The Two Admirals (36 page)

"Twelve of two decks, besides one three-decker, and beating us in
frigates. Two or three, however, are short vessels, and cannot be quite
as heavy as our own. I see no reason why we should not engage him."

"I rejoice to hear you say so! How much more honourable is it to seek
the enemy, than to be intriguing about a court! I hope you intend to let
me announce that red riband in general orders to-morrow, Dick?"

"Never, with my consent, Sir Gervaise, so long as the house of Hanover
confers the boon. But what an extraordinary scene we have just had
below! This young lieutenant is a noble fellow, and I hope, with all my
heart, he will be enabled to make good his claim."

"Of that Sir Reginald assures me there can be no manner of doubt. His
papers are in perfect order, and his story simple and probable. Do you
not remember hearing, when we were midshipmen in the West Indies, of a
lieutenant of the Sappho's striking a senior officer, ashore; and of his
having been probably saved from the sentence of death, by the loss of
the ship?"

"As well as if it were yesterday, now you name the vessel. And this you
suppose to have been the late Sir Wycherly's brother. Did he belong to
the Sappho?"

"So they tell me, below; and it leaves no doubt on my mind, of the truth
of the whole story."

"It is a proof, too, how easy it is for one to return to England, and
maintain his rights, after an absence of more than half a century. He in
Scotland has a claim quite as strong as that of this youth!"

"Dick Bluewater, you seem determined to pull a house down about your own
ears! What have you or I to do with these Scotch adventurers, when a
gallant enemy invites us to come out and meet him! But, mum—here is
Bunting."

At this instant the signal-lieutenant of the Plantagenet was shown into
the room, by Galleygo, in person.

"Well, Bunting; what tidings from the fleet?" demanded Sir Gervaise. "Do
the ships still ride to the flood?"

"It is slack-water, Sir Gervaise, and the vessels are looking all ways
at once. Most of us are clearing hawse, for there are more round turns
in our cables, than I remember ever to have seen in so short a time."

"That comes of there being no wind, and the uselessness of the stay-sails
and spankers. What has brought you ashore? Galleygo tells us something
of a cutter's coming in, with information that the French are out; but
his
news is usually
galley
-news."

"Not always, Sir Gervaise," returned the lieutenant, casting a side-look
at the steward, who often comforted him with ship's delicacies in the
admiral's cabin; "this time, he is right, at least. The Active is coming
in slowly, and has been signalling us all the morning. We make her out
to say that Monsieur Vervillin is at sea with his whole force."

"Yes," muttered Galleygo to the rear-admiral, in a sort of aside; "the
County of Fairvillain has come out of his hole, just as I told Sir
Jarvy. Fair-weather-villains they all is, and no bones broken."

"Silence—and you think, Bunting, you read the signals clearly?"

"No doubt of it, Sir Gervaise. Captain Greenly is of the same opinion,
and has sent me ashore with the news. He desired me to tell you that the
ebb would make in half an hour, and that we can then fetch past the
rocks to the westward, light as the wind is."

"Ay, that is Greenly, I can swear!—He'll not sit down until we are all
aweigh, and standing out. Does the cutter tell us which way the count
was looking?"

"To the westward, sir; on an easy bowline, and under short canvass."

"The gentleman is in no hurry, it would seem. Has he a convoy?"

"Not a sail, sir. Nineteen sail, all cruisers, and only twelve of the
line. He has one two-decker, and two frigates more than we can muster;
just a Frenchman's odds, sir."

"The count has certainly with him, the seven new ships that were built
last season," quietly observed Bluewater, leaning back in his
easy-chair, until his body inclined at an angle of forty-five degrees,
and stretching a leg on an empty stand, in his usual self-indulgent
manner. "They are a little heavier than their old vessels, and will give
us harder work."

"The tougher the job, the more creditable the workmanship. The tide is
turning, you say, Bunting?"

"It is, Sir Gervaise; and we shall all tend ebb, in twenty minutes. The
frigates outside are riding down channel already. The Chloe seems to
think that we shall be moving soon, as she has crossed top-gallant and
royal-yards. Even Captain Greenly was thinking of stretching along the
messenger."

"Ah! you're a set of uneasy fellows, all round!—You tire of your native
land in twenty-four hours, I find. Well, Mr. Bunting; you can go off,
and say that all is very well. This house is in a sad state of
confusion, as, I presume, you know. Mention this to Captain Greenly."

"Ay-ay-sir; is it your pleasure I should tell him any thing else, Sir
Gervaise Oakes?"

"Why—yes—Bunting," answered the vice-admiral, smiling; "you may as
well give him a hint to get all his fresh grub off, as fast as he
can—and—yes; to let no more men quit the ship on liberty."

"Any thing more, Sir Gervaise?" added the pertinacious officer.

"On the whole, you may as well run up a signal to be ready to unmoor.
The ships can very well ride at single anchors, when the tide has once
fairly made. What say you, Bluewater?"

"A signal to unmoor, at once, would expedite matters. You know very
well, you intend to go to sea, and why not do the thing off-hand?"

"I dare say, now, Bunting, you too would like to give the
commander-in-chief a nudge of some sort or other."

"If I could presume so far, Sir Gervaise. I can only say, sir, that the
sooner we are off, the sooner we shall flog the French."

"And Master Galleygo, what are your sentiments, on this occasion? It is
a full council, and all ought to speak, freely."

"You knows, Sir Jarvy, that I never speaks in these matters, unless
spoken to. Admiral Blue and your honour are quite enough to take care of
the fleet in most circumstances, though there is some knowledge in the
tops, as well as in the cabin. My ideas is, gentlemen, that, by casting
to starboard on this ebb tide, we shall all have our heads off-shore,
and we shall fetch into the offing as easily as a country wench turns in
a jig. What we shall do with the fleet, when we gets out, will be shown
in our ultra movements."

By "ultra," David meant "ulterior," a word he had caught up from hearing
despatches read, which he understood no better than those who wrote them
at the admiralty.

"Thanks to you all, my friends!" cried Sir Gervaise, who was so
delighted at the prospect of a general engagement, that he felt a boyish
pleasure in this fooling; "and now to business, seriously. Mr. Bunting,
I would have the signal for sailing shown. Let each ship fire a
recall-gun for her boats. Half an hour later, show the bunting to
unmoor; and send my boat ashore as soon as you begin to heave on the
capstan. So, good-morning, my fine fellow, and show your activity."

"Mr. Bunting, as you pass the Cæsar, do me the favour to ask for my
boat, also," said Bluewater, lazily, but half-raising his body to look
after the retiring lieutenant. "If we are to move, I suppose I shall
have to go with the rest of them. Of course we shall repeat all your
signals."

Sir Gervaise waited until Bunting was out of the room, when he turned to
the steward, and said with some dryness of manner—

"Mr. Galleygo, you have my permission to go on board, bag and baggage."

"Yes, Sir Jarvy, I understands. We are about to get the ships under way,
and good men ought to be in their places. Good-by, Admiral Blue. We
shall meet before the face of the French, and then I expects every man
on us will set an example to himself of courage and devotion."

"That fellow grows worse and worse, each day, and I shall have to send
him forward, in order to check his impertinence," said Sir Gervaise,
half-vexed and half-laughing. "I wonder you stand his saucy familiarity
as well as you appear to do—with his Admiral Blues!"

"I shall take offence as soon as I find Sir Jarvy really out of humour
with him. The man is brave, honest, and attached; and these are virtues
that would atone for a hundred faults."

"Let the fellow go to the devil!—Do you not think I had better go out,
without waiting for despatches from town?"

"It is hard to say. Your orders may send us all down into Scotland, to
face Charles Stuart. Perhaps, too, they may make you a duke, and me a
baron, in order to secure our fidelity!"

"The blackguards!—well, say no more of that, just now. If M. de
Vervillin is steering to the westward, he can hardly be aiming at
Edinburgh, and the movements in the north."

"That is by no means so certain. Your really politic fellows usually
look one way and row another."

"It is my opinion, that his object is to effect a diversion, and my wish
is to give it to him, to his heart's content. So long as this force is
kept near the chops of the channel, it can do no harm in the north, and,
in-so-much, must leave the road to Germany open."

"For one, I think it a pity—not to say a disgrace—that England cannot
settle her own quarrels without calling in the aid of either Frenchman
or Dutchman."

"We must take the world as it is, Dick, and act like two
straight-forward seamen, without stopping to talk politics. I take it
for granted, notwithstanding your Stuart fervour, that you are willing
enough to help me thresh Monsieur de Vervillin."

"Beyond a question. Nothing but the conviction that he was directly
employed in serving my natural and legitimate prince, could induce me to
show him any favour. Still, Oakes, it is possible he may have succours
for the Scotch on board, and be bound to the north by the way of the
Irish channel!"

"Ay, pretty succours, truly, for an Englishman to stomach!
Mousquetaires
, and
régiments de Croy
, or
de Dillon
, or some d—d
French name or other; and, perhaps, beautiful muskets from the
Bois de
Vincennes
; or some other infernal nest of Gallic inventions to put down
the just ascendency of old England! No—no—Dick Bluewater, your
excellent, loyal, true-hearted English mother, never bore you to be a
dupe of Bourbon perfidy and trick. I dare say she sickened at the very
name of Louis!"

"I'll not answer for that, Sir Jarvy," returned the rear-admiral, with a
vacant smile; "for she passed some time at the court of
le Grand
Monarque
. But all this is idle; we know each other's opinions, and, by
this time, ought to know each other's characters. Have you digested any
plan for your future operations; and what part am I to play in it?"

Sir Gervaise paced the room, with hands folded behind his back, in an
air of deep contemplation, for quite five minutes, before he answered.
All this time, Bluewater remained watching his countenance and
movements, in anticipation of what was to come. At length, the
vice-admiral appeared to have made up his mind, and he delivered himself
of his decision, as follows.

"I have reflected on them, Dick," he said, "even while my thoughts have
seemed to be occupied with the concerns of others. If de Vervillin is
out, he must still be to the eastward of us; for, running as the tides
do on the French coast, he can hardly have made much westing with this
light south-west wind. We are yet uncertain of his destination, and it
is all-important that we get immediate sight of him, and keep him in
view, until he can be brought to action. Now, my plan is this. I will
send out the ships in succession, with orders to keep on an easy
bowline, until each reaches the chops of the channel, when she is to go
about and stand in towards the English coast. Each succeeding vessel,
however, will weigh as soon as her leader is hull down, and keep within
signal distance, in order to send intelligence through the whole line.
Nothing will be easier than to keep in sight of each other, in such fine
weather; and by these means we shall spread a wide clew,—quite a
hundred miles,—and command the whole of the channel. As soon as
Monsieur de Vervillin is made, the fleet can close, when we will be
governed by circumstances Should we see nothing of the French, by the
time we make their coast, we may be certain they have gone up channel;
and then, a signal from the van can reverse the order of sailing, and we
will chase to the eastward, closing to a line abreast as fast as
possible."

"All this is very well, certainly; and by means of the frigates and
smaller cruisers we can easily sweep a hundred and fifty miles of
ocean;—nevertheless, the fleet will be much scattered."

"You do not think there will be any danger of the French's engaging the
van, before the rear can close to aid it?" asked Sir Gervaise, with
interest, for he had the profoundest respect for his friend's
professional opinions. "I intended to lead out in the Plantagenet,
myself, and to have five or six of the fastest ships next to me, with a
view that we might keep off, until you could bring up the rear. If they
chase, you know we can retire."

"Beyond a doubt, if Sir Gervaise Oakes can make up his mind to
retire
,
before any Frenchman who was ever born," returned Bluewater, laughing.
"All this sounds well; but, in the event of a meeting, I should expect
to find you, with the whole van dismasted, fighting your hulks like
bull-dogs, and keeping the Count at bay, leaving the glory of covering
your retreat to me."

"No—no—Dick: I'll give you my honour I'll do nothing so boyish and
silly. I'm a different man at fifty-five, from what I was at
twenty-five. You may be certain that I will run, until I think myself
strong enough to fight."

"Will you allow me to make a suggestion, Admiral Oakes; and this with
all the frankness that ought to characterize our ancient friendship?"