"It is the last time he shall do that," exclaimed Nat, who was a witness of what took place.
Without speaking to Owen, he hurried aft to where Mr Leigh was standing.
"Please, sir, I"ve something to say to you," said Nat, touching his hat.
"What is it, boy?" asked the lieutenant, concluding that Nat had to give him some information regarding the conduct of the French prisoners.
"Are the fellows down below inclined to be mutinous?"
"I don"t think so, sir," answered Nat; "but what I want to say is about Mr Owen Hartley, who first found out their plot and saved us all from having our throats cut. He is a gentleman, sir, and came out with us as a pa.s.senger on board the "Druid," and I think, sir, if this had been known, he would not have been sent forward amongst us boys. Mr Sc.o.o.nes, our first mate, who pretended to be the captain, knows it as well as I do, but he had a spite against Mr Hartley, and so declared that he was a ship"s boy, and allowed him to be rated as such on board the "Sylvia." Mike Coffey, who belonged to the old ship, will tell you, sir, that what I say is true."
"I am ready to believe what you say, and when we return on board the frigate I will speak to the captain on the subject. But what makes you come up now to say this? I wish that you had given me the information before."
"Please, sir, Mr Hartley didn"t wish me to do that," answered Nat, "but I could stand it no longer when I saw, every hour in the day, Mr Ashurst knocking him about and abusing him as if he were a dog. He won"t complain himself, so I made up my mind to complain for him, for I was sure you would not allow Mr Ashurst to behave in that way if you knew it."
"Certainly not, my lad," answered the lieutenant, who, not standing on his dignity or resenting the unusual conduct of a boy for presuming to bring a complaint against a midshipman, respected Nat for his boldness and eagerness to protect his friend. "Send Mr Hartley aft to me, but do not let Mr Ashurst discover that you have complained of him."
Nat harried forward. As soon as he could find Owen, without saying what he had done, he told him that Mr Leigh wished to speak with him. Owen went aft, not knowing what the lieutenant could have to say.
"Hartley," said Mr Leigh, "you appear to be superior to the other boys.
In what capacity were you serving on board the ship in which you were cast away?"
Owen told him that he had come out as a pa.s.senger, but that, understanding mathematics and the principles of navigation, he had endeavoured to perfect himself in the science, as also to gain a knowledge of seamanship, although he had no intention of becoming a sailor, considering himself bound to return to the office in which he had been employed. Mr Leigh then questioned him, and learned more about his history.
"Had Captain Stanhope known this he would, I think, very likely, had you wished to enter the navy, have placed you on the quarter-deck. I cannot, of course, alter your rating now, but I will appoint you to act as my clerk, and I will let Mr Stewart and Mr Ashurst know that you are to mess with us, and that they are to treat you as a brother officer."
Owen could scarcely believe his senses when he heard this. How would Ashurst now behave to him? He himself would not of course refer to the treatment he had received from the hands of the midshipman, but would act as if nothing unpleasant had occurred between them. Mr Stewart, the master"s mate, who was an amiable young man, had always treated him kindly, and would, he was sure, do so now.
It was nearly the dinner hour. "You will come at once into the cabin,"
said Mr Leigh; "there is no reason for delay."
Owen made his way forward, and told Nat what had happened.
Nat, who pretended to look very much surprised, said he was very glad to hear of Owen"s good fortune. "But it"s only your due," he added, "and please for the future remember that you are now in the midshipmen"s berth, and a gentleman, that I am only a ship"s boy, and treat me accordingly."
"I hope, Nat, I shall always treat you as a true friend, for such you have been to me," said Owen.
There was no time to lose. Owen managed to wash his hands and brush his hair, so that he might appear as neat as possible.
Mr Stewart had the watch, but Ashurst was in the cabin. He looked hard at Owen as he entered, supposing that he had come to receive some orders, or to wait at table. The two French officers were about to take their seats.
"I am glad to see you, Hartley," said Mr Leigh, when he came in.
Ashurst stared, and the colour rose to his brow.
"Messieurs," said Mr Leigh, turning to the French officers, "I beg to introduce this young gentleman to you. Ashurst, I now make him known to you as I intend to employ him as my clerk, and he will soon become your messmate, for I have little doubt, if he wishes it, when we return to the frigate, that Captain Stanhope will place him as a midshipman on the quarter-deck."
The first impulse of Ashurst on hearing this was to get up from the table, but he sat down again and fixed his eyes on Owen without saying a word. Owen, who at first felt somewhat strange at being thus suddenly introduced into the society of gentlemen, soon recovered himself, and behaved as might have been expected. He addressed Mr Leigh with freedom but perfect propriety, and spoke to the French officers in their own language. Although the eldest understood a little English, yet he expressed himself with difficulty in it.
Whenever Ashurst looked at him it was with a frown on his brow. He did not once speak to him, even though Mr Leigh attempted to make him do so. The dinner was got over rapidly, for it was not a time when the commanding officer could be long absent from the deck. The weather continued as before. So great was the strain on the cable that it appeared every instant ready to part. Hands were stationed at the stoppers of the second, ready to let it go should the first fail.
Owen had been sent into the cabin to make out some lists from notes which Mr Leigh gave him, the French lieutenant having supplied him with writing materials for the purpose.
Mr Leigh called Ashurst, who was on deck, to come to him.
"I am surprised at your conduct to young Hartley," he said. "I have myself observed it, and I should have supposed, now that I have thought fit to place him on the quarter-deck, that you would have welcomed him as a messmate. He is gentlemanly and well-informed, and I have no doubt that he is, as he states, a gentleman by birth."
"Pretenders often a.s.sume good manners when they have an object in doing so," answered Ashurst, in a scornful tone; "he appeared as a ship"s boy, and I treated him as such, and made him do his duty."
"You may have bullied others, but you have shown a special ill-feeling towards this lad," answered Mr Leigh, feeling annoyed at the manner in which the midshipman spoke. "In future I beg that you will treat him as an equal."
"An equal, indeed! Do you forget, Mr Leigh, that I am the son of a n.o.bleman, and that he is or was till a few minutes ago, merely a ship"s boy!" exclaimed the midshipman, in a voice which made Mr Leigh almost smile.
"Had you said that in your berth, you would have been laughed at by all your messmates," observed Mr Leigh, "Come, come, I cannot listen to such nonsense. While you remain on board the prize, treat him as I desire, and when we rejoin the "Sylvia" Captain Stanhope will see to it." Ashurst walked away, muttering something which Mr Leigh did not hear. All day long the weather continued the same as before, and night came on without any signs of an abatement of the gale. The British crew were well-nigh worn-out. Although the Frenchmen were now compelled to labour at the pumps, the English took a spell. They had, besides, to watch the prisoners, and be always on deck ready to let go the anchor and make sail. Not until morning did the wind begin to fall, although the sea appeared as heavy as ever. It burst forth again and blew with greater fury than before. Suddenly the cry arose--
"The cable has parted!"
"Let go the best bower," cried Lieutenant Leigh.
In an instant the stoppers were cut, and the cable ran at a rapid rate, setting the hawse hole on fire. The danger had been seen, and men stood ready with buckets of water to heave over it. The cable ran out to its full range.
"Does the anchor hold, Stewart?" asked the lieutenant.
"Yes, sir, it holds," answered the master"s mate.
"Thank Heaven!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mr Leigh.
Before the fresh anchor brought up the ship, she had drifted much nearer the rocks. Should this cable part her destruction was inevitable.
The gale seemed to have exhausted itself by its last effort, and the wind now rapidly fell. Still the breakers burst with the same fury as before under the stern. More anxiously than ever every one on board waited for daylight.
As soon as it came, the lieutenant ordered all hands to get fresh stays on the jury mast preparatory to making sail, his intention being, should the wind come off the sh.o.r.e, to stand away from the coast, in hopes of falling in with the "Sylvia," and not finding her, at once to steer a course for Marrack.
At length a light wind began to blow off the land, but it was not sufficiently strong to make it prudent to cut the cable. Gradually it increased.
"All hands make sail!" shouted Mr Leigh.
The Frenchmen were as eager as the English crew to hoist away. The cable was cut and the prize stood off from the dangerous coast.
CHAPTER NINE.
The French crew, when all immediate danger was over, again began to show a mutinous disposition, some refusing to take their spell at the pumps, others forming groups and talking eagerly together. Owen ascertained, from what they were saying, that they believed the "Sylvia" to have gone down, so that if they could retake the frigate they might be able to make off with her. Some of them, having got hold of a cask of spirits, were becoming every instant more and more unruly.
"We shall have to clap the whole of them in irons, or lash them into their hammocks," observed Lieutenant Leigh to Mr Stewart.
Just then Owen, who had been sent to the mizen topmast head by Mr Leigh to take a look-out, shouted--