I should think that will be just the thing, Martyn.
Very well, then, I will see the surgeon to-morrow, and get him to write and offer him the berth at the regular naval rate of pay. Of course we shant want him to join till we are ready to sail.
Some days later a reply was received, accepting the berth.
For the next fortnight work proceeded rapidly. Stores of all kinds for the voyage were brought on board and stowed away. Sixty cannon were stowed down in the hold, with thirty carriages for them, the latter taking up too much room to be carried for the whole of the guns. Eight twelve-pounders, in place of the eight-pounders before carried by her, and a long eighteen-pounder were placed in the hold in readiness to mount on deck when they reached the Levant. The riggers and painters had finished their work, the decks had been planed and holy-stoned until they were spotlessly white, and the tall spars and gear were all in their place. The guns had cost only about as much as Miller had said, and they could have obtained any number at the same price. The agent had made a contract with the ships chandlers for five thousand muskets complete with bayonets, in good order, and delivered on board, at ten shillings each. Some five hundred of these had been collected, and after passing muster, by an armourer sergeant Martyn engaged for the purpose put on board. The rest were to be sent by canal from Birmingham to Liverpool, and thence shipped round to Plymouth. Five tons of gunpowder in barrels, twenty tons of shot for the cannon, and two hundred thousand rounds of ammunition for the muskets were also arranged for. These were to be shipped at the last moment from magazines at the mouth of the Sound.
Below, everything had been done to make the cabins as comfortable as possible, and Dacent declared that she was altogether too neat and comfortable for anything but an admirals yacht. Tom Burdett had picked up at Plymouth twenty-five smart sailors, all of whom had served in kings ships; and then, going to Bristol, had brought as many more from there. Uniforms, closely resembling those of men-of-war sailors, had been served out to them, but instead of the straw hat they wore red woollen caps. The officers had only to exchange their navy buttons for others with an anchor to be complete; Horace had donned similar attire.
It was just three weeks after Horace left home that he wrote to his father saying that all was now in readiness, and that they could sail within an hour of his arrival. They were at once going out to take their powder on board, and would remain at anchor off the magazines, and that he himself should be at the Falcon when it was time for the first coach to arrive after the receipt of his letter, and should remain there until his father came. Mr. Macfarlane, the surgeon, arrived by the coach that evening, and was put down at the Falcon. Martyn and Horace went out when they heard the coach stop.
That is the doctor, for a guinea, Martyn said, as a tall bony man climbed down from the roof, and began very carefully to look after his luggage.
I think you must be Doctor Macfarlane? he said, going up to him. My name is Martyn.
I am very glad to see you, Captain Martyn, the doctor said; I take it as a sign that I shall have a pleasant time that my commander should meet me as I get off the coach.
I am captain only by courtesy, and shall hardly consider that I have got my brevet rank till we hoist the flag to-morrow. This is Mr. Beveridge, the owners son, he will sail with us as third officer. I have ordered a room for you, doctor. Boots will carry your things up.
Thank you; I will see to them myself, and join you in the coffee-room. I am not fond of trusting to other folk; and he followed the servant upstairs with his baggage.
Martyn laughed as he went into the coffee-room with Horace. Cautious you see, Horace, and right enough to be so; I think we shall like him. There is a pleasant tone in his voice, and I have no doubt he will turn out a good fellow, though, perhaps, rather a character.
The doctor soon came down.
Eh, man, he said, but it is weary work sitting with your legs doubled up all those hours on a coach. Four-and-twenty hours it is since I got up at Salisbury. And so, Mr. Beveridge, we are going out to fight for the Greeks. I misdoubt, sir, if they will do much fighting for themselves. I was three years east of Malta. There is good in them, we may take it that there is good in them, but it is very difficult to get at; at least that was my experience.
They have not had much chance, I think, doctor, so far.
And how large is your ship, Captain Martyn? the doctor said, changing the subject suddenly.
They call her a hundred and fifty, but she has a light draft of water and would not carry that, yet she has excellent accommodation below, as you will say when you see her to-morrow.
The conversation then turned on naval matters, and the stations and ships that both Martyn and the doctor knew; and when they separated for the evening Martyn and Horace agreed that the doctor was likely to be a pleasant acquisition to their party.
Marco had been intrusted with the entire charge of laying in stores for the cabin, and these had arrived in such profusion that Will Martyn had demanded whether he was victualling the ship with cabin stores for a voyage round the world.
It had been given out that the ship was bound for Lisbon, but the news of her destination had gradually leaked out, although pains had been taken to get the military stores on board as quietly as possible. Sympathy with Greece was general, however, and although the young officers were quietly joked by their naval acquaintances as to their cargo for Portugal, no official inquiries were made on the subject.
I shant be sorry, Horace, Will Martyn said, as they were rowed off in the gig for the last time before getting up anchor, when we get some of our heavy stuff out of her. One way or another she will have a hundred and twenty tons of stuff on board when we have taken in our powder, and though I dont at all say that she will be overladen she will be a foot too low in the water to please me, and she wouldnt be able to do her best if she were chased in her present trim.
The little difference in speed wont matter much on our way out, Horace said.
No, not as to time, of course, a day more or less is no matter; still, one always likes to get all one can out of ones ship, Horace, and it is a triumph to slip past other craft. If you have a slow craft you dont mind whether other things leave you behind in an hour or two hours; you jog along and you dont worry about it; you are like a man driving a heavy cart. But when you are in a crack schooner you are like a man on the road with a fast horse and a light gig, you expect to go past other things, and you like to do it in good style.
Well, nothing will beat her in looks, I think, Will.
No, that is quite certain. She is a picture.
Everything was done on board the Creole in man-of-war fashion. Tarleton stood at the top of the ladder to receive the captain as he came on board. He touched his cap to Martyn, who touched his in return.
Everything ready for getting under weigh, Mr. Tarleton?
Everything quite ready, sir.
Then shorten the chain a bit; man the capstan.
Jack Tarleton gave the order. Tom Burdetts boatswains whistle rang out loudly; the capstan-bars were already fixed, and a dozen men ran merrily round with it till the whistle sounded again.
The anchor is short, sir, Tarleton sang out to Martyn.
Very well, leave her so, Mr. Tarleton. Will you make sail, Mr. Miller?
Jack Tarleton gave the order. Tom Burdetts boatswains whistle rang out loudly; the capstan-bars were already fixed, and a dozen men ran merrily round with it till the whistle sounded again.
The anchor is short, sir, Tarleton sang out to Martyn.
Very well, leave her so, Mr. Tarleton. Will you make sail, Mr. Miller?
The orders were given, the mainsail, foresail, and fore-staysail hoisted, and the jibs run out on the bowsprit. As soon as the halliards were belayed and coiled down, the capstan-bars were manned again, and the anchor weighed. The tide had just turned to run out, there was a gentle breeze blowing, and as the two jibs were run up the Creole began to steal through the water.
Port your helm! Martyn said to the man at the wheel; let her come round easy. Slack off the main-sheet; that will do now. Get her topsails on her, Mr. Miller.
Horace looked up with a feeling of pride and delight at the cloud of white sail and at the smart active crew, all in duck trousers, blue shirts, and red caps. Once out of the river the sheets were hauled in, the yards of the fore-topsail were braced as much fore and aft as they would stand, and the Creole turned her head seaward, looking, as Martyn said, almost into the winds eye. The red ensign was flying from the peak of the mainsail, and from the mast-head a long pennant bearing her name.
She is slipping through the water rarely, Miller, Will Martyn said, as he looked over the side.
Yes, she is going six knots through it, and that, considering how close-hauled she is and that the wind is light, is wonderful.
She would go a good knot faster, Martyn said, if she had fifty tons of that stuff out of her. Those slavers know how to build, and no mistake, and I dont think they ever turned out a better craft than this.
It was not until late in the afternoon that the Creole dropped anchor off the magazine, where she was to take in her powder, as Martyn ran her out twenty miles to sea and back again to stretch her ropes and, as he said, let things shape down a bit. When the trip was over there was not a man on board but was in the state of the highest satisfaction with the craft. Both close-hauled on the way out and free on her return they had passed several vessels almost as if these had been standing still, going three feet to their two; and although there was but little sea on, there was enough to satisfy them that she had no lack of buoyancy, even in her present trim.
As soon as the anchor was down and the sails stowed Marco announced that dinner was ready, for all had been too much interested in the behaviour of the schooner to think of going down for lunch. It was the first meal that they had taken on board beyond a crust of bread and cheese in the middle of the day, and as they sat down, Will Martyn taking the head of the table, Horace, as his fathers representative, facing him, and the others at the sides, Miller said with a laugh, as he looked at the appointments, all of which had been sent over from the house two days before by Zaimes: This is rather a contrast, Martyn, to the cockpit of a man-of-war.
Rather. I never did dine with an admiral, but this is the sort of thing that I have always fancied it would be if it had entered into the head of one to invite me. What do you think, Tarleton?
I feel shy at present, sir, and as if I oughtnt to speak till spoken to.
You will be spoken to pretty sharply if you say sir down below. On deck, as we agreed, we would have things in man-of-war fashion; but we are not going to have anything of that sort when we are below together.
The dinner was an excellent one, and though the expectations of Miller and Tarleton had been raised by Martyns encomiums of the Greeks cooking they were far surpassed by the reality. It is a dinner fit for a king, Martyn said when the cloth was cleared away and a decanter of port placed on the table.
There is one misfortune in it. If this sort of thing is going to last we shall never be fit for service in an ordinary craft again, we shall become Sybarites. Is this the sort of dinner you always have at home, Horace?
About the same, I think, Horace laughed. My father takes no exercise and has not much appetite, and I think he likes nice things; and it is one of the Greeks great aims in life to tempt him to eat. We always have a very good cook, but Zaimes insists on having a few little things of his own cooking on the table, and as he is generally at war with the cook, and they leave in consequence about every three or four months, he often has the dinner altogether in his hands till a fresh one arrives, and I am amused sometimes to see how Zaimes fidgets when my father, which is often the case, is so occupied with his own thoughts that he eats mechanically and does not notice what is before him. Zaimes stands it for a minute or two and then asks some question or makes some observation that calls my fathers attention back to what he is doing. They have both been with him for two-and-twenty years and are devoted to him. They are hardly like English servants, and talk to him in a way English servants would not think of doing. They are always perfectly respectful, you know, but they regard themselves, as he regards them, as friends as well as servants.
Well, gentlemen, we will drink the usual toast, The King, God bless him; that is duty. Now fill up again, here is Success to the Creole. When the toast was drank Martyn went on:
How did your father pick them up, Horace?
It was just after he went out to Greece, which was directly after he left college. He was at Samos, and got leave from the Turkish governor to visit the prison. In one of the cells were Zaimes and Marco, who was then a boy about sixteen. They were condemned to death; they had been smuggling, and a Turkish boat had overhauled them. They had resisted. Four of the men with them had been killed in the fight, and several of the Turks. These two had been both severely wounded and made prisoners. My father was new to that sort of thing then. After he had been a year or two in Greece he knew that it would take a kings fortune to buy out all the prisoners in the Turkish jails, but being only out there a month or two he was touched at the sight of the two prisoners. They were both very handsome, though, of course, pale and pulled down by their wounds and imprisonment, and Zaimes, who was the spokesman, had that courteous gentle manner that my father says all the Greeks have when they are not excited.
At any rate he was very much interested and went off to the governor again, and the Turk was glad enough for a bribe of a hundred pounds to give him an order for the release of the two prisoners, on condition that they were to be let out after dark and at once put on board a craft that was sailing at daybreak next morning. My father went with them, and after that they absolutely refused to leave him, and travelled with him in Greece for some time and fought very pluckily when some Klepts once tried to carry him away into the mountains. Then he bought a small craft and established his head-quarters at Mitylene, and for a year lived there and cruised about the islands. When he came home he offered the felucca to them, but they refused to take it, and begged so hard for him to take them home with him that he agreed to do so, and they have proved invaluable to him ever since.
Your father is lucky in having got hold of two such men, Martyn said. I believe the lower order of Greeks are fine fellows in their way. They are quarrelsome and passionate, no doubt, and apt to whip out their knives at the smallest provocation, and there is no trade they take so kindly to as that of a bandit; otherwise I believe they are honest hardworking fellows. But as for the upper class of Greeks, the less I have to do with them the better. When they get a chance they grind down their countrymen a deal worse than the Turks do. They are slippery customers and no mistake. I would rather take a Turks simple word than a solemn oath from a Greek.