"I wish to make all the amends I can to you, my lad," he said. "As your conduct has been thoroughly to my satisfaction since you came on board, and as there is now a vacancy by the death of Mr Watson (the midshipman lost in the boat), I will place you on the quarter-deck and give you the rating of a midshipman."
I thanked him very much; but I remember saying, "I would rather old Jack were alive though."
"I appreciate your feeling, my lad," he answered; "but even if he does return I won"t disrate you, and I will see how we can best manage to get you an outfit."
Thus by the loss of my honest friend, whom I greatly lamented, I got my first step on the ratlines.
After a further search for the missing boat we left the coast, and soon afterwards going to Calcutta received our orders to return home.
Your uncle has been my friend ever since. He obtained his promotion on our arrival in England, and was at once appointed to the command of the _Ariel_, corvette, in which I accompanied him to the West Indies, where we were actively engaged, and I had there the opportunity I had so much wished for of performing two or three acts which gained me credit. I was still more anxious than ever to make a name for myself, as since the loss of my protector, Jack Headland, I had no possible clue by which to discover my parents with the exception of the gold chain, which I wore round my neck, and which I still preserved. A small bundle containing a child"s clothes and shoes, and the figure of an Indian tumbler, which were found in Jack"s kit, I felt sure had belonged to me. Whether or not they are sufficient to identify me I am very doubtful. Not wishing to throw a chance away I deposited them for safety with my agents in London.
Such was Headland"s history, and Harry a.s.sured him at its close that he always knew he must be a gentleman by birth, as he was in every other possible way.
"I heartily wish," he said, "that you may some day find out to whom you belong. Whoever they are you may depend on it they will welcome you joyfully. Why there goes eight bells. Our watch has indeed pa.s.sed quickly away."
The two midshipmen were relieved and went below. They had scarcely, as they supposed, closed their eyes, when the boatswain"s rough voice and shrill pipe roused them up with a cry of "All hands on deck!" followed by the quick roll of the drum, the well known beat to quarters.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN.
HOME, WITH PROMOTION.
As Harry and his friend reached the deck they caught sight of a strange frigate standing towards the _Triton_, which was, as has already been said, off the port of Carthagena, and as they looked towards the land they observed a small vessel under all sail running in for it. That the stranger was an enemy there was no doubt, and as she was evidently as heavy a frigate as the Triton, there appeared, even should she be captured, with the Spanish squadron close at hand, little prospect of her being brought off. There was indeed a great chance that the _Triton_ herself would not escape should she be crippled.
"The odds are against us," observed the captain to his first lieutenant.
"We must not, however, show our heels to a single frigate, and will do our best to take her before the enemy can come out to her rescue."
"Ay, ay, sir; take her we shall, and I hope get off with her too," was the answer.
The crew were at their quarters, stripped to the waist, waiting eagerly to begin the action. The second lieutenant being left on sh.o.r.e and the third being ill, Headland and Harry were doing duty in their places, though the third lieutenant came on deck when he heard of the pending action.
The stranger, which hoisted Spanish colours, and was seen to be of 34 guns, two more than the _Triton_, approaching within hail then hauled to the wind, on the _Triton"s_ weather beam.
"Give her a shot!" cried the captain, "to prove her."
Scarcely had the flash been seen than a whole broadside fired by the enemy came rattling on board the _Triton_. It was returned by the British crew. Broadside after broadside was given and received. In vain Captain Fancourt endeavoured to haul either ahead or astern of the enemy to rake her. She kept her advantageous position, and the Spaniards, whatever may sometimes be said of them, fought their ship gallantly. The action continued to be a regular broadside to broadside one. The boatswain was seen examining the masts with anxious looks.
They and the bowsprit had been wounded pretty severely, while the rigging hung in festoons, and her sails were shot through and torn.
Still the British seamen fought their guns as energetically as at first.
"Keep it up, my lads!" cried Headland, as he with Harry and other officers moved from gun to gun. "We have given her as much as we have received, and something more into the bargain."
As far as the canopy of smoke which hung round the ships could enable the British crew to distinguish the condition of their antagonist, they saw that every shroud had been cut away, and her boats and upper works knocked to pieces, while hitherto but very few of their own crew had been hit and not one killed. The action lasted an hour and twenty minutes, when the Spaniards" fire sensibly slackened.
The _Triton_, giving her antagonist another broadside, now forged ahead.
The crew were ordered to leave their guns, and in an instant the greater number swarming aloft began knotting and splicing the damaged rigging, while fresh sails were got up and bent with a rapidity which looked like magic. Meantime the Spaniard was similarly engaged, and her helm being put up she endeavoured under such sail as she could set to make off. The sight still further stimulated the British crew to exertion, and in twenty minutes, with rigging refitted, she went about and with every gun reloaded stood down once more towards the enemy.
Though the latter had hitherto fought with the greatest courage, yet no sooner did the _Triton_ come within range than the proud flag of Spain was hauled down. A cheer, such as British sailors alone can give, burst from the victorious crew.
Headland and Harry were sent on board with the only boat that could swim, to take possession.
The brave Spanish captain delivered up his sword with a dignified bow, and Headland, complimenting him on his gallantry, requested him at once to go on board the _Triton_. That he had not yielded till the last moment was evident, for the booms having fallen down had disabled all the waist guns of the frigate, and fully thirty men lay on the decks, while an equal number were found wounded in the c.o.c.kpit, many of them mortally.
Not a moment was to be lost, and as soon as two other boats could be patched up, more of the _Triton"s_ crew were sent on board to repair the damages the prize had received.
She proved to be the _Mahonesa_, and her brave captain, Don Tomas Ayaldi.
"Well, we have done something now at all events," said Harry to Headland, as the severed shrouds and running rigging of the prize having been repaired and sail made she and her captor were steering for Gibraltar.
The _Triton_ remained sometime at Gibraltar to refit.
After another cruise up the Mediterranean, where she did good service, and fought an action not inferior to the first, when she captured her antagonist, she was ordered home. On her way she looked into Lisbon, and Headland, who received his commission as lieutenant, was put in charge of their first prize, with Harry as his second in command, and another midshipman and thirty men to carry her home.
They reached Plymouth in safety, and when the _Triton_ was paid off, Captain Fancourt being soon afterwards appointed to a ship in commission in which there were no vacancies, Harry and his friend were separated.
They were employed for nearly three years on different stations and saw much service, both obtaining their promotion, while Headland, by several gallant acts, gained the credit he so eagerly sought for.
During the time, being then lieutenants, Harry belonging to the _Naiad_ frigate, and Headland to the _Alembic_, they had the good fortune to capture two Spanish frigates, the _Thetis_ and _Santa Brigida_, laden with specie to the value of upwards of 300,000 pounds sterling. Though two other frigates joined in the chase, each of the lieutenants of the four ships obtained 5000 as their share of prize money, while the four captains received upwards of 40,000 pounds a-piece.
"If you ever have to establish your claims, you will now have the means of doing so," observed Harry to his friend when they arrived at Plymouth. "And remember my share shall be at your service."
"I am very sure you will help me to the last penny you possess if I should require money," answered Headland. "But I have long given up all hopes of success, and really now think very little about the matter. I am not ambitious of wealth, and when the piping times of peace come round, and I am sent on sh.o.r.e to shift for myself, I shall have saved enough to live on in comfort and respectability."
"What, with a wife!" asked Harry. "She may not be satisfied with what you consider a competency."
"I have not thought about marrying," answered Headland, laughing, "and I do not suppose any lady I should like would accept an unknown adventurer such as I should be considered," he added, and a shade came over his countenance showing that he felt his position more than he was willing to acknowledge.
"Adventurer! nonsense; no one has a right so to call a naval officer who has already made a name for himself, and will make a greater some day or other," answered Harry. "Don"t let such an idea take possession of your mind. There are dozens of girls who would accept you gladly for yourself, and perhaps be better pleased to find that they had not married a whole tribe of relations, sisters and aunt, who might interfere with their domestic arrangements. Depend on it if every lieutenant and ward-room officer of our four fortunate frigates were to go on sh.o.r.e at once, we could each of us be married within a fortnight."
"Very likely," answered Headland. "But the ladies would take us for our prize money not for ourselves, and I should not wish to have a wife on those terms."
"Nor should I, indeed; when I was last on sh.o.r.e during the London season, and went out with my mother and sister, I saw enough of fashionable society to make me resolve whenever I might take it into my head to look out for a wife, not to seek for her in such an atmosphere.
I saw numbers of pretty girls, I confess, and, I daresay, some of them possessed sterling qualities. If I particularly admired any one fair lady, on discovering that I was only a midshipman, she was sure to freeze me up the next time I met her."
"Had she found that you were a lieutenant with a share of the _Santa Brigida"s_ treasure, she might have looked more affectionately on you,"
said Headland, laughing.
"Exactly; but I should not, as you were remarking, have been flattered had I been aware of the motive which prompted her feelings."
"So it seems that we are perfectly agreed," said Headland, "and the less we think about the matter till the time comes the better. At all events I intend never to entertain any thoughts of marrying unless I find some one who, rising above ordinary prejudices, is ready to link her fate with mine, regardless of my unknown birth and name." See there are the waggons to carry off our treasure.
As he spoke, he pointed to a large number of artillery waggons which had driven into the dockyard, close to which the prizes had been hauled.
Two days were employed in landing the rich cargoes, which were escorted by horse and foot soldiers, and armed seamen and marines, and accompanied by bands of music and an immense concourse of people, to the Citadel of Plymouth, in the vaults of which the treasure remained till it was removed to London, and finally deposited in the Bank of England.
A similar scene occurred at different times when treasure ships were taken.
On one occasion an English captain sailed into port with huge silver candlesticks at his mastheads, and ordinary seamen found themselves possessed of two or three hundred guineas prize money, frequently squandered before many weeks were over; while the officers obtained a proportionate share of wealth. Few, perhaps, thought of the suffering and injustice endured by the owners when gold was captured which belonged to private individuals, and though in some instances when such was the case it was returned, yet in many others non-combatants lost their lives and their property at the same time.
Harry and Headland were among the fortunate officers who, having many opportunities of distinguishing themselves, gained wealth and honour together.