"Come along, my young masters. I"ll soon find tasks for you. You!" he exclaimed, seizing d.i.c.k, "go and help the cook in the galley, you two will pick oak.u.m," he added, turning to Lancelot and me; "and when the hands are sent aloft to reef sails, as you seem active fellows, you"ll go to the foretop-gallant yard."
"But I have never been aloft," said Lancelot, "and shan"t know what to do when I get there."
"Then the sooner you go the faster you"ll learn, or you"ll have a taste of my persuader," and he flourished the knotted rope. "Up, both of you, and let me see how you can lay out on the yard."
As we hesitated, flourishing the rope, he laid it across our shoulders, at which the men standing by laughed and jeered at us. To remonstrate was useless, so to avoid a repet.i.tion of the unpleasant infliction, we sprang into the rigging and began to mount, taking care to hold tight as we went up until we got into the top, where we both stood looking down, not liking to go higher.
"Aloft with you, aloft, or I"ll send a couple of hands to start you,"
shouted the boatswain from the deck.
We looked up at the tall mast swaying to and fro, and I fully expected, should I make the attempt, to fall down on deck, or to be plunged into the sea, for which I had no wish; but looking down for a moment, and seeing two men about to come up the rigging, I told Lancelot that I would run the chance.
"It is the only thing we can do," he answered.
Catching hold of the topmast shrouds, we began to mount. We got up at length, and crawled out on the yard, holding on tightly by the ropes which seemed most secure. Finding that it was not so terrible as I had supposed, I crawled out to the very end of the yard, where I clung on, in spite of the fearful way in which it moved about.
Thankful I was, however, to hear the boatswain shout, "You may come down now, lads;" and I made my way into the top.
Lancelot had gone out at the other end of the yard, and when we met on deck he could not help shaking hands, as if we had arrived successfully from some desperate enterprise. The seamen laughed as they saw us, and even the boatswain"s grim features wrinkled into a smile.
"You"ll do, lads," he said. "You"ll make prime topmen in a few weeks, and thank me for having taught you."
Such was the commencement of our sea life. Things, we agreed, might have been worse, though we got many a kick and rope"s ending, not only from the boatswain, but from others among the more brutal of the crew.
Martin, when on deck, always came to our rescue, but old as he was, he was but ill able to contend with so many opposed to him.
"Better grin and bear it, Master Ben," he said; "they"ll soon give up ill-treating you if you take it with good temper, and I should do more harm than good if I was to shove in my oar except at a favourable time; but I shall be on the watch, never fear, and I"ll take care matters don"t grow too bad."
We followed Martin"s advice, and found it answer. The seamen of the frigate were a lawless and disorderly set, every sentence they uttered being accompanied by strange oaths, while below, when not asleep, they spent their time in dicing and gaming.
We found, I should have said, that we were on board the _Charles_ frigate, Captain Blackleach, carrying one hundred and fifty men and thirty-two guns, one of Prince Rupert"s squadron, from which she had been separated while in chase of a trader the captain had hoped to capture, but which had escaped.
A bright look-out was now kept for the squadron, and for traders of all nations.
Our cruising ground was the mouth of the English Channel, where we lay in wait to pounce down upon any unwary vessel coming up with a rich cargo.
We were all three below, poor d.i.c.k by this time looking as black as a negro; he had unfortunately let it be known whose son he was, and consequently, I believe, got a double allowance of ill-treatment.
"All hands make sail!" was shouted, and we with the rest sprang on deck.
"Aloft, you youngsters!" cried the boatswain, looking at Lancelot and me.
We ran up the rigging to the fore-topgallant-yard, and with the aid of two other men let fall the sail which had been furled.
On looking ahead, we saw a large ship in the distance, for which the frigate was steering. The stranger held on her course, not apparently fearing us, though we had the Union Jack flying at the peak, while that of Holland fluttered at hers.
On getting within range of our guns, we opened fire from a dozen pieces or more, but without doing her much damage. Again we fired, sending our shot crashing on board her, when the guns being run in and reloaded, we stood on, receiving her broadside, the shots going through our sails and cutting some of our running rigging, then luffing-up across her bows, we raked her fore and aft, and went about, showing that we intended to give her the other broadside. Not relishing this, she hauled down her colours and triced up her sails.
A well-armed boat"s crew was sent on board to take possession, when her ship"s company were speedily removed, and those of her people who remained in her were ordered to steer her to Kinsale harbour, a short distance to the southward of Cork, in Ireland.
The next vessel we chased proved to be English, and as she was bound for the Thames, she was captured and sent away like the first, with part of the Dutch crew, who, being promised good pay, had no objection to navigate her.
A third vessel was seen the next day, carrying the flag of France.
Chase was given to her also, and the _Charles_ coming alongside, she struck without firing a shot. She was also sent away, under command of one of the officers, for the same harbour as the former prize.
"Why, these fellows are pirates," observed Lancelot to me, though he took care to speak in a low voice, so that only Martin and I who was standing near could hear him.
"Little doubt about that," answered Martin; "all"s fish that comes to their net! I wish that we were well free of them, but how to get away is the difficulty. I suspect that if a Parliamentary ship was to catch the frigate, they"d hang us all up at the yard-arms."
"Heaven forbid!" said Lancelot.
A few days after this, the look-out from the mast-head shouted--
"Five sail to the eastward!"
Presently afterwards three more were seen standing down channel, under all the canvas they could carry.
"What if they should prove to be Parliamentary ships," I said to Lancelot.
"We must try and explain who we are, and how we came on board," he answered.
"But what if they won"t believe us?" I asked. "We may be strung up before they find out the truth."
"That would be a hard case, but I do not see how we are to escape, unless we jump overboard when the fight begins, and try to swim to one of them."
Instead of running away, as we expected, the _Charles_ stood boldly towards the approaching squadron. At length from the peak of the leading ship we saw the Union Jack flying.
"That must be Prince Rupert"s squadron after all," said Lancelot.
That this was the case was soon evident, for the frigate, ranging up alongside the big ship, exchanged friendly salutes.
An officer in handsome costume, with a gold chain round his neck, was seen standing on the after-castle. When Captain Blackleach raised his beaver, the officer took off his in return, and inquired how many prizes he had made.
"Three since we parted with your highness," was the answer, "and they are by this time safe in Kinsale harbour."
"You have used diligence; you shall have a bigger ship before long,"
said the officer in the handsome dress.
"Who is he?" I asked one of the men standing by.
"What! have you never seen Prince Rupert, the bravest commander in the king"s armies, and now his best admiral? Wherever he leads, rich prizes are sure to be found."
Such we discovered was a fact, for that very day the squadron captured well-nigh a dozen merchantmen homeward bound, which mistook it for the Earl of Warwick"s fleet, and fell without firing a shot into its voracious jaws.
In high glee the Prince with his prizes stood for Kinsale harbour, where we found a dozen other goodly ships, which had been captured by his cruisers, including the three taken by the _Charles_. While we lay here, Lancelot and I, when no one was by, often talked over various schemes for escaping, but we had to ask ourselves the question, where should we go? The whole southern part of Ireland was in favour of the King, as the Prince of Wales was now called, his father having been put to death in London. Thus, even should we reach the sh.o.r.e, we should run a great risk of being knocked on the head when attempting to travel through the country, for rumours had reached us of the fearful way in which the Romanists had treated the Protestants residing among them.
Martin to whom we confided our wishes, was as eager as we were to escape, being anxious, as he said, to get away from the swearing, drinking, gambling crew. "I won"t say there"s not a G.o.dly man among them, because there are two or three who have been pressed into the service, and are ready to get away if they can, but the rest, the Lord deliver us from them," he said, while we were standing on the forecastle one evening, out of hearing of the rest of the ship"s company.