Who brought him down, Cross? said the surgeon, carelessly.
His own mother, sir; he has no father, sir, I hear.
Did you see her? What sort of a person was she?
Well, sir, replied Bob Cross, Ive seen many ladies of quality, but such a real lady I dont think I ever set my eyes upon before; and such a beautyId marry to-morrow if I could take in tow a craft like her.
How did they come down to Portsmouth?
Why, sir, she came down to Portsmouth in a coach and four; but she walked to the George Hotel, as if she was nobody.
This was not a fib on the part of the coxswain, for we came down by the Portsmouth coach; it did, however, deceive the surgeon, as was intended.
Did you see anything of her, Cross?
Not when she was with the captain, sir, but at her own lodgings I did; such a generous lady I never met with.
A few more questions were put, all of which were replied to in much the same strain by the coxswain, so as to make out my mother to be a very important and mysterious personage. It is true that Tommy Dott could have contradicted all this; but, in the first place, it was not very likely that there would be any communication upon the point between him and the officers; and in the next I cautioned him to say nothing about what he knew, which, as he was strongly attached to me, he strictly complied with: so Bob Cross completely mystified the surgeon, who, of course, made his report to his messmates.
Mr Culpeppers report certainly differed somewhat from that of Bob Cross. There was my statement of my aunt being married to a marine officerbut it was my statement; there was also my statement of my mother residing with Captain Delmars aunt; altogether there was doubt and mystery; and it ended in my mother being supposed to be a much greater person than she really waseverything tending to prove her a lady of rank being willingly received, and all counter-statements looked upon as apocryphal and false.
But whoever my mother might be, on one point every one agreed, which was, that I was the son of the Honourable Captain Delmar, and on this point I was equally convinced myself. I waited with some anxiety for my mothers reply to my letter, which arrived two days after I had joined the frigate. It was as follows:
My dear Percival:
You little know the pain and astonishment which I felt upon receipt of your very unkind and insulting letter; surely you could not have reflected at the time you wrote it, but must have penned it in a moment of irritation arising from some ungenerous remark which has been made in your hearing.
Alas, my dear child, you will find, now that you have commenced your career in life, that there are too many whose only pleasure is to inflict pain upon their fellow-creatures. I only can imagine that some remark has been made in your presence, arising from there being a similarity of features between you and the Honourable Captain Delmar; that there is so has been before observed by others. Indeed your uncle and aunt Bridgeman were both struck with the resemblance, when Captain Delmar arrived at Chatham; but this proves nothing, my dear childpeople are very often alike, who have never seen each other, or heard each other mentioned, till they have by accident been thrown together so as to be compared.
It may certainly be, as your father was in the service of Captain Delmar, and constantly attended upon him, and indeed I may add as I was occasionally seeing him, that the impression of his countenance might be constantly in our memory, andbut you dont understand such questions, and therefore I will say no more, except that you will immediately dismiss from your thoughts any such idea.
You forget, my dearest boy, that you are insulting me by supposing any such thing, and that your mothers honour is called in question; I am sure you never thought of that when you wrote those hasty and inconsiderate lines. I must add, my dear boy, that knowing Captain Delmar, and how proud and sensitive he is, if it should ever come to his knowledge that you had suspected or asserted what you have, his favour and protection would be lost to you for ever: at present he is doing a kind and charitable action in bringing forward the son of a faithful servant; but if he imagined for a moment that you were considered related to him he would cast you off for ever, and all your prospects in life would be ruined.
Even allowing it possible that you were what you so madly stated yourself in your letter to be, I am convinced he would do so. If such a report came to his ears, he would immediately disavow you, and leave you to find your own way in the world.
You see, therefore, my dear boy, how injurious to you in every way such a ridiculous surmise must prove, and I trust that, not only for your own sake, but for your mothers character, you will, so far from giving credence, indignantly disavow what must be a source of mischief and annoyance to all parties.
Captain Bridgeman desires me to say, that he is of my opinion, so is your aunt Milly: as for your grandmother, of course, I dare not show her your letter. Write to me, my dear boy, and tell me how this unfortunate mistake happened, and believe me to be your affectionate mother, Arabella Keene.
I read this letter over ten times before I came to any conclusion; at last I said to myself, there is not in any one part of it any positive denial of the fact, and resolved some future day, when I had had some conversation with Bob Cross, to show it to him, and ask his opinion.
Chapter Sixteen
The next morning, at daylight, the blue Peter was hoisted at the foremast, and the gun fired as a signal for sailing; all was bustlehoisting in, clearing boats of stock, and clearing the ship of women and strangers.
At ten oclock Captain Delmar made his appearance, the hands were piped up anchor, and in half an hour we were standing out for St. Helens. Before night it blew very fresh, and we went rolling down the Channel before an easterly wind. I went to my hammock very sick, and did not recover for several days, during which nobody asked for me, or any questions about me, except Bob Cross and Tommy Dott.
As soon as I was well enough, I made my appearance on deck, and was ordered by the first lieutenant to do my duty under the signal midshipman: this was day duty, and not very irksome; I learnt the flags, and how to use a spy-glass.
We were charged with despatches for the fleet, then off Cadiz, and on the tenth day we fell in with it, remained a week in company, and then were ordered to Gibraltar and Malta. From Malta we went home again with despatches, having been out three months.
During this short and pleasant run, I certainly did not learn much of my profession, but I did learn a little of the ways of the world. First, as to Captain Delmar, his conduct to me was anything but satisfactory; he never inquired for me during the time that I was unwell, and took no notice of me on my reappearance.
The officers and young gentlemen, as midshipmen are called, were asked to dine in the cabin in rotation, and I did in consequence dine two or three times in the cabin; but it appeared to me, as if the captain purposely took no notice of me, although he generally did say a word or two to the others; moreover as the signal mids were up in the morning watch, he would occasionally send to invite one of the others to breakfast with him, but he never paid me that compliment.
This annoyed me, and I spoke of it to Bob Cross, with whom I had had some long conversations. I had told him all I knew relative to myself, what my suspicions were, and I had shown him my mothers reply. His opinion on the subject may be given in what follows:
This annoyed me, and I spoke of it to Bob Cross, with whom I had had some long conversations. I had told him all I knew relative to myself, what my suspicions were, and I had shown him my mothers reply. His opinion on the subject may be given in what follows:
You see, Master Keene, you are in an awkward position; the captain is a very proud man, and too proud to acknowledge that you are any way related to him. Its my opinion, from what you have told me, and from other reasons, particularly from your likeness to the captain, that your suspicions are correct; but, what then? Your mother is sworn to secrecythats clear; and the captain wont own youthats also very clear. I had some talk with the captains steward on the subject when I was taking a glass of grog with him the other night in this berth. It was he that brought up the subject, not me, and he said, that the captain not asking you to breakfast, and avoiding you, as it were, was another proof that you belonged to him; and the wishing to hide the secret only makes him behave as he does. You have a difficult game to play, Master Keene; but you are a clever lad, and you ask advicemind you follow it, or its little use asking it. You must always be very respectful to Captain Delmar, and keep yourself at as great a distance from him as he does from you.
That Im sure I will, replied I, for I dislike him very much.
No, you must not do that, but you must bend to circumstances; by-and-by things will go on better; but mind you keep on good terms with the officers, and never be saucy, or they may say to you what may not be pleasant; recollect this, and things will go on better, as I said before. If Captain Delmar protects you with his interest, you will be a captain over the heads of many who are now your superiors on board of this frigate. One thing be careful of, which is, to keep your own counsel, and dont be persuaded in a moment of confidence to trust anything to Tommy Dott, or any other midshipman; and if any one hints at what you suppose, deny it immediately; nay, if necessary, fight for itthat will be the way to please the captain, for you will be of his side then, and not against him.
That this advice of Bob Cross was the best that could be given to one in my position there could not be a doubt; and that I did resolve to follow it, is most certain. I generally passed away a portion of my leisure hours in Bobs company, and became warmly attached to him; and certainly my time was not thrown away, for I learnt a great deal from him.
One evening, as I was leaning against one of the guns on the main deck, waiting for Cross to come out of the cabin, I was amused with the following conversation between a boatswains mate and a fore-top man. I shall give it verbatim. They were talking of one that was dead; and after the boatswains mate had said
Well, hes in heaven, poor fellow.
After a pause, the fore-top man said
I wonder, Bill, whether I shall ever go to heaven?
Why not? replied the boatswains mate.
Why, the parson says its good works; now, I certainly have been a pretty many times in action, and I have killed plenty of Frenchmen in my time.
Well, thats sufficient, I should think; I hold my hopes upon just the same claims. Ive cut down fifty Frenchmen in my life, and if that aint good works, I dont know what is.
I suppose Nelsons in heaven?
Of course; if so be he wishes to be there, I should like to know who would keep him out, if he was determined on it; no, no; depend upon it he walked slap in.
On our return to Portsmouth, the captain went up to the Admiralty with the despatches, the frigate remaining at Spithead, ready to sail at a moments notice.
I was now quite accustomed to the ship and officers; the conviction I had of my peculiar position, together with the advice of Bob Cross, had very much subdued my spirit; perhaps the respect created by discipline, and the example of others, which produced in me a degree of awe of the captain and the lieutenants, assisted a littlecertain it is, that I gained the goodwill of my messmates, and had not been in any scrape during the whole cruise.
The first lieutenant was a stern, but not unkind man; he would blow you up, as we termed it, when he scolded for half an hour without ceasing. I never knew a man with such a flow of words; but if permitted to go on without interruption, he was content, without proceeding to further punishment. Any want of respect, however, was peculiarly offensive to him, and any attempt to excuse yourself was immediately cut short with, No reply, sir.
The second day after our return to Spithead, I was sent on shore in the cutter to bring off a youngster who was to join the ship; he had never been to sea before; his name was Green, and he was as green as a gooseberry. I took a dislike to him the moment that I saw him, because he had a hooked nose and very small ferrety eyes. As we were pulling on board he asked me a great many questions of all kinds, particularly about the captain and officers, and to amuse myself and the boats crew, who were on the full titter, I exercised my peculiar genius for invention.
At last, after I had given a character of the first lieutenant, which made him appear a sort of marine ogre, he asked how it was I got on with him:
O, very well, replied I; but Im a freemason, and so is he, and hes never severe with a brother mason.
But how did he know you were a mason?
I made the sign to him the very first time that he began to scold me, and he left off almost immediately; that is, when I made the second sign; he did not when I made the first.
I should like to know these signs. Wont you tell them to me?
Tell them to you! oh no, that wont do, replied I. I dont know you. Here we are on boardin bow,rowed of all, men. Now, Mr Green, Ill show you the way up.
Mr Green was presented, and ushered into the service much in the same way as I was; but he had not forgotten what I said to him relative to the first lieutenant; and it so happened that, on the third day he witnessed a jobation, delivered by the first lieutenant to one of the midshipmen, who, venturing to reply, was ordered to the mast-head for the remainder of the day; added to which, a few minutes afterwards, the first lieutenant ordered two men to be put both legs in irons. Mr Green trembled as he saw the men led away by the master-at-arms, and he came to me:
I do wish, Keene, you would tell me those signs, said he; cant you be persuaded to part with them? Ill give you any thing that I have which you may like.
Well, said I, I should like to have that long spy-glass of yours, for its a very good one; and, as signal-midshipman, will be useful to me.
I will give it you with all my heart, replied he, if you will tell me the signs.
Well, then, come down below, give me the glass, and I will tell them to you.
Mr Green and I went down to the berth, and I received the spy-glass as a present in due form. I then led him to my chest in the steerage, and in a low, confidential tone, told him as follows:
You see, Green, you must be very particular about making those signs, for if you make a mistake, you will be worse off than if you never made them at all, for the first lieutenant will suppose that you are trying to persuade him that you are a mason, when you are not. Now, observe, you must not attempt to make the first sign until he has scolded you well; then, at any pause, you must make it; thus, you see, you must put your thumb to the tip of your nose, and extend your hand straight out from it, with all the fingers separated, as wide as you can. Now, do it as I did it. Stopwait a little, till that marine passes. Yes, that is it. Well, that is considered the first proof of your being a mason, but it requires a second. The first lieutenant will, I tell you frankly, be or rather pretend to be, in a terrible rage, and will continue to rail at you; you must, therefore, wait a little till he pauses; and then, you observe, put up your thumb to your nose, with the fingers of your hands spread out as before, and then add to it your other hand, by joining your other thumb to the little finger of the hand already up, and stretch your other hand and fingers out like the first. Then you will see the effects of the second sign. Do you think you can recollect all this? for, as I said before, you must make no mistake.