Under the Meteor Flag Part 28

"Ay, ay, monsieur," I briefly replied.

"Oh! very well," said he. "I am Citizen Alphonse Latour, captain of 'Le Narcisse' frigate, in the service of the French Republic. Whither are you bound?"

"We are cruising to the southward and eastward on the lookout for an English fleet which is reported to be somewhere hereabouts," I replied, with a mischievous desire to see what effect the mention of an English fleet would have upon him.

"An English fleet! _Hereabouts_!! diable!!!" he exclaimed. "I should like to fall in with them. I hope, however, _they_ will not fall in with my prize. Ah! Good!! Listen, monsieur, I fell in with and captured an English merchantman yesterday, with a valuable cargo on board. You shall oblige me by going on until you fall in with him--he is only about one hundred miles south-east of us--and you shall escort him into Toulon; while as for 'Le Narcisse'--_parbleu_, she will remain here in waiting for the accursed English fleet, and fight them all when they shall arrive. Is it not so?"

"Your orders shall have my best attention, monsieur," I replied; "and I trust you will not have to wait long for the English. I have the honour to wish you a very good day."

We raised our hats and bowed simultaneously; the little French captain scrambled down out of the rigging; I sprang off the low rail on to the deck; and we filled away upon our course once more, leaving the fire- eating Frenchman with his topsail still to the mast, waiting for "the accursed English."

Little Smellie and I enjoyed a good laugh over the _rencontre_, now that it was past and we had escaped undetected; and we united in a cordial hope that the gallant little skipper of "Le Narcisse" would have his wish for a meeting with the English speedily gratified.

_He had_, as we subsequently found out, but the result could scarcely have been satisfactory to him; for when next I saw Malta "Le Narcisse"

was in harbour there, a prize.

At six o'clock next morning we were fortunate enough to fall in with the prize--a barque of about 800 tons, loaded with various products of the East, forming, as Captain Alphonse Latour had truly remarked, a very valuable cargo--she had been steering a course which threw her fairly into our arms, so to speak; and, as the weather had moderated, and the sea gone down a good deal we simply ran her on board, drove the astonished French prize crew below, and took possession.

On inst.i.tuting a search, we found that the astute skipper of "Le Narcisse" had taken out the entire crew except the second mate and three hands--whom he had left on board to a.s.sist in working the s.h.i.+p--so as to prevent all possibility of a rising and a recapture. We transferred the Frenchmen to the "Vigilant;" put eight of our own men on board, in charge of young Smellie; and then made sail in company for Gibraltar.

As, however, the "Vigilant" sailed two feet to the barque's one, we had run her completely out of sight by noon; and we could only hope that she would reach the Rock in safety--which she luckily did, and we of the "Vigilant" ultimately netted a good round sum in the shape of prize- money on her account.

About three p.m. on the same day as that on which we took our prize, we made another sail dead to windward, steering the same way as ourselves, but rather edging down upon us. We must have sighted each other simultaneously; for, while still examining him with my telescope, I saw him bear up upon a course evidently intended to cut us off. The "Vigilant," however, continued to steer the same course as before; my intention being to try the same trick with him--in the event of his being a Frenchman--which had succeeded so well with "Le Narcisse"; and if he was an Englishman, I had of course nothing to fear.

In about another hour we had neared each other sufficiently to permit of our colours being seen; and no sooner was this the case than the stranger flew her ensign--the English--and fired a gun for us to heave- to. I at once obeyed; and in about twenty minutes afterwards she rounded-to within pistol-shot to windward of us and lowered a boat.

The day being fine I was of course in my ordinary uniform; and I could not wholly conceal a smile at the look of disappointment and disgust which overspread the features of the officer in charge, as the boat approached sufficiently near to permit of his seeing that, whatever the s.h.i.+p might be, the crew were English.

I awaited him at the lee gangway; and on his stepping up out of the boat, raised my hat in due form, a salute which he very gracefully returned.

"Well, young gentleman," said he, "what craft have you here, pray, and where are you bound to?"

I told him briefly what we were, and so on; and in reply to his questions, gave him a short account of the way in which the "Vigilant"

had come into our hands, at which he seemed much interested.

"Well," said he, when I had finished the story, "I must say I am sorry you are not French; for we should then have had an opportunity of making a prize of some sort, even though you would have been but very small fry; but _anything_ will be fish which comes to our net now. We have been knocking about here for nearly a month, and never a sign of a Frenchman have we seen during the whole time."

"Indeed!" said I, "you _have_ been unlucky; but I hope your luck has now changed at last. Though you cannot make a prize of us, I think I can put you on the track of one."

"Ah! do you indeed? Come, that's a great deal better," said he, in a very different tone from that which had characterised his conversation hitherto. "My dear boy, pray let us have your news without further ado."

I accordingly described to him our meeting with "Le Narcisse," and mentioned Captain Alphonse Latour's enthusiastic and patriotic determination to await on that spot the approach of the "accursed English;" concluding my story by giving the exact lat.i.tude and longitude of the place where our meeting with "Le Narcisse" took place.

When I had given him all particulars he rose to take his leave.

"Good-bye," said he, "and accept, through me, the thanks of Captain Lacey, the officers, and the whole s.h.i.+p's company of the 'Diamond' for the very valuable information you have afforded us. I only hope Monsieur Latour was sincere in his resolve; we will not keep him waiting very long. A pleasant pa.s.sage to you and I hope your prize will get safely in. Lucky young dog, you are, and no mistake."

"Good-bye," I returned. "I wish you a speedy and pleasant meeting with Monsieur Latour."

And with another shake of the hand we parted. Poor fellow! he little knew what lay before him. The "Diamond" actually found "Le Narcisse"

cruising about the spot I had indicated, and one of the shot of the Frenchman's first broadside took his head off.

Four days afterwards we anch.o.r.ed at Gibraltar just in time to hear the evening gun, having been favoured, during the entire pa.s.sage, with a wind which permitted us to lay our course with every thread of canvas drawing to its utmost.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO.

"IN THE BAY OF BISCAY, HO!"

My instructions were to see the admiral without the delay of a single moment, should we happen to arrive at any hour when the worthy chief might be reasonably supposed to be out of his bed; I accordingly had the boat lowered, and proceeded to the sh.o.r.e the instant that our anchor was let go.

When I reached the admiral's house, I found him busy at the entertainment of a party of "sodger officers" from the garrison.

I was shown into his private room; and in a few minutes the gallant old veteran stumped in on his wooden leg, and saluted me with,--

"Well, youngster, whose cat is dead now? Are you aware that I very strongly object to be troubled after business hours, unless the matter happens to be one of very great importance?"

"I must apologise for intruding upon you at so late an hour, sir," I replied; "but my instructions are that I should not lose a moment in placing in your hands the despatches from Lord Hood of which I have the honour to be the bearer."

"_You_ have the honour! Despatches from Lord Hood? The d--?" he exclaimed. "Do you mean to say that _you_ have charge of the despatch- boat signalled this evening?"

"I do sir, certainly," I rather resentfully replied. The somewhat contemptuous emphasis he laid on the word _you_ slightly nettled me.

"What, in the name of--um! um! What's your name, pray, young gentleman?" said he.

"Ralph Chester, mids.h.i.+pman, of the frigate 'Juno,' at your service, sir," I replied.

"Ralph Chester, eh? Of the 'Juno.' Ah! um! Let me see. Um! Your name seems familiar to me. Where did I hear it before? _Must_ have heard it before, somewhere; never make mistakes about names; _never.

Where_ did I hear it before, eh, youngster?"

"It is quite impossible for me to say, sir," I replied. "The only way in which an officer in your high position is likely to become acquainted with the name of an obscure mids.h.i.+pman is, it seems to me, through the Gazette."

"Gazette? Gazette? Oh, ay; to be sure. Yes, yes; certainly; that was it. 'Juno'--Captain Hood--of course. And are you the lad who distinguished himself so conspicuously at the storming of the Convention Redoubt?"

"I was named in the despatches in connection with that affair, sir," I modestly replied.

"Then I congratulate you most heartily, my boy," said he, shaking hands with me vigorously, and changing his. .h.i.therto gruff and somewhat churlish demeanour for one of almost paternal cordiality. "Ha! ha! you made the whole service your debtor that night, by helping your skipper to get into the breach before the red-coat. The rascals! They like to 'top the officer' over us, and claim to be the more useful arm of the service; but you gave us the pull on them that night, my boy, and no mistake. Poor Dundas! How awfully disgusted he must have felt. But-- sit down, and let me see your despatches--we can talk afterwards."

I produced my box, and handed to him the letter from Lord Hood which was addressed to himself.

He hastily tore open the envelope, and soon ran over the few lines which formed the contents of the letter.

"Can't do it," he exclaimed, testily, crumpling up the letter in his hand. "Haven't a single frigate at my disposal; not even a corvette nor a despatch-boat--_nothing_, in fact, but my own barge. Sheer impossibility; so there's an end of it. Why, in the name of all that's ridiculous, could he not send one of his own frigates, so that these confounded despatches might have gone straight on? Much more sensible than to send them here in a little hooker which is not fit to cross the Bay of Biscay. _Why_ is she not fit, eh? What's the matter with her?"

"There is nothing the matter with her, sir; nothing whatever," I replied. "It is only an idea of Lord Hood's that she is unfit to cross the Bay. She, no doubt, appears to him a mere boat, compared with the 'Victory,' but _I_ should have no hesitation whatever about taking her across the Bay, or across the Atlantic itself, for that matter."

"Ah! Is that the case?" he quickly returned. "Um! um! That is a possible way out of the difficulty. Look here. I've a few red-coats in the other room, spending the evening with me; I shall be very glad to have the pleasure of your company for the remainder of the evening, if you will join us, young gentleman. I can give you a bed here; and to- morrow I will go on board this little hooker of yours with you, and see for myself whether or no she seems fit to make the trip to England."