"quail\")\n",
    "print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "print(data['train'][0])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data['train']):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    question = sample['question'] + '\\n'\n",
    "    for answer_id,answer in enumerate(sample['answers']):\n",
    "        question += [\"A. \",\"B. \",\"C. \",\"D. \"][answer_id]+answer+'\\n'\n",
    "    answer = [\"A\",\"B\",\"C\",\"D\"][sample[\"correct_answer_id\"]]\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"quail_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"close_qa\",\n",
    "            \"background\":sample['context'],\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "total_data[-1]"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 15,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "130319\n",
      "{'id': '56be85543aeaaa14008c9063', 'title': 'Beyoncé', 'context': 'Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter (/biːˈjɒnseɪ/ bee-YON-say) (born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child, and rose to fame in the late 1990s as lead singer of R&B girl-group Destiny\\'s Child. Managed by her father, Mathew Knowles, the group became one of the world\\'s best-selling girl groups of all time. Their hiatus saw the release of Beyoncé\\'s debut album, Dangerously in Love (2003), which established her as a solo artist worldwide, earned five Grammy Awards and featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles \"Crazy in Love\" and \"Baby Boy\".', 'question': 'When did Beyonce start becoming popular?', 'answers': {'text': ['in the late 1990s'], 'answer_start': [269]}}\n"
     ]
    },
    {
     "data": {
      "text/plain": [
       "{'id': 'squad_v2_130318',\n",
       " 'messages': [{'role': 'user',\n",
       "   'content': 'Can you tell me the answer to What field of study has a variety of unusual contexts??'},\n",
       "  {'role': 'assistant', 'content': \"I don't know.\"}],\n",
       " 'task_type': 'close_qa',\n",
       " 'background': 'The term \"matter\" is used throughout physics in a bewildering variety of contexts: for example, one refers to \"condensed matter physics\", \"elementary matter\", \"partonic\" matter, \"dark\" matter, \"anti\"-matter, \"strange\" matter, and \"nuclear\" matter. In discussions of matter and antimatter, normal matter has been referred to by Alfvén as koinomatter (Gk. common matter). It is fair to say that in physics, there is no broad consensus as to a general definition of matter, and the term \"matter\" usually is used in conjunction with a specifying modifier.'}"
      ]
     },
     "execution_count": 15,
     "metadata": {},
     "output_type": "execute_result"
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## squad_v2\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset(\"squad_v2\")\n",
    "print(len(data['train']))\n",
    "print(data['train'][0])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data['train']):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    question = sample['question']\n",
    "    answer = sample['answers']['text'][0] if len(sample['answers']['text'])>0 else \"I don't know.\" \n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"squad_v2_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"close_qa\",\n",
    "            \"background\":sample['context'],\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "total_data[-1]"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 16,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "data": {
      "text/plain": [
       "{'id': 'cnn_dailymail_99999',\n",
       " 'messages': [{'role': 'user',\n",
       "   'content': 'What is a shorter version of this:\\n\\nSummary:'},\n",
       "  {'role': 'assistant',\n",
       "   'content': 'The Merseyside-based traffickers plotted to flood the streets of Scotland, South Wales, Lancashire and Cheshire with heroin and cocaine .\\nPolice seized drugs with a wholesale value of £1 million - including 9.25kg of heroin, 8.25kg of cocaine, and 12kg of amphetamine .'}],\n",
       " 'task_type': 'summarization',\n",
       " 'background': \"By . Daily Mail Reporter . PUBLISHED: . 15:15 EST, 8 August 2012 . | . UPDATED: . 18:55 EST, 8 August 2012 . Thirteen people involved in a multi-million pound drugs distribution gang have been jailed. The Merseyside-based traffickers plotted to flood the streets of Scotland, South Wales, Lancashire and Cheshire with heroin and cocaine. Police said the 'major players' in the drugs trade were caught following an eight-month covert operation by the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, Titan. Drug traffickers: (Left to right) Paul McDonald, 44, who was jailed for 15 years and gang leaders, John Cooke, 32, and James Swarez, 44, . who were both locked up for 17 years at Liverpool Crown Court . During the investigation, police seized drugs with a wholesale value of £1 million - including 20.4lb (9.25kg) of heroin, 18.2lb (8.25kg) of cocaine, 26.5lb (12kg) of amphetamine and 11,370 class C benzylpiperazine (BZP) tablets. Gang leaders John Cooke, 32, of Walmer Road, Birkdale, Merseyside, and James Swarez, 44, of Queens Road, Crosby, Merseyside, were both jailed for 17 years at Liverpool Crown Court after earlier pleading guilty to conspiracy to supply controlled drugs. Caught: Part of the drugs haul uncovered by the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit, Titan . During the investigation, police seized drugs with a wholesale value of £1 million - including 20.4lb (9.25kg) of heroin, 18.2lb (8.25kg) of cocaine, 26.5lb (12kg) of amphetamine and 11,370 class C benzylpiperazine (BZP) tablets . The pair, who lived a luxury lifestyle thanks to their ill-gotten gains, obtained high purity drugs from trafficker Paul McDonald, 44, and used a network of couriers to target drug addicts in Glasgow, Cardiff, Preston and Ellesmere Port. McDonald, of Fernbank Road, Huyton, who also admitted conspiracy to supply controlled drugs, was jailed for 15 years. Ten other gang members, who were used as couriers, received jail sentences of between five and 12 years. Detective Superintendent Jason Hudson, from Titan, said: 'Today’s sentences reflect the severity of the scourge of drugs on our streets. Cocaine packaged up: John Cooke, 32, and James Swarez, 44, lived a luxury lifestyle thanks to their ill-gotten gains, . A photo issued by Merseyside Police of 5kg of heroin seized as part of an eight month investigation . 'We launched a lengthy investigation into this organised crime unit and obtained evidence that ensured some major players in the drugs trade have been taken out of action for a considerable amount of time. 'While some of the gang were used as couriers, others such as Cooke, Swarez and McDonald, were at the top of the hierarchy of this group and their lifestyles show they have made huge amounts of money through their criminal activities. 'The methods used to distribute the drugs show a level of sophistication. 'They are now facing a considerable amount of time behind bars and will be stripped of all their ill-gotten gains, sending a strong message to anyone involved in organised crime, or thinking of getting involved, that no-one is untouchable and you will be found and brought to justice. 'Titan will continue to target all those involved in organised crime and take robust action against them to protect our communities across the North West.'\"}"
      ]
     },
     "execution_count": 16,
     "metadata": {},
     "output_type": "execute_result"
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## cnn_dm\n",
    "data = datasets.load_dataset(\"cnn_dailymail\",'3.0.0')\n",
    "data = list(data['train'])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(data[:10_0000]):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    answer = sample['highlights']\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_sum)\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"cnn_dailymail_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"summarization\",\n",
    "            \"background\":sample['article'],\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "total_data[-1]"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 17,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "14732\n",
      "{'id': '13818513', 'dialogue': \"Amanda: I baked  cookies. Do you want some?\\r\\nJerry: Sure!\\r\\nAmanda: I'll bring you tomorrow :-)\", 'summary': 'Amanda baked cookies and will bring Jerry some tomorrow.'}\n"
     ]
    },
    {
     "data": {
      "text/plain": [
       "{'id': 'samsum_14731',\n",
       " 'messages': [{'role': 'user',\n",
       "   'content': 'Can you generate a short summary of the above paragraph?'},\n",
       "  {'role': 'assistant',\n",
       "   'content': \"Georgia and Juliette are looking for a hotel in Lisbon. Juliette dislikes Georgia's choices. Juliette and Georgia decide on the second option presented by Georgia, but it has already been booked. Finally Georgia books the third hotel. \"}],\n",
       " 'task_type': 'summarization',\n",
       " 'background': \"Georgia: are you ready for hotel hunting? We need to book something finally for Lisbon\\r\\nJuliette: sure we can go on, show me what you found\\r\\nGeorgia: <file_photo>\\r\\nJuliette: nah... it looks like an old lady's room lol\\r\\nGeorgia: <file_photo>\\r\\nJuliette: that's better... but the bed doesn't look very comfortable\\r\\nGeorgia: i kind of like it and it's really close to the city center\\r\\nJuliette: show me the others please\\r\\nGeorgia: <file_photo>\\r\\nJuliette: nah... this one sucks too, look at those horrible curtains \\r\\nGeorgia: aff Julie you are such a princess\\r\\nJuliette: i just want to be comfortable\\r\\nGeorgia: come on, stop whining you know we are on a budget\\r\\nJuliette: well hopefully we can find something that's decent right?\\r\\nGeorgia: i did show you decent but you want a Marriott or something :/\\r\\nJuliette: ok ok don't get angry\\r\\nGeorgia: we need to decide today, the longer we wait the higher the prices get \\r\\nJuliette: ok how about we get the second one then?\\r\\nGeorgia: ok give me a second\\r\\nJuliette: sure\\r\\nGeorgia: affff someone already booked it :/\\r\\nJuliette: oh my god... that's bullshit\\r\\nGeorgia: whatever, can we just go with the third one? it looks nice overall and maybe they changed the curtains already\\r\\nJuliette: ok, fine with me\\r\\nGeorgia: done - booked :)\\r\\nJuliette: perfect!!! can't wait to go!!!\\r\\nGeorgia: I know :D we will have the best time\\r\\nJuliette: time of our lives <3 !\"}"
      ]
     },
     "execution_count": 17,
     "metadata": {},
     "output_type": "execute_result"
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## samsum\n",
    "dataset = datasets.load_dataset(\"samsum\")\n",
    "print(len(dataset['train']))\n",
    "print(dataset['train'][0])\n",
    "# \"samsum_6054\" empty background\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(dataset['train']):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    answer = sample['summary']\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_sum)\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"samsum_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"summarization\",\n",
    "            \"background\":sample['dialogue'].replace(\"\\r\\n\",'\\n'),\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "total_data[-1]\n"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 18,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "12460\n",
      "{'id': 'train_0', 'dialogue': \"#Person1#: Hi, Mr. Smith. I'm Doctor Hawkins. Why are you here today?\\n#Person2#: I found it would be a good idea to get a check-up.\\n#Person1#: Yes, well, you haven't had one for 5 years. You should have one every year.\\n#Person2#: I know. I figure as long as there is nothing wrong, why go see the doctor?\\n#Person1#: Well, the best way to avoid serious illnesses is to find out about them early. So try to come at least once a year for your own good.\\n#Person2#: Ok.\\n#Person1#: Let me see here. Your eyes and ears look fine. Take a deep breath, please. Do you smoke, Mr. Smith?\\n#Person2#: Yes.\\n#Person1#: Smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer and heart disease, you know. You really should quit.\\n#Person2#: I've tried hundreds of times, but I just can't seem to kick the habit.\\n#Person1#: Well, we have classes and some medications that might help. I'll give you more information before you leave.\\n#Person2#: Ok, thanks doctor.\", 'summary': \"Mr. Smith's getting a check-up, and Doctor Hawkins advises him to have one every year. Hawkins'll give some information about their classes and medications to help Mr. Smith quit smoking.\", 'topic': 'get a check-up'}\n"
     ]
    },
    {
     "data": {
      "text/plain": [
       "{'id': 'dialogsum_12459',\n",
       " 'messages': [{'role': 'user',\n",
       "   'content': 'Summarize the above articles\\n\\ntl;dr:'},\n",
       "  {'role': 'assistant',\n",
       "   'content': \"#Person1# asks for #Person2#'s idea of packing the bag when visiting uncle Lee's family next Saturday.\"}],\n",
       " 'task_type': 'summarization',\n",
       " 'background': \"#Person1#: Mom, I'm flying to visit uncle Lee's family next Saturday. Should I pack my bags today?\\n#Person2#: Yes, I think so.\\n#Person1#: OK. What clothes should I take? I know it's hot there.\\n#Person2#: Yes, but it rains a lot. You can borrow an umbrella or a jacket if it's wet. Just pack some T-shirts.\\n#Person1#: OK. And who is meeting me at the airport?\\n#Person2#: Well, uncle Lee and aunt Wong will be busy, but your cousin Susan can pick you up.\"}"
      ]
     },
     "execution_count": 18,
     "metadata": {},
     "output_type": "execute_result"
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## dialogsum\n",
    "dataset = datasets.load_dataset(\"knkarthick/dialogsum\")\n",
    "print(len(dataset['train']))\n",
    "print(dataset['train'][0])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(dataset['train']):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    answer = sample['summary']\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_sum)\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"dialogsum_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"summarization\",\n",
    "            \"background\":sample['dialogue'],\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "total_data[-1]"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 19,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "241564\n"
     ]
    },
    {
     "data": {
      "text/plain": [
       "{'id': 'pwc_241563',\n",
       " 'messages': [{'role': 'user',\n",
       "   'content': 'Write a paragraph (i.e., continuation) that follows the above text.'},\n",
       "  {'role': 'assistant',\n",
       "   'content': \"As the situation unfolds, it is crucial for consumers to remain aware of the potential ethical concerns surrounding their favorite brands. With increasing globalization, it is more important than ever to ensure fair labor practices and prevent exploitation. Should the allegations against Ivy Park prove to be unfounded, the brand can continue to promote its empowering message for women worldwide. However, if the allegations hold true, it may be time for a reevaluation of Ivy Park's ethical trading program and a renewed commitment to fair labor practices.\"}],\n",
       " 'task_type': 'close_qa',\n",
       " 'background': 'Tyga is trying to be the new Kanye West, but it isn\\'t going to happen\\n\\nIf you think Jenelle Evans is pregnant with baby No. 3, think again\\n\\nLeah Prinzivalli writes about pop culture, beauty and health and has interviewed some of your favorite reality stars. She has been published in VICE, Reductress, The Toast, The Frisky, and elsewhere. She lives in Brooklyn with her cat, l...\\n\\nImage: Ivy Park\\n\\nPrint\\n\\nUK newspaper The Sun broke the news that Sri Lankan workers who make Beyoncé\\'s Ivy Park athleisure line clothing earn less than $7 a day. In their estimation, that means they\\'d have to work over a month to buy a pair of $144 Ivy Park leggings.\\n\\nShortly after the allegations were raised, Ivy Park released a statement to Women\\'s Wear Daily. \"Ivy Park has a rigorous ethical trading program,\" they said. \"We are proud of our sustained efforts in terms of factory inspections and audits, and our teams worldwide work very closely with our suppliers and their factories to ensure compliance.\"\\n\\nMore: We tried on Beyoncé\\'s Ivy Park line and here\\'s what we think\\n\\nThe brand also noted that its suppliers are expected to meet Ivy Park\\'s code of conduct. As WWD points out, the minimum daily wage in Sri Lanka is 400 rupees or USD$2.68. Ivy Park workers are then earning twice the daily requirement for Sri Lanka.\\n\\nAssuming these allegations check out, Beyoncé could actually be helping these Sri Lankan women (and I really, really hope that she is). Considering the empowering message behind Beyoncé\\'s Ivy Park line and the dreamy park where she spent her childhood, it will be especially disappointing if she\\'s attempting to build up Western women on one hand — by selling them something — while exploiting others.\\n\\nMore: Beyoncé\\'s Lemonade is about so much more than Jay Z cheating on her\\n\\nThe clothes are made at MAS Holdings Factory, a company that\\'s worked with Speedo, Triumph and Ultimo. It\\'s also worked with Lululemon, Nike and Patagonia. An Ivy Park spokesman told WWD that each Ivy Park factory was \"painstakingly\" chosen. Beyoncé is notorious for her meticulousness, so let\\'s wait for the next dispatch and hope that she didn\\'t let this slip through the cracks — or even worse, exploit women on purpose.\\n\\nMore: Beyoncé and Jay Z: 13 outlandish & bizarre rumors about their \"secret\" life'}"
      ]
     },
     "execution_count": 19,
     "metadata": {},
     "output_type": "execute_result"
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## pwc\n",
    "import json\n",
    "dataset = [json.loads(x) for x in open(\"data/pwc/PwC_train.jsonl\").readlines()]\n",
    "print(len(dataset))\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(dataset):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    answer = sample['answer']\n",
    "    question = sample['prompt']\n",
    "\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"pwc_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"close_qa\",\n",
    "            \"background\":sample['input'],\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "total_data[-1]"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 20,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "87925\n",
      "{'question': 'where did they film hot tub time machine', 'answer': ['Fernie Alpine Resort']}\n"
     ]
    },
    {
     "data": {
      "text/plain": [
       "{'id': 'nq_87924',\n",
       " 'messages': [{'role': 'user',\n",
       "   'content': \"Answer the question...nigeria was given it's name by who?\"},\n",
       "  {'role': 'assistant', 'content': 'Flora Louise Shaw'}],\n",
       " 'task_type': 'open_qa'}"
      ]
     },
     "execution_count": 20,
     "metadata": {},
     "output_type": "execute_result"
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## nq_open\n",
    "dataset = datasets.load_dataset(\"nq_open\")\n",
    "print(len(dataset['train']))\n",
    "print(dataset['train'][0])\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(dataset['train']):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    answer = sample['answer'][0]\n",
    "    question = sample['question']\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "    \n",
    "\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"nq_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"open_qa\",\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )\n",
    "total_data[-1]"
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 21,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "10419\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## fm2\n",
    "fm2 = [json.loads(x) for x in open(\"data/eval/fm2/fm2-train.jsonl\").readlines()]\n",
    "print(len(fm2))\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(fm2):\n",
    "    question = sample['question']\n",
    "    messages = [\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":template_for_fact_checking[0].format_map(dict(question=question))},\n",
    "        {\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":\"True\" if 'supports' in sample['answer'] else \"False\"},\n",
    "    ]\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"fm2_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"fact_checking\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )    "
   ]
  },
  {
   "cell_type": "code",
   "execution_count": 22,
   "metadata": {},
   "outputs": [
    {
     "name": "stdout",
     "output_type": "stream",
     "text": [
      "78785\n"
     ]
    }
   ],
   "source": [
    "## triviaqa\n",
    "tqa = [json.loads(x) for x in open(\"data/eval/triviaqa/tqa-train.jsonl\").readlines()]\n",
    "print(len(tqa))\n",
    "for idx,sample in enumerate(tqa):\n",
    "    messages = []\n",
    "    answer = sample['answer'][0]\n",
    "    question = sample['question']\n",
    "    question = random.choice(templates_for_qa).format_map(dict(question=question))\n",
    "    \n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"user\",\"content\":question})\n",
    "    messages.append({\"role\":\"assistant\",\"content\":answer})\n",
    "\n",
    "    total_data.append(\n",
    "        {\n",
    "            \"id\":f\"triviaqa_{idx}\",\n",
    "            \"messages\":messages,\n",
    "            \"task_type\":\"open_qa\",\n",
    "        }\n",
    "    )"
   ]
  }
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