Dick Cheveley Part 10

"Well, Mr Cheveley, we have succeeded at last in giving a blow to the smugglers which will put a stop to their proceedings for some time to come at all events. Though the 'Saucy Bess' got off, we captured some of her crew and several of the men a.s.sisting them."

"I congratulate you, Sir Reginald," said my father; "and I ventured to call on you to explain that my son Richard has rendered considerable service to the cause. It was through him that information of the intended run the other night was obtained, and he also discovered one of the smugglers' hiding-places, 'Grime's Mill,' and was the means of enabling the revenue-men to capture a considerable store of their contraband goods."

Sir Reginald smiled.

"I'm glad to hear this," he observed; "for to say the truth, I have had strong doubts as to your son's connexion with the smugglers. He is intimate, I find, with an old sailor, Roger Riddle, who though too cunning to be caught is known to aid and abet them in their proceedings.

By his means young Mark Riddle, who is both smuggler and poacher, made his escape from my lock-up room only last week. Had it not been for my respect for you, I could not have pa.s.sed the matter over, and I am happy now to be able to set the services you say he has rendered against his former conduct. I am the more willing to do this as young Riddle was taken just as he landed from the 'Saucy Bess,' and we shall now get rid of him, as he will be either committed to prison for two years or sent off to sea to serve his Majesty for seven years."

I was very sorry when I heard this, but of course did not express my feelings to Sir Reginald. My father looked rather uncomfortable; he was a nervous man, and Sir Reginald always awed him. He, however, mustered courage to proceed.

"I hope, Sir Reginald, that my son's good conduct will induce you to interest yourself in his favour, and that you will forward his views by exerting yourself to obtain the appointment he so greatly desires. I am very anxious to get him away from the neighbourhood, as I am afraid the smugglers, who are aware that he has been instrumental in the capture of their friends and goods, will revenge themselves on his head. I dare not let him leave the house alone, and even coming here I was obliged to bring an armed attendant for his protection."

"I have told you, Mr Cheveley, that I consider his late conduct is a set-off against his unpardonable proceeding. I will, however, remember his wish; and, should an opportunity occur, will forward his views. I must now wish you good morning, for my time is much occupied with my magisterial and parliamentary duties, and you must excuse me."

The baronet prepared to bow us out of the room. He shook hands with my father, who took the hint and backed towards the door, and gave me only a formal nod, without allowing a smile to irradiate his features.

We found old Thomas waiting at the hall door with his blunderbuss on his shoulder. My father walked on with hurried steps some distance, not uttering a word. At last he said--

"To what did Sir Reginald allude when he talked of your connexion with young Riddle?"

I told him how Mark had been seized and locked up and how I had unintentionally a.s.sisted him to escape.

"I believe what you say, Richard; but you can't be surprised at the baronet being annoyed, and I'm afraid from his tone that we must not expect much from him."

We had got about two-thirds of the way home when we saw three men coming towards us, one of whom I recognised as Burden. I had not yet told my father that I believed him to be one of the men who had shut me up in the old mill. He started as he saw me, and then scanned me narrowly, as if uncertain whether it could really be myself.

Though I knew that old Thomas and his blunderbuss were close behind us, I felt very uncomfortable, as I could not tell how the men might be inclined to act. Mustering courage at last, I looked Burden in the face. My father nodded to him and the other men, as he was accustomed to do to his paris.h.i.+oners. They hesitated for a moment, and then pa.s.sed on. I looked back and saw them watching old Thomas, but they didn't speak to him, and he trudged st.u.r.dily after us without paying them any attention.

"I wonder what was the matter with Burden?" asked my father, as we got to some distance.

I then told him it was my belief that he was one of my captors.

"We can't prove it, even if he were," said my father. "He deserves punishment, but the law is expensive and uncertain, and I should prefer letting him alone."

As far as I could tell the matter was likely to rest here. I lost a jacket and waistcoat, but was not otherwise the worse for my adventure.

The next day, however, a letter came by the post addressed to my father, at the top of which was a death's head and cross-bones, very rudely drawn, and beneath it the words:--

"Informers must look out for what informers deserve. The young master who got off t'other day must look out for squalls. He has been and dug his own grave, and in it he'll lie before long; so he had better say his prayers. He won't have long to say them. This comes from one who knows him. John Grimes."

My father turned pale when he read the letter. Aunt Deb insisted on seeing it, and then my mother wished to read the contents. She almost fainted.

"This is terrible," she exclaimed. "Yet, surely, the smugglers will not have the barbarity to injure a mere boy like d.i.c.k."

"I'm not so certain of that," said Aunt Deb. "Warnings ought not to be neglected. I have long been contemplating paying a visit to my second cousin, G.o.dfrey b.u.t.terfield, who is now a flouris.h.i.+ng merchant at Liverpool. I'll write and say that I am coming, and bringing with me one of my nephews. I shall not wait for an answer, but will set off immediately; for I'm certain I shall be welcome."

When Aunt Deb said this I saw a smile on the countenance of my elder sisters and brothers, who had not been so much affected by the threatening letter as the rest of the family.

"I'll post the letter at once, and we will set off this evening. What do you say, John?"

My father at once agreed to Aunt Deb's proposal.

"Thank you!" exclaimed my mother. "I shall be much more at my ease when d.i.c.k is out of the reach of these terrible men."

Aunt Deb wrote and despatched her letter, and the rest of the morning was employed in making preparations for the journey. Ned had to give up one of his jackets and waistcoats, which exactly fitted me, and my other things were quickly packed in a small chest. I also unrigged and did up the cutter which Roger Riddle had given me, as I fancied I should have an opportunity of sailing it at Liverpool. I made Ned also promise to go and call on the old man, and to tell him how sorry I was to hear that Mark had been sent off to sea, and how much I regretted not being able to wish him good-bye before I went.

We had some distance to drive before we reached the town at which the coach stopped. My father at once sent off for a postchaise, and old Thomas went on the box, armed as before with a blunderbuss and a couple of horse-pistols. As we drove through the village Aunt Deb made me sit back, while she leant forward as if there was no one else inside.

Whether or not this precaution was necessary I don't know; but at all events we reached our destination without being stopped by highwaymen.

There were two places vacant in the coach, and although I should have preferred going outside, Aunt Deb insisted on my remaining with her.

The other pa.s.sengers were fat old women, who eat apples and drank gin-and-water for supper, and then snored, and sneezed, and groaned all night long. I know that I wished myself anywhere but where I was. The old ladies talked of highwaymen, coaches stopped, and pa.s.sengers murdered, till they talked themselves into a state of nervous fear. One or the other was constantly poking her head out of the window, and declaring that she saw a man galloping after the coach with a blunderbuss over his shoulder. However, as the guard gave no signal, I was very sure that their imaginations had conjured up the robber.

"Pray, ladies, do sit quiet," at length exclaimed Aunt Deb, who being a strong-minded woman was not influenced by similar fears. "It will be time enough to cry out if a highwayman does come to demand our purses, and we'll hope that the guard will shoot him dead before he has had time to open the door."

"Oh! How dreadful!" shrieked out one of the ladies. "I would sooner let him have everything he asked for than see a handsome highwayman shot."

"Fiddle-de-dee about a handsome highwayman," said Aunt Deb, in a scornful tone. "They're ugly ruffians, and miserable arrant cowards to boot. If one does venture to stop the coach, I'll not give him any of my property as long as I have hands to defend it."

Notwithstanding Aunt Deb's remarks, our fellow-travellers continued in the same state of alarm the greater part of the night, and to comfort themselves took further sips of gin; until, becoming perfectly fuddled, they dropped off to sleep.

I almost wished that a highwayman would appear, to see how Aunt Deb would behave; but morning at length dawned, and I fell asleep, nor did I wake till the coach stopped for breakfast. We travelled on all day with the same unpleasant companions, and I was glad to find that we were to go no farther that night. I remember that I dropped off to sleep before supper was over, and was very unwilling to get up the next morning when Aunt Deb called me. The fear of offending her, notwithstanding, made me jump out of bed and hurry on my clothes, and I was in time to take my seat in the coach, which came up soon after breakfast. She still refused to let me go outside, and I had to endure another day's misery, shut up with her and a lady and a fat gentleman, who took snuff and snored, and nearly tumbled over me in his sleep, and a young woman with a baby, who at intervals kept up a chorus of squalls, which considerably aggravated my respected aunt; and I really thought that, if she had given way to her feelings, she would have tossed it out of the window.

As sublunary troubles always do, the journey came to an end, and the coach deposited us at the door of Mr b.u.t.terfield, Aunt Deb's cousin.

The worthy merchant--a bald-headed, rosy-faced gentleman, of large proportions, who wore brown cloth knee-breeches, large silver buckles, a flowered waistcoat of ample length, with a snowy neckcloth, and a frilled s.h.i.+rt, a coat of the same hue as his unmentionables--received us, as he descended the steps, with a cordiality I little expected.

"Glad to see you, Cousin Deb, though times have changed since you and I played hide-and-seek in our great-aunt's garden. You have shot up in one direction and I have grown in the other considerably. And this is John Cheveley's boy, is he? You are welcome to Liverpool, lad. We'll see what we can make of you here. Plant you on a high stool, and set you quill-driving. Are you a good hand at figuring? We don't value the Latin and Greek most lads have crammed into their heads to the exclusion of all other useful knowledge. Pounds, s.h.i.+llings, and pence are what we have to do with in our commercial city."

Thus the old gentleman ran on without even waiting for me to answer. He then conducted us to our bedchambers; and as soon as we had washed our hands we descended to the supper-room, where the board was amply spread.

He did not again allude to the high stool and quill-driving, but his remark had made a deep impression on my mind. There was nothing I hated so much as the thought of being shut up in a counting-house. He asked me if I was accustomed to go out alone, and satisfied on that score from what Aunt Deb and I said, he told me that I might amuse myself the next morning by exploring Liverpool, provided I took good note of the way home. This was just what I thought of doing, and to my relief Aunt Deb said she would be too tired to go out.

Accordingly the next morning, after breakfast, I got ready to sally forth. Mr b.u.t.terfield had gone to his office, and did not see me. I in reality cared very little for exploring the town, and accordingly inquired my way to the river. Instead of the stream I expected to find I saw a broad expanse of water, with vessels of all rigs and sizes in s.p.a.cious docks, or moored alongside the quays. I was going along the quay when I saw a large s.h.i.+p taking in cargo. Making my way on till I got astern of her, I observed that she was called the "Emu." I walked up and down admiring her amazingly.

"Now if I can't go on board a man of war, and wear a c.o.c.kade and a dirk by my side, I should like to take a voyage in a s.h.i.+p like that. What a magnificent craft! What proud fellows the captain and officers must be to belong to that s.h.i.+p. I wonder whether the captain would like me as a mids.h.i.+pman? The crew--I can fancy how they sit on the forecastle and sing 'Rule Britannia,' 'Poor Tom Bowling,' 'One night it blew a hurricane.' Happy chaps! I should like to belong to her. I think I'll go on board and ask the captain to take me.

"Mr b.u.t.terfield evidently intends that I should go into his counting-house. Dreadful work to have to set on a high stool, to dot and carry one, and to scribble away all day. I could not stand it. It would kill me. It was bad enough to have to go to school, and then we had a good many play-hours; but in these stuffy, musty, dark offices, I have heard that they have only half-an-hour for dinner, and work away till ten o'clock at night. That sort of life would never suit me.

"Yes, I'll go and see the captain, and I'll tell him that I was intended for the navy, that I should have become an admiral some day, and that will make him treat me with consideration."

Such were my cogitations as I stood, with my hands in my pockets, gazing at the "Emu." When it came to the point I felt somewhat nervous about going to speak to the captain. Perhaps he would not treat me with the respect I should desire. He might not have a vacant berth, and I could scarcely expect a stranger to make a place for me. At last, after walking backwards and forwards very often, I ascended a plank which led me to the gangway in the after part of the s.h.i.+p, and stepped on board.

For some time, all the men being occupied in hoisting in cargo, no one took notice of me. I was thinking that I must go and speak to the captain if I were to speak to him at all, when one of the men coming aft asked me what I wanted.

"I wish to see the captain of this s.h.i.+p," I said.

"He is not on board, and is not likely to be until she sails," he replied. "Do you bring any message for him? If you do, you had better see the second mate."

"No thank you," I replied; "I want to see the captain," in as important a tone as I could command.

"Well, then, you may find the captain at the s.h.i.+p-broker's in Dale Street."