What sort of craft are you looking for, Martyn? the shipping agent said. We have a dozen at least on our own books, and you may as well give us a turn before you look at any others.
I want a schooner or a brig I dont much care which it is of about a couple of hundred tons. She must be very fast and weatherly; the sort of craft that was used as a privateer in the war; or as a slaver; or something of that kind.
I have only one craft that answers to that description, the agent said; but I should say that she was what you want. She was sent home from the west coast of Africa six months ago, as a prize. Of course she was sold, and was bought by a man I know. After he had got her he found she had not enough carrying power for his business. She never was built for cargo, and would be an expensive vessel to work, for she has a large sail spread, and would want so strong a crew to work her that she would never pay. He bought her cheap for that reason, and will be glad to get the price he gave for her, or if the point were pressed even to make some loss to get her off his hands. They call her a hundred and fifty, and she looks a big vessel for that size. But if she had eighty tons in her hold it would be as much as she could carry with comfort.
That sounds promising, Martyn said. At any rate we will begin by having a look at her. Where is she lying?
About three miles up the river. Tide is making; so we could run up there in a sailing boat in half an hour. I will go with you myself. There is a care-taker on board. Are you buying her for yourself, Martyn?
The mate laughed.
As I have not captured an heiress I am not likely to become a ship owner. No; Mr. Beveridges father is fond of the sea, and has commissioned me to buy a comfortable craft that shall be at once fast and seaworthy, and I am going to command her.
Well, I dont think you would find anything that would suit your purpose better than the Creole. She would make a splendid yacht for a gentleman who had a fancy for long cruises.
What is her age? the mate asked.
Well, of course we cant tell exactly; but the dockyard people thought she couldnt be above four or five years old. That is what they put her down as when they sold her. At any rate she is sound, and in as good condition as if she had just come off the stocks. She had been hulled in two or three places in the fight when she was captured, but she was made all right in the dockyard before she was put up for sale. All her gear, sails, and so on are in excellent condition.
Where are they?
They are on board. As we had a care-taker it was cheaper to leave them there and have good fires going occasionally to keep them dry than it would have been to stow them away on shore.
There was a brisk breeze blowing, and in less than the half hour mentioned by the agent he said: Thats her lying over on the farther side.
She looks like a slaver all over, Martyn said as he stood up to examine the long low craft. I suppose they caught her coming out of a river, for she would show her heels, I should guess, to any cruiser that was ever built, at any rate in light winds. If she is as good as she looks she is just the thing for us.
When they reached the vessel they rowed round her before going on board.
She is like a big Surf, Will said to Horace; finer in her lines, and lighter. She ought to sail like a witch. I see she carried four guns on each side.
Yes, and a long pivot-gun. They are down in the hold now. She was sold just as she stood; but I suppose they will be of no use to you.
Some of them may be, Martyn said carelessly. If we go cruising up the Mediterranean it is just as well to have a gun or two on board. Now let us look at her accommodation.
Yes, she is a very roomy craft on deck, he went on as he stepped on board. She has a wonderful lot of beam, much more than she looks to have when you see her on the water, owing to her lines being so fine.
She has lots of head-room here, Horace said as they went below. I thought that slavers had very low decks.
So they have, the mate said. I expect when she took a cargo on board they rigged up a deck of planks here so as to have two tiers for the slaves; that would give them about three foot three to each tier.
They spent over two hours on board. Will Martyn examined everything most carefully, prodding the planks and timbers with his knife, going down into the hold and prying into the state of the timbers there, getting into the boat, to examine the stern-post and rudder, and afterwards overhauling a good deal of the gear. The inspection was in all respects satisfactory.
She will do if the price will do, he said. How much do they want for her?
He paid fifteen hundred at the dockyard sale, the agent said; that is ten pound a ton, with all her gear, fittings, and so on, thrown in. As you see, there is the cabin furniture, and so on, all complete, except the paint. There neednt be a penny laid out on her.
Well, how much will he take off? Martyn said. Fifteen hundred was anyones price, and as she dont suit him, she wont suit many people. If he is likely to have her on his hands any time, eating her head off and losing value, he ought to be glad to take anything near what he gave for her. Well, frankly, how much will he take off? Business is business. I have admitted the boat will suit me; now what is the limit you are authorized to take?
He will take two hundred less. It is a ridiculously low price.
Of course it is, Will agreed. But shipping at present is a drug in the market, and this ship is practically fit for nothing but a yacht or the Levant trade. I expect I could get her a couple of hundred pounds cheaper if I held off. What do you think, Horace?
I dont think it would be fair to knock down the price lower than that, Horace said.
It is fair to get a thing as cheap as you can. If you try to get it for less than he will sell it for you dont get it, that is all. He is not obliged to sell, and you are not obliged to buy. Still, the price is a very reasonable one, and we will take her at that. You have full authority to sell, I suppose, without reference to your principal?
Yes.
Very well, then, we will go to your office. Mr. Beveridge will give you a cheque for thirteen hundred pounds, and you shall hand over possession.
Good. It is eleven oclock now, Johnson, he said to the care-taker. Here is your money up to to-night, but from twelve oclock to-day Mr. Martyn takes possession as agent for the owners, so you will take your orders from him.
You can go on as usual, Will said. We will pay you from twelve oclock, so you will make a half-days pay by the change.
CHAPTER V
FITTING OUT
THE cheque for the payment of the Creole was filled up and handed over, the agent giving a formal receipt and possession of the vessel, and undertaking to sign the necessary papers as soon as they could be drawn out.
You are evidently lucky about ships, William Martyn said as he left the agents office with Horace. You have got a little wonder in the Surf, and there is no doubt about the Creole being a bargain. When the war was going on she would have been snapped up at double the price, and would have been cheap at that. Now the first thing to do is to get first and second mates. Directly I have got them I can put a gang of riggers on board. I will go to the Naval Club, and see the list of the officers on board the ships here. I am pretty sure to know some of them, and shall find out from them whether there are any of my old messmates down here. If they dont know of any, we might hear of men to suit at the Club. There are always plenty of men here and at Portsmouth waiting about on the chance of meeting some officer they have served under and getting him to put in a word for them at the Admiralty.
I will walk down with you to the Club, but I wont go in with you; one is only in the way when people who know each other are talking. And besides, Martyn, dont you think before you do anything you ought to see about your clothes?
Of course I ought; I never gave the matter a thought before. But I certainly could not put my foot on the quarter-deck of one of His Majestys ships in this turn-out. No. The first thing to do is to drop into my fathers agent to draw some money. Then I will go into a slop-shop and get a suit. I know a place where they keep really decent togs. A man often has to join in a hurry, and wants a fit-out at half an hours notice. Then I can order the rest of the things at the tailors I used to get my clothes from. Pon my word, now you speak of it, I am ashamed to be going out in these things. They were an old suit that I put on when bad weather set in, and they have shrunk so that the sleeves dont come half-way down to the wrists, and the trousers are up to the ankles. As a masters mate it didnt matter so very much, for masters mates are very often out at elbows, but as commander of the Creole it is a different thing altogether.
Martyn was lucky in picking up the undress uniform of a lieutenant that just fitted him.
I can let you have it at that price, because I got it a bargain, the man said. The owner came in here a few weeks ago with a man beside him. He had just come down to join his ship, which was to sail in a few hours, and as he stepped off the coach was served with a writ by a Jew he had borrowed money of two or three years before. It was only a few pounds, but to make up the sum he had to sell some of his things, and this suit was among them.
And nicely you ground him down in the price, I have no doubt, Martyn growled. However, I have got the benefit of it. Now, Horace, I can show at the Club. Just take your knife out and cut this strap off the shoulder. I cant go about as a full-fledged lieutenant, though I have passed.
They were walking up the main street when a voice exclaimed:
Hullo, Martyn! is that you? and a young officer shook him warmly by the hand.
Why, Dacent, this is luck. I am glad to see you indeed. It is three years since we ran against each other last; five since we served together in the Nonpareil. What are you doing?
I am third in the flagship here. What are you doing? I met OConnor the other day; he told me he had run across you at Malta, and that you had gone into the merchant service like so many other of our old friends.
That was so, Dacent. It was of no use kicking my heels on shore when I hadnt the ghost of a chance of getting appointed to a ship. So I had to swallow my pride and ship in a merchantman. We were wrecked at the back of the Wight in the storm last week, and I have had the luck to get a fresh appointment, and that is what I am here for. I was just on my way to the Club to see if I could find any of my old chums. You are just the fellow to help me. But first let me introduce Mr. Beveridge. He is the son of my owner. Half an hour ago he completed the purchase of the craft that I am to command. She is a beauty. I dont know whether you know her. She is called the Creole, a schooner of a hundred and fifty tons. She is lying up the river.
I know her well enough, Dacent said, as he shook hands with Horace. She was brought in here the week after I joined. I thought she was as pretty a looking craft as I ever set eyes on. I congratulate you, old fellow. There are not many things that you wont be able to show your heels to. But what line is she going to be in? She would make a fine craft for the Levant trade.
That is just where we are going, Dacent, but not to trade. I will tell you what we are going to do, but it must be kept dark. I dont know whether they might not look upon it as a breach of the neutrality laws. Mr. Beveridge is an enthusiast for the cause of Greece, and we are going to take out a cargo of guns and ammunition, and then we shall hoist the Greek flag, and do a little fighting on our own account with the Turks as a Greek privateer.
By Jove, I envy you, Martyn. That is a thousand times better than sticking in Plymouth Sound with nothing to do but to see the men holy-stone the deck, and fetching and carrying messages. Now, what is it I can do for you?
Well, in the first place, I want a couple of officers; for choice, I would have one who has passed, and could take the command in case anything happened to me. I dont care whether the second is a mate or a midshipman who has pretty nearly served his time.
I know just the man for you, for your first. There is Miller you remember him?
Of course; I was with him in the Minerva frigate in the West Indies. He was a capital fellow. Is he to be had?
Yes; I saw him only yesterday. He has been two years out of a berth, and no chance of getting a ship, and he was looking out for a berth on board a merchantman, but he had not heard of one when I saw him. He gave me his address; here it is the Anchor Inn; it is a little place not far from the dock gates. I expect Jim has no money to spare. His father is a clergyman near Falmouth. I asked him why he didnt look for a ship there. He laughed, and said he didnt mind shipping into the merchant service anywhere else; but he shouldnt like to do it so near home, after swaggering about there in the kings uniform.
I will go down at once. It is just one oclock, and we are likely to catch him in.
Well, will you and your friend dine with me at the Club at six oclock, Martyn? We can chat there better than we can on board, and we have lots to tell each other since we last parted.
The invitation was accepted, and then Martyn and Horace set off to find the Anchor.
There is one thing I have not asked you, the former said, as they went along. How about prize-money, because you know that makes a good deal of difference. I dont suppose there will be much to be got, because there are not many craft flying the Turkish flag, and the seas will be swarming with Greek craft who are half-pirates even in time of peace. Still we may capture a Turkish man-of-war brig or something of that sort, and she may have treasure on board such as pay for the troops. I suppose we should share according to the ordinary privateer scale.
Certainly, Horace said. My father has no idea of making money by the thing, and I can certainly promise that he will agree to the usual scale whatever it is.
That is right. I thought that it would be so, and, indeed, although officers might go without, you would hardly get men to risk their lives unless there was a chance of prize-money.
It would not be fair to ask them to do so, Horace said. Of course that would be understood. All these sort of arrangements are in your hands. My father particularly said so; he really knows nothing about these matters. You must make all these arrangements just as if you were the owner, and please arrange what you consider liberal terms to everyone. My father has made up his mind to spend a certain sum of money which he has long laid by for the purpose, and I am sure we are more likely to succeed in helping the Greeks if everyone on board is quite contented and happy. Oh, there is the Inn; I wont go in with you. You had much better talk it over with him by yourself.
Ten minutes later Martyn came out with a short square-built young fellow of about his own age, with a good-humoured merry face, which was at present beaming with satisfaction.
That is all settled, Martyn said. Mr. Beveridge, let me introduce to you Mr. James Miller, first lieutenant of your fathers schooner, the Creole.